Current Marketing Trends That Can Grow Your Business

Nov 1, 2022 | Blog

If your revenue needs a boost, it is wise to be proactive in marketing your business. Most shop owners are focused on hitting their year-end goals in the last quarter of the year. To help you out, let’s discuss the current marketing trends that can grow your business.

If you don’t have a marketing strategy, you probably hope and pray for more car count. Unfortunately, marketing isn’t a one-and-done approach. But with persistent consistency, your marketing efforts will grow your business. 

Here are three approaches to trending marketing tactics to ensure effective marketing efforts.

  1. Quick and Free
  2. Requires Regular Attention Without High Cost
  3. Aggressive Lead Generation & Dedicated Spending

Let’s dive into each of these marketing tactics a bit further. We broke them down into three spending categories to fit the various stages that our NWACA shop owners are in at this stage of their careers.

Quick and Free Marketing Trends

  1. Update your Google My Business listing – To do this, go to https://www.google.com/business/, enter your Gmail login information, and update your company’s business information.
  2. Respond to your Google, Yelp, and Facebook reviews – Whether or not you get good or bad reviews, you should respond to each one in a friendly and professional manner. The more reviews you have with genuine replies, the better your odds of attracting new clients.
  3. Write thank you notes to your clients – Some would argue that this is an old-school marketing trend. But since large printing presses generate so many mailers, a handwritten note is more likely to be cherished by the recipient.
  4. Make videos for YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Facebook Reels, and Instagram – Hand this task to the young person most likely to create entertaining, educational, and engaging video snippets for your shop. Once the video is ready for public viewing, it can be uploaded and shared among all the other social media channels.

Marketing Trends That Require Regular Attention Without High Cost

  1. Do all of the Quick and Free items listed above – Sometimes, the shop owner will do the quick and free marketing trends themselves, but they run out of time to be consistent. The next step is to delegate this task to someone else, like a marketing agency specializing in this type of marketing. Remember: Consistency is key to all of the things listed above.
  2. Write a monthly blog – If your shop is hosting a fundraiser, is participating in Toys For Tots, or wants to highlight the best road trips in your state, the monthly blog is a great place to share this information. Monthly blogs help keep your website at the top of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). When Google sees something new appear on your website each month, your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) performance improves.
  3. Post 2 – 5 times per week on all your social media channels – If you can post engaging, entertaining, and educational posts on all your social media channels at least twice per week, your brand will become top-of-mind. Consistency is vital, so a post scheduler, like Hootsuite, is an excellent way to automate your posting process.
  4. Send regular emails to your existing clients – When it’s time for a client to get an oil change, send an email reminder so they can schedule an appointment. You can also send emails when you have news updates or want to share something of value. Email is not dead. But it’s essential to think “less is more” when emailing your client database so they don’t flag your e-blast as spam.
  5. Host in-person events to build community – In a post-COVID world, in-person events are returning. Many people are thrilled to return to normal and socialize with medium- to large-sized groups. But when hosting an epic community get-together, have plenty of hand sanitizer.

Marketing Trends With Aggressive Lead Generation & Dedicated Spending

  1. Google Adwords campaign – This marketing trend requires maintenance fees, and an ad spend budget. But Google Adwords is most effective for immediate results. Why? Because this marketing campaign will help your business get seen when people search for an “auto repair shop near me.”
  2. Video marketing and retargeting campaigns with dedicated ad spend – If you and your team cannot do the video editing and ad campaign monitoring, it’s best to outsource it to a skilled marketing agency. Pro tip: You should see dramatic results combining your Google Adwords campaign with a video marketing campaign, but make sure you have plenty of budget to spend on ad reach.
  3. Invest in text messaging software – If you can communicate with your existing client base and generate leads through text messaging, do it. Text messages have very high open rates, and the return on investment is worth it. Check with your website provider to see how you can integrate text messaging into your CRM system.
  4. Mail postcards to targeted ZIP codes – Even though postcards are old-school marketing tactics, the fact that so few people send out postcards anymore may give your business an edge. If no one else is doing it, that’s less competition for you. Pro tip: If you start a postcard campaign, you must be consistent with it for at least a year. Why? Because consistency is key to generating leads through postcards.
  5. Radio advertising – If your local radio station offers promo slots for an affordable rate, it would be wise to market your auto repair shop on the radio. Why? Think of all the drivers who only listen to the radio while in their car, which is the one thing you service and repair. Radio ads are genius for auto repair shops with a budget to spend.
  6. Podcasting / Hosting your show – Ever want to be the host of your own TV show? Podcasting your show gives you control, and agencies like Rock Star Marketing can help you do it. However, it is best to dedicate a solid chunk of time to producing podcasts consistently. Hosting your show via podcasting, television interviews, or other forms of talk-show-style videos is a great way to build community. Pro tip: It’s easier to be a guest on someone else’s podcast and use that interview to promote your business.

Delegate Marketing Tasks To The Pros

We hope you enjoyed learning about these current marketing trends. If you are already doing some of these strategies, good for you! If you need help, contact a marketing agency within the NWACA membership to begin a conversation. 

Your marketing efforts should help you get a greater car count, add new clients, replace clients that move away and exceed your revenue goals. But marketing trends change constantly, so keep your ear to the ground for newsworthy changes, helpful tools, and trending social media platforms.