Here are 10 marketing actions every shop should take to capture, service and retain more cars, customers and revenue from today's digital consumer.
1. Research and use your shop's keywords: Remember the top keywords used in our business are, "auto body", "autobody", "body shop", and "collision repair". There are many other keyword phrases like "BMW auto body" and "ford F150 auto body" or any other searches consumers will use to find your shop on the web.
2. Optimize your site and content: When it comes to optimization, "content is king"! Where it's natural, you should also include your city and state and the surrounding cities and/or counties in your content, to let both visitors and search engines know where you are. If you are a sip in Boulder, Colorado, it doesn't make sense to rank for the generic "auto body" or inaccurate "body shop new york."
You'll also want to get the most out of your Contact page, which for a local business is often the second most important page on your site, after your home page. Be sure you include:
- The name of your company or business
- The address where your business is located
- Your primary phone number
- A geo sitemap embedded so search engines can access it more easily
- If at all possible, use your physical address rather than a P.O. Box., so that Google will be able to list your actual location in their various business tools.
- Don't forget to create pages with testimonials, reviews, ratings and customer stories and FAQ's.
- Information about your staff is also useful, both for your customers and for the search engines.
- The more content you are able to add, the better - provided that all of it offers valuable advice, information, or entertainment value to the web audience.
3. Get your business on Google+ Local: Google+ Local for Business was developed to control what information is displayed by Google in Google Search and Google Maps, so you can be found more easily by potential customers. This helps you make sure that your customers have the right information about your local business, such as your opening hours, address, and contact information.
Local Google+ pages can help you communicate with your customers and allow you to get more exposure. They add social interaction to your listing, and help you create a two-way path of communication with your customers by responding to reviews and creating post updates for your customers.
4. Create or claim your local listings: Whether they are local directories or review websites, you'll want to create or claim all listings for your business. Each listing will represent a citation, and citations are an important component used in the ranking algorithm by Google and other search engines. (A citation is a mention of your business online, whether or not it contains a link.)
We already covered Google, but it's important to also create a listing on the more than 50 other local search directories. To do this, you will need to visit one of several local search sites such as GetListed, Localeze, Yext and others.
5. Be consistent: Local search engines DO NOT like inconsistent listings of your business online, and inconsistency can negatively your impact presence. That is why you want to be consistent when you list your business details - like the exact wording of your business name, physical address, and phone number - across all websites. Use the same details on your site, on your social media profiles, and on local directories or review sites.
6. Ask for, manage and share online reviews: First and foremost never, ever add or solicit fake reviews for your business. Trying to use fake reviews will only create problems for you, when search engines or your customers catch on to what you're doing.
You should ask every customer that picks up their vehicle to to leave a genuine review on your Google+ local page, Yelp, or wherever service they prefer. Give them options, and mention the fact that one review will be enough - they don't have to copy the review across all your listings. For example, asking a customer without a Google account to leave a Google+ review may cause them to abandon the whole idea. But if you give them several options, you'll get more results.
Make it easy for your customers. Send follow up emails, text messages, QR Codes, or even a basic postcard!
Keep in mind that the review sites are not perfect, and many businesses are frustrated when genuine positive reviews are improperly deleted or hidden. You'll need a lot of patience.
7. Optimize your social profiles: Google+ is not the only social media platform that you should take advantage of to get more exposure for your website. You need to make sure that every social profile you have includes your physical location (including city and state), along with your business or store name, and a URL back to your website. Remember, keep these consistent across all platforms.
- Facebook: First and foremost you need to claim any Facebook Place pages.
- Make sure that your Facebook page is listed as a local business, so that people can check in at your location. If you encourage people to check in, you can increase the chances of appearing in the Facebook search toward the top of the listings.
- You should also have a presence on LinkedIn and Twitter.
8. Think Local: One great way to drive attention to your on-line business locations is to get other people to talk about and link to you. And if they haven't done that yet, you can reach out to them or find a way to make them talk about you.
You can also use searches in Google like "your location + blogs" to find bloggers who might want to write about your local business. And you can use social media to find authorities in a your location
Other ways of making people talk about you and your business include sponsorships for local events, scholarships, or hosting events in your community. Participating at networking events in your local area can also help you create connections that can offer positive results in the future.
9. Go mobile: Think about this....Almost 70% of the population has a smart phone and more than 50% of all searches are performed via a mobile device!
- Everyone knows that mobile is the future now. And that is even more true for local business, whose customers are often on the move and looking for you on their devices. In case you don't have a mobile presence yet, you need to get up to speed.
- Make sure your website is mobile responsive so your customers/potential customers can have a better experience when they visit your website.
- Provide your customers with your own app so it is easy for them to find you and you "own" real estate on their phone!
- Give even more attention to how the most important pages on your site, like your Contact and Product/Services pages, look to mobile viewers. DO NOT use technologies like Flash or PDF that are less usable.
10. Analyze and monitor your results: If you can’t measure it—you can’t manage it. Find a tool like Digital Marketing where virtually EVERYTHING can be measured! You can start by monitoring the target keywords you selected. On a weekly basis you should use Google Analytics to analyze the organic traffic and see if it's improving.
In today's world, EVERY auto body shop, no matter the size, needs to utilize digital based sales, marketing and customer service tools if they are going to succeed!
**Blog written by Frank Terlep, CEO of eMarketing Sherpas**
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