Dee Blick is the UK’s number 1 bestselling small business marketing author and the retained Chartered Marketer for K-Seal distributors Kalimex. In the latest instalment of marketing hints and tips for garages she provides some tips on business growth on a limited budget.
“I don’t have the budget to promote my business,” is the lamenting cry of many small business owners.
Good news is there are some powerful but simple things you can do to increase sales and not part with a penny – the only cost being the investment of your time.
Email your customers. Regularly.
Email is one of the most effective ways to keep in touch with customers whether they access emails on their mobile, tablet or laptop. So, set yourself up on mailchimp.com with a free account and, take advantage of their free drag and drop email design templates.
You can email up to 2,000 subscribers and send a total of 12,000 emails every month. What’s more, the free templates are mobile friendly. Plan a series of emails, mailing customers on a fortnightly basis or, if you really want to go for it, weekly.
Vary the content as follows:
- A special offer. Could you offer a discount, a free gift or an incentive for customers to book in on a quieter day or a small enticement for booking within a certain time frame?
- A reminder of your fantastic service. Remind customers of your long opening hours, vehicle collection service, complementary valet and so on.
- Promote a particular service that you want to boost sales of. Create four to six benefits that should hold their attention.
- Run a regular quiz/competition. Try linking to what’s happening in the world of news or sport at that point in time.
- Be helpful and useful. Sharing top tips on vehicle maintenance and indeed any other topics that showcase your expertise and that will be well received by customers.
Ensure your waiting area is clean and comfortable
Ensure you have a plentiful supply of literature and leaflets outlining your services and any products you sell. Can product suppliers support you with attractive dispensers/window stickers?
Look upon this area as an opportunity to make a customer feel happy they chose you and for them to find out more about what you can offer that will make their life easier.
Marketing audit
Okay, this tip does not fall under the heading of free marketing but it really does pay to audit what you’ve spent on marketing in the last 12 months; advertising, business networking, online directories, telemarketing and more.
Analyse what you’ve got for what you’ve spent. It’s not a precise science but it will enable you to decide how to spend your money in the future and what should be jettisoned because it didn’t work.
Good luck! It never ceases to amaze me how a business can go from zero to being marketing hero, raking in the sales, when they make a commitment to market their business on a regular basis. And you don’t need a big pot!
