The car wash industry is one of the most densely populated industries out there. It seems like on every corner you see a car wash or at least an advertisement for a car wash. With most car washes service offerings being relatively similar, it is easy to get lost in the saturated world of car wash marketing if you don’t keep some of these best practices in mind.
Branding Your Car Wash
Even if you are an established car wash in your market, you should take a hard look at your branding before diving into other marketing efforts. As we said, the car wash industry is saturated. The first tactics to use in standing out is your branding. Examine how your logo and are used in print, digital, and on-site marketing. Establish a clear, eye-catching brand that stands out to your customer base and invite people to enjoy the benefits of your car wash.
Customers will often make a decision, especially choosing a car wash, based on the way the facility looks. Make sure your car wash stays clean, trash-free, and stocked for your customers, maintaining the appearance of professionalism. By combining unique branding that sets your car wash apart and a positive customer experience, your car wash is set up to handle the influx of customers the following tactics are sure to bring.
Establish an Online Presence
The next step is developing a strong online presence. First, your online listings should be correct. This includes Google, Bing, Yelp, and other search engine and directory platforms that will house your information for the public to access. You do not want your hours, phone number, or location to be incorrectly listed – you might lose a customer! M&R Marketing offers a listing management service to handle every mention of your car wash online. Our digital experts will ensure all information is correct so that no opportunity for conversion is missed.
Beyond that, it is extremely important for your car wash to have an optimized website. Optimized for local searches as well as popular keywords and search terms consumers in the industry use when looking for a car wash online. An optimized website allows you to show up as one of the first options in a search query, positioning you as one of the top choices for car washes in the area.
SEM and Geofencing Campaigns
More so than the car wash marketing world, the digital landscape of today’s bank of information is even more saturated. That means using online advertising in the form of Search Engine Marketing and Geofencing is more important than ever.
Running an SEM campaign allows you to nail down your ad’s target audience and cater to their search intent. Know your audience’s demographics, psychographics, as well as their thought process and consumer habits. This data will help in content creation, ad placement, and more to specifically target potential customers.
A geofencing campaign allows you to set a digital perimeter around an area and place ads in front of app-users when they enter your digital fence. Your ads show up in a large list of apps and you can target users by interest, radius, and day and time.
Both digital advertising tactics are great tools to boost your digital presence in front of the people most likely to convert to a sale.
Host Events or Fundraisers
Hosting a car wash event or fundraiser allows for people to actually come and see your location. It enacts muscle memory to correlate your car wash with the best option to choose from for future visits. It also speaks to your company’s values and how important it is for you to give back. Going back to the saturated car wash marketing theory, this is a great added value of your car wash that can be used to stand out among the dense competition.
Promote Unlimited Wash Club Membership
Another popular incentive to initiate is an unlimited wash club. No matter the specifics of your unlimited wash club, members will receive a monthly membership they can use for as many washes per month you want. This will drive traffic to your website where customers can sign up for a membership, your location where people use the membership, and boost revenue as some members will not utilize the unlimited wash option every month.
Consider offering this or a similar type of incentive to keep new and returning customers happy and coming back to your car wash instead of the many others out there!
Case Study: How M&R Helped Tidal Wave Auto Spa
Service performed: Web design, search engine marketing, print design
M&R Marketing designed a user-friendly website including search engine optimized content that supports their multiple locations. The team created a marketing campaign that saw over 2,000 conversions and a 11.92% click-through rate (industry average is 3.17%) in 2020.
If you own a car wash and want the award-winning team at M&R to boost your marketing efforts, give us a call today at 478-621-4491!