As I sit here writing this, it’s February 2019. It has literally never been easier to create video than it is today. Yet video seems to be one of those things that people are afraid of.
I’m going to make a bold statement. There may not be a more effective way out there to do marketing for an auto repair shop than video. Understand, I believe in marketing using ALL of the foundational techniques, but video may be the most effective.
It is believed that by the year 2021, 80% of all internet traffic will be video. Currently, more video is uploaded to the internet in 30 days than major television has produced in the last 30 years.
So what’s holding people back?
The biggest reason auto shop owners don’t tend to use video in their marketing is they’re camera shy. Well, it’s simply time to get over that.
Another reason is they think their videos need to be professionally produced. Whereas there are some videos that should have a very high production quality, most videos that are going to be used in your day-to-day marketing will actually perform better if they are real, raw, and authentic.
If you think about it, you’re walking around with a movie studio in your pocket. Today’s smartphones will have nearly everything you need to shoot and edit videos.
Below are 3 ways to use video when marketing your auto repair shop.
- Set yourself apart as a “Celebrity Expert Authority”. This is going to be hard for most people simply because you don’t see yourself as a
celebrity or an authority. Hopefully you at least see yourself as an expert. The idea behind this is to put yourself out there on a regular basis
and share helpful information that people are searching for. At your business, you’re certain to get a lot of questions from your clients. Every
timeyou get a question that you think others may have as well, that’s a great topic for a video. For example, you’re selling someone a timing
belt and they want to know why you’re also replacing the water pump. This makes for a GREAT video. The next time you have a car
disassembled for a timing belt replacement, get out your phone and make a video and SHOW people why you replace the water pump,
camshaft seals, crankshaft seal, and tensioner. When someone sees why you do this, it just makes sense to them. Commit to making a video
like this once per week.
- Get client testimonials on video. This is one of the easier ones to do. The next time a client makes a simple comment about how they love
working with your shop, or how they’re so glad they finally have a mechanic they can trust, ask them if they would mind if you got them on
video saying that. The biggest objection you’ll have to this will be people who are camera shy. When someone is camera shy, don’t push the
issue. Empathize with them and move on to the next. Plenty of your clients will be more than willing to say a quick word about why they love
working with you. It’s a great idea to have a standard set of questions to ask when shooting a testimonial video. If you ask these questions, you
can edit together some really nice testimonials. Click here to get the questionnaire we use when shooting testimonial videos.
- Create company culture videos. These are the videos you’ll share on social media that give people a glimpse into the human side of your auto
repair shop. Great examples of company culture videos would be:
- A video of the team celebrating someone’s birthday or work anniversary.
- Video showing a team member’s hobby.
- Practical jokes that are played on team members (as long as they are nice and also safe)
Greg Buckley of
Buckley's Auto Care is a master at utilizing video in marketing his shop. Check out this
video where he shows a relatively simple problem causing a major issue for his client. This is a greatexample of a Celebrity Expert Authority video.
One of the great things about video is the versatile use. You can make a video go a long way in your marketing by repurposing it. Let’s use our same example of the timing belt/water pump video from earlier.
- That video is originally shot as a Facebook Live video.
- The video is downloaded from Facebook and uploaded to YouTube.
- You use temi.com to have the video transcribed at $0.10 per minute.
- The video is embedded into a blog post on your website and the transcription is also placed into that same blog post, giving you some great content for search engine optimization.
- The video is embedded into an email marketing piece that is sent out to your client database.
- The video is pinned to your shop’s Pinterest board.
- The video and blog post are shared to your personal and company LinkedIn.
- In some cases where it makes sense, longer videos have the audio stripped out of them and uploaded as podcasts.
From a single video we just got 8 different marketing pieces. It can be even more when you post to multiple social channels.
Video is the king of marketing today. It’s quick and easy, especially if you don’t overthink it. Please know that the first videos you use aren’t going to be very good. Use them anyway. The more you do, the better you’ll get, and the less camera shy you’ll be.
If you found value in this, be sure to check out our Ultimate Guide to Auto Repair Shop Marketing. It's an in-depth view of how to roll up your sleeves and get dirty doing your shop's marketing the right way.