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, especially if you want to see real, impactful results. The essence of successful marketing lies in collaboration and mutual effort.
Let’s dive into what it really takes to work effectively with a marketing partner. From maintaining a consistent schedule to sharing critical business updates and leveraging your unique aspects, you’ll learn how active engagement and clear communication with your marketing team can amplify your marketing efforts.Â
Key Responsibilities for An Effective Marketing Partnership
To ensure a successful partnership with your marketing team, it’s crucial to actively participate and fulfill specific needs that your team requests of you. This will help align your efforts to create a seamless collaboration. Here are some of the key responsibilities you should take on to collaborate with your marketing partners::
Show Up for Meetings
You need to meet with your marketers—like actually show up—at the scheduled time. If you don’t meet with your marketing team, they don’t know what’s happening in your business and in your world. Knowing this information is at the core of know, like, trust marketing.
It’s important to adhere to the agreed-upon schedule you set if you’re pre-booking meetings. Marketing teams strive to make you feel like you’re their top priority. However, it’s essential to understand that they manage multiple clients. Delays in your meetings can lead to the need for additional resources, which can increase costs. To keep everything on track and avoid higher fees for services, please respect the established schedule.
Provide Access to Everything
To ensure your marketing team can hit the ground running, it’s essential to give them access to all necessary platforms and accounts. This includes your social media accounts, domain registrar, Google Business Profile, and any other relevant systems. The quicker you provide this access, the sooner they can start working on optimizing and improving your marketing strategies. Think of it like providing the wheel locks to your car; the sooner you hand them over, the quicker your team can get to work without unnecessary delays.
Share What's Happening in Your World
Keeping your marketing team updated with significant changes and events in your business is crucial. Whether it’s a new hire, a recent equipment purchase, or local events affecting your shop, this information helps your marketers tailor their efforts to reflect the current state of your business. For example, if you’ve added a new service or celebrated a milestone, let your marketing team know so they can incorporate this into your content and messaging, making your marketing more relevant and engaging.
Report Trends and Common Repairs
Your insights into the trends and common repairs occurring in your shop are valuable for creating targeted content. By sharing this information, you enable your marketing team to craft articles, blog posts, and social media updates that resonate with your audience. For instance, if there’s a surge in brake repairs, your marketing team can create content around brake maintenance tips or promotions, aligning your marketing with real-time trends in your shop.
Send Pictures and Videos
Visual content is incredibly powerful in marketing. To make your marketing efforts more effective, provide your team with frequent, high-quality images and videos of your team and shop. Real photos of your staff in action, working on clients’ vehicles, or showcasing your shop’s atmosphere are far more engaging than generic stock images. Encourage your team to be camera-ready and capture moments that highlight the personality and professionalism of your shop. Our clients who provide us with real imagery and video from their shop see significantly better ROI on their marketing.Â
Share Your Thought Leadership
Your shop’s unique knowledge and expertise are key differentiators that can be leveraged in marketing. Share your insights, industry knowledge, and any unique approaches you take at your shop. This helps your marketing team highlight what sets you apart from the competition. Whether it’s a special technique you use or innovative solutions you provide, your thought leadership adds credibility and appeal to your marketing campaigns.
Introduce Your Marketing Team to Your Coach
If you work with a business coach, introducing them to your marketing team can enhance your marketing efforts. A good coach can offer valuable insights and ensure that your marketing strategies align with your broader business goals. By connecting your coach with your marketing team, you foster a collaborative environment where everyone is working towards the same objectives, amplifying the effectiveness of your marketing.
Share Your Numbers
Providing your marketing team with access to your shop management system or sharing key business metrics is crucial for optimizing your marketing strategies. This data helps your team understand your business better, from customer acquisition costs to sales figures, enabling them to tailor their strategies to drive better results. The more they know about your business’s performance, the more effectively they can allocate resources and refine your marketing approach.
Communicate Your Goals and Expectations
Clearly articulating your goals and expectations helps your marketing team align their strategies with your vision. Whether you’re aiming for increased brand awareness, higher customer engagement, or specific sales targets, sharing these goals ensures that your marketing efforts are focused and effective. Open communication about what you hope to achieve can lead to a more productive partnership and better outcomes.
Coordinate Other Marketing Efforts
If you’re engaging in other marketing activities or working with different service providers, it’s important to keep your marketing team informed. This coordination helps avoid overlap, ensures consistency in messaging, and allows your marketing efforts to work synergistically. Most marketing partners are happy to work together with your success as the common goal. Even if the campaigns don’t overlap, communicating with all parties is a great practice.
By sharing information about other marketing initiatives, you help your team integrate their strategies with the overall marketing plan, creating a cohesive representation of your shop.
Understand Your ROI
Understanding that ROI is measured over the long term is essential for managing your expectations. Marketing efforts may not yield immediate results, but the benefits typically become apparent over time. Patience is key to seeing the true return on your marketing investments.Â
By focusing on long-term growth and not just short-term gains, you set realistic expectations and allow your marketing strategies the time they need to show results.
Engage Locally
Active participation in local events, chambers of commerce, and community activities enhances the effectiveness of your marketing. Engaging with your local community not only supports your marketing efforts but also builds a strong, positive reputation for your shop.Â
Being a visible and active member of your community can drive more local traffic and improve your shop’s credibility, complementing your broader marketing strategies.
Create Raving Fans
Ultimately, no matter how effective your marketing is, providing an exceptional overall experience for your clients is crucial. Just like you can’t out-train a bad diet, you can’t out-market a bad shop. Focus on delivering outstanding service, whether it’s through friendly customer interactions, efficient repairs, or exceeding client expectations.Â
Happy clients become loyal advocates who spread positive word-of-mouth, which significantly enhances the success of your marketing efforts.
Achieving Success Together
As you can see, there’s a lot that you’re still responsible for when you hire professional marketers. But we’re here to make it as easy on you as we possibly can, with the effectiveness of your marketing being the main goal—so we’ll push you when we need to.
We love seeing shop owners take an active role in their marketing partnerships.
To learn more about how we can be the right partner for your shop and the investment involved, schedule a no-pressure discovery call here.
