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How we ran a viral campaign for a small town business that got national and international media coverage, was the #1 trending topic in the county, increased website traffic by 800%, and introduced our clients as the new business owners to the entire town overnight.
#whoisbecky #iknowbecky #viralmarketing #smalltownmarketing #localmarketingideas #autorepairmarketing #automotiveindustrymarketing #montanamarketing
Our clients recently purchased an auto repair shop. Since the shop location had no visibility from the highway, they needed help getting the word out about the auto repair shop and set a goal of getting enough new business to fill up their mechanics' schedules to full-time.
What Was Achieved
Our clients reported that they were constantly approached everywhere they go-- restaurants, grocery stores, running errands to regularly ask about the marketing campaign or to tel them they were following the stories on social media
Local news coverage
National news coverage
International news coverage
They needed to hire more mechanics to keep up with the increased business
Their auto repair shop remains consistently busy. Their competitors have a consistently empty shop despite having highway frontage and more upgraded amenities for their customers
Here's How We Did It
The Big Problem: No Visibility
The shop is surrounded by tall buildings that block the garage from view and only has 2 private driveways as entry points. Unless someone was a direct referral or customer of the previous owner, few people really knew where the auto repair shop was located. Very few people knew that ownership had changed and that our clients bought the shop.
The Auto Shop is located behind the trees in that red circle. It has a red roof. The yellow arrows show how to get to the shop from the main highway. As you can see, it is almost impossible to see the shop from the road.
Usually, businesses with no street visibility have 2 main problems:
Little to no foot traffic/ no walk-ins
Few people know the business exists
Without foot traffic, visibility, or public knowledge about a business' existence, businesses need to rely heavily on utilizing the internet for marketing.
Business Goals: Get more customers to fill up their mechanics' schedules
Our client's goals
Get locals to know the shop was there
Get more customers to fill up their time slots
Things they tried
Without foot traffic and without the town knowing they existed, they had to get creative to draw in customers, so they tried the following solutions:
Referred customers from their other business
Formed referral partnerships with other business owners
Hired a marketing agency
Made a few Facebook posts
The marketing tactic that worked the best: They referred customers from their other business, which was the oil change company next door. It still wasn’t enough to fill up their client roster, so they hired a Marketing Agency.
The Other Marketing Agency: Marketing Agency in a Can
The Marketing Agency our clients hired before us was the kind of agency that produced a generic website from a template, and serviced a large number of clients with very little marketing depth.
The Marketing Agency set up their:
Website
Content Creation
Google My Business
Lead Generation
Their former Marketing Agency produced:
A canned website
Canned content
Leads through GMB
They delivered everything they said they would, so our clients were satisfied with what the agency produced for them, even if their goal of giving their mechanics a full schedule was not achieved yet.
They did have a few technical questions about their website and GMB profile that we were able to explain to them.
Although the other Marketing Agency technically gave them all the deliverables, it produced no results and they missed out on a huge marketing opportunity that we identified and capitalized on.
Interested in finding out if we can help your business run a viral campaign? Call us for a free 15 min discovery marketing consultation! (406) 402-8404
When We Met Our Clients: Their Business Already Had All the Perfect Elements in Place to Win
When we met our clients, they had all the elements we needed to help them craft a winning marketing strategy. Our clients already did a great job with:
Developing local partnerships and referrals
Provided an excellent service
Were trustworthy and knowledgable in their profession
Had a great reputation with current customers
Had great customer service
It was our job to analyze their strengths, identify the clients' winning elements and figure out how to use them to achieve their goals. Here is the winning strategy we came up with.
Identifying the Client's Unbeatable, Winning Element: Their Dad Jokes
One of the first things we did was get to know the business owners. The entire family really impressed us with their integrity, work ethic, love for one another, care for their customers, and their jokes had us rolling on the floor. It didn't take us long to realize that their family identity was incredibly strong and that was one of the elements that needed to be highlighted.
As we do with all our clients, we spent a lot of time gathering data and understanding:
Their personalities
Their goals
The target audience's mindset
Their other assets that could be leveraged for marketing
Their business location: including layout, traffic pattern, weather patterns, competitors
Their value proposition
The heartbeat of the town
After our second or third meeting, we realized the family's humor was such an integral part of who they were that we had to figure out a way to incorporate their humor into their campaign and in their website copywriting.
Interested in finding out if we can help your business run a viral campaign? Call us for a free 15 min discovery marketing consultation! (406) 402-8404
While we were brainstorming on what to do, we tried to mind the marketing goals that HAD to be accomplished:
Establish their reputation as the #1 auto repair shop in the area
Emphasize how trustworthy they are
Announce to the town that they exist
Get them enough customers that their mechanics' schedules got filled
The Results: Fun Town Engagement & More Becky Jokes
What Was Achieved
Our clients reported that they were constantly approached everywhere they go-- restaurants, grocery stores, running errands to regularly ask about the marketing campaign or to tel them they were following the stories on social media
Local news coverage
National news coverage
International news coverage
They needed to hire more mechanics to keep up with the increased business
Their auto repair shop remains consistently busy. Their competitors have a consistently empty shop despite having highway frontage and more upgraded amenities for their customers
Our Strategy
Since it is human nature for us to remain pretty loyal to our mechanics once we find a great one, we predicted that if we were able to get an influx of customers to the shop, it wouldn't take long for their affordable rates, excellent work, and trustworthy customer service to naturally build an excellent reputation that would lead to repeat business and referrals.
Since their location had zero visibility, we began to develop a marketing plan that relied heavily on creating an internet presence that would get them virtual visibility.
We wanted to create a viral campaign online until it hit us...... why don't we run a viral campaign in real life?
We knew that if we were going to do this, we would need to ensure the messaging, value proposition and offer was done correctly to preserve our clients' reputation.
Interested in finding out if we can help your business run a viral campaign? Call us for a free 15 min discovery marketing consultation! (406) 402-8404
Who Is Becky: The Ultimate Dad Joke Turned Viral Marketing Goldmine
Our clients own the adjacent Oil Change business location that is right alongside Hwy 93, the main road in town. They have a marquee sign that has displayed a joke about Becky, one of the owners, every day for the past 5 years.
Everyone in town has seen the Becky sign, but if they didn't frequent the business, they didn't know anything about Becky, if she is real or fiction, or anything about the sign. Their former Marketing Agency didn't discuss the sign on their website, so, even though everyone has always seen the sign, no one actually what it was about.
We turned the Becky joke into a T-shirt, developed a contest, selected a day, coordinated everything, and introduced the entire town to Becky
Who is Becky T-Shirt Blitz
The day the Who is Becky marketing campaign ran, our Who is Becky T-shirt wearers flooded the town. Other local businesses wore the Who is Becky T-shirts, joggers wore the t-shirt while exercising, and random citizens wore the t-shirt to run errands to maximize exposure to the community as possible.
Interested in finding out if we can help your business run a viral campaign? Call us for a free 15 min discovery marketing consultation! (406) 402-8404
Media Attention: Our campaign caught the attention of other news outlets nationally and internationally!
Update 1 Year After the Campaign
Over the past year, our clients have consistently remained so busy that they've undergone multiple hiring events to bring on more mechanics to keep up with their customers. They are booked out weeks in advance, and they continue to wear their Who is Becky t-shirts, and the marquee sign continues to display a Becky joke. They are known as the most trustworthy and reliable auto repair shop in town, and unless a resident is new to the area, everyone in town knows the directions on how to get to their garage.
Interested in finding out if we can help your business run a viral campaign? Call us for a free 15 min discovery marketing consultation! (406) 402-8404
Summary
In summation, marketing is not particularly difficult. A lot of marketing agencies (including us can do all the standard marketing stuff: SEO, GMB, PPC, Website Design, Funnel Design, Flyer Design, etc. The key element that separates us from the other agencies, is knowing where to point the marketing arrow. Sometimes, all business owners need is a little direction. From there, they can take off running and do extremely well.