Key takeaways
- Build your contact list by offering freebies on social media in exchange for potential customers’ email addresses or phone numbers
- Claim your free Yelp Business Page, then run Yelp Ads to increase traffic to your page and convert visitors into customers
- Invest in booths at local events to build relationships with clients face-to-face
While your car detailing business may be great at executing perfectly clean cars, potential customers won’t know that you’re a car-care genius if you don’t put your business in front of them at the right time. With more than 56,000 car wash and auto detailing businesses in the United States, convincing car owners to choose your brand takes more than launching a simple business marketing campaign.
Investing in advertising allows you to promote your brand where shoppers are most likely to see it. It’s key to standing out from competitors and earning new business, whether that’s from car owners with a classic ride or those trusting you with their brand new car.
Here are four effective car detailing advertising ideas to inspire your next ad campaign and bring in new business.
1. Offer lead magnets on social media
Everybody loves a freebie. It’s no wonder that lead magnets (free items you give away in exchange for contact information) are so effective at building contact lists. When potential customers are incentivized by the item you’re offering, giving their email address or phone number is a small request.
For business owners in the automotive industry, some of the most effective lead magnets are written content (like e-books or checklists) and tools (like automatic price estimators). You can also create webinars and infographics or offer coupons and free service upgrades. Consider which lead magnets would be the most enticing for your target audience.
Once you’ve decided on your lead magnets, you can start to build your contact list by first creating a landing page—either on your existing website or with a landing page creation tool like Mailchimp—where visitors can enter their contact information. Then, run ads on online and social media platforms that promote your lead magnet and link straight to your landing page. Customers should receive their freebie soon after providing their contact information.
2. Run Yelp Ads to reach local shoppers
As far as digital marketing tools go, Yelp is very effective for reaching customers who are actively looking for car detailing services like yours. After visiting Yelp, 90% of users make a purchase within a week. Putting your car detailing business in front of these high-intent Yelp users can quickly turn their interest into a sale.
The first step is claiming your Yelp Business Page. From there, you can build your profile with information customers need like your website address, phone number, business hours, location (or service area, for mobile car detailers), and the auto detailing services you offer. You can also upload high-quality photos—like before and after shots of your most impressive ceramic coating jobs. Plus, you can respond to customer reviews on Yelp in a professional way to impress your Yelp Page visitors.
Once you’ve locked down your Yelp presence, driving a large amount of users to your page can be as simple as running Yelp Ads, which allows you to show up above relevant search results and on competitors’ pages. With Yelp Ads, you can define your target audience and set your own budget. Plus, you’ll only pay when someone clicks on your ad.
3. Promote your car detailing business at local events
Car detailing advertising ideas don’t have to be digital to be effective. One of the best ways to win over new customers is by chatting with them face-to-face. In fact, in-person calls to action are 34 times more effective than requests sent via email.
Consider booking booth space at local events to put your auto detailing business directly in front of members of your community. Prioritize events that target your ideal customer base. For example, being present at car shows can help build rapport with local car enthusiasts who regularly pay for car detailing services. Attending family-friendly festivals can help convince parents, who frequently deal with kid messes, on the perks of professional detailing services.
No matter where you set up a booth, attendees should have an easy way to provide their contact information, whether that’s a digital sign-up form on a tablet or an old-fashioned clip board with spaces to leave their name, phone number, and email address. Giving them incentive to do so—such as a discounted car cleaning service—can skyrocket your number of leads. Also, bring your business cards to make it easy for event attendees to contact you in the future.
4. Pair content marketing with search engine ads
Whether you have a mobile auto detailing business or a brick-and-mortar location, one of the best ways to show off your expertise in your field is by writing helpful content that answers potential customers’ questions. Use a free keyword research tool to understand what people are searching for on the internet. For example, if “how to remove odor from car” is a popular search term, you may choose to write content that answers this query by publishing a step-by-step guide on your blog.
As you publish helpful, keyword-filled content, search engines will start to recognize that your website is an authority on car detailing and will rank your website higher in search engine results.
While effective, this free tactic—called search engine optimization (SEO)—can take time to increase your rank. If you want to boost your website’s visibility within a short time frame, consider pairing this content marketing strategy with search engine advertising.
Search engine ads put your website above all of the search results for certain target keywords. Even if your blog posts aren’t ranking highly yet, you’ll boost your traffic, and visitors will see the content you’ve written, which demonstrates your level of expertise.
Put your car detailing advertising ideas into action
Implementing the right car detailing advertising ideas can help you become the go-to business for detailing jobs in your area. In addition to free marketing ideas, investing in advertising on platforms like Yelp or a booth at a local event are great business growth strategies to boost your performance in a short amount of time.
Pro tip: To make every dollar count, be intentional about your ad campaigns. Make sure all of your messaging—including your font, logo, and tone of voice—aligns with your brand. Simply using the same color scheme improves customer recognition by up to 80%. Launching on-brand ads helps potential customers differentiate your small business from all of the other car detailing companies out there.
When you’re ready to expand your business growth and sales strategy, check out these eight sales promotion examples to inspire your next deal.
