5 things you should NEVER do in collision repair marketing

When it comes to marketing in any field (not just auto body repair), everyone believes he or she is an expert—just like plenty of at-home cooks think they are as good as professional chefs or garage band guitarists think they could rip a solo on stage like Slash.  The reality is that expert marketing takes years of experience and a lot of hard work.  If you ever doubt this, then take a minute to surf the web and check out what your peer auto body shops are doing.  Some will have sleek websites with plenty of content, well-managed blogs, and hopping Facebook feeds.  However, the vast majority of collision repair shops out there will have quite the opposite, yet believe that their marketing is on par with the top shops.  It doesn’t take an expert to tell you that they are mistaken.

If you want to make sure that you don’t make the same marketing mistakes as many other collision repair shops, here are 5 things you should be sure to avoid doing in order to ensure greater business success:

1.       NEVER forget that the quality of your website is crucial.  At Stratosphere Studio, we firmly believe that your website is your #1 salesperson and it needs to be treated with respect!  After all, it works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and never takes vacation or sick days.  It needs to be the best possible representation of your shop.  We’re told not to judge a book by its cover, but people will still judge a body shop by its website.  If your site contains hardly any useful information, is difficult to navigate, and isn’t pleasing to look at, people are likely to move on to the next shop listed in their Google search.  Therefore, it might be necessary to perform some repair on your website before you engage in any other kind of marketing.

2.       NEVER neglect your body shop blog.  There isn’t much point in having a blog on your collision repair website if you’re not going to post articles regularly.  Keep up the momentum with regularly-scheduled, useful content and search engines will reward you with higher rankings, while visitors will reward you with longer visits and contact information submissions.

3.       NEVER post a page without including a call to action to gather lead information.  It’s important that you use every single page on your website as an opportunity for lead acquisition.  It can be as simple as a “Schedule an appointment” button.  Your page visitor will likely be grateful that you didn’t make them hunt down that opportunity elsewhere on your site.

4.       NEVER forget to follow up with leads.  Don’t let your contact information submissions gather dust.  Instead, develop a strong lead nurturing campaign that will help to keep your new leads interested in what your shop can do.

5.       NEVER let a week go by without monitoring your website analytics.  If you keep an eye on how your website is doing, you’ll be able to adjust your marketing tactics as necessary.  It also gives you a clear view into which strategies work better than others.

Do you have questions about the best collision repair marketing strategies for your shop?
If you’re looking for a digital marketing agency to take your auto body shop to the next level, at Stratosphere Studio we can develop the perfect strategy for you.  We can produce a comprehensive digital marketing proposal for you or provide individual services, such as website design, blogging, search engine optimization, and more.  We are offering low-cost trial packages that can match any shop’s budget.  We specialize in auto body shop marketing and work with some of the top shops across the country.