Best advertising "bang for your buck"

J

Jpostal

Excellence Auto Gallery
With all the recent talk on here about Groupon, Twitter, Craigslist, Google, etc I thought it would be interesting to see what other shops see as the best bang for their buck when it comes to advertising.



Ranked in order of effectiveness this is how I would rank my marketing efforts (top 3)...



1. Website and SEO/AdWords

2. Craigslist

3. Yellow Pages



What does your shop do for marketing and what do you find most effective?
 
Do people still use Yellow Pages??



Website is certainly a good bang for the buck.



Another is writing articles on forums like Autopia.org It's free, you can focus the content around your business all while linking to it and educate the viewing audience at the same time. Seeing that we get over 10,000 clicks a day, it's a great way to get your name out there.
 
Solid work and word of mouth have been my biggest. I also make my presence known at shows with past and current clients.



Right now outside of that I refer people to my Facebook for examples. Still deciding on website layout.
 
I guess it depends on what market you are after. I fill my days with soccer mom minivans and work trucks so the traditional advertising channels seem to work best. For higher end detail jobs I doubt craigslist or YellowPages would be useful. My regular maintenace customers have either come from CL or drive by customers.
 
I'll be perfectly honest, I haven't had anywhere near as many people contact me from Autopia this year as I had last year. Not really sure why that is.



I did however revamp my branding with a new logo/business cards, and a new website late last year/early this year. It seems to be making a difference in terms of attracting higher end clients, which is exactly what I wanted it to do.
 
JohnKleven said:
A good website is key, but yellow pages and Craigslist are a complete waste of time in my opinion.
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Depends where you are. In my area, Yellow Pages has gotten me over 50% of my new clientele (I poll everyone who comes through the door as to how they heard about me).
 
I think it matters the type of work you are looking for and the size of the city you live in. I think it goes without saying that you need business cards and a website. Other than that, I researched this extensively, and based on my own experiences, research and assumptions...



Big Cities - Yelp, Google Places, referrals, free details for people at businesses/high-traffic streets in neighborhoods

Small Cities - Yellow Pages, Post Cards, Flyers, Referrals, Business to Business (corporate locations, dealerships, etc)



I believe this is true because of competition. In a city like San Diego you are 1 of 100,000 detailers offering the same thing (to consumers it's the same). A post card is 1 of 1000 we get every day and 9999/10000 they go straight to the trash. Same with other forms. Your best bet in a big city is to get out there and make yourself known, life is fast paced in cities, people don't waste their time looking at post cards, flyers or the Yellow Pages. In smaller cities however, I've seen the total opposite.





Mobile Car Washing/Low End Detailing - Yelp, Google Places, free details, post cards, flyers, B2B

Hi-End Paintwork - Referrals, Yelp, Forums (detailing, local, vehicle specific enthusiasts), Personalized business cards/flyers (I have post cards that I leave on people's doors stating that I like their car, I noticed some damage, would love to give them a free inspection...etc)



I believe this to be true based on customer needs. People looking to spend $$$$ rely mostly on other people's opinion, not your "advertised" opinion. Mobile washes/quick details are all the same service, so usually they look for convenience. High-end paintwork though, people are willing to pay for the difference, but only if someone else can make them believe it. I am currently running a special for free details for a few M3 owners ($150 detail that costs me $15 in product?). As a former M3 owner, these mofo's are extremely picky, anal and willing to spend big $ for good work. If I can impress a few M3 owners, I'm hoping it will net instant business. Just (1) detail will pay for it all, and I get to meet/hang out with fellow Bimmer enthusiasts -- it's a win-win for me!



Groupon/Living Social/Google Offers I believe are best for larger businesses. I've seen a few San Diego detailers ruin their reputation and business by signing on with Groupon. Too much business growth and generally cheapskate customers that nitpick and only look for deals.



In summary, I believe the best bang for your buck is Yelp and forums/car clubs/car meets. All are free and only cost you your time and you are marketing directly to people that love their cars.
 
C. Charles Hahn said:
I'll be perfectly honest, I haven't had anywhere near as many people contact me from Autopia this year as I had last year. Not really sure why that is.
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In FL, pretty much all of my new business comes from forums. MI is totally the opposite. Although MI I feel is an uncapped market for high end detailers. I haven't seen 1 mobile operation since I've been here? All the detailing is being done at Car Washes and fixed Detail Shops (low quality). I doubt people even can grasp the concept of mobile detailing here?



Yeah, I really think the perfect recipe for advertising bang for buck varies by location, the type of detailing you do and the competition. What works for one, may be the opposite for the other.



Another thing that should be considered is attending Cars & Coffee events and local car gatherings. The more in your face exposure to people that will most likely want/need your services the better.
 
David Fermani said:
In FL, pretty much all of my new business comes from forums. MI is totally the opposite. Although MI I feel is an uncapped market for high end detailers. I haven't seen 1 mobile operation since I've been here? All the detailing is being done at Car Washes and fixed Detail Shops (low quality). I doubt people even can grasp the concept of mobile detailing here?



Yeah, I really think the perfect recipe for advertising bang for buck varies by location, the type of detailing you do and the competition. What works for one, may be the opposite for the other.



Another thing that should be considered is attending Cars & Coffee events and local car gatherings. The more in your face exposure to people that will most likely want/need your services the better.
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Agreed; seems like around here the only "mobile services" I ever see are glass repair/replacement, a handful of PDR guys (who mostly service small used car operations), and the occasional wheel repair service, again mostly servicing dealers. Mobile detailing (especially high quality mobile detailing) is highly uncommon. A few years back I knew of one guy in the area doing some basic stuff, haven't seen him around since.



The high end market here really is untapped, the guys who do have high end cars keep them hidden away for the most part and probably don't even realize what's out there in terms of proper professional care for them. It's a nut I'm still working on trying to crack. One of those "have to meet the right people in the right place" sort of things.
 
C. Charles Hahn said:
The high end market here really is untapped, the guys who do have high end cars keep them hidden away for the most part and probably don't even realize what's out there in terms of proper professional care for them. It's a nut I'm still working on trying to crack. One of those "have to meet the right people in the right place" sort of things.
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Car clubs are a great resource for this. Find out when they have their meets and show up. Often you find a few who have multiple cars and belong to other groups as well. The snowball effect can be huge. I also found that, at first, these people don't necessarily want you to start on this "fun" car but want you to detail their daily driver first as a test. Even if you don't get business directly from these people, just getting your name known in the right circles will pay off in the long run as long as long as you do quality work. I am finally at the point where I can go to the local Cars & Coffee and nearly half of the people there at any given time have at least seen my card or heard of me by name.
 
I get a lot of my business because I have focused a lot of my attention on design of my website and utilizing SEO. I also have google adwords, which I pay by the click but it brings me a good amount of business as well.



CL I have an ad on and I get called a few times a week about but mostly just pricing shopping. Which is fine, but I'm towards the higher end of the pricing scale for my area, so I get some work but not a ton from it.



Most of my business though is from word of mouth. It's the best option. If you do quality work and make your customers happy you will get a decent amount of business just from that.
 
Your website by far. I did all the SEO myself and it has been working great. Google places is FREE and that will assist you local visibility.
 
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