Marketing and Advertisement suggestions to restart an idled SS

[mucoucah]

We are in the final steps of restarting a 6 bays self service wash. The place is in a neighborhood that saw significant multifamily growth in the last few years, but had been shuttered for over 5 years due to ownership issues. The previous operator let it run down and then there were some family issues. We took over this year and repainted, renamed, replaced all equipment, new lights, etc. The place used to have lines of vehicles waiting, and used to be very busy (before it got run down obviously)
We "soft" opened the wash while we are finishing it and now, we are considering how to let people know we are open and we are back. People see the progress, but they are still asking the local gas station and social media if they know when it opens.

Other than the basic banner over the front of the business saying "Now OPEN", what else would you do bring people back?

We had a radio host offering to have a live on site, someone suggested a BBQ, free weekend wash, lots of different ideas.

What is your experience?

Thank you in advance

 

[Waxman]

i've had some very good results from a rented electronic LED sign. The rate is affordable for one month and it would really help in my opinion. It's programmable and you can put just about anything you want on both sides. You tell the rental company what you want ahead of time and they program it before they bring it out. Just check with your local officials to be sure that it's legal before you go ahead and rent it. Trust me it will work! When I installed my new automatic car wash I rented one at the urging of a good friend. I had originally planned to just make some homemade signs to stick out by the road; boy was I glad I took his advice and got the LED sign. The results were so great that now I rent it for one month between Thanksgiving and New Year's every year.

 

[HeyVern]

Around here, food trucks are big. If there are some in your area with a good following, have them park at your wash for a day or two. A Facebook page is a good way to post info and share to community groups.

 

[Dan kamsickas]

If you are 100% certain everything is working well, schedule and advertise a "Free Wash Weekend" Grand Re-Opening celebration. Grill some hotdogs and burgers, maybe some ice cream, etc.

 

[Dan kamsickas]

We had a radio host offering to have a live on site, someone suggested a BBQ, free weekend wash

Combine these three into 1 event.

 

[Rfreeman]

I think it depends on your location. I re opened a wash last year that had been shut down for 8+ years.

Since it sits on a busy street I purchased 4 feather flags....2 "car wash" and 2 "open" flags and that's it. Personally I like red/yellow or red/white even though my wash has a blue mansard I think the red gets attention.

This wash was a very busy wash back in the day so it filled back up quickly and stays busy. Year and a half later still get comments about being glad the wash is back open again.

Good luck