The best advertising materials – The best way to attract attention to your car wash

Are you properly prepared for the day-to-day business, use only high quality and environmentally sound detergents and have a team that will deliver perfect service? All you need then is for the customers to roll in. It's best to attract them with a comprehensive marketing concept. It is important that you attract the attention of the customers from the beginning and maintain their interest through good service and exciting promotions.

Everyone is invited and they need to know

In just a few weeks, the opening beckons – it's now time to take action! After all, only those customers can come to check out the new car wash who know it is there. Accordingly, it is important that you take the right actions. Advertise locally. This can be with an advertisement in the local paper, which appears several times in the run-up to the opening, a commercial on the local radio station or also a poster advertisement at the large roundabout in front of the shopping centre or the train station. The message is always the same: New car wash – date – place – warm invitation – special discounts for the opening. The advertising is manageable, but includes everything important.

Signs as a guide

With flags or signs that are visible from a distance, you point potential customers travelling along the road in the direction of your site. You can use arrows to highlight the entrance to your car wash. If you get permission from the council, you can also put signs on the road informing drivers that, for example, they have to turn left in 200 m to reach your car wash. This signage has a two-fold positive effect. Those who are on their way to you feel comfortably guided. Those who are not on their way to you will be informed of the possibility of having their car washed and will consider or remember the location for later. More information on signs and marketing measures for your launch can be found in this article.

Be virtually visible

You cannot expect all potential customers in your area to read the paper, listen to the radio, or accidentally drop by your site. You can reach these potential customers online, for example, by

• creating a website with all the important information.
• adding your business to Google Maps so it's instantly displayed when someone in your local area searches for car washes.
• creating a Facebook account for your car wash.
• using Google ads so that your car wash is instantly displayed in text searches.

But apart from Google Maps, all these options require a bit of work. For example, your website should be recognisable, not only in terms of both the design and colours, but also with the images or videos you incorporate. The same applies to Facebook. In both cases, you should also be careful to immediately update all actions and changes so that your customers do not receive conflicting information online. You also have the option of offering a newsletter for your customers and keeping those interested up to date through email campaigns.

Google ads can be customised in line with the season or campaign. Also, by narrowing down your audience and testing ads, you'll find out for when and how long the ad placement is worthwhile to which group of users. You will find further information on this topic here.

Give-aways as forget-me-not

People like to get things for free. You can take advantage of this fact to remind customers of your car wash in a friendly way. Well-suited small give-aways are for example

• Parking discs
• Ice scrapers
• Microfibre cleaning cloths
• Protective covers for vehicle documents and driving licence
• Pens
• Keyrings
• Notebooks
• Pocket calendars
• Balloons
• Toy cars
• Card games

You can find out in this article just what effect which of these small gifts have. Basically, it is about reminding the customer of your car wash in a positive way at all times.

Loyalty and spontaneity are rewarded

Offer special discounts to target and attract different kinds of customers. Spontaneous people will drop in right after work if you offer a closing time discount at short notice and post this information on your website and Facebook. On the other hand, those who love routine and frequently wash their vehicle benefit from offers such as percentage discounts on a certain number of washes or a free wash every tenth time. You can also attract planners by offering discounts on the most popular washes at the beginning of each season or to coincide with specific occasions. Get creative! Your customers will thank you for it.

Summary: Marketing involves work on many levels

No advertising equals no customers – this is easy to work out. Today, there are numerous ways you can attract attention to your car wash. Particularly when starting up make use of regional advertising and signage and never forget the careful maintenance of your virtual presences once your business is up and running. Keep attracting potential customers at specific times with exciting offers, reward loyalty and constantly remind customers in their everyday life of your car wash through give-aways. This is how you attract and keep the attention of your customers.