5 Marketing tactics to promote your auto repair shop

If you run your own car garage, you’ll already know how fierce competition is in the UK’s auto care market. For this reason, it’s very important you know how to market your garage to new customers, and even more importantly, retain your existing ones.

We’ve got five marketing tactics for you to help you up your game:

1. Get reviewed

Receiving online feedback from your customers is extremely important. Research from Invesp found 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business. They also found that 88% trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations.

Popular sites where you can encourage customers leave reviews are TrustPilot, Google Reviews and Checkatrade.

And if you get their permission, you can always showcase some of your best reviews on social media too!

It’s crucial that you use the right soft skills to serve your customers. Your service will also be best if you keep your tools and equipment in good working order. The work you do will be of higher quality if you check for established suppliers such as RS for main tools like grinders, wrenches and screwdrivers.

2. Get customer referrals

When it comes to something so localised as a garage, the power of word-of-mouth can’t be understated. You can benefit from the relationships your current customers have with neighbours who haven’t yet used your garage. Recommendations from happy customers are worth a lot.

You can take this one step further though. Why not set up a scheme by which your customers can get a discount on your services if they refer people they know? If they’re happy with your service, this extra incentive will make them even more likely to let their new friends know.

3. Start car-advice blogging

Setting up and maintaining a blog on your website where you can show off your expertise is an invaluable way to drive traffic to your site (and to your garage!).

The nature of your job means that you probably have a lot of valuable autocare knowledge under your belt already. Why not put this to good use? Sharing bite-sized chunks of knowledge and recent auto-related news regularly on a blog means you’ll reap several benefits. A constant stream of new, informative content is a powerful way to engage potential customers. It should boost your site’s rankings. Higher rankings help you appear higher in the search results, which can boost your visibility on Google.

4. Posting on social media

If you don’t already have a page on the major social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, consider setting this up. New customers often look for this when they are researching nearby garages.

Finding the social media platforms that reach your audience most effectively can be a test-and-learn process. YouTube can be used to showcase auto businesses particularly effectively.

5. Coupon advertising

With a strong website and the right social media platforms in place, you have the perfect environment in place to promote discounts.

Discounts are a great way to encourage sales. Take advantage of holiday days such as Black Friday and New Year. Regularly look at your competitors’ sites to see if they are offering any discounts that you can match or outdo.

As a garage, competition is very high. Don’t be discouraged! If you provide customers with cutting-edge service and spend time working on your online visibility, there’s no reason why you can’t lead the way.