PC&D MAGAZINE
How to develop a carwash marketing budget and strategy
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From Volume 25, Issue 12 - December 2001
Feature
Cheap isn’t always better, and timing is everything.
by: Robert Roman
 
 Related Information
  Table 1. Development tips
  Table 2. Popular promotional methods
  Table 3. Example cost schedules
  Table 4. Advertising expenditures (industry averages)

There are a number of operators who believe that word-of-mouth alone will bring in enough business to keep them busy. More often than not, this is not the case. A well-thought out and implemented promotional program can help encourage your current customers to make more purchases, enlarge your customer base, stimulate off-season sales and keep you ahead of your competition.

There are several ways to promote a carwash or detail business: advertising, sales promotions and publicity or public relations. Advertising and sales promotions can influence sales directly, whereas, publicity or public relations can increase sales by improving a company’s image.

Key components

Some of the key components in developing a promotional campaign include determining what message you want to convey, what your target market is, what is the most effective way to reach your target market, how much should be spent on advertising and when is the best time to schedule the advertising.

After answering these questions, the operator will be in a much better position to create the promotion and select the appropriate type of advertising media in order to maximize exposure.

Unfortunately, most advertising mediums are not inexpensive and one-time advertisements are generally not as effective as repeated messages. As such, operators need to carefully consider the different types of advertising mediums that are available and their associated costs.

Different types of exposure

Just as cash is king with small business owners, television is the king of mass media for advertisers. Television ads may seem impractical for most carwash and detail operators but local cable networks now offer less expensive opportunities for exposure. A local radio station can be an ideal source of advertising for a regional chain but air time and production can be expensive for a single-site operator.

Highway billboards can be real attention getters, but operators with smaller budgets will probably find that bus-stop billboards will serve as a more realistic and cost effective way to have multiple locations and, therefore, greater exposure.

Newspaper and magazine ads are both effective and expensive. Novelty items like key chains, ink pens and calendars with the company’s name, logo and phone number on them are a relatively inexpensive way to remind customers of your business.

Sending customers coupons by direct mail is a very popular form of advertising among carwash and detail shop operators. With direct mail, operators can use zip codes to target their market and control advertising expenses with greater precision. Company letterhead, business cards and sales brochures are also inexpensive ways to lend credibility to a business.

Timing is everything

Sales promotions are activities that are designed to stimulate interest for a special event or occasion. However, timing is critical to the success of a sales promotion and you will want to plan for the event well in advance in order to gain the proper exposure. Your plan should address what you’re trying to accomplish (ie; boosting sales or improving your company’s image); what elements will be included in the activity or event; and how much it will cost.

Sales promotions can take on many different forms. For example, you could sponsor a fundraiser for a local school or charity; you can offer year-end or seasonal specials to help clear out lobby merchandise; sell gift certificates to boost sales during slow periods; send special discount coupons by direct mail to reward your valued customers and improve your retention rate; or use a TV/VCR in your lobby to announce and demonstrate new products and services.

Think about publicity

Public relation firms will be quick to tell you that “Advertising is paid for, publicity is prayed for.” The most common form of publicity is word-of-mouth, both good and bad. However, there are many other forms of publicity that carwash and detail shop operators can seek out.

For example, local newspapers and radio stations often release public service announcements that serve as filler material for their regular publications and broadcasts. Carwash and detail shop operators can take advantage of these opportunities to announce a grand opening, to provide tips on how consumers should take care of their vehicles or to offer an opinion or insight on some local issue.

One of the advantages of publicity is that the exposure is coming from an independent source that consumers may view as being more objective and, therefore, more credible. Since the best advertising is free advertising, operators should seek out as many publicity opportunities as possible to benefit from the free ink.

Selecting a medium

Given the wide variety of mediums that operators have to choose from, selection should be based on cost (total and per person), market coverage, and the medium’s particular advantages and disadvantages. As shown in Table 3, newspaper and direct mail advertising may cost less to produce than a customized brochure in terms of total cost but the brochure may be more effective on an incremental basis.

For example, newspapers may have a large overall audience but this audience may be wasted if a significant portion of the readers don’t use professional appearance services or live outside the target market. Direct mail can be targeted with greater precision but its overall effectiveness can be compromised by a high throwaway rate or from the clutter that may be caused by the other ads that are included in the mailing packet.

As shown in Table 4, annual advertising expenditures are typically 2% of gross sales across the range of automotive appearance businesses. On a monthly basis, this represents $79 per month for a mobile detailer to just over $1,200 for a full-service carwash.

Given the production and distribution costs of various advertising mediums, operators will need to consider the promotion mix when developing the company’s marketing budget. If the company cannot afford to increase the budget to achieve a good mix, operators should spend more time seeking publicity to gain exposure or consider other alternatives such as developing cross-marketing schemes with other automotive-related businesses or asking their suppliers if they offer a co-op advertising program.


Robert Roman

Robert Roman is a regional sales representative for Southeastern Vehicle Wash (SVW), Sales Division, Largo, FL. SVW is an authorized distributor for PDQ Manufacturing, Inc. and Dilling-Harris, Inc. in the State of Florida. Contact Robert via e-mail at roman427@gte.net or visit www.carwashplan.bigstep.com.
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