advertising

I’ll bet you’re using marketing backward. Yes, backward. The good news is, I’m also betting every one of your competitors is marketing backward, too. Let me explain.

Your bottom line will benefit when you make it easy for prospects to get to know what your business is all about. Start by making it easy for customers to find, recognize and connect with your business.

In the automotive service industry, we all need to accept the fact that we’re going to have competition. With competition comes consumer choice. And, as we all know, when customers are lured away by a competitor, we may not get their business back very easily.

Instead of waiting for customers to remember you when they have the need for automotive service, why not advertise to only those who are ready to buy now?

When it comes to advertising, strategies are endless, mediums are constantly changing and advice is often conflicting. Doing something is better than nothing, but funneling a shop’s dollars into an ineffective ad campaign is a mistake no one wants to repeat.

Social media followers are proven to be more engaged with video than any other type of posting, meaning they “Like,” comment or share video posts more than any other type of posts. More engagement means more branding opportunities for your business. And, when handled correctly, websites that add fresh video regularly also see their rankings go up. These should be compelling reasons to add video to what you do online.

In the past, you could run an ad for tires or a service special and customers might call or come by. Today, you run an ad and, before coming by, they are far more likely to check you out online first. Moving forward this is unlikely to change, so plan accordingly.

Summer is the shop owner’s best friend. Just as surely as Independence Day means fireworks and Thanksgiving means turkey, the end of summer means the fall slowdown. And while it doesn’t happen overnight – just one fewer car here and another there – by September, the fall slowdown will be in full effect.

Many shop owners get into trouble by throwing their money at just about every advertising opportunity that comes along. Their intentions are good, but more often than not they end up wasting a lot of money, and bringing in the wrong customers. So putting first things first, as every successful business owner will do, you need to identify your ideal customer, then create a plan that targets that individual.