Running an automotive repair shop is one of the more lucrative small business ventures out there. So long as people are driving cars, they’re going to need those cars repaired on occasion. But you already know that which is why you opened your auto repair business in the first place!
The trouble is a lot of other mechanics in your area might have had the same idea, and now you have to compete with them to drive traffic to your shop instead of theirs. That’s where a little bit of digital marketing expertise comes in.
Having a few marketing strategies, like the ones we’ll outline below, up your sleeve will prove to be quite handy when trying to run a quality auto repair shop.
According to a study, the average age of light vehicles in operation in the US increased to 12.2 years in 2024, up nearly two months from the previous year. For someone like you who owns an auto repair shop, this is good news. It means that Americans are driving their cars for longer, and the need for routine and other maintenance increases. Making now the perfect time to amp up the digital marketing efforts for your repair shop.
Based on our experience working with auto repair shops like KCeps Auto and Service Center (featured in the video above) and Streamline Auto, here are a few digital marketing strategies we recommend:
Because of the nature of your business, your presence in the community is strictly physical. I mean, people have to be able to bring their cars to you in order for you to work on them. So, establishing yourself locally is an absolute must.
96% of people are using the web to learn about local businesses, so this should be your main focus when it comes to establishing yourself. You can do this with the help of local search engine optimization (or local SEO.)
Local SEO involves a few different elements such as optimizing your online directories to be consistent and filling your website with the keywords customers are using when searching for your services. You can read more specifics about local SEO in this blog post.
Remember when we said most people were searching for local businesses online? Well, then it just makes sense that your next step would be making sure your auto repair shop has a great website.
This is where people will come to find out more about your business. It should be mobile-friendly, easy to navigate and contain all the information a potential customer would need to make an informed decision about your services. Some of that information should be:
We’ll go over a few of these elements further in this post.
An online study shows that consumers are 50% more likely to be motivated by an online review than by a discount offer. The fact that someone would choose to patronize a business with good reviews over saving some money is a fantastic representation of just how important earning positive reviews really is.
Make sure you’re encouraging satisfied customers to leave reviews after you’ve performed their service. You can do this in a few ways including:
NOTE: Notice we said honest review here. Don’t just offer rewards for positive reviews and always be clear about this with your customers.
Next, you’ll want to take those reviews (or better yet customer testimonials if you’re able to get some!) and add them to your website. This way, potential customers can use that positive feedback to make an informed decision.
Running paid ads for your auto repair shop is a great way to increase awareness for your business and generate more leads. The downside is that it can get pricey, and not every business owner has the budget for it.
Luckily, auto repair is a service business, and Google has a specific category of ads for service businesses. These are called Local Services Ads or LSAs. When you choose to run LSAs, you only have to pay for the leads that are related to your business or the services you offer. Making them a much more budget-friendly option.
Adding some educational content to your website does a few incredible things for your business:
Companies with blogs produce an average of 67% more leads per month than companies that don’t have active blogs, so maybe try creating posts for auto repair tips like how often you should have your brakes replaced or what kind of work goes into common repairs. Remember you aren’t isolated to just blog posts, though. Content can take lots of different formats, like how-to tutorials, FAQ sheets or videos, etc. The possibilities are endless, so go with what you feel most comfortable creating!
In 2023, an estimated 4.9 billion people used social media across the world. As a small business, you don’t want to miss out on the opportunities social media provides to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website and generate new customers. The most important thing you can do is stay active on your platforms! Post any promos you’re running, short videos about auto maintenance, before and after photos, etc.
Implementing just the very basic digital marketing strategies on this list can do wonders to boost the business your auto repair shop is seeing. Remember, you don’t need to overwhelm yourself by doing all these things at once. Start with just a couple, like adding online booking to your website, or posting a couple more times a week on your social media. As you get into the groove, you’ll develop some smooth processes.
However, we get that as a small business owner, you might not have time to implement any of these things at all. That’s where our auto repair solutions come in. Our digital marketing experts can help you out with any of the strategies listed above and more. Contact us today for a free, no-obligation assessment of your business and current strategy!
Mideya Kinney, Junior Content Writer
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