How to Promote an Oil Change Business

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Promoting Your Oil Change Business

It’s not enough to just open a business and wait for people to come in. Unless you have a great, busy location, and people are coming through the doors. Most businesses need to continually advertise to keep revenue flowing consistently.

In this post, I’ll share a few tips and ideas to promote your oil change business. You’ll also find a unique collection of resources that you can use over and over to keep customers coming through your doors.

Let’s get started with a few ideas.

Customer Waiting Room

I remember a time when I went to a quick lube place. You would sit in the waiting room for the service techs to change your oil and perform a check of fluids wipers, filters, lights, etc.

There were car magazines and a whiteboard in the waiting room with some handwritten prices on it.

I thought, why not use this waiting room for a marketing opportunity. A big-screen TV could easily be placed in the room displaying short 1-2 minute presentations. You introduce the customers to new services and offer tips for driving and maintaining their vehicles.

One idea for a presentation could include the importance of changing your engine oil on time and how it prolongs your engine life. You could do the same for wipers, transmissions, air filters, the cabin filter, etc.

You could also add a news ticker at the bottom of the screen showing any promotions and products on sale, e.g., wipers, fuel additives, etc.

Use Your Company Vehicle for Advertising

Your company vehicle is a good way to advertise your business anytime you’re driving or parked.

For your advertisement to be effective, make sure your ad is eye-catching and something you can see from a distance. You also want to make sure your message can be easily read while the vehicle is in motion.

You may want to work with a graphic designer to get a design that attracts attention.

You may also want to consider a wrap for your vehicle. A wrap is quicker than painting your vehicles and can be changed from time to time if you want to update or change your message.

Also, keep in mind when you use your vehicle for advertising. The cost to create the message, and when driving, can be used as a tax deduction.

Give Customers a Reason to Return

Repeat sales are a good way to improve business stability. To improve repeat business, give your customers a reason to come back for their next oil change.

With every receipt, you can give your customer a discount for the next oil change. Another example is you could offer them a free fuel additive or something similar.

If you purchased 20 cases of fuel additive, you could get bulk pricing, and that would give you enough product to run your campaign for a couple of months.

Maintenance Packages

Another idea is to offer oil change packages. You could offer a 4 oil change package that gives the customer a 15% discount. If oil changes are every 3 months, this will keep your customer coming back for a year.

Or

Offer a “customer appreciation system,” where every 4th oil change is free. This keeps customers coming back to your business and makes them long term customers.

You can set your discount any way you want, but you want something attractive to the customer.

Offer A TAX-Free Month

You could run a promotion where you will pay the tax on all oil changes. You would need to ask your bookkeeper or accountant the best way to set that up.

Flyers and Postcards

Sending out postcards or flyers in the mail to your local area is a good way to get customers through the door.

You would need a professional design and offer that gets people through the door.

You can contact your local post office to deliver your message to the area you want.

Radio Advertising

Offer a discount for those who come in and mention they heard about your offer on the radio. It is another way to get local customers to try out your service. For more see Here’s What You’ll Want to Know About Radio Advertising

Local Businesses

You can contact local businesses such as; auto parts suppliers, muffler shops, tire shops, etc. Ask them to recommend your business with your flyer, business cards, or word of mouth. You could offer the people they send your way a discount. In return, you could recommend your customers to their business by handing out a postcard or flyer.

Local Newspaper

Your local paper is also a good way to attract local customers. You could place a coupon in the paper and offer a discount or, as mentioned above, something like a free fuel additive. For more see, Newspaper Advertising Tips

Website

Every business should have an online presence, whether it’s a website or Facebook page, or something similar because you can stay in touch with your customer base.

For example, suppose you’re running a website. In that case, you could implement a newsletter from your site, and you could offer specials.

You could also send out a monthly newsletter offering tips and insights revolving around vehicle maintenance.

The key to newsletters is offering value. People don’t just want to receive ads. When you offer valuable tips and insights, you start to build a relationship. Because of that relationship, you can build lifetime customers.

Local Search Ads

Local search ads are a great way to gain customers. The conversion rate is very high because people will be searching for the keywords; oil change, quick lube, etc. If the person is in your area, your ad will show up in their search results.

Since the customer is already looking for an oil change, the chances of coming in and using your service are very high.

Google and Bing have very good local search advertising systems. You may want to give it a try.

Resources

You have reached the resource section, where you’ll find a unique collection of hand-picked resources related to promoting an oil change business.

There is a lot of information to go through in the articles below. Use one article per week, and in a few months, you’ll have a lot of experience in advertising your business as well as a lot of customers coming through the door.

It’s important to use the most successful means of advertising over and over again. Do more of what works for you and less of what doesn’t.

Marketing an Automobile Oil Change Business

Marketing a Quick Lube Network—Online and Off | 2020-01-01 | NOLN

8 Ways To Improve Lube Marketing

Oil Change Marketing: PPC | SEO | Website Design

Helping Your Oil Change Business Increase Profits | Chevron Lubricants (US)

Sliding into the oil change market | Professional Carwashing & Detailing

18 Marketing Strategies for Your Auto Repair Shop You Need to Try Right Now

Advertising Your Quick Lube — Where to Start | 2018-01-01 | NOLN

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