Local search optimization through consistent review generation over time is part of what keeps marketing costs down for Addison Auto & American Pride Automotive. Learn what top auto shop owners are doing to generate organic leads from Google Maps and Google Search.
Having an up-to-date, mobile-friendly website is the first thing any business owner should invest in when entering the world of digital marketing, but what comes next?
For brick & motor, local service business like automotive repair shops, investing in a review generating platform quickly pays for itself. Consistent reviews may be the one thing separating you from your competition when Google is looking at your shop listing. Ratchet + Wrench sat down with Joe Pfender, Digital Marketing Project Manager at Business Actualization, and two shop owners Charlie Marcotte of American Pride Automotive and Dirk Owens of Addison Auto to learn more about generating Google reviews and how they can impact your business.
The team at Business Actualization provides an affordable and effective review-generating platform designed to get results. “For customers of ours that average 200 repair orders per month, they average about 30 new Google reviews per month,” says Pfender. “We are extremely successful at consistently generating positive Google Reviews over time for our clients.”
These reviews don’t only come in at a consistent rate but in large quantities. “In the last 5 years we’ve seen accelerated growth in reviews on all sites, mostly Google,” says Dirk Owens, owner of Addison Auto Repair and Body Shop. “(We’ve had a) 266% (increase) over 5 years, 467 to 1708! Reviews are the most important organic source of SEO ranking artillery a shop can use to boost their ranking.”
Lucky for shop owners, these results come at an affordable price. “The Business Actualization team is by far the best at creating a system to capture new customers in an affordable way,” says Charlie Marcotte, owner of American Pride Automotive. “I'm proud to say that all of the advertising we do for American Pride only equates to 2.2% of our gross revenue.”
“Google Reviews are one of the top local SEO ranking factors. Not only do they help you build trust with your customers, but they also help you build trust with Google,” Pfender says. Google is far more likely to organically recommend auto repair shops that consistently acquire new reviews to people searching locally for auto repair terms. This means that people who do not know you are more likely to find you on Google if you are generating positive Google Reviews week after week.
There is also a much more direct side to Google Reviews that is equally valuable.“When someone is referred to a new auto repair shop, or they see that business’ marketing, it’s highly likely that they will go to Google to specifically find you and look at your Google Reviews,” says Pfender. “People are looking for you and they want to see what other people are saying about your business, so it truly is critical to have a system in place to generate Google Reviews. Potential customers are looking at reviews and using them as a key influence on whether they choose your business or not.”
“If you're looking to grow, you should increase the volume of your advertising before the growth that you expect to take place,” says Marcotte. “You should increase your advertising before you really can take on that much opportunity. These things have a lag time & advertising needs to be perpetual. The mistake a lot of places make is that when they're too busy, they pull back on the advertising without realizing that there may be a ramp-up time when they decide to ramp it back up.”
The marketing you do today always impacts the results you get in the future. Google Reviews boost all of your marketing efforts, therefore, investing in a process to acquire new reviews should be considered before any other marketing. For information regarding review generation and all digital advertising, go to: https://www.businessactualization.com/