Effective inexpensively

How many of you have a sticker like this in the upper left corner of the windshield in your car?

How many of you aren’t sure and have to go look now that I’ve asked you? (feel free, it’s okay, I won’t judge you )

For those who don’t have one or have zero idea what this is, it is a sticker (easily removable) that was placed on the inside of my windshield, on the drivers side, last time I took my car in to get service done at a Ford dealership. I get a new one every time I take my car in, always placed in the same location, with some of the details updated.

From living with an automotive technician (Hubby works for Volkswagen) I know that a good service department is one of the biggest money makers for a dealership – and some of the bigger service departments bring in more money to the dealerships than the car sales. With that in mind, it is no surprise that car dealerships do a lot of advertising for their service departments – mailers for specials, mailers for reminders about warranties, etc. But, out of all the marketing tools they have, I honestly believe that this simple sticker is probably their most inexpensively effective.

Let’s take a look at the reasons that this marketing piece is so successful:

1. These stickers probably cost the dealership 5¢, which means that if I were to just throw it away, it wouldn’t be a huge loss. And, if I were to come back in, the cost to get me there was very minimal.
2. It is placed in the upper left corner of my windshield, always there for me to see, a constant reminder left there without being too obtrusive.
3. At the very top, in big bold letters is Genuine Parts & Service Next Appt. – It clearly states what it is for and constantly reminds me that it is high quality (genuine), which is reassuring. There is no looking at it and wondering what it is or why I have it.
4. It says the name of the dealership that I went to, their address and phone number, which makes it super easy to contact them, and makes sure that if I do need them for any reason, it is accesible. Imagine if I were to be out driving and have an issue with e car? This sticker does double duty by also being a resource should I need a service department quickly.
5. Rather than just including a hint to come back, they give me the exact miles and date that  appointment should be. And, this is not just a generic mileage and date, it is specifically put there based on my driving habits based on length of ownership, number of miles and condition of my vehicle.

Of course, no matter how clever or inexpensive a marketing tool is, if you don’t have the customer service to back it up, the marketing will just go to waste.

What inexpensive but effective ways can you market your business?

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