CHICAGO -- Adding new profit centers and focusing on marketingthese are some of the ideas shared and stressed during the International Carwash Association's (ICA's) Car Care World Expo on the Internet held September 13-15.
You need to know your market. If everybody in your town likes country music, you better advertise on the country-music station, said Sarah Menke, marketing and communications coordinator for the ICA, during an educational seminar called The Value of Smart Marketing.
Menke and Steve Bernacki, marketing and communications [image-nocss] manager for the association, shared ideas for getting your advertising message to more potential customers and the right potential customers.
Pick up all the newspapers that are available in an area. See who's advertising where, said Bernacki, who also suggested looking into advertising opportunities in the Yellow Pages, classified ads, radio and mail-saver coupons. He added that the Chicago-based ICA offers sample ads with easy fill-in-the-blank spots for company logos and addresses for smaller companies that don't have an ad-design budget.
Menke also stressed other ways of getting press coverage without paying for it using the ICA's marketing toolkit. It's about working with the local [newspaper] editor to get a story in there, she said. We try to get articles in newspapers throughout the countryto let people know car washes are environmentally friendly [and car care is important]. It's about raising public opinion of what car washes can do, and that increases the number of people coming into your car wash.
During a workshop titled Additional Profit Center Ideas, Chris Buscaglia, a two-site car wash operator in Stockton, Calif., and Bill Carbonel, owner of the Sundance Car Wash in Woodland, Calif., offered ideas as varied as installing an ATM or beverage bar to renting DVDs and operating a postal annex or adding an oil-change shop or drive-thru coffee bar.
With construction cost and land values what they are, you have to maximize your property use as much as possible and not leave any money on the table, said Carbonel, whose car wash sites include a detailing center, a large retail area and an oil-change facility. We [considered a variety of opportunities] from an ATM all the way to renting trailers and trucks. You need to create multiple profit centers and drive additional foot traffic.
One of Buscaglia's car washes includes gasoline pumps, a gift shop, a deli, detailing departments and a hair solon. He suggests retailers considering adding new profit centers ask themselves these questions:
Do you have extra labor that you can utilize? Do you have extra square footage on your property that you may be able to earn more money on? Analyze your facility and question your customers. Ask them: What could we do here that would make your life easier?The three-day Internet conference included a variety of workshops and a virtual trade show featuring more than 35 booths.
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