The saying “Build it and they will come,” might have worked in The Field of Dreams, but it doesn’t ring true when it comes to your auto glass business. Customers have lots of options; a quick internet search could give them an entire list of auto glass shops in their area in a matter of seconds. If you want to win more business, you can’t just be really good at your job. You also need a marketing strategy to ensure that you’re one step ahead of your competition.
Marketing Tools for Auto Glass Shops
To fast-track your marketing and grow your business, I recommend you sign up for the world’s #1 business management app for glass professionals by Mobile Tech RX. You can try the app completely free if you sign up for a free trial. It has a CRM that will help you set up your customer database and you can program automated text reminders to help you keep up communication and up-sell your customers.
Attracting new customers and maintaining old customers is one of the most important pieces of running a successful auto glass business. Below, we’ve rounded up our top six auto glass marketing and advertising tips to help you do just that.
1. Know Your Target Customer
Before you can start any auto glass marketing, you need to know who you’re trying to reach. You need to know the type of person (or types of people) who would be interested in buying your services. For example, your target customer is probably a local car owner who has a cracked windshield that needs to be fixed. If you offer any specialty services, your target customer might be a bit different.
If you know who you want to be your customers first, it’s easier to make decisions about how you will market and advertise to win their business. You can put yourself in their shoes and think about the pain points they have and what they’re looking for to fix them.
2. Be Visible Online to Attract New Potential Customers
You know that most people will do online research before purchasing a product or service. That goes for auto glass services too. So if you don’t have an online presence, you are losing out on a lot of business. You want your business to show up when a potential customer goes online to search for an auto glass business.
There are many places you can establish your business on the internet. Your first step should be to create a website. This not only helps you look more legitimate and professional, but it also gives your website visitors an idea of what your business offers, pricing, more about you, etc.
It’s also a good idea to set up a Google My Business listing and a Yelp listing. These online listings help your business show up when someone does a local search. You can also start collecting customer reviews on these sites which will help build your reputation in your area.
Lastly, you should set up a Facebook business profile and any other social media accounts that might be beneficial. On Facebook, you can have conversations with potential customers through Messenger. You can also highlight your work through shared photos on your social media accounts.
Once you set up your website, online listings, and social media accounts, you’re not done! Make sure you monitor them and keep them up-to-date.
3. Engage with Your Prospects and Customers Online
Communication is a two-way street. It’s important to stay engaged with your customers even when they’re not in your shop. Thankfully it’s easy to stay connected with your customers online by responding to comments, accepting feedback, and asking questions. Any customers who see that you conduct yourself professionally online are going to trust you with any auto glass services they may need.
You can also let your work do the talking by asking any customers to write reviews for you. Customer reviews are often seen as more credible than anything you could say about your own business.
Another idea for your auto glass marketing plan is to share additional safety measures you’re taking due to COVID-19. Customers will be more likely to choose your business if they know they are in the safest hands.
4. Maintain Customer Relationships to Win Repeat Business
Another piece of your auto glass marketing plan should be to maintain communications with your current client base. Emails and texts can be a great way of checking in with your customers. You can follow up with them to schedule a routine service or ask them to write you a review after a service.
Keeping track of customers and sending messages can be a lot of work if you’re trying to do it manually. For this reason, many business owners use a Customer Relationship Management system (CRM) to help them. A CRM is a digital database that lists and organizes all your clients with important details or notes about them. With a few clicks, you can see the last time a customer visited your shop and what services they bought.
The Mobile Tech RX app helps you keep your customer list organized in a CRM and also helps you stay connected with automated messages to send out. By staying connected with your customers, you ensure your business is the first one they think of when they need an auto glass service.
Get more customers for your auto glass business with a CRM.
Try the #1 business app for glass professionals for free today!
5. Think Carefully About Advertising Dollars
When we think about promoting our business, we first tend to focus on advertising. And for good reason. Advertising is when you pay for ads online, in print publications, on TV, on the radio, on billboards, or via direct mail.
When it’s done well, advertising can be a great way to raise awareness of your business in your community and keep your business top of mind. This is particularly important for your auto glass marketing strategy because you want customers to consider your business first.
Advertising can be incorporated into your auto glass marketing strategy depending on your budget and goals. A billboard might cost more money, but maybe it makes a huge impact on driving new people to your business. Online advertising might be easier to track, but maybe it’s not as effective as sending out first-time discounts in the mail.
There’s not a one-size-fits all strategy when it comes to advertising. Often it takes some experimentation, testing, and measuring effectiveness to know what will work for your business.
Before you spend money on any auto glass advertising, make sure you’ve thought carefully about who you’re trying to reach and what will resonate with them most.
6. Measure Your Success!
Measuring and tracking the success of your auto glass marketing and advertising efforts is absolutely crucial. You want to be sure that the dollars you are spending make a difference and give you a good ROI (return on your investment). Of course there will be trial and error, but you’re only going to know what works when you track them.
Tools like Google Analytics and Mobile Tech RX Analytics can help you experiment and measure your marketing’s success. Watch how Matt Moore uses our Analytics tool to measure his marketing ROI below.
You will spend time and money trying different marketing ideas. You need to be able to know what types of promotions work and what doesn’t so you can be a smarter marketer and a better business person. If done in the right way, auto glass marketing will offer you the reward of more customers and more money, and it will far outweigh the cost of what you put into it.
Fast-Track Your Marketing Success
Mobile Tech RX is the world’s number one business management app for auto glass professionals. To utilize our marketing tools and make your detailing business more profitable, try Mobile Tech RX today for free.