Unfortunately, there’s plenty of competition. In fact, there are more than 228,000 auto repair businesses nationwide! To set your business apart from other auto repair services, you’ll need to focus on your marketing strategies. There are many inexpensive marketing ideas that you can implement, which we’ll list in this post.
5 Ways to Market Your Auto Shop
1. Publish Sponsored Social Media Posts
One of the easiest ways to reach potential patrons is to publish sponsored social media posts. This content could highlight your company’s services, pricing, or testimonials from current customers. Then, you can target potential customers in your geographic area, that are car owners or have expressed interest in auto services.
2. Create a Company Website
Having a well-designed, useful website for your auto business is crucial. Your website should be easy to navigate and should provide necessary details such as your business location, pricing, and contact information. In addition, you should ensure that your website is search engine optimized (SEO). This will help your website get seen by people who search for keywords online such as “auto repair services,” “auto repair business,” “auto repair services in (location here),” and other relevant phrases.
3. Pay for Advertisements in Local Publications
Want to reach nearby patrons? One of the easiest ways to do this is to pay for advertising space in local publications. You can create an eye-catching advertisement that features your company’s branding, colors, and information about your services. Plus, you could include a coupon that will entice readers to take advantage of your exclusive offer.
4. Write Articles for Industry Publications
When marketing your automotive business, it’s important to establish yourself as a knowledgeable industry leader. After all, why would employees trust you with their vehicles if they aren’t confident in your expertise on auto-related issues?
One way to show that you are an auto expert is to write articles for auto industry publications. By doing this, you can advertise your business, and have clips to display at your business location or website. By advertising that you’ve that you’ve contributed to reputable auto publications, potential customers will know that you can be trusted!
5. Ask Customers to Spread the Word
If you want to attract more customers, why not ask your existing client base for help? Your happy, repeat customers can be one of your biggest marketing assets, but you need to find ways to reward them for spreading the word. For example, you could start a customer referral program, in which customers that refer new clients receive a discount on their tire replacement, oil change, or other repair. By giving customers a reason to recruit new clients for your auto shop, you might be surprised at how much your sales increase.
Start Marketing Your Auto Repair Shop Today!
It might seem daunting to implement new marketing strategies, but the ideas in this post can be achieved even with a limited budget. Once you see which strategies are attracting the most customers, you can invest more money into these areas to continue increasing sales.
If you have other marketing suggestions for auto repair business owners, share them with us in the comment section below!
Editor’s Note: This post was updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness in October 2018.
Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
