Not Valid With Any Other Offer - Revisiting your marketing plan in a changing economy

Like most businesses scrambling to keep ahead of our current economy, the only rule that seems consistently true is that everything is changing. Your customers’ needs and the criteria for their choices are changing. Media companies are innovating new ways to reach customers, and in some markets, the cost of traditional advertising is plummeting. When taken together, a savvy car wash operator is presented with an opportunity to increase their market share.

In the words of Winston Churchill, “If you're going through hell, keep going.” Assuming you’re already delivering a clean, dry, shiny car with a reasonable amount of labor, “keep going” means dust off your marketing plan. It means aligning your competitive advantages with what your market desires, and advertising it to them. Here are a couple of ideas to get you started.