Garage Marketing: The Five Step Plan

If you're a mechanic looking to get some new clients for the garage, you've come to the right place. Our 5 step marketing plan can help you attract the right customers to bring in more business.

1. Create a website to advertise your business, or if you have one already, update it.

Creating a website for your business is the first step in getting customers to visit you instead of your competitor's shop. It gives you an online presence and allows potential customers to find out more about what services you offer, the price ranges, and even check out some of your work online before they come in person. You can also include contact information, directions to your shop, hours that are convenient for them to come by, etc.

If you have a website already, you may want to consider updating it for several reasons:

SEO 

This is the most common reason why a garage would want to update their website. Website updates have been shown to increase search engine rankings, which can lead to more traffic and potential customers. The more relevant information your site has, the better it will be for search engines to find you, and therefore rank you higher in results. 

Did you know that there are some things about your website that could actually cause it to perform worse in search results? One example is having too many pages or links on your site that point to other sites; this will make it hard for search engines to find all of the information they need about what your company does! 

This is why updating older websites is important because it helps make sure everything on your website works properly and can easily be found by search engines. Also try not to have too many different services offered by multiple pages; this makes things confusing for visitors looking for specific information about your business. 

If someone wants to find out about how you fix cars, then don’t send them to a page where they have to scroll through lots of different services like oil changes, tire rotations etc… Instead make sure there is only one service listed per page and include important links such as “Home Page” or “About Us” at the top of every page.

In addition, make sure any links included lead directly to landing pages about those particular subjects even if they appear elsewhere on the page (ie: a link within a paragraph should take the user directly to the page about that subject). All links should be relevant and helpful content-wise

Better User Experience

Users appreciate websites that look good and are easy to navigate through because it makes their lives easier when trying to find the information they need. If you go back and update your old website with current photos, but leave it exactly how it was before, then users will still feel like they’re using an outdated site that hasn’t been updated in years; even if the content itself is still fresh! 

Maximize Your Profits 

Another reason to update your site is to maximize your profits. If you want more people buying the products or services that you offer then it’s important that your website reflects these offerings in a professional manner. 

For example, if you are selling car parts online, then it’s necessary for your website not only to show pictures of the parts you’re selling but also describe their benefits and why they are better than other similar products on the market. 

A great website allows users to interact with your business in ways that they couldn’t before; this includes giving them the option to purchase items directly from your site without having to call or email you first!

Attract New Customers

An updated website can be used as part of an effective marketing strategy that will help attract new customers. By adding new content, making changes to photos and updating older pages, you can make sure that potential customers see fresh information about what your business has to offer instead of outdated information. This helps keep your company relevant even if it's been around for many years.

Keep Up With The Competition

One of the most important reasons to update your website is because everyone else is doing it! If you don’t make updates, then chances are someone else will pass you up by easier to find services or top-notch customer service via their website alone. 

It’s important that you stay on top of things so that potential customers always have access to all of the latest information about what you do and how they can get involved with your business.

Website/ Brand Redesign 

A website or brand redesign is a great way to change your business image entirely! If you want to set yourself apart from the competition,but other strategies haven’t worked, you may want to consider not just updating your site but also completely redesigning it with new colors, fonts, and layouts so that it looks more professional than ever before. 

A complete redesign can be very expensive though so if you are on a tight budget then an easier option would be to update your old site instead of starting from scratch. You can always go back later and have the entire site redesigned if you choose to. 

2. Use social media to get people talking about your business.

Social media sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, etc., are all great ways to get the word out about what you do. Mechanics can use social media to advertise their garages and get more customers. Social media is a great tool to get more customers in a garage as:

• It is easy and quick to advertise on social media, you can make ads in a matter of minutes and post them all over the internet for everyone to see. 
• Social media also allows you to promote your garage by posting videos showing how to do car repairs.
• It gives mechanics a way to directly talk with potential customers about an issue that might be affecting their vehicle and how much it costs to fix the problem.
• People can find what they need without having to search through many pages which saves them valuable time as well as money.                                                 

Businesses have been using social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest etc...for years now, but have recently found a new way of using these platforms that has proven very successful greatly increasing traffic numbers and conversions rates.

This tactic is called "storytelling". . Businesses are taking behind-the-scenes pictures showing their employees at work or making short videos talking about the story behind their business. 

The reason why this tactic has been so effective is because people love storytelling - it's part of our DNA we love hearing stories especially when it involves other people, it helps people feel connected to your business. 

3. Get listed in search engines.

Since most people look up businesses online before visiting them in person, make sure yours comes up at the top of the list by being listed on search engines like Google or Bing. 

SEO

Once again SEO (search engine optimization) is key here: Use keywords that will help people find you over other businesses nearby who might have similar names or be doing similar things as you are. 

A keyword research document requires a lot of insider knowledge to make well, so even if you do all other parts of marketing yourself, you should ask a marketing specialist to make a keyword research document for you and offer examples of where to include keywords and best practices. 

Get your business listed in directories

This is a great way to make sure you show up when someone searches for your type of business. There are plenty of directories which help people find garages which offer services they need near them, like ‘Trust a Garage’ and ‘Garage Directory’.

4. Advertise your services locally

People typically won’t travel far to find a garage, so it’s important to focus on advertising efforts locally. There are many different ways to advertise, so I’ve only included the ones which will be the most beneficial.

Use flyers and put them in public places and through letterboxes around town to advertise your services

This is a great way to get your name out there and make sure people remember you when they need services you offer.

Once someone has picked up one of your flyers, they'll probably want to find out more about what you're offering. Include contact information (phone number) AND directions to your shop on all promotional material like this so that if someone sees it, but doesn't recognize the name, they can still get in touch with you easily enough. 

Use Google PPC Search Ads

In order to show up at the top of the search results for high competition keywords like ‘where to get a MOT near me’ as there will be a lot of competition, which is why you will need to pay- even if your SEO is amazing and you’re the top organic results, ads always show up first.

If you still have that keyword research document you can use that to put down as keywords you want your ad to show up for. 

5. Increase your word-of-mouth marketing

This tactic will rely heavily on your existing relationships with customers, but it’s one of the most effective ways to get clients in.

Make sure you get reviews online.

Having reviews on sites like Google and Trustpilot is a great way to show new customers that other people have had positive experiences with your business. They can look at the reviews for themselves and see what others are saying. If they're satisfied, chances are they'll give you more business in the future! Collect your customer’s email addresses through incentives like ‘free MOT reminder’ (which may also get you more custom in the future), then send them an email a few days later asking if they can leave you a review.

Ask for referrals 

There's a good chance that if someone has been to your shop, they'll be willing to refer you to their friends and family as well. Make sure you ask them! You can even offer coupons or other promotions as an incentive to get them to do it, such as a £10 Amazon voucher if anyone the refer books a service with you. 

As you can see, there are a lot of different ways to attract new customers to your business. This list is by no means exhaustive, but gives you a good start on how to get the ball rolling and get people interested in what you have to offer. Don't be afraid to try things out! If one method doesn't work, don't worry about it. Just move on and try something else until you find a way that works for you!