Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

College kids respond to words like "cheap", "free "(offer with service), "reliable" and other budget-friendly language. If you communicate your services, reliability, speed (of service) and add some language related to the university's nickname, you'll speak directly to your target audience.

College kids love coupons -- have you tried distributing them through campus programs, advertising in the school newspaper or via a Facebook/MySpace presence?

Those should help guide you in the right direction.

Dear Nicole,

With a large student body close by you might want to consider ethical bribes to bring in business:

Free pizza coupons for services after or between certain hours.

Do you have a shuttle of some kind? You could offer students bringing in their car for service a free ride to class.

Coupons for free coffee and doughnuts with any service or brake job,
four tires for the price of three, three for the price of two.

Bring a friend with their car and get both serviced for the full price for one and half price for the one that costs you less.

I agree wholeheartedly with Gail on every point: cheap and cheerful might just be your main message.

For customers who are NOT students, have you considered
selling discount coupon books door to door within certain zip codes? Coupons for oil changes, brakes and so on, sold at a discount. You sell the coupons and keep the money for the
sale of the coupons (thereby helping with cash flow), and
you get the repeat business when the coupons are redeemed.

Just remember, you're not selling auto repair, you're selling peace of mind and reliability.

I hope this helps.

Good luck to you.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

A free car wash with every servicing?
After hours drop off/pick up?
Free car loaners?

In addition to the students, don't forget the faculty and the many other employees of the college...they are most likely locals and in need of car repairs, service, too. Consider participating in a locally produced coupon 'book' with an ad directed at college affiliation (students, faculty, etc) and offer discounts to all of them. Also, not all students own their cars. Figure out a way to get information to the parents (via students?) with a discount coupon if they send in a completed 'sign-up' request for future discounts on service. This way you get to build your list albeit short term since the car will probably be gone with graduation...but then you have a new generation, but then you have a new crop of incoming students each year, too and can start all over again.

Finally, don't ignore the rest of the community; 50,000 pop. in a college town is nothing to sneeze at.

Hope this helps,

jag
MarketBase

I was a marketing adviser to a very profitable high-end repair shop in the Northeast for many years. Here are a couple tips (assuming you want to make money):

> You need to figure out what kind of repair order is your sweet spot - in other words - most profitable
> You need to determine the age, make and model of the vehicles most likely to require that service
> You need to determine who are the vehicle owners who would need that service, and become a repeat customers
> There are list services that will give you mailing addresses by registered owner, zipcode, make and model and age of car - start (and maintain) a direct mail service reminder program - coolant change, systems check, safety check - that kind of thing.
>College kids drive cars that are provided by mommy and daddy - they usually don't bother with service. And they don't want to spend money on maintaining their cars.

Good luck - it's a tough business. You need to market smart.

I wouldn't suggest focusing on the college population. They actually DO need their cars fixed, but they're transient. You want repeat business. Faculty and other staff, yes. They probably live near where they work.

Can you offer an important service that your competition does not provide? Do you specialize in foreign auto repairs? Use only genuine auto parts (instead of refurbished or generic brands)? Affiliated with AAA or other referral source? Any service you can offer that will set you apart from the competition will help bring in new business. (like extended evening hours or giving customers a ride to/from home or work when they drop off/pick up their cars)

Can people easily find your ad in a local telephone directory or Yellow Pages?

Direct Mail Service reminder is actually a great idea. You could also
do a mailer to notify potential customers of any and all services you provide that your competition does not offer.

I'm not a big fan of coupons, but in this economy they might be a good short-term fix, as long as the coupon has an expiration date -
so the customer has to 'take action' within a specified time period.