It’s never been more important for auto repair businesses to communicate a unique selling proposition to their customers than it is now. Put another way, the repair services you offer to your customers are unique, and the marketing program you need to reach them should be unique, too!
The auto repair marketing companies that can do the best job for you have the breadth and depth of digital marketing skills that establishes you on Google local search and builds a reputation for trustworthiness in your community. And the opportunities for the auto repair industry as a whole indicate a great ROI on your digital marketing spend in 2023.
What Could Make 2023 a Banner Year for the Auto Repair Industry?
Everybody knows that new cars have been getting snapped up as soon as they hit the lot and used cars have been selling for premium prices for the last two years. This phenomenon benefits the auto repair industry in five ways. In the USA:
1. In 2023, there are 76 million vehicles that have been on the road for 16 years or more in the United States. 2. In 2023, a large number of vehicles are reaching 13 years of service. You will be seeing a lot of 2011 models in your shops. 3. There will be a boom in late-model trades, too, with a 25 percent increase in the number of vehicles on the road with 5 years or less in service. 4. Almost 22 million Americans will take their car to the shop in 2023. 5. Drivers will continue to operate their cars as long as they can. There has been a 60 percent increase in how long Americans keep their cars.As the news services have been telling us for years, old clunkers rule the roads. But the way consumers decide where to take their cars for repairs is changing drastically.
The Auto Repair Market Is Booming, But Low-Tech Marketing Programs Will Have Trouble Keeping Up
Changes in technology are requiring auto repair shops to use all the tools of digital marketing.
There used to be a general rule that you would take your car into the shop every 3,000 miles for an oil change. With newer synthetic oils, it is possible to go for many thousands of miles more and even for years without coming in for service. If you want your shop to get the driver’s attention when it is finally time for service, your business will have to rank on Google local search.
An ever-increasing number of vehicles are leased. Leased vehicles don’t actually need less service and repair work. But service and repairs are done by the repair shops that contract with the leasing company. To get this segment of the market, repair shops must (1) form partnerships with leasing companies and (2) make sure their marketing campaigns work with the leasing company’s campaigns.
The most profitable customers operate fleets of vehicles, and fleet vehicles are increasingly connected with their owners by telematics. Your marketing program must reach the dispatch office, not the driver. You will need to go big or go home in many urban markets.
There will always be a place for shade tree mechanics. It just gets smaller every year. To succeed in the auto repair business, you need solid digital marketing expertise.
Where can you find it? Here’s our list of companies with specialty skills, plus one auto repair marketing company that offers full service.
The Best Auto Repair Marketing Companies
Looking for slick website design, skillfully written PPC ads, and great on-page SEO. Check out SmartSites in Paramus, New Jersey. Their 160 employees focus more on dealerships than repair shops, but they can optimize your online marketing campaign.
Green Line Automotive in Schaumburg, Illinois is known all over the USA for its video production capacity. Its creative video skills lend themselves to paid search. They may not be the best choice for making sure your shop’s name pops up when a customer searches for a repair shop on their phone from the side of the road, however.
Automotive Marketing Gurus in Marietta, Georgia offers excellent customer survey work, email marketing, and competitor analysis. Their analytics platform is geared toward national players.
Force Marketing in Atlanta, Georgia offers unusual expertise in lost shopper identification. They help their customers find customers almost at the end of the sales funnel. winning them over with video marketing.
If you are more interested in SMS marketing and social media marketing, you might want to go with JF Marketing in Englewood, Colorado. They are tight-lipped about the clients they serve, but they offer an impressive array of smartphone-centric services.
What if you are looking for full-service auto repair marketing? For everything you need to stay competitive in 2023, we recommend Automotive-Marketing.com.
In 2023, auto repair centers need to keep their customers engaged 99+ percent of the time when their car is not in the shop. Automotive-Marketing offers content marketing to attract customers to your site, coupled with the best SEO practices to keep them there.
Automotive-Marketing can help you create a healthy social media presence for your brand. It can augment organic traffic with PPC campaigns designed to lower the cost of customer acquisition for the best possible ROI. Automotive-Marketing.com complements its core services with reputation management and brand growth consulting.
To stay competitive in 2023 and beyond, you need savvy digital marketing. Of all the firms we have reviewed, Automotive-Marketing offers the best combination of services for a growing auto repair business.
