The holidays can be a busy time for everyone, especially businesses. Managing customer needs during a busy holiday season can leave you scrambling to come up with engaging marketing ideas, or worse yet, leave you so busy you don’t do any holiday marketing at all!
Auto shops often encounter a holiday-season speed bump where customers may forget to come in due to the holiday rush of buying gifts, attending festive events and parties, and enjoying time with family and friends. Customers this time of year are also already being bombarded with seasonal ads at every turn, as it is the busiest season for retail stores. Because of this, some auto shop owners may feel like there is no point to holiday marketing when, in reality, with the right marketing tactics you can entice your busy customers to come in and keep your shop full all year long.
So, without further ado, here are some festive tips to improve your shop’s holiday marketing.
Embrace Email Marketing
Creating a festive email blast to send to your clients before and/or after the holidays can remind those who travel during the holiday season to bring their vehicle in for a pre- or post-trip tune-up. Our CRM’s eMessenger feature is great for this, just create your email, select your preferred audience, schedule your email, and viola! Email marketing for the holidays done in a flash.
Lean Into Loyalty Rewards
A program designed to reward your loyal and returning customers is great to implement for the holidays and all year round if you haven’t already. Whether it be a punch card system per visit, exclusive discounts, BOGO offers on services, referral specials, or something else, rewarding your customers for always coming back will always land you on the nice list.
Get Into the Spirit of Giving
The holidays are commonly known as the season of giving, so why not get into the spirit to show your customers you care? Offering gift cards, following a 12 days of Christmas theme for giveaways or limited time promotional offers, hosting a charitable toy or food drive at your shop, or if possible, donating a part of your proceeds, a gift package, or a free service to a charity or a charitable cause is sure to make everyone merry (while drawing in customers and giving your shop some good PR too).
Stay Active on Social Media
Spread the holiday cheer with festive social media posts throughout the season. Change your shop pages’ backgrounds to reflect a holiday theme or any seasonal promotions you’re offering. Now also would be a great time to hold a holiday giveaway and respond to any reviews or comments that may have been neglected to engage with your customers and shop community. If you have a website outside of social media, you also should make sure it is up to date and operating efficiently.
Don’t Deny the Benefits of Direct Mail
Everyone loves getting a personalized card for the holidays, right? They’re usually bright and cheerful and, let’s be honest, not a bill, so what’s not to like? Before the holiday season comes plan a creative postcard or traditional card to send to your direct mailing list around Christmas or New Year’s. Bonus merriment points if you throw in a coupon or other form of discount.
Bonus Tip: Deck the Halls
If you the time and means you could add some festive cheer to your shop with decorations. Feel free to get creative and enjoy the process. Customers that visit will notice the effort and it could boost morale for staff too! No need to feel the holiday blues; with these automotive shop marketing holiday tips, you’ll be prepared every year to be merry and bright!
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