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Hey Everyone,

Curious what everyone is doing for marketing and advertising. What have you found to be the best return for your money and where are you located?? Looking for some ideas for my auto body shop .

I have tried radio, yelp and yellow pages (never again).

Posted

I run my own Google ad words and I work my butt off to make sure I have good reviews. I run Yelp ads and again work off butt to make sure Yelp reviews are too notch. Beyond that community events, Facebook posts, and boots to the pavement introducing yourself should cover the bases these days. If you have a larger shop more then 4 lifts I think you have to run some coupon shoppers to keep the bats filled. Just keep in mind coupon customers need to be hand held through the process of you want any chance of converting them. Local radio shows have also helped us fill the gaps. 

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Posted
On 5/4/2018 at 4:50 PM, autobodyguys said:

Hey Everyone,

Curious what everyone is doing for marketing and advertising. What have you found to be the best return for your money and where are you located?? Looking for some ideas for my auto body shop .

I have tried radio, yelp and yellow pages (never again).

I can only speak of online advertising including Google, Bing, and Yahoo!.  The reason so many shops like it is that it’s MEASURABLE.  Pay for performance is a concept few publishers of advertising understand.  Our business grew from $700K/yr. to $1.2M/yr. with online marketing.  I manage everything myself.  Once I learned what keywords were generating phone calls, I focused only on those keywords.  There’s too much to say in a short post other than to say everything you need to learn is available online from Google and/or YouTube.  Good luck!

Posted

Google Adwords is probably our single most important advertising. We've also worked on our website and had a consistent Facebook presence to produce good organic search results. We also have increased our Yelp advertising, and as much as we're not favorable towards Yelp I have to admit that it works for us. 

Google and Yelp have worked hard to insert themselves into the market as important sources of info for people searching for a good place to do business. We have to face reality and go with the flow, in my opinion. It works for us. I did no direct mail since last year, minimal Facebook last month, but $2500 with Google and Yelp and we had 108 first time customers in April. Obviously, word of mouth and referrals play in to that, but digital marketing in this day and age is important if we want to stand out.

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  • Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?

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      It always amazes me when I hear about a technician who quits one repair shop to go work at another shop for less money. I know you have heard of this too, and you’ve probably asked yourself, “Can this be true? And Why?” The answer rests within the culture of the company. More specifically, the boss, manager, or a toxic work environment literally pushed the technician out the door.
      While money and benefits tend to attract people to a company, it won’t keep them there. When a technician begins to look over the fence for greener grass, that is usually a sign that something is wrong within the workplace. It also means that his or her heart is probably already gone. If the issue is not resolved, no amount of money will keep that technician for the long term. The heart is always the first to leave. The last thing that leaves is the technician’s toolbox.
      Shop owners: Focus more on employee retention than acquisition. This is not to say that you should not be constantly recruiting. You should. What it does means is that once you hire someone, your job isn’t over, that’s when it begins. Get to know your technicians. Build strong relationships. Have frequent one-on-ones. Engage in meaningful conversation. Find what truly motivates your technicians. You may be surprised that while money is a motivator, it’s usually not the prime motivator.
      One last thing; the cost of technician turnover can be financially devastating. It also affects shop morale. Do all you can to create a workplace where technicians feel they are respected, recognized, and know that their work contributes to the overall success of the company. This will lead to improved morale and team spirit. Remember, when you see a technician’s toolbox rolling out of the bay on its way to another shop, the heart was most likely gone long before that.
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