Marketing Ideas?

[Jerry]

Anyone have any good marketing ideas that have really increased tunnel volume/revenue besides the obvious winners(unlimited membership plans, free vacuums, rev-share like groupon). Looking for some outside the box ideas(that have worked) to bring in some more traffic.

also really helpful to hear about the ideas that failed but not looking for the usual duds (punch cards, wash books, ladies day, early bird, 48 hour rain guarantees etc).

thanks!

 

[Earl Weiss]

Grocery store receipt coupons worked fairly well. I also support local charities by donating washes . Hoping the exposure will generate repeat business. When I frequent a local merchant or restaurant i often leave a coupon for a free wash. Local Chambers of commerce can provide networking opportunities.

 

[robert roman]

Offer loyalty rewards where members get BOGO.

For example, if person buys four washes at regular $10, total cost is $40. With BOGO, customer’s total cost is $20.

This is similar to unlimited where member visits 3 to 4 times a month for $19.95 or $24.95 or more.

BOGO doesn’t require RFID, sharing customer information or sharing wash revenue.

Pay one low price is another tactic.

Assume fixed cost is $350,000, price $7.00 and variable unit cost $2.00. Breakeven is 70,000 cars.

Wash 100,000 cars NOI is $150,000. Wash 125,000 NOI is $275,000.

This doesn’t require RFID, sharing customer information or sharing wash revenue either.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Since I do not have pay stations I sell a pack of coupons. Basic wash is 7 for $20.00 so as to be below the local $3.00 competition. Having separate coupons allow the customer to use them among various vehicles. So, some fleets buy them as well, often $200.00 at a time. . Also allows them to be given as gifts by customers.

 

[Jerry]

Offer loyalty rewards where members get BOGO.

For example, if person buys four washes at regular $10, total cost is $40. With BOGO, customer’s total cost is $20.

This is similar to unlimited where member visits 3 to 4 times a month for $19.95 or $24.95 or more.

BOGO doesn’t require RFID, sharing customer information or sharing wash revenue.

BOGO offers do not significantly increase tunnel volume. They also do not make the customer wash any more than their normal times a year. If the average customer washes ~4x/year(ICA stats) then that customer is worth $40 to you ($10 each wash). Using a BOGO offer does not make that customer wash 5 times a year, does it?

BOGO offers are clearly not similar to unlimited, unless you assume that each BOGO customer will wash 4 times each month AND buy another 2 BOGOs each and every month on the same date.

 

[Earl Weiss]

BOGO offers do not significantly increase tunnel volume. They also do not make the customer wash any more than their normal times a year.....

My thought is a definite maybe. There is some thought that when cash is converted to coupons people may tend to use the coupon more frequently because using the coupon is not like spending real money.

There is also the potential that they may share them with others thereby increasing frequency of use. .

Another factor is the loyalty factor. if they are sitting on coupons for your location they are less likely to frequent the competition.

 

[Jerry]

I fully understand you points about BOGO offers. I was looking for outside the box ideas that significantly increased wash volume/revenues.

People are not drawn to a wash bc they offer wash books or BOGO offers. Those offers are a by product of what the customer can choose from once they see what you offer. You're never going to have a significantly successful marketing campaign offering wash books for $100 on the back of grocery store receipts. Maybe you sell 10 of these. Or 20. That doesn't do much for increased volume from 20 customers.

Free Vacuums is an outside the box approach to increasing traffic & volume(especially if your current vacuums are pay vacs and you have to give up that revenue to try and increase traffic by offering them for free).

I was hoping that some of you would have real world examples of a "wow" promotion that increased customer base that knocked your socks off or ones that failed(so I can avoid these )

 

[Earl Weiss]

You're never going to have a significantly successful marketing campaign offering wash books for $100 on the back of grocery store receipts. )

Their are issues with the medium and issues with the message. Our grocery store coupon offer was free sealer wax with the coupon. In a good month we might get 200 coupons. I have no idea how many of these were from new customers.

To try and ramp up volume at a badly beaten down place I distributed about 18000 free washes by visiting any local business with a large parking lot as well as local schools etc. I gave them a free wash coupon for each employee. Also got a labelized list of 600 local businesses from the Chamber of commerce. I think I was able to get 6 coupons plus a letter asking that they share these with employees and customers. for minimum postage. Had my daughter stuff label and stamp envelopes. Paid her .10 each. They had a 60 day expiration. About 3000 were redeemed.

I also donate 50 wash coupons whenever a local charity solicits donations. These are used for their auctions.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

EAGLES WIN SUPERBOWL...

FREE CAR WASH ALL WEEK

Is that outside of the box?

 

[robert roman]

“You're never going to have a significantly successful marketing campaign offering wash books….” “People are not drawn to a wash bc they offer wash books….”

I’m not sure the Dahm family would agree with you.

…."wow" promotion that increased customer base...”

That strategy would be unlimited which fits best with express business model. If baseline car count is 100,000, unlimited should bump this to about 130,000.

“BOGO offers do not significantly increase tunnel volume.”

That’s like saying supply and demand function doesn’t work.

Auto dealer sells 400 new cars a month. He offers BOGO. Take rate is 20 percent or 80 people take the offer or 480 cars for the month.

Take rate is driven by make and model, sweetness of deal (buy one high priced car, get one low priced), demand for product, etc.

There is no Golden Fleece except to significantly lower price (i.e. $3.00 base price).

I have clients that gave away $20,000 to $30,000 in free washes when starting up but that is a different story.

Also, volume is only one part of equation. Here, profit hasn’t been discussed.

 

[Jerry]

EAGLES WIN SUPERBOWL...

FREE CAR WASH ALL WEEK

Is that outside of the box?

Exactly the type of outside of the box I am looking for. Something different. Something with buzz. Something to bring in foot traffic. Thanks.

Wawa is giving away free coffee all day tomorrow up until game time. Why? Bc they know all of their stores in the Philly region will be underperforming due to low foot traffic(super bowl parties). Free coffee gets people in the store to possibly spend money. It’s brilliant.

 

[Jerry]

“You're never going to have a significantly successful marketing campaign offering wash books….” “People are not drawn to a wash bc they offer wash books….”

I’m not sure the Dahm family would agree with you.

…."wow" promotion that increased customer base...”

That strategy would be unlimited which fits best with express business model. If baseline car count is 100,000, unlimited should bump this to about 130,000

Also, volume is only one part of equation. Here, profit hasn’t been discussed.

If you and the Dahm family agree that wash books significantly increase car count(and that’s a promotion worth pursuing in your mind), will your baseline of 100k cars increase more or less than the 30% you attributed to an unlimited program in the same time frame by promoting and selling books?

I purposely left profit out of this thread. For discussion sake (on increasing volume and revenue thru outside the box marketing ideas), profit is irrelevant. You might be willing to spend x on marketing while someone else might be willing to spend 6x. Profit will obviously be affected by this and I didn’t want costs to cloud the answers I got about marketing.

 

[Earl Weiss]

“You're never going to have a significantly successful marketing campaign offering wash books….” “People are not drawn to a wash bc they offer wash books….”

I’m not sure the Dahm family would agree with you.

.

Yes, I think I red where they got them in the local Costco or Sam's Club.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Tomorrow only:

ALL GREEN CARS WASHED FREE TODAY

GO EAGLES

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Customers wearing Brady jersey PAYS DOUBLE

 

[carwashireland]

The best marketing strategy I ever used was based around a 6ft6 waving gorilla I purchased and placed on the road. It looked like someone was dressed up in a gorilla suit and was waving at the cars with a sign around its neck. The amount of free social media exposure was amazing!

 

[robert roman]

"I asked if your familiarity with a BOGO special would generate more or less than a 30% increase in base car count. simple as that."

Effectiveness of any marketing strategy depends on the situation. If you don’t put your heart into it, don’t expect much.

That’s why there are operators that only have 400 or 500 unlimited members instead of 1,500 or more.

If you have BOGO and then start unlimited, what happens? Some of BOGO converts over to unlimited and BOGO effectiveness drops.

This is why benefit cost can’t be ignored. For example, unlimited is a lot more expensive to implement than BOGO and revenue generation and margin is different.

So, like most things, results are on a case-by-case basis.

 

[Jerry]

Weren't we talking about an exact case(you mentioned the Dahm Family)?

Unlimited doesnt have to be anymore expensive then a BOGO offer. Technology existing today will lower these startup costs to almost 0. But it doesnt matter if you chose the expensive routes for your unlimited implementation, your continued ongoing revenues will always dwarf your BOGO offers(and you never have to resell that customer again like you do when the BOGO offer is fully redeemed)

 

[JMMUSTANG]

Why not offer both?
There are those that do not want to be on a monthly program and those to choose to BOGO for many reasons.

 

[Jerry]

Of course you can offer both. You go to a diner and the menu is 3 blocks long. they offer everything, anyway you want it. They have 900 items and while all are edible, most aren't really good. You go to a decent restaurant and the menu is short and concise with like 6-10 items that they do well. One eatery caters to every wish of their customer, the other maximizes their revenues from their most profitable items and drops the rest of the items off their menu even though some customers will purchase them.

BOGO's will never ever be an optimal way to increase car count dramatically or revenues significantly like an unlimited membership will.

Like Robert said, if you don't put your heart into your strategy, don't expect much. it's really tough to put all your efforts into 1 focus, much less 2 or 3.

BOGO's don't make people wash more.
BOGO's don't guarantee another sale when the 2 washes are used up.
BOGO's don't pay you on rainy days.
BOGO's discount your wash prices 50%
BOGO's don't guarantee extended loyalty beyond the 1st purchase.
most importantly, BOGO's don't offer the best value to the customer.

Try to teach your employees to sell both or all of your specialty items...it's like peeing up a rope.

Pick one approach and crush it. I just choose to pick the one thats most beneficial and rewarding for me. I have customers that still want wash books. i won't sell them anymore. Why? bc they aren't as profitable unlimited plans. If that customer doesn't want my unlimited plan(which is by far the best deal for him) then he pays me for each and every wash at full price. Which also is a win for me.