June 16, 2022
So you detail cars, or maybe you want to start a mobile car wash detail business, and you want to attract customers. Quality service and word of mouth are great, but at the end of the day, it’s not the best auto detailer who gets the most business, it’s the best car wash marketing strategy. Here are some basics for marketing your mobile car detailing business to bring the customers to you.
Focus on why you are unique
Make sure you understand your customer, your own mobile car wash brand, and what makes you unique. Start by identifying your ideal customer, create a profile of an imaginary customer based on data, questions, and experience. e.g Jim Peterson – wealthy suburban business owner, 65 years old, likes cars and chitchat, he prefers communication by SMS than by phone calls.
Then think about how your brand can offer value to your ideal customer in a unique way and develop your marketing strategy around that value. There are numerous ways to get an edge on the competition: offer a unique service for your area (ceramic coating, green products, restoration, auto-SMS cleaning reminders), provide friendly and knowledgeable customer service, choose foam with an interesting color to it, the sky is the limit.
Whatever you decide, be sure to bring focus to your unique value proposition. This will ensure your business is being talked about at your customer’s next dinner party.
Focus on a Social Strategy For Mobile Car Detailers
Social is an exceptionally effective tool for mobile car detailers. Plenty of car lovers are looking at cars on social media. As someone who is surrounded by cars all day, you have a quick and easy way to reach and engage your target audience.
Start by creating a professional profile across social profiles (we suggest Instagram and Facebook) and curating your content. Some popular ideas for social content for mobile auto detailing profiles are: before/after pictures, walk arounds once the car is finished, or spraying foam on the car. Remember to include plenty of hashtags, more than 15 and do your research on works best. As you’re a local entrepreneur you should add your location to your posts to help get you traction in your area. Good content is important, but a high level of posts, engagement, and hashtags are just as important.
Once you have some engagement on social, add ‘book now’ buttons to your profile to send customers to your PodiumIO Real Time Pricing and Booking Page. Try to bring your engaged followers into your marketing funnel to ensure your efforts count! Interested followers in your area may soon become your best clients!
Create a “Refer a Friend” Program
A well-known way to broaden your customer base is a referral program. Incentivize your customers to become your sales team. Offer discounts, merchandise, or even free basic cleanings for every customer that refers a customer to you. This is a quick and relatively easy way to build relationships with your customers, and revenue for your business. Be sure your customer feels comfortable with the program as this whole strategy is built on the trust felt between you and your customer, and your customer and their friend (referral).
Use A Digital Marketing Strategy for Car Detailers
- Advertisements
See what your budget allows for and try running some small ad campaigns, start small and work your way up. Google ads, Facebook ads, and retargeting ads will ensure you get in front of people interested in car washes in your area, make sure to define your target audience and keywords to the best of your ability.
Setting a retargeting campaign will have people who visit your website see advertisements later on. This can be very effective to stay at the top of someone’s mind after they visit your site. Lastly, be sure to have a simple check out procedure online otherwise your money spent on ads may generate awareness, but won’t necessarily be turned into appointments and revenue.
- Mobile Car Wash Blog Articles
If you don’t want to spend money on your ads, try starting a blog and making sure to post regularly. Show people you are an expert in your field and have them be interested in your work. Make sure to use the right language by researching keywords your customer is likely searching e.g “best car wash in (town)”, “mobile car detailing near me” etc. Make sure to post your blog to a number of websites and tell interested customers and friends about it, you never know who’s going to be interested or share your post.
A blog may not immediately drive as much traffic from potential customers as paid ads, but over time this will help google index your website as a mobile car detailer in your area and help you receive a better google organic search ranking, which is very important for acquiring customers and organic business growth.
Moreover, it will help to establish yourself as an expert in the industry and set a foundation to grow your business. In the meantime, promote your blog as much as possible on forums like /r/autodetailing or autopia.org.
Use Software to Keep You Relevant
Save time and money by using mobile car wash software to simplify your business practice. With software like PodiumIO Mobile car wash professionals can have all their appointments booked and paid for online through a fully custom website, unlimited real-time