What Does it Take to Work With a Marketing Partner?

When you hire a marketing partner, you’re not just outsourcing tasks and crossing marketing off your to-do list. Marketing isn’t something someone can do 100% for you, especially if they’re not in your shop with you. While professional marketers aim to handle the heavy lifting, marketing will always require some of your attention and involvement, […]

Profit First Was the Key to Our Agency’s Financial Transformation

I recently had the opportunity to write a guest post for Agency Analytics. It’s all about how Profit First changed the financial picture of my business, Shop Marketing Pros. I really enjoyed getting to write this and dig deep into the story of how I became who I am. It was therapeutic in a way. […]

Who Are the Best Marketing Partners/Companies for Your Auto Repair Shop?

I’ve done a lot of crazy things in my life, but this may take the cake: putting a list of the best marketing companies for an auto repair shop right here on my own business’ website. I’m telling you the good I know about them, telling you what they say about themselves, and providing their […]

Why Is There Such A Large Range In Pricing Between Auto Repair Marketing Companies?

If you’re an auto repair shop owner you’re no stranger to questions about pricing. People want to know why you’re so much higher (or lower) than the shop down the street, or why they can buy the part so much cheaper online. It’s no different in the marketing world, and honestly, the answer isn’t that […]

Should an Auto Repair Shop Use a Local Marketing Company or Marketers Who Specialize in Auto Repair Shops?

There are so many choices today when it comes to marketing your auto repair shop. I see shop owners posting questions in various industry Facebook groups like The Auto Repair Marketing Mastermind, and they’re asking about choosing the right marketing partners. These questions often revolve around the types of strategies they should use, be it […]

Walker’s Hierarchy of Marketing Needs

It’s been about a year ago now that Matt Fanslow reached out to me and planted this idea of creating a content piece comparing an auto repair shop’s marketing needs to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Maslow’s work, I’ll give a brief introduction when I get into the […]

Failing Forward: Look Back, Learn, and Move On

Many years ago, Kim and I were introduced to the concept of “failing forward.” New entrepreneurs are often afraid of failing, but failure is where the lessons take place. Failure is where you learn. Failure is where you get humbled. There isn’t much as dangerous as a young entrepreneur who has had great success and […]

Fragmented Marketing: How It’s Hurting Your Brand + Wasting Your Money

Back when we had our shop we were figuring out marketing just like many of you are today. We were auto repair shop owners, not marketers. I built my own website back then and I did my own SEO. Kim did our email marketing. Social media wasn’t really a thing back then so we didn’t […]

From the Coaches: Annual Marketing Planning

In the spirit of “eating your own dog food”, we cannot preach to automotive repair shops about setting aside time to create their annual marketing plan if we do not do it ourselves. Our date is set and we are pulling in our strategic marketing team to spend time eating our own dog food – […]

How To Market Around The Slow Times In Auto Repair

UPDATED ON JUNE 26, 2024 As I write this, it’s October 2023. If you’re reading this years later, don’t worry because the information in this article is timeless. We just came through the summer months and most auto repair shops seemed to do pretty well. In August 2023, we had more clients than ever touting […]