How to Manage Technology Trends — and Your Hat Collection

How to Manage Technology Trends — and Your Hat Collection

As an aftermarket business owner, you know that wearing multiple hats comes with the territory. On any given day you may wear hats for service advisor, technician, service manager, parts manager, and marketing manager, to name just a few. You probably have your favorite hats and your least favorite hats, and also some hats that you wish someone else could wear.

As changes in vehicle technology continue to advance and accelerate, you may need a new strategy for managing your “hat collection” so you can focus more on your core business of repairing vehicles. If you’ve ever wished that you could hand over the marketing hat to someone whose primary expertise is in marketing for the automotive aftermarket, we have good news for you. Mitchell 1’s Social CRM service is an excellent option for outsourcing your marketing so you can continue to do what you do best – providing outstanding service and repair to your customers.

Your Strategy for Managing Change

Just like vehicle technology, marketing technologies like social media (Facebook), Internet search (Google), and mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) — and the way people use them — are changing quickly. For example, almost half of all emails are now being read on smartphones. Are your customer thank-you and appointment reminder emails delivered in a mobile-friendly format? If not, there is a very good chance your customers are not reading your messages.

And technology is not slowing down; the rate of change is only going to accelerate for both automotive and marketing professionals. Trying to keep up with both worlds is a near-impossible task even for the most “techie” automotive business professional. This makes outsourcing your marketing to an outside expert an excellent strategy for managing change.

Imagine the Perfect Marketing Program for Your Aftermarket Business

For just a second, close your eyes and imagine the perfect marketing program for your business. It’s fully automated, affordable, comprehensive, on the leading edge, specializes in the automotive industry, and comes with a marketing consultant dedicated to your shop to handle every detail for you.

This perfect marketing program would include cost-effective service reminder emails sent out based on projected vehicle mileage matched to the manufacturer service schedule. Personalized and mobile-friendly thank-you emails are sent automatically after every closed invoice to show your gratitude to each customer. That thank-you email would also collect valuable feedback about your customer’s visits to your shop and then encourage them to share their positive experience on their social network with their friends and family.

This ideal program would give you first-rate visibility when consumers search for your services online, and would provide a Facebook page with regular content to engage and build your online community. Need to send out a special email promotion to drive business? No problem, simply contact your marketing consultant and they will take care of the details and maximize results.

You Can Have It All

The scenario above is an overview of the SocialCRM digital marketing service from Mitchell 1. Time after time, our customers tell us that our SocialCRM agents have helped change the way they market their business by creating personalized marketing strategies & tactics for their unique business. Ian Howse, Service Manager at Burnsville Motors in Minnesota, sums it up well: “I’m new to social media marketing, so I really appreciate having a support agent dedicated to helping me stay on top of my social media presence.”

It comes down to prioritizing your tasks to make the most of your experience and proven skills. Why not let the expert SocialCRM team wear your marketing hat and put your shop’s marketing on cruise control while you concentrate on providing the best possible repair experience for your customers. It may just be one of the best investments you ever make.

Click here to learn more about SocialCRM.

 

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About the Author

Brian Warfield

Brian Warfield is a Senior Product Manager for the Mitchell 1 SocialCRM product line. He has been in the automotive software business for over 20 years and has earned a degree in Marketing from the University of Cincinnati Business College.