6 Tips for Marketing Your Car Wash Franchise

Elliott Fudge, writer

Published at 28/09/2021, Updated on 04/05/2022 , Reading time: 5 min

6 Tips for Marketing Your Car Wash Franchise — Photo © 6-Tips-for-Marketing-Your-Car-Wash-Franchise.jpg

When you’ve already gone through the effort of starting your own car wash franchise, the last thing you want to see is that you have no customers. Marketing your business is essential, because without it, you’re unlikely to make the progress you want. So here are 6 key tips for marketing your car wash franchise.

Car washing is a very competitive sector to be involved in. According to the Car Wash Association, there are between 10,000 and 20,000 car washes in the UK, although the true figure is likely somewhat bigger than this. In such a competitive and difficult sector to work in, it’s clear that having the right marketing at your disposal can make all the difference when it comes to running your own car wash franchise.

So, if you’re thinking about running your own business, there are a few key things you’ll need to do to market your franchise like a pro. Here are 6 tips for marketing your car wash franchise in the right way.

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6 key marketing tips for advertising your car wash franchise

1. Figure out your customers

In line with your broader business plan, you’ll need to figure out who your main customers are and how you can reach them. You’ll need to have excellent research capabilities and be quickly able to target the customers you want to. On that basis, when it comes to devising the right marketing strategy, ask yourself some of the following questions:

Who is your target audience?
How can you reach them best?
Are you engaging them currently? If you are, how are they finding you?
Who are your competitors?

When conducting market research, the goal is to gain insight into customer behaviour, their wants and needs. To do this you need to be asking the right questions. - Ant Marketing

2. Invest in your website

You need a good website that tells people about your services, where you can be found, how many units and locations you operate in, and your contact and booking details. If your website isn’t useful and accurate, or is just plain difficult to use, you could be pushing customers to your competitors.

Not only that, customers will be coming to lasting conclusions about your business. In fact, 75% of customers judge a business based on the usability of their website [Stanford University]. There are some essential things that a great business website should always include, so make sure you have the following on your site:

A unique domain name
Intuitive website design
Relevant and timely content, blogs and information
Plenty of SEO-optimised features and calls to action
Sections about your team and how you work - keep your business feeling personal

3. Don’t forget about emails

In a world of endless social media channels, live streaming platforms, and flash-in-the-pan marketing trends, it’s easy to forget about the most important marketing method there is: Email. Emails are direct-to-inbox ways of offering discounts, providing updates, and reconnecting with your previous customers. Although many customers can receive dozens of emails on a daily basis, email marketing is still one of the best ways to retain your existing customers.

But with so many emails being sent and received every day, how can your email be the one that your customers click on? There are a few different ways to make your email stand out, but as much as everything else, make sure that your subject line is snappy and gives the recipient a good reason to click on the email.

4. Have the right customer focus

And, while we’re talking about retaining customers, it’s important to make sure that you’re attracting the right customers. Winning new customers is always good, but it’s a mistake to think that you can sustainably build a business through having one-time-only customers.

So, make sure you’re doing everything you can to keep your existing customers coming back. Customer retention is vital to keeping your car washing services profitable, so consider running things like subscriptions, routine and regular washes, convenience visits, and discount schemes like loyalty cards and email discounts for repeat customers.

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5. Embrace your uniqueness

What does your car wash franchise do differently? Why should customers come to your business rather than others? If you can’t answer these questions, you may have already stumbled on an area where your business can improve. There is always a reason why your business stands out a little from your competition, so make sure you embrace this and highlight it in your marketing.

6. Take on feedback

It might be a little frustrating if, even after following some of these tips, your marketing still isn’t performing as well as you want it to. This is why you need to be available to take on as much feedback as possible, from both your franchisor and customers. You may be able to roughly work out where your marketing is going wrong, but unless people are telling you specifically where things are going wrong, and how it can be improved, you’re guessing.

Make it easy and simple for people to give you feedback. And, when they do, make sure you put that feedback into action.

Improve your marketing and drive your car wash service to the next level

These have been just a few things you can do to improve your marketing, but there are many other tips besides. If you’re set on starting your own car wash franchise, there are also some other resources you might want to consult before getting started. If you want a recap of some of the advantages that franchising brings you, you can have a look at five of our top picks. Or, if you want to go straight away, here’s how you can make a career change with a car wash franchise.

If car washing isn’t quite the right thing for you though, you can have a look at the UK franchise directory for a full list of other franchising opportunities across dozens of different sectors.