7 Marketing Tips For Your Auto Repair Shop

As an experienced auto repair business owner, you know that successfully growing your company does not just stop at delivering impeccable services to your customers. Having a voice online brings awareness to your unique auto repair services and gets more clients to your door. With online marketing strategies becoming more advanced every year, keeping up with the latest and greatest marketing tools can seem overwhelming. But with the right knowledge and tools on how to get started, it’s not impossible to come out on top and start seeing real growth in your business!

Within the past 3 years, online searches for auto maintenance categories have grown by 66%. Learning to market your business online effectively will ensure your services are seen when people search for maintenance or related auto repair services. Not only that, learning about the different resources and platforms you can use to market your auto repair shop can do so much more. With these top tips for auto service marketing, you’ll be on your way to reaching more potential clients than you ever thought possible! 

Tip #1 - Optimize your website CTAs so that you can turn traffic into customers

Your CTAs, otherwise known as Calls To Action, are what guide clients to contacting you or purchasing your product. 90% of searchers who read your headline read your CTA copy. Without a clear CTA that grabs clients’ attention, your site will miss out on lots of potential site conversions and customers. Needless to say, including a CTA on your website like, “Call now for a free quote,” could go a long way. But it’s not just about having a CTA, it’s about knowing where to place it and designing it in a way that will gravitate towards site visitors.

Source: Wrench

Here are some things to keep in mind when building website CTAs:

• Always have a CTA at the top and bottom fold.
• Include CTAs in landing page copy
• Experiment with CTA Buttons, as it can increase clicks by 45%
• Place CTAs within videos because it increases sales 380% more than sidebar CTAs
• Use anchor text CTAs, as Hubspot found it increased conversions by 121%

Tip #2 - Make sure your local SEO elements are in place

A big part of online marketing is ensuring you’re accessible to people searching for the services you provide. It’s essential to learn what your audience is searching for in order to come out on top against other local competitors. The more you know about your audience, the better your search engine optimization will be. But it goes both ways! Having as much information easily accessible to potential clients about your business is a great way to ensure you’ll be getting more phone calls. 

SEO tips to follow:

• Optimize for important keywords
• Use Google My Business to get listed on Google Maps
• Get Google Reviews
• Claim and update all of your profiles
• Use Google Ads
• Use SEMRush

Tip #3 - Make sure your website pages are optimized for Google Search

With 81% of consumers searching online before going into the store or business, ensuring your website is built to show up on popular search engines like Google is imperative for site conversion and lead generation. The more time you spend familiarizing yourself with top SEO tools and tips, the more success you’ll see in your marketing journey. After you’ve done sufficient keyword research, looking into other things like mobile phone optimization, coding for landing page headers, and being specific as possible about your audiences’ needs will elevate your marketing efforts and put your name on the map! 

Source: Moz

Key things to do:

• Make sure all your pages have Title Tag, Meta Description, and H1s
• Create pages specific to your location(s) and service areas
• Keep up to date with analyzing website data using Google Search Console
• Conduct keyword research using tools like Ubersuggest
• Decrease your site page load time 

Tip #4 - Optimize your YouTube Videos for YouTube search and conversions

When it comes to marketing, visuals are fantastic at conveying a message in a way that is both compelling and quick. That’s why it’s important to take advantage of resources like YouTube that can help promote your business through videos, especially since including videos on landing pages can increase conversions by 80%. These videos could be about anything from quick maintenance tips, to top DIY repair mistakes and why they should go to an expert, to an overview of your business and the services you offer. No matter what videos you’re posting, consistency and ingenuity are key. Seeing what your team is capable of through visuals will make it much easier for an audience to trust you and learn more. 

Source: Hubspot

So how do you make sure your videos are reaching as many people as possible? Here are some tips:

• Be strategic with tagging by using the main keywords
• Always include links in the description
• Have a clear, compelling title
• Add an end screen to your videos with links
• Setup cards at the end of videos to show more content

Tip #5 - Retarget your website visitors with ads

Every website has been visited by potential customers who have never returned. This is unavoidable, but ads are 3 times more likely to be clicked on by retargeted customers than new ones. Plus, retargeting can increase web traffic by 700%, giving your business plenty more opportunities to win potential clients over. How many times have you left something in the cart on a website and forgotten about it? Or maybe you exited out of a tab accidentally and then came across an ad that reminded you of how much awesomeness that business had to offer? Retargeting ads can be a wonderful reminder to potential clients who you already know are interested in the services you offer. 

Here are a few retargeting strategies to keep in mind:

• Create remarketing ads that highlight a coupon/discount offer.
• Create audiences based on your website traffic.
• Target people who visit the auto service page but didn't take action.
• Launch ads on Google Display Network and Facebook Remarketing.

Tip #6 - Optimize your Social Profiles

These days, social media is not just important for Instagram influencers. Staying consistent on all social media platforms as a business is crucial. Just like your website, social media is another way for your audience to test your credibility. Social media allows you to connect and communicate with your audience more so than a website. It’s a space for you to answer comments, keep clients up to date with new information, and keep the voice of your company consistent and committed to fulfilling your clients’ needs. In fact, 63% of customers fully expect companies to offer customer service through social media. Not to mention it’s a great way to bring more awareness to your business and receive more 5-star reviews from happy customers.

Source: Statista and TNW via Tekmetric

Social media best practices:

• • Proactively manage your social media profiles
  • Use Facebook tools to deliver targeted ads
  • Make sure your "About" information is up to date
  • Use Facebook Messenger to quickly answer clients’ questions
  • Create a social posting calendar

Types of content to post on social:

• • Employee recognition
  • Awards
  • Blog content
  • Before and after photos
  • Day in the life
  • Testimonials/Reviews
  • Discounts/promotions
  • New service offerings
  • Hiring needs/updates

Source:  Christian Brothers Automotive via Facebook

#7 - Evaluate Lead Generation Services

With all the work that goes into owning a successful business and promoting it, sometimes it’s worth it to look into the benefits that lead generation companies can offer. Not all lead generation businesses are created equal, and it’s important to vet the companies to not only ensure they’re offering the services you need but to ensure they have a history of providing customers in your industry with more leads. Just like with any business, good reviews are important and are a great way to tell how committed a company is to customer satisfaction. Don’t be afraid to ask questions! If they’re a transparent company, they will be happy to answer any of your concerns. 

We hope you’re able to give these tips a try and grow your business even more. If you need to take things slow and just try one marketing tactic at a time, that’s okay! Marketing is a trial-and-error process. Once you have sufficient data, you’ll be able to learn more about your audience and better meet their needs next time. You’ll find your groove eventually. Here’s to moving and improving!