Top Automotive Media Solutions and Marketing Techniques for Auto Repair Shops

We know how tough it is to get customers to come to your auto repair shop, let alone make sure they keep coming back. You need combined automotive media services and marketing solutions designed especially for your business to make this happen. More importantly, the strategies must be trackable so that you know what works and what doesn’t.

Fortunately, the realm of digital marketing has a stack of marketing strategies that work well with auto repair businesses. At Auto Shop Digital, we can take care of your local SEO needs with our managed SEO services and more. We recommend the following services to help grow your auto repair shop:

Managed SEO

Our managed SEO services can help your business rank higher in search rankings, specifically Google. Most of your customers are now found online, making it crucial that they also see you there. In the case of auto repair shops, your goal is to attract local customers. This means you need a local SEO strategy capable of targeting customers geographically.

This is one of the benefits of our managed SEO services – optimizing your website to rank high in the local search rankings. We do that in different ways, one of which is by optimizing and managing your Google My Business profile. If you don’t have a Google My Business profile yet, we’ll help you get one because it’s essential to drive local traffic to your business.

The advantage of managed SEO is it’s a comprehensive media service. For instance, we offer our managed SEO service at Auto Shop Digital with other SEO strategies like keyword research. It includes SEO audit and review, on-page/off-page optimization, and transparent reporting. These services help improve your auto repair shop’s SEO performance.

Google Business and Yelp Profiles

Google Business and Yelp profiles offer many benefits for local businesses, such as auto repair shops. People nowadays turn online to find information using search engines like Google. Google My Business is one of the ways developed by Google to make businesses stand out. Having profiles on these pages is an essential trick if you really want to be found online.

Your Google Business and Yelp profiles are your business listings, a way to tell that you’re a real business operating in your location. Moreover, both profiles are on prominent websites that customers trust. Having a profile in both is enough to convince prospective customers to visit your website and look for more information about your business.

These profiles also help collect reviews, which are also a powerful marketing strategy for auto repair shops. Reviews allow you to build trust and reassure new customers that it’s a good idea to do business with you. Google Business and Yelp profiles are a stepping point of various auto repair business marketing strategies, so you definitely need to have them.

Facebook and Google Ads

Facebook ads and Google ads are examples of automotive media services that can bring people to the door of your shop. Both are paid advertising systems that let you serve branded messages to your target audience. One is in the world’s biggest social network, while the other is through Google, the world’s most widely used search engine. 

Utilizing both strategies is a huge help in increasing awareness of your auto repair shop in your locality. Your placements on Facebook circulate to the audience network, the news feed, and the sidebar of Facebook. Another advantage of Facebook ads is you can micro-target your audiences by categories such as age, gender, location, and more.

Meanwhile, Google ads boost your messaging on its prominent search engine. Considering that billions of searches happen on it each day, Google ads are vital for visibility. When your audience searches for relevant terms, they will see your ad before the search results and be able to click on it. 

Wi-Fi Marketing

People can’t seem to live without an Internet connection these days. This presents a fantastic auto repair business marketing strategy. You can use Wi-Fi marketing to attract customers to your repair shop by providing them with free Internet access. In exchange, you can communicate your message and send promotions to customers using your Wi-Fi.

We also suggest using Wi-Fi marketing to collect email addresses from your customers. You can use those email addresses to launch an email newsletter that lets you stay in touch with your audience. You must be ahead of the game given the fierce competition. Wi-Fi marketing can give you the extra boost by helping you understand your clients.

What happens when you know your audience? You can offer them real-life experiences that will engage them. Engaging experience creates loyalty, which equals customers who keep coming back to you. Wi-Fi marketing has the power to help your auto repair shop grow. You just need to use it well.

Personalized Shopping Experiences

Another way you can engage your audience and make your shop stand out is by providing your customers with personalized service. How can you do that? We suggest collecting data using Wi-Fi marketing, social media, or even asking customers personally. The information you find can tell you what promotions, deals, and events your customers will like.

One way you can create a personalized shopping service using Wi-Fi marketing is by sending personalized reminders through text or email. You can also ask them to create profiles that tell you vital information for personalized experiences. For instance, you can send your customers alerts when they are due for service based on their profile.

Based on the information you’ve collected, you can devise promos like:

• Discounted service when purchasing another service
• Free service when purchasing another service
• Dollar deals and discounts to certain services
• Percentage discounts to certain services
• Seasonal discounts like during Christmas

Explainer Videos

One of the best ways to capture your customers’ attention is through videos. You can post them directly on your website or publish them on your shop’s YouTube channel. Either way, explainer videos are proven helpful in reaching out to customers. The versatility of explainer videos is excellent for providing valuable information and for engaging your audience. 

There are plenty of ideas for this auto repair business marketing technique. Starting a YouTube channel is excellent as it is the largest online video-sharing platform. Millions of people browse YouTube every day. Some of your customers might be there as well, looking for information about their car and auto repair services.

Sharing expert advice is an excellent explainer video idea. You can also use videos to introduce your company, share BTS on your business, or explain your products and services. Besides YouTube, you can also use your explainer videos at other places - on your landing page, Facebook page, or Twitter profile. Wherever you place it, videos can promote your business.

In-Store Marketing

Besides online marketing strategies, you can implement in-store marketing campaigns like a follow-up program, services subscription plan, or a referral rewards program. These campaigns can effectively drive people to come back to your auto repair shop for their future needs. These programs also inspire loyalty, which is a significant factor in customer retention.

Follow-Up Program

A follow-up program is a brilliant method of staying in touch with your customers. Follow up on them after every completed service to your location. This way, you can collect valuable feedback to personalize their experiences and improve your services. At the same time, you can create a more personal connection with them.

Referral Rewards Program

Asking for referrals is an effective way to get the word around regarding your business. Take this up a notch by creating a referral rewards program where it’s your customers who do the work for you. This program allows existing customers who refer new customers to your shop to receive various benefits like discounts and freebies.

Services Subscription Plan

A subscription plan for your services is an excellent idea if you offer regular maintenance services. It depends on the subscription plan you design, but you can offer discounts as a benefit of entering the program. You may also let customers spread payments after becoming a long-time member.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is another marketing strategy we suggest your auto repair shop should have. Creating social media pages for your shop provides another way to deliver engaging, informative content to your audience. It will help your shop to have at least one profile, on Facebook perhaps, where you can regularly update your audience.

What should you post? It doesn’t have to be about auto repair all the time. You can post anything that customers would find interesting. Example content includes driver safety tips, travel tips, vehicle information, traffic news, local events, reviews from satisfied customers, staff photos, and more. You can also share updates and news about promotions here.

Conclusion

There are many automotive media services and marketing strategies you can utilize to boost your auto repair shop. From local SEO to in-store marketing, you have plenty of tricks up your sleeve to bring customers to your business. As for the SEO part, we at Auto Shop Digital can provide expert managed SEO services to help you out.