The Auto Repair Marketing Podcast

ONESummaryIt feels like every shop in the country is looking for a new tech or service advisor. There is no silver bullet to hiring, but most shops are so bad at it that it’s easy to get a leg up on your competition. In this episode, we talk about how the same marketing you are doing to attract new clients can also attract new team members. We tell you what you need to be promoting that you’re probably not, and how to build a careers page on your website that will be so much more effective.TWOTalking PointsWhat we know: Good techs already have jobs! Are you showing up where they are or are you posting where they’re not going?Pay is not always the most important thing!We don’t know: have you surveyed your team? Why are they staying? What brought them to you? Ask them what they see other shops doing that might attract them there.“Train people well enough so they can leave; treat them well enough so they don’t want to.” Richard BransonOur tech recruitment guide is free on our website!Have you listened to our podcast with Carm? “Social Media Marketing to Technicians” RR 665Your marketing is not just for customers anymore! It’s where future team members learn about your shop and decide if the grass looks greener.What does your marketing say about your company culture?We love what Simard Automotive does when recruiting. They’re in Alaska so they did a campaign showcasing the beauty and reasons to move to Alaska!Pivot your marketing. Showcase company culture, team, community involvement, reviews (customers and employees), respond to reviewsYour Careers Page - what you need on it!Video - Patrick Egan at Spark InteractivePictures showing your company culture (photo gallery)Core ValuesEmployee testimonialsBenefits of working at your shop.Do you have A/C?4 day workweek?What equipment do you have?Do you take your team to training events?THEN the things like salary and benefits.A place for people to apply when you’re not hiringTHREEHow To Get In TouchGroup - Auto Repair Marketing MastermindWebsite - shopmarketingpros.com Facebook - facebook.com/shopmarketingpros Instagram - @shopmarketingpros Get the Book - shopmarketingpros.com/bookFOURLagniappe (Books, Links, Other Podcasts, etc)Blog: Hiring Techs in the Digital Age Blog: How to Write a Technician Hiring AdGuide: Auto Tech Recruitment Campaign KitBook: Building a StoryBrandPatrick Egan, Spark InteractiveWeekly Blitz with Chris Cotton - EOS Core Values - Episodes 42 and 45Thanks to our partner RepairPal. Vist on the Web HEREHow to Connect With Kim and BrianEmail: info@shopmarketingpros.com Shop Marketing Pros Website HEREMeet us at the many industry events throughout the year.

SummaryThe question was posed to a group of panelists, “As an auto repair shop that hasn’t been doing any marketing, where do I start?” There are a lot of different ways to answer this question, but we look back at how we started marketing our own shop and had great success. Not all marketing looks like what we tend to think of with websites, digital ads, direct mail, etc. The most effective marketing we’ve ever done was face-to-face, and some of the most successful shops still attribute their success to tactics like the ones we talk about in this episode.TWOTalking Points“As an auto repair shop that hasn’t been doing any marketing, where do I start?”Blog: Is That Really Marketing?Businesspeople are the ultimate referrersBNI GroupsWhat is BNI?Overview of the meeting formatBNI specific to auto repairChambers of Commerce“I joined the chamber and never got anything from it”Chamber breakfast, Leads for Lunch, BAHCommitteesHosting events at your shopBNIChamber eventsCar care clinicsMerit badge workshopsKatrina driveHalloween “Trunk-or-Treat”Car showsMevert Automotive’s Customer Appreciation Mevert Vacation Open HouseWho manages all of this?Future podcast episode “Should your shop have a dedicated marketing director?”THREEHow To Get In TouchGroup - Auto Repair Marketing MastermindWebsite - shopmarketingpros.com Facebook - facebook.com/shopmarketingpros Instagram - @shopmarketingpros Get the Book - shopmarketingpros.com/bookFOURLagniappe (Books, Links, Other Podcasts, etc)Blog: Is That Really Marketing?BNIBlog: Planning a Trunk-or-Treat for Your Auto Repair ShopBlog: How to Become Well Known In Your CommunityCustomer Appreciation Mevert Vacation Open HouseThanks to our partner RepairPal. Vist on the Web HEREHow to Connect With Kim and BrianEmail: info@shopmarketingpros.com Shop Marketing Pros Website HEREMeet us at the many industry events throughout the year.

Keywords in Reviews - Adding Fuel to the FireUsing keywords in reviews isn’t exactly a new trick, but a recent experience on a trip to Key West brought this to the top of our minds and resulted in this episode. Listen in to learn a way to make those great reviews you have perform at an even higher level, bringing in people who are searching for auto repair services in ways that you may never think to optimize for.Key Talking Points02:30 - how people search by voice03:10 - people don’t even have to click into your website anymore04:28 - Google doesn’t want people to leave Google05:20 - the story about what happened in Key West11:00 - how to make this work for your auto repair shop14:00 - how to get people to use your preferred keywords in reviews15:25 - it’s not just Google reviews we’re talking about19:05 - the 4 types of keywords you want in your reviewsThanks to our partner RepairPal. Vist on the Web HEREHow to Connect With Kim and BrianEmail: info@shopmarketingpros.com Shop Marketing Pros Website HEREFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/autorepairmarketingmastermind Meet us at the many industry events throughout the year.

Kim and Brian Tell Their StoryThe Auto Repair Marketing Podcast hosts, Kim and Brian Walker, have quite the life story of technician and teacher turned shop owners, turned marketers. This episode has very little to do with marketing but serves more as a foundational episode that can be referred back to in future episodes. Listen in to hear a story about a young couple that started with nothing and built a $2M shop only to lose it to a road construction project and eventually filing bankruptcy - then building a thriving marketing agency.Thanks to our partner RepairPal. Vist on the Web HERELink to episode 1 with Chris Cotton Here.Link to Chris Cottons Episode with Kim and Brian HERE.Email Kim: kim@shopmarketingpros.comEmail Brian: brian@shopmarketingpros.comShop Marketing Pros on the web: HERE

Hijacking The Marriott Boardroom With Chris CottonChris Cotton of AutoFix Auto Shop Coaching is our guest on this episode of The Auto Repair Marketing Podcast. We were at the Marriott World Center in Orlando Florida for Worldpac’s STX conference where we hijacked the Marriott Boardroom to talk to Chris about the overall state of marketing in the automotive independent aftermarket. We cover so much with Chris, and we hope you’ll listen in to find that one takeaway that will positively impact your bottom line.Key Talking PointsThere is a false sense of security in the industry right now. It’s easy to succeed as a shop in this bull market, but a bear market is coming.Shop owners now have to compete with shops that are owned by business people coming out of the corporate world, or with VC groups buying up shops and running them like well-oiled machinesWhen it comes to your marketing, you need to be on top of your game, you probably need to get help, you need to embrace video, and you need to make your marketing help people get to know, like, and trust you.Sometimes marketing mediums that we perceive to have stopped being effective will make a comeback. You only know this by trying things and measuring the ROI.Some shops stayed full throttle into the pandemic and thrived. Others pulled back and went out of business. You never take your foot off the gas!Focus on the foundational marketing tactics before chasing silver bullets. Once the foundations are rock-solid, then experiment with shiny objects.Most shops market haphazardly without a plan. To get the most out of your marketing, a well-thought-out plan based on a rolling 12 months needs to be in place.How to Connect With ChrisEmail: chris@autofixsos.comWebsite: https://autoshopcoaching.com/Podcast: https://autoshopcoaching.com/weekly-blitz-podcast-with-chris-cotton/ Thanks to our partner RepairPal. Vist on the Web HEREEmail Kim: kim@shopmarketingpros.comEmail Brian: brian@shopmarketingpros.comShop Marketing Pros on the web: HERE