Marketing your car wash

The self-service car wash market keeps growing – year after year the industry records growth of a few per cent. There are plenty of places where you can wash your car, so it is worth asking what makes customers choose one particular car wash (apart from location, of course, which is crucial for many of them). In this article we answer a basic question: how can marketing activities increase your revenue by bringing more visitors to your car wash? What can make a real difference to your revenue? Let's start with the basics.

1. How your car wash looks

You probably know car washes where you can tell at first glance that the owner does not really look after them (they look abandoned). Dirty banners, dusty panels, untidy surroundings, litter lying around. Paradoxically, this is not an exception. Ask yourself – would you want to wash your car in a place like that? A neglected car wash and washing a car simply do not go together. The appearance of your car wash should be the calling card of your business.

Clean, well-kept self-service car wash with a Futuro construction

When customers see an unattractive place, they may have doubts (even subconsciously) whether they really want to spend their money there and wash their vehicle. Worst of all is when their fears are confirmed and they do not get the quality they expected. There is a good chance they will mention it to fellow drivers or write about it online on social media.

2. Better together

Here we mean all kinds of cooperation. Let's start with companies that offer complementary services – ones you do not compete with in any way, where what you offer complements each other. It is worth taking advantage of this and promoting each other. It is always an extra point of contact with a potential customer, a chance to remind them that you exist. Besides purely advertising activities (cross-promotion), you can also think about a special offer for the other company's customers. For example, customers who have their tyres changed receive a token they can use at your car wash. This way you secure additional customers.

It is also worth reaching out to local communities, such as car enthusiast clubs. Their members take great care of their cars, and such cooperation can be very fruitful and good for your image.

3. Visibility

How can people find your car wash, how do customers find out about it? Is driving past the only way? Let's start with online visibility.

Car wash design shown in the online car wash configurator

Here are a few questions:

What happens when you type the name of your car wash and its location into Google? You do not have to build an extensive website straight away, but you should at least have a business profile and/or entries in the most popular directories, so that your customers can find your business online.
Does your car wash appear when you search for "car wash [town name]"?
Does it show up on Google Maps? If not, you must add it.
Is it on Facebook? This channel is worth considering – create a business profile. It will let you reach potential customers and stay in touch with existing ones (more on this later in the guide).
Is your car wash easy to find? Are there flags, banners and signposts? Can it be seen from the nearest streets?
Do local residents and people working at nearby companies know about your car wash? Maybe a leaflet campaign is worth considering? Well-designed leaflets can still be very effective.

4. A communication channel

A business present online should have a channel it can use to communicate with its customers. We are not saying Facebook is the only right solution, but for a touchless car wash it is, in our opinion, the best communication tool.

Regular posts, time-limited promotions and reaching new customers can translate directly into traffic at the car wash, especially if your competitors leave room for activity in this area.

5. What makes you stand out

Take a critical look at your car wash and at your competitors' businesses. What do you have in common, and what makes you different? Pay attention to wash programmes, washing time, payment methods, the number of bays, an outdoor bay, wash quality and whether a money changer is available. The things your competitors do not have are the areas to focus on in your communication, e.g. on leaflets and online. They are worth mentioning, because in most cases touchless car wash offers are very similar and customers often choose at random.

Vacuum cleaner station at a self-service car wash

You can also go for unconventional communication and build your message on unusual elements. A quick example: a car wash called "Heaven Wash" with the slogan "Your car deserves car wash heaven" – and banners showing angels and clouds as well as cars. If you can control your car wash remotely, you can easily run a happy hours promotion and offer cheaper or even free washes.

It is also worth spending some time at the car wash itself and talking to customers. This way you will learn exactly what they expect and gather valuable feedback on how the site works.

As you can see, there are many ways to act effectively and increase revenue. In this article we have shown a few of the options available. We encourage you to discuss them and share your own ideas.

How much does a car wash cost? – ask for a price