Marketing your car detailing business

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C&LDetail

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I want to start by saying I'm not new to the forum I check it daily but I am new to posting on the forum. I am a college student and detail to make extra money but I take it very seriously because its become something that I really enjoy doing. Right now my problem is marketing. I have no problem pleasing the clients I get but I am having trouble find new clients and I am curious as to the best ways other people have found to gain clients? I have ideas but am hesitant to put money into something to market and not get any return. Any opinions would be appreciated! Feel free to check out my website also and comment on that!
 
I had some really nice business cards made up to start with. I leave them everywhere I can without getting in trouble. My local parts store, the redemption center, the mom and pop convenience store, ect...

I found a company online, (and I am sure there are local companies also) that make vinyl window stickers for your windshield. For about $25 I can get one made up with my companies name, in my favorite font.

I have a facebook fan page for my business, and of course my family and friends all became fans, and that lead to some inquiries.

I plan on going to all the car show that I can, and if I can't get in as a vendor, I am at least going to chat with folks and hand out cards.

I am NOT going to use the phone book. Too expensive, and no one uses it anymore. I am going to make a website, and try to get my business to pop up for google searches.

I am looking into having a logo made up, but that is slow going right now.

I am always looking for new marketing ideas.
 
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:welcome: to Auto Geek!



BTW, the website in your signature doesn't seem to be working. Clicking on the link just brings me to the forum main page. Not sure why? :dunno:
 
For free you can start a group or page on Facebook and have all your friends join, then their friends will see it, and their friends...so on and so forth. I haven't gotten a ton of business through this but I have gotten a few and hey, it was free. Also for cheap you can make flyers and pass them out or put them on peoples doors. Alot of people will throw them away but even one customer would be more than worth it.

For a little more money you can have a website designed (I pay less than $10 a month on godaddy) and use goggle adwords. That can get a little too pricey for smaller companies so you might want to wait on that.

You can also look into becoming sponsors on local car forums. I was a sponsor on a civic site and got more customers than I knew what to do with.

Good luck!
 
CieraSL said:
:welcome: to Auto Geek!



BTW, the website in your signature doesn't seem to be working. Clicking on the link just brings me to the forum main page. Not sure why? :dunno:
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Thanks! And yea i just realized that also and im not sure why it's doing that?
 
twistedframe said:
For free you can start a group or page on Facebook and have all your friends join, then their friends will see it, and their friends...so on and so forth. I haven't gotten a ton of business through this but I have gotten a few and hey, it was free. Also for cheap you can make flyers and pass them out or put them on peoples doors. Alot of people will throw them away but even one customer would be more than worth it.

For a little more money you can have a website designed (I pay less than $10 a month on godaddy) and use goggle adwords. That can get a little too pricey for smaller companies so you might want to wait on that.

You can also look into becoming sponsors on local car forums. I was a sponsor on a civic site and got more customers than I knew what to do with.

Good luck!
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I've tried the fliers and social networking but the sponsor on car forums is a good idea I never thought of that. Is it expensive?
 
C&LDetail said:
I've tried the fliers and social networking but the sponsor on car forums is a good idea I never thought of that. Is it expensive?
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It depends how big the forum is. Some of the bigger ones get expensive, but they might offer different levels of sponsorship. On one of the site I used I paid $50 or so a month I believe, and I was able to post as a sponsor and quote prices etc. which regular members were not allowed to do. This alone got me some work. Now if you want a banner on the forum and your own section of the forum and such it will be much more expensive.
 
Try craigslist. And if you have someone handy with HTML you can use them and knock the competition that writes in just text. Check this out.

Heres my ad to give you an idea, hope its appropriate posted here.

"This is not for advertisement"
Mobile Auto Detailing and Paint Correction (Professional Service)

I took OCDetails advise and it works, any link in that picture draws you off craigslist to my site.
 
Has craigslist worked well for you? I had an add but there are two problems. 1. There is sooooo much competition on craisglist mostly from cheap subpar detailers that say they can do miracles for $50 so alot of people get scammed into that. 2. I've found that the clientele I've gotten from craigslist is generally very cheap and more worried about getting a good deal than getting good results. Just my .02
 
I believe in getting the word out and then my quality and before and afters will show. As long as I sell them on the cost prior I cant lose either way.. Also said Craiglist because he is a college student and wants to save money.

Thanks John Henry did it with a buddy in about a day and a half. Still fine tuning the alignment, adding more before and afters to a real photo style gallery, text and little things.
 
We use Craigslist at least once a week with plain text and a link to our website. Some folks scoff at the idea of advertising on there, but we probably pull two to three jobs a month out of it and untold referrals. We also use Google Adwords. And pull a lot of business our way when we're set up with our van and tent, just be sure to have business cards or fliers ready. One thing we did recently was contact the newspaper and offer Winter car care tips, and they bit hard. We were featured on the first page of the business section.

Word of mouth will always be a detailers best source of customers though. Just make sure your work is top notch and your business will take off.

Good luck!
 
I'm kind of like you and it's not my full time job but I've found success by going on local car forums and showing off my work on my car. This got the word out.
 
C&LDetail said:
I want to start by saying I'm not new to the forum I check it daily but I am new to posting on the forum. I am a college student and detail to make extra money but I take it very seriously because its become something that I really enjoy doing. Right now my problem is marketing. I have no problem pleasing the clients I get but I am having trouble find new clients and I am curious as to the best ways other people have found to gain clients? I have ideas but am hesitant to put money into something to market and not get any return. Any opinions would be appreciated! Feel free to check out my website also and comment on that!
Click to expand...

If you need business cards ,hats,shirts,stickers,pens,note pads ect. Check out vistaprint.com They have everything.I too have a detail business and made my cards right online.They are super cheap and the cards are good quality.I got 250 cards for like $15-$20 and after that you can get more for free.
 
Thanks for all the input!! Some of it I will definitely test out as I get ready for classes ending and alot of free time during the summer!
 
twistedframe said:
Has craigslist worked well for you? I had an add but there are two problems. 1. There is sooooo much competition on craisglist mostly from cheap subpar detailers that say they can do miracles for $50 so alot of people get scammed into that. 2. I've found that the clientele I've gotten from craigslist is generally very cheap and more worried about getting a good deal than getting good results. Just my .02
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Craigslist has worked very well for me. Here are some suggestions on how to build an effective craigslist ad. I think the quality of customer will largely depend on the quality of your ad. When people see my work they know I'm not a cheap 16 year old detailer who has a bucket and sponge for hire. When you post a five line text ad, then you are going to get a different clientele than when you post a full color ad with pictures, examples, and links back to your website. I've had plenty of one timer customers through my craigslist ads, but I've also picked up some really high dollar customers. I've got celebrity customers who found me through craigslist and referred me to their friends. Don't count out the power of that site. You can do amazing things with it and really draw in a higher client level.

Remember, just because someone has a lot of money doesn't mean they don't like a good deal now and then. ;) If anything else I'd say they use the services section more than people without money. They want to hire people to do the dirty work for them.
 
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