Everyone needs car maintenance at some point. But with almost 600,000 auto mechanics in the United States alone, there’s some serious competition out there. If you want to beat the competition without breaking your budget, here are four budget-friendly marketing ideas to promote your car business.
Hang flyers around town
Even in the world of digital marketing, old-school flyers are still kicking. They’re one of the most effective ways to reach an audience in a specific area — unlike the internet, which reaches a global audience.
With flyers, you can reach people as they’re going about their day — no internet connection required. You don’t have to wait for them to discover your website or social media accounts organically; your flyer is right there!
However, if you want to catch people’s attention, your flyers have to look great. Since you’re busy working on cars, you probably don’t have time to design graphics from scratch. Luckily, there are thousands of free car flyer templates available on websites like PosterMyWall.
Simply find the template that best fits your brand, customize the information in the easy drag-and-drop editor, and you’re ready to hit the printer. You can also save your designs as PNG or JPEG files to upload to your website and social media accounts.
A quick templated graphic that works for multiple marketing strategies: How’s that for being budget friendly!?
Engage on social media
The core of any marketing strategy is to get your message to as many people as possible. And where do people spend their time in 2024? Social media!
With over 5 billion active users worldwide, social media is an easy way to reach tons of people in your community at little to no cost. All you have to do is start an account for your car business, upload regular posts, and you’re good to go. Best of all, social media is completely free!
If you want to kick your marketing into a higher gear, you can also take out a few social media ads. For a small fee, the platform will promote your posts to an audience of your choice, expanding your marketing reach exponentially. You can even choose how much you want to pay, so you don’t go over budget.
Harness the power of email marketing
If you’re looking for a budget-friendly marketing strategy, look no farther than email. Although it may be the oldest form of internet communication, email is still one of the most cost-effective ways to market your business with an average return of $36 for every $1 spent!
The first step to creating an effective email marketing campaign is to collect email addresses — obviously… The more people you send emails to, the more sales you’ll make.
These are some of the best ways to collect email addresses for your marketing efforts:
- Provide emailed receipts
- Offer email-only discounts
- Add an opt-in form on your website
- Write a monthly newsletter
- Just ask!
The second step to email success is to send regular messages. Most marketing professionals suggest sending two to three emails per week. That should be enough to keep your brand top of mind so your customers don’t forget about you, but not enough that they get overwhelmed and unsubscribe.
If customers regularly see your brand information in their inbox, whether they read your messages or not, there’s a good chance they’ll think of you the next time they need car maintenance.
Start a loyalty program
Car maintenance isn’t a “one and done” type of service. Your customers are going to need maintenance again and again and again over the course of their vehicles’ lives. By offering a loyalty program, you can ensure they come back to you every time they need an oil change, rather than the competitor down the street.
For example, you could offer a special deal like every fifth oil change is free. That almost guarantees that you get at least five oil change services out of a customer without worrying about competitors. Plus, it doesn’t cost your business anything until you’ve already done four services on a vehicle. Now that’s cost-effective!
According to research, 52% of Americans will join a loyalty program of a brand they purchase from frequently (like needing car maintenance), and 84% of loyalty program members have made a redemption from the program. In other words, people love loyalty programs!
Plus, by the time a customer hires you for five oil changes, there’s a good chance they’re going to fall in love with your services, giving you a new customer for life.
Shift your car business to the next gear
There’s a lot of competition out there for a car business, but that doesn’t mean you can’t stand out! If you want to get more customers in your shop on budget, start by hanging eye-catching flyers around town, getting social on social media, utilizing the power of email marketing, and start a loyalty program.
It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to get a lot of business. With these tricks in your back pocket, your car business will go 0-60 in no time!