Does branding have a role to play in the auto repair business, particularly in small- to medium-sized businesses? Yes, but in order to do so, these businesses must remain focused on creating long-term relationships with all customers and work on adequately differentiating themselves from their competitors, especially those larger companies, dealerships and regional players.
To understand why Yelp can be a viable marketing channel, you first need to understand consumer behavior and their attitudes toward independent review ratings.
It’s not uncommon to hear business owners talk about Yelp in a way that screams of a love/hate relationship with the widely used review site. Understanding how a review is posted on a business profile, requiring payment to remove competitors from a company’s page, and an inaccessible support team has been enough to make plenty of business owners want to leave an explicit one-star review on Yelp’s own Yelp page (which, conveniently, doesn’t exist).
Most customer buying journeys begin with search. Whether you are or aren’t already investing in search engine marketing as a channel, I often hear business operators say they don’t know exactly what search marketing is or how it actually works. If you have been in business for even a short amount of time, it’s a good bet that marketing companies have reached out to you to discuss advertising on Google through their SEM product called “Adwords.”
There is no doubt that digital advertising is here to stay. And while there are a plethora of options available to businesses, Google and Facebook have undeniably become two ubiquitous players in the digital landscape. Marketers from all types of industries, including tire and auto service providers, are finding substantial value with these two providers.
