body shop marketing

A place for professionals to network and discuss the business and technology inside the shop.



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PostPosted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 2:18 pm
what is the best form of body shop marketing besides DRP?

seo?

ppc?

thanks



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PostPosted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 5:17 pm
DRP isnt marketing.
That said, I believe word of mouth is the best. It's the cheapest and most effective. If you have money to burn then diff forms of advertising work. Fliers or business cards in the local parts stores. Networking with local dealerships. Ads in the local paper. A lot of it depends on your market area as well. Are you in a small rural community, the suburbs, in a big city etc.
I will say the biggest waste of money nowadays is an ad in the yellow pages. No one picks up that phone book anymore



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PostPosted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 7:19 pm
Diff forms of advertising is good....but if the words coming out of the mouth of your customers are not those of satisfactory, the ads wont matter. Putting your name out there is important though.

Your work is your main marketing tool...



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PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 3:00 pm
thanks for the reply. some internet seo would work as well.



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PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 6:41 pm
any suggestions as to which internet marketing you guys use?

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 13, 2012 7:16 pm
Do yourself a favor...keep it simple. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a practice that's suited for internet based entities that need to reach a wide audience. You will be wasting your money on an SEO firm for local customers. I always shake my head when I see guys spend sometimes hundreds of dollars a month on stuff like this.

You will have much better luck with this if you have a small web consultant create a simple little website for your business, and then put the URL to that site in your online yellow page directory (superpages), craigslist ads, and Google AdWords for local search.

Google AdWords Portal

You can even do all this yourself, there are plenty of "build from template" website hosting places out there...google for it.

There, I just saved you thousands of dollars ;-)



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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 3:45 pm
thanks for the reply, CHRIS. i am signed up with yellowpages and designed my own webste. so atleast i am ahead at that point. i will research google adwords. thanks.

btw. autobodyguru.com specializes autobody shop only and its local. lowcost, only $149 per month. im planning to try it our for 1 year. i will keep this forum posted with feedbacks.

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 8:57 pm
Although its usually a waste of time...I got 2 jobs off craigslist in the past 2 months. Those 2 customers brought me a grand total of about $800. It took me 10 minutes to make the add. I just got a call from one of those customers who is bringing me back the rest of his motorcycle panels to finish off the paint job next week, and called to say he passed out some of my business cards at the motorcycle meet last night so hopefully I'll be getting some jobs from it next week. It starts branching off and eventually you build a solid clientele base, but it does take time, and effort on your part. The most important thing while you're slow is to do more for the money than you normally would. You cannot afford for a possible client to leave your shop without getting their minds blown by your work.

There's something I do which has helped me alot to build clientele. When someone comes in with a tiny little thing...like a 2 inch scratch that just needs a light 1500 and compound...I do it, tell them its on the house and give them my business card. Rather then charge them a couple of bucks, they're greatful and I made a new customer. Those people always end up bringing me back work. Also when I get big insurance jobs that are paying well I take care of the customer in any way that I can, as in doing little small stuff that weren't included in the estimate.

Our shop started up with just my dad renting out the backyard to a body shop out in the weather, with me helping him on my 2 days off wet sanding and buffing cars and buying lunch whenever I was by. 2 years later we have enough income to support me, my dad, a heavy collision body man, and a helper. So yes, word of mouth is your best marketing.

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