5 reasons why auto repair shops should invest in marketing

Build it, and they will come doesn’t always hold true for businesses. Especially small businesses like auto repair shops. You can hire the best techs, buy the best equipment money can buy, keep your repair shop clean and organized, and still, when it comes to getting those customers in the door? Crickets. Why? Because no one knew about you and your shop, and that’s why auto repair shops absolutely have to invest in marketing.

For a small or mid-sized shop, auto repair marketing doesn’t always have to mean spending thousands of dollars on advertisements. All you need is to be visible or memorable when someone has car trouble and is searching for a place to fix it. Your shop must also be easy to find when their car breaks down, and they pull out their phones and type “auto repair near me” on their preferred search platform.

Here are five reasons we believe shops should invest in auto repair marketing.

People can’t choose your shop if they can’t find it

It’s Tuesday morning, and Arthur’s car wouldn’t start when he wanted to get to work. Now he’s out there in his driveway googling auto repair shops near him. First up on Google’s search results is Acme, not you, and you’re an easy 2 miles closer. Guess who he calls up?

If your shop doesn’t show up in search results, or your Google listing has the wrong number, or barely any information on what services you actually provide, you’ve lost a customer, just like that. And the shop down the street just snapped them up.

Your shop may be the best in town, but the internet has no way of knowing that if it cannot find you. Getting your shop listed correctly across search platforms such as Bing, Google, and other places people search is one of the simplest parts of auto repair marketing, and yet it’s the one that most business owners tend to overlook. It also costs next to nothing.

Customers want to know who they’re trusting with their car

Let’s say you’ve got your shop listed, and Arthur does find you. He’s going through the few repair shops that Google helpfully pulled up for him. What does he look at next? He’s looking at the ratings and customer reviews. The shop down the street has 15 reviews, the latest one from just six days ago. Your shop on the other side has 2 reviews, and the last one was from seven months ago. Now Arthur is wondering whether you’re still even in business.

Auto repair is a business that runs on trust. Most people don’t really know what’s gone wrong with their car or how much a repair should cost. They don’t even know whether the person telling them they need a new alternator actually has their best interests at heart. They are trusting that you will do a good job and charge them honestly.

Reviews give potential customers an idea of what they can expect before they call you. The best thing about reviews is that you don’t need a huge budget to build a good reputation online. All you need are happy customers and a way to ask them for reviews. Some shop management systems have this feature built in. Over time, these reviews will help you build a solid reputation and become one of your biggest marketing assets.

Your website tells customers what you’re all about

Now that Arthur has found you on Google and checked out your reviews, he wants to know a little bit more before he calls you. So he looks for a website link. If you have one, this is where you get to let him know about your shop. How many years have you been in business? What kind of vehicles do you work on? Do you have a team of techs, or is it just a single-person operation? Do you offer any additional benefits or services? This is where you get to tell your potential customers all of that.

If they click through to a website that looks like it was untouched since 2018, or tells them nothing besides your phone number, they may not feel like you’re the right shop for them. You don’t need a high-tech website with all sorts of bells and whistles. You just need one that looks professional and gives potential customers the information they need before they decide to go with you…or not.

You need a steady stream of customers

You keep getting a few new customers here and there, but that’s not what will help keep your bays full. You need people finding your shop every week, and all year round. You never really know when business might slow down. You could have a packed shop one week, with customers waiting for appointments and your service advisors and techs working overtime. And in the very next week, your bays could be close to empty. It could be seasonal, or it’s just a coincidence that none of your best customers need repairs that week. Or maybe a new repair shop opened up, and they’re offering steep inaugural discounts.

Whatever the reason might be, passively waiting for cars to show up will not help your business grow. Auto repair marketing will help you stay in your customers’ minds even when they don’t need a repair. It will also put your shop in front of potential customers who don’t know much about your shop. When you’re consistently visible, you increase the odds of keeping that steady flow of customers coming through your door.

You can level the playing field

That shop down the street that’s part of a big chain probably has a pretty huge marketing budget, fancier signboards, and a nicer building. They probably even have teams working on the website and making sure they rank well in search. You’re running one shop with 5 bays, and you’re not going to beat them by outspending them. The good thing is that you don’t have to. Because they don’t know your customers the way you do. You know the cars they drive, which services they tend to put off, their budget constraints, and more. This is your big advantage, but it doesn’t help if potential customers don’t know about it.

That’s where you need auto repair marketing. You can use your website, social media, email, and other marketing channels to talk about the things your customers care about. Share seasonal maintenance tips or use these channels to answer questions your customers routinely ask. This gives you more to talk about instead of putting a generic ‘we fix cars’ message in front of everyone. This makes you the local authority on auto repair. You already know your community; marketing gives you a way for them to know what you do.

Try these auto repair marketing strategies, and the next time Arthur’s car breaks down, yours will be the shop he remembers and comes back to. If you need any help, simply schedule a demo with our marketing experts, and they will help you get everything set up.