So, I was at my local car wash the other day here in beautiful sunny San Diego and I was treating my car to a full service wash and wax with some extras… something I do maybe once a year. It was another typical sunny day and I sat outside on the benches watching the giant wash tunnel spit out one wet ride after another. Some were pulled forward to get hand dried and others, mine, pulled off to the side for the extras.
Now, I didn’t run a timer. But I figure a typical, no frills car wash and and hand dry probably runs about 15 minutes or so on a good day. My wash, and extras, ran longer than I really wanted it to at closer to an hour. What are most people going to do with that 15 minutes to an hour? Well, any number of things to pass the time on those benches. Eyes wander around looking at the cars to compare your own to, people watching, there’s a couple news racks with local readers and auto trader magazines… all, of course paid for by advertising.
But one thing that I noticed, that I haven’t seen before at other car washes was a standing, totem pole, sign board with multiple advertising 11″ X 17″ advertisement posters with business card or coupon dispensers at each ad (red arrows). This, I thought, was a perfect time and place for an effective offline marketing strategy. This sign board stand was professionally maintained, fairly attractive, and took up a very small footprint in regards to area consumed outside on the patio.
Just having the signs on this board would seem to be money well spent considering your captive audience. But having the business cards made available makes it that much more effective because the customer then can grab your card and take it with them when their car is finally finished being polished off. According to their website, they restock your cards on a bi-weekly basis.
I would consider Car Wash Ads a high visibility and effective offline marketing strategy.
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