How much of your dealership’s advertising budget goes into promoting your Service Department? Often times it seems that Car Dealers put so much time into getting the Front End ready for Lights, Camera and Action that the Back End gets neglected. Promoting your Service and Parts Center as well as the Body Shop is a healthy way to keep Car Buyers coming into your Service Bay even after their warranty is up.

Consider the age of the average vehicle on the road in your market. All of those expired manufacturer and certified pre-owned warranties are opportunities for your dealership to bring in new faces. And your dealership doesn’t have to spend big bucks using traditional media outlets like radio, newspaper and television either.

Interactive Media is a great way to promote your Dealership’s Service Center. By posting updates on your Facebook Page of the latest limited time Service Coupons you can create conversations with car drivers. Often times we see dealerships giving away Apple iPhones and that can create a community of Prize Hugs that are not necessarily loyal to your brand. Why not giveaway a couple free service specials on your dealership’s Facebook Page to spawn activity? At least that way you can keep the conversation about the products and services offered at your dealership.

Keeping your website updated with Service Specials is a great way to keep driving traffic to your website. You could use an Email Marketing campaign to drive past customers directly to your current selection of Service Specials and even create a Mobile Marketing Campaign to keep them in the loop by sending Text Message updates.

Not everyone is in the market for a new vehicle and you can reach those people by creating a marketing campaign promoting your Back End services. This is a great way to build retention and can help a lot of your customers become loyal by saving them money on their next tune up!

Paul Potratz