Auto Repair Direct Mail – Your “Secret Weapon” To More Cars

Growing your automotive repair shop can be hard work, and managing your marketing strategy can be even harder if you don’t know where to start. With so many different advertising channels available it can be overwhelming, to say the least.

In order to stay competitive, you must constantly reach out to your prospects and generate brand awareness to create a steady stream of new customers.

Automotive direct mail is our secret weapon to build value for your brand. It can be highly personalized to appeal to your audience and versatile in form and style. Sending out physical mail to your clients and prospects can create a tangible experience with your brand that they wouldn’t otherwise receive from typical digital advertisements. Here are some of the major auto repair direct mail benefits you should be taking advantage of: 

1. Direct Mail provides a physical presence for your brand.
   Direct mail offers a way to get your brand both seen and touched, being put directly in the hands of your prospects, right in their home. It even sees a 5.1% average response rate, compared to 0.6% for email, and 0.2% for online display ads which can often be drowned out by the flood of other digital competition.
   
   You can even improve your chances of these higher response rates by being highly personalized with your content. Don’t just mention that you work on Toyotas — let them know you have experience specifically with their exact make and model because you know that’s what they drive. If they’re driving a 2018 Toyota 4Runner, tell them you have worked on that exact vehicle. This offers your reader a more realistic and relevant glance at your services, which they can relate to better.                                                                               
2. Physical mail is likely to be viewed more than once.
   Physical mail has the chance to be saved and reviewed multiple times, whereas emails and other forms of digital marketing may never get seen. With digital marketing campaigns in 2021, we are constantly having to battle with ad blocking and banner blindness. The digital atmosphere has created a sensory overload.
   
   It’s becoming a habit to skip online video ads and digital banners are often ignored, making it harder and harder to compete for users’ attention. According to a report by Infolinks, even with the advanced targeting methods and granular personalization available for digital marketing, only 2.8% of their respondents thought the ads they saw were relevant at all.
   
   With direct mail, you have less white noise to compete with and you’re guaranteed to be placed in the palms of your clients at least once.                                                                                                                                                               
3. Direct mail is easy (–often easier) to understand.
   Over the past decade, there has been a massive transformation in the way we consume media and no one has been left unaffected by this change. Digital is faster, easier, and generally more accessible.
   
   However, based on a recent neurological study, direct mail requires 21% less cognitive effort to process than digital media. This suggests that paper-based marketing (such as direct mail) has special advantages with making a deeper cognitive connection with our customers. Direct mail is easier for consumers to understand and creates a more memorable experience.

Direct mail can be a powerful (–and greatly underrated) tool to generate brand interest, achieve your sales goals, and improve the overall effectiveness of your auto repair marketing strategy.

If you’re looking to kickstart your marketing plan, or if you have already launched a direct mail campaign and want to learn how to be more effective than your competitors, contact our experts at UpSwell. We are eager to share our secret of success and transform your automotive leads into repeat customers.