Tag Archives: marketing strategies

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Amazingly Effective Strategies Auto Repair Shop Merchants Can Use To Improve Marketing

Don’t assume when running an auto repair shop that clients will start coming to you. While cars always break down and need repair, that doesn’t mean customers will flock to the first repair shops they see. They want to know which shops are the most reliable and affordable to hire.

You can market your auto repair shop to customers to let them know you have the best services and deals in town. You can use a few points to help you highlight your business and let people see what makes it valuable. People will know more about your business when you use these points for making your work more useful to everyone.

Produce a Sensible Website

Your auto repair shop marketing plans should start with your website. Your website needs to be easy to review and optimized with the appropriate keywords. It should provide enough information on what you provide and what makes your service distinct.

You can also pair your website with a Google listing that highlights your location, your hours of operation, and any unique services you provide. People will trust your work if they see your website is detailed and has all the information they demand.

Run a Blog

You can add a blog to your website to inform people about your work. Your blog shouldn’t be all about promoting your work though. The blog should discuss topics on auto repair and maintenance. It can have articles on how repair projects work, what people should watch for in their vehicles, and trends involving the auto industry. People will trust you when they read your blog, as you’ll show you understand the industry and have astute details on how it operates.

Market Your Work At the Right Time

You can market your business before significant weather changes to let people know your auto repair shop is there for them no matter what happens. You can talk about how you can help replace tires if they were damaged by potholes in the winter, for example. You could also discuss how you can repair hail damage during the summer months.

Be sure you market your work before the weather changes, as you can let people know you exist before they consider your services. You can let everyone see your business is ready for whatever happens next.

Direct Mail Works

Direct mailings are ideal for marketing, as you can send postcard-sized advertisements to people to let me know about your work. Your ads can include coupons or promotional offers. They can also feature a list of the services you provide.

Direct mail is a smart move, as you’re targeting many people who have one thing in common. They all have vehicles they drive and rely on for going places. Your direct mail effort will do more in reaching people who need help with their vehicles.

Provide Smart Offers

One way to market your business is to provide unique special offers. You can provide discounts on one’s first service appointment, or you can give a deal on an oil and filter change. Someone can use your offer to see what you provide without paying lots of money. A customer who is highly satisfied with your work might be more likely to visit you later and pay regular price for future services.

Use a Memorial Phone Number

You might be eligible to apply for a unique phone number that people can remember. You might use a number with the last four digits spelling out something like “tire” or “gear.” Incorporating something as memorable as that into your marketing campaign can help you make your work more memorable to prospective customers. They will know that you provide a car-related service while focusing on unique things of value for their demands.

Host Events

Talking with people in your community helps you understand what people are looking for in a business. You can host events in your area to stay in touch with your community and to learn more about their needs. You can hold an auto enthusiast club meeting, or you can conduct seminars on how car maintenance plans can work. Your meetings will let people see how committed you are to support their car maintenance needs and that you have plans for how to make everything work.

Solicit Reviews From People

Potential customers are more likely to trust you if they read positive reviews surrounding what you provide. Good reviews show that you understand what your clients want and that you’re here to help them with their needs.

Ask anyone who visits your repair shop to provide a review of your business. They can post a review on Google or any social media site you utilize. You can get enough positive reviews after a while to show you have a good clientele and that your business is trustworthy.

Send Reminders To People

Do you have any prior customers you wish to contact on occasion? You can send reminders to customers after they visit you for the first time. You can send messages surrounding when people need to get their oil changed or when they need their tires rotated, for example. Reminding people of what you have to offer will help them stick around and do business with you once again. 

Promote Free Estimates

The last marketing idea is to provide prospective customers free estimates for service. You can have a customer bring one’s car into your shop. You can then review that car and see what services it could benefit from the most. This service will come with a listing of possible repairs you can provide and how much you would charge for the work.

You can boost your auto repair shop’s standings with others by using these smart strategies for promoting your work. Be sure to plan your marketing efforts soon, as it will be easier for you to market your content when you know what works.

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Essential Tips to Increase Revenue for Construction and Contracting Merchants

Your construction or contracting business will be more successful if you plan the proper marketing and promotional efforts. You’ve got plenty of competition to work with, and there’s never a guarantee that the market will remain strong. Here are a few things you can do to boost revenue and make your construction company easier for people to trust.

Plan Your Work Well

The first tip to use is to plan your work ahead of time. You’ll know what your strengths and weaknesses are when you look at what you’re doing with your work. You can review prior projects and see how well your business is growing and what your clients like about your work when figuring out where you wish to go.

You can also plan your work surrounding the equipment you wish to utilize and what new investments you should be managing. You can use the work you put in to see what fits your business needs. You will be more successful if you know what you will do and if you have an idea of whatever might be best for your business after a while.

Keep Things Safe

Your business won’t make any money if you don’t keep things safe. Your employees must stay safe on the job, or they won’t help you all that much. A poor safety record may also keep your business from being reliable or trustworthy. Review your company’s safety standards and equipment to see that it is working well and that everyone in the company knows how to use all your equipment. 

Provide Smart Customer Service

Keeping tabs with your clients is critical to your success. You can talk with those clients about the projects you are planning and how you want to handle different changes of value. Discuss with your clients about what they want out of their projects and what changes you need to make to be more effective. Your customers will feel confident in your work if you provide a sensible series of details on whatever works in your place and how you’re going to keep everyone protected while working. They will know that you recognize their requirements for work and that their projects will be in good hands.

Your customer service department is often the first thing people will get in touch with when they contact you for work. Your department should be amicable and ready to support your prospective clients with the needs they hold. Your customer service team should understand what you provide and convey that information to your possible customers.

Produce Value Propositions

Every construction team has a unique value proposition. Some companies focus on green building efforts. Others can handle properties for specific industries. These propositions are more than marketing points, but they are also philosophies surrounding what a business does and how it can help people.

Look at what makes your company different from everyone else. Think about the processes or routines you utilize and if you do anything different from what people might expect. You can highlight this as part of your marketing effort to make your business more interesting to people. It becomes easier to promote your work when you see what makes your business unique and outstanding for people to hire.

Create Sensible Benchmarks

The benchmarks your business uses can be critical to its success. Benchmarks are standards where you can measure your strengths and weaknesses. You can review how you perform against industry standards or other contenders in your field of work. A proper sense of comparison is critical for your success, as you can figure out what you should be doing and how you can boost your business and make it more effective.

Be sure your benchmarks are sensible and that you can meet them. It is easier to succeed when you know what you’re getting out of your work and that you’re not trying to be too lofty in the effort.

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Look At Technology

The construction industry is always evolving. New forms of technology will make it easier for some projects to run right. But technology only works when you know what you’re using and how you’re going to make your plans useful.

Take note of whatever technologies your construction business could utilize. Plan your work based on whatever you want to offer to people and how you’re going to support them with whatever needs you hold.

What Will Your Marketing Highlight In the Future?

You can plan a new marketing campaign surrounding your business’ operations and what you wish to promote. But the marketing project should be sensible enough to where everything fits right.

You can plan a marketing strategy for the next six to twelve months. The strategy should be thorough enough to where you know what you will do in the future and you will boost whatever work you wish to manage. The marketing plan should highlight what your business represents and what you feel the most confident in supporting.

You can also adjust your marketing work based on whatever changes you wish to handle. Your project can include different rules surrounding whatever fits in your business and what campaigns you feel are sensible for work.

Be Flexible

The last idea to use is to be flexible and in control of your work. Be willing to consider future ideas for work and how you’re going to change things for the better. You can plan your work surrounding whatever clients you want to attain, but you would be better suited managing multiple plans for different types of customers. Staying flexible in your work increases your chances of people trusting your work, plus they will see you understand everything you wish to handle.

Everything you do for your construction or contracting business will be critical to its success. Be certain when planning your work that you know what fits. Marketing doesn’t have to be a challenge, and communicating with people well will be critical to your success in work.

Merchant Services Conference

When observing large, Fortune 500 companies from the outside, small and medium size business owners often wonder what it is that makes them so successful. There are several factors that comprise the answer to this question, and one must be careful not to get overwhelmed or discouraged by its complexity. The remainder of this article will focus on one crucial aspect that can start these small businesses on the path to the prosperity that they seek.

Merchant Services Conference

In this day and age, information is key to the success of businesses of every size. This is why business owners looking to get the competitive edge over their rivals may want to consider attending what is referred to as a merchant services conference. The information that can be gleaned at one of these conferences may prove to be invaluable to the business owner as well as any employees that may attend. Following are some of the opportunities that are typically available during one of theses conferences.

Networking

Networking plays a major role in the success of a business. These conferences provide companies with an opportunity to network with some of the best business minds from all different types of industries. Forming these new and lasting relationships could prove to be extremely beneficial for the future growth of a business that is trying to expand.

Previewing the Latest Technology

With the world moving so quickly in this age of technology, it is important that businesses keep updated on the latest advances. Finding out about technologies that could enhance the efficiency and productivity of a business is never a bad discovery. In the ever-changing world of technology, it can be difficult to stay current. Attending one of these conferences is a great way for business owners to discover new technology that could completely change the way their business operates. This is such a convenient means of gleaning information for business owners, since all the information is compiled for them.

Upcoming Events

One major annual event in the credit card processing industry is the ETA Annual Meeting and Expo. This year the event will roll in to New Orleans April 30 through May 2 and promises to be even bigger this year with nearly 200 exhibitors and over 3000 industry executives. The show highlights new trends in the industry and some of the top executives in the business.

Marketing Ideas

With the market being so competitive in every industry these days, business owners could benefit from newer and more engaging marketing ideas. This topic typically comprises a large portion of the conference. Learning how these cutting edge marketing ideas can impact their market and close sales can definitely maximize the bottom line of any business trying to expand. It is also worth mentioning that these ideas are usually coming directly from the pros of marketing.

In conclusion if a business owner is looking to reach for new heights and expand the maximum potential of their business, they should consider attending a merchant services conference. Whether it is a B2B or B2C business, it would be a wise decision to take advantage of the wealth of information that these conferences can provide.

A Different Kind of +1

The Official Merchant Services Blog takes a moment to look at a transition in marketing strategies that is extremely relevant to small business : Postage. The United States Postal Service announced this week that it is going to raise its postal rates. Most notable is the cost of the first class stamp is going up one cent from $0.44 to $0.45.

Some other drastic changes are being investigated as well, as cited in that article from Reuters: “The Postal Service has asked Congress for permission to drastically overhaul its business, including cutting Saturday mail delivery and eliminating a massive annual payment to prefund retiree health benefits. The agency also is studying thousands of post offices and processing facilities for possible closure.”

Digital Over Direct Mail

This change is indicative of a shift in how the country does business. And it’s not really all that surprising. The USPS has to react to more than just competition from Federal Express and UPS. Businesses are thriving on the internet. And that makes using more traditional means of marketing –– i.e. print-based marketing –– too little bang for a business owner’s buck.

Which brings us to this interesting article from Multichannel Merchant that suggests that suggests that the postal rate increase is going to cut into the amount of printed materials that businesses mail –– specifically catalogs. Printed direct mail marketing materials, in my experience, have always had a really low impact with customers. Catalogs were usually stronger than other direct mail marketing pieces, for sure. But overall junk mail is called junk mail for the very reason that people ignore it. You send out thousands of direct mail items and are hoping to get dozens of responses, if you’re lucky. So things were already looking bleak for the future of direct mail marketing strategies.

The 2012 postal rate increase only furthers things a long right at the time when internet based marketing strategies are becoming very user friendly for just about everyone.

Social Media Plus One

Social Media can have a much stronger impact with your customers when utilized properly. And there are a lot of easy-to-find resources to help small business owners take advantage of Social Media. Getting tips on how to best use Facebook Ads and Google Ads and Twitter feeds to reach customers organically and generate strong responses to your business and its activities. Host Merchant Services provides some of those resources itself. This very blog is designed with the intent of reaching out to our merchants to help keep them on top of trends and news that help their business thrive. The company also provides an article archive on topics related to the industry so merchants can understand processing better. The company actively keeps its Facebook presence updated. It’s all part of the goal of reaching out to our merchants to help their business run better. The company also provides e-commerce solutions and social media and marketing advice and analysis for its customers. Beyond just the marketing aspects, Host Merchant Services is here to provide its merchants the assistance they need for their e-commerce opportunities.

So take this 2012 postal rate increase as a sign of how marketing for your small business now exists in a very different environment, and you have an opportunity to reach out to customers with the money you don’t give the USPS. You can reconsider reaching out via direct mail and focus on reaching out to your customers through facebook, twitter, your own site and blog, or any combination thereof. At the very least you’ll avoid those higher postal rates, and should be able to drum up just as many points of contact as your mailers were generating.

Print Still Has Its Place

Keep in mind, this isn’t a suggestion to go completely digital. You don’t have to abandon print-based marketing strategies. But you can certainly give serious consideration to adjusting how much you budget for them. If the price increase isn’t worth your money, you can scale back and focus your efforts and resources on something web-based. Use the postal rate increase as a catalyst for boosting your businesses’ e-commerce. Sticking to the most basic plan:

  • You can have your business online, with a website.
  • You can offer your products online, with a catalog.
  • You can process transactions online, through your website and its catalog.
  • You can use a merchant services provider like Host Merchant Services, to handle those transactions.
  • You can then connect to customers and potential customers through social media services like Facebook or Google Ads or Twitter.

From the Multichannel Merchant Article: “Deb Dyer, vice president of marketing for bedding merchant Cuddledown, says the rate increase “won’t keep us from sending catalogs to our house file or prospects, but it will make us look at other digital prospect opportunities and programs.” “

Information Flows Digitally Now

And that’s really what the postal rate increase is most likely going to do for a lot of other merchants. Give them the perfect opportunity to explore the powerful tools they have at their disposal with social media and e-commerce solutions. To put it in perspective, as I was reading the article I link here from Multichannel Merchant, my eyes were drawn to the Facebook “Share” button, Google “Plus One” button and Twitter “Tweet” button that were all conveniently placed on the left-hand side of the article. It’s all right there. One click and you can get yourself involved in a whole new marketing plan for your business.

In short, a lot of people have stopped getting their news from print media. They ignore direct mail sending it to the trash as junk mail. But they’re still consumers and you can reach them with well executed social media marketing strategies. The United States Postal Service is just reminding you that you have this option, albeit indirectly.