In any case, your objective should be to have customers relate your carwash's name to its unique features. For example, most people who know automobiles link "Volvo" with "safety" and "Mercedes" with "luxury."

These companies intentionally built their reputations over time: every message, ad or piece of copy covertly -- if not overtly -- introduced their "positioning" statement. Likewise, Apple Computer built a reputation for its Macintosh computers as being easy-to-use or "user-friendly." It still emphasizes that position.

The trick is that once you decide upon a position for your carwash, you must stand behind it. Consumers quickly figure out whether the positioning statement you espouse is what your company is really good at.

For example, if offering the lowest price is how you make the sale, that should be your positioning statement. Your ads on radio, TV or newspaper should use price discounts and offers. When comparing yourself to competitors, you need to emphasize price without losing product quality.

Strategic Positioning

Once you decide on a positioning statement there are some other considerations. If you're a franchise operation or work through an advertising co-op, take a look at the image the broader market ads stress.

For example if you are part of a group of operators that has banded together to promote the image and professional nature of local operators, don't make your message "Come to us, we're the cheapest wash in town." This confuses consumers. Make sure your message is consistent.

Tactical Positioning

Once your position is set, you want to come up with objectives for your marketing. Marketing objectives should have a number or result tied to them, such as "to achieve a 10 percent increase in volume." Tactical objectives should guide you to your strategic objectives.

To separate yourself from the competition, get your message to the public in a way that garners attention. Think like your customer. Forget about your opinion -- you're not your own customer.

Ask yourself what your customers watch, read and listen to. What are their hobbies? Find the answer to these questions and you'll know where, how and when to reach your customer.

Ways to get attention include:

* Community events. These offer a great chance for a business to stand up and get noticed as a community player. Events that provide good awareness for name recognition are sports events, concerts in the park and sports events. Just remember to choose events that fit your company's positioning. You don't want to be at a swap meet if you're selling your wash as the "Cadillac" of the industry.

* Advertising. Once you begin advertising you will want to keep track of each medium's success. Whether you use radio, TV, newspaper or direct mail, you must have a way to track an ad's success.

You also must create a compelling reason for the customer to visit you. Create some immediacy. You can offer prizes, or you might offer an "involvement device."

Involvement devices are a way to get prospects to take action. Direct mail for magazine subscriptions, for example, often uses the "scratch off here" or "peel off a self-stick stamp and place here" approach because the more you get "involved" with the ad, the more likely you are to read the whole ad and learn about the product.

In any advertising you do, you must get past the clutter. The average person sees and hears thousands of ads per day. The trick is to get them to remember yours. That involves creative advertising, a healthy budget and good planning.

* Media relations. Here's one way to stretch your promotional dollar. It's not used enough by most local operators even though it's free. Have you hired a new employee? Take a picture and send it to you local paper with a paragraph or two explaining the "who, what, when, where and how" of the job. Provide information about your wash a little further on in the text.

Such a press release lets consumers know you're growing, which means you're selling washes -- so your service must be good. A story about your company can be much more credible to the public than paid advertising. Press releases can tell the community when you add to your location, celebrate a business anniversary, win an award, get involved in community projects or hold special events.

* Referrals. These are one of the best ways to get business. Insurance companies, encyclopedia companies and others have used referrals as a mainstay of their businesses for years.

However, research shows that you must provide great quality and service for people to refer you. If not, they will tell, on average, 17 people the bad treatment they've received. Conversely, going out of your way to help customers does a lot for your wash and its reputation. People will spend more for something if they feel there's good service behind it.

Eric Webb is marketing director for AQUION Partners L.P., Elk Grove Village, IL, a marketing agency.