Automotive / Auto Repair, Collision & Maintenance
Auto Repair Marketing Built Around the Next Service Visit
Auto repair marketing from MBI is direct mail, Meta ads and printed pieces built around three campaigns: an oil-change and seasonal-maintenance special, a new-mover introduction, and a service reminder that brings an existing customer back in.
Not sure where to start? Talk with our teamThree campaigns
What does auto repair marketing from MBI cover?
The short answer
Auto repair marketing at MBI is three campaigns for an independent shop: an oil-change and seasonal-maintenance mail special, a new-mover mechanic-introduction postcard offer, and a service-reminder postcard campaign. A local Meta lead campaign can carry one defined maintenance offer beside them. MBI builds the list, designs and prints the piece, and mails it.
One team. Data, print and delivery have been in-house at MBI since 1989, so one team answers for a whole campaign instead of a client coordinating three vendors.
direct mail marketing services direct mail and digital marketing
Postcard · Direct Mail
Direct mail
Who receives an auto repair direct mail piece?
The short answer
Three audiences, each selected before anything is printed. Households near the shop, reached with an oil-change and seasonal-maintenance offer. Households that have just moved into the area, reached with a mechanic introduction. And the shop's own existing customers, reminded to come back in for service.
The seasonal special and the reminder. The seasonal campaign is an oil-change and seasonal-maintenance direct-mail special that promotes oil changes and seasonal maintenance; the service-reminder campaign reminds existing customers to return for service.
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 602.5 provides that each address, except for mail bearing an alternative address format, in a mailing at commercial First-Class Mail presorted or automation prices or USPS Marketing Mail prices is subject to the Move Update standard, and that each address and associated addressee used on the mailpieces in a mailing must be updated within 95 days before the mailing date with one of the USPS-approved methods, including Address Change Service and NCOALink.
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 602.5
Three lists, three cards
Postcard · Direct Mail
Oil change postcards
What goes on the oil change postcards a repair shop mails?
The short answer
One job and one offer. The oil-change and seasonal-maintenance card carries the service the shop wants booked next - an oil change, or the season's maintenance - on a 6x9 postcard. The terms and conditions of a discounted offer belong on the piece itself, clearly and conspicuously, as the FTC's advertising guidance requires.
The FTC's advertising guidance for small business states that advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive, that advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims, and that where a product is advertised as free or at low cost in conjunction with the purchase of another item the ad should clearly and conspicuously disclose the terms and conditions of the offer.
FTC, Advertising FAQ’s: A Guide for Small Business
Postcard · Direct Mail
Facebook and Instagram
What can auto repair Facebook ads promote?
The short answer
One defined maintenance offer at a time. A local Meta lead campaign for a repair shop can promote brakes, A/C, battery, pre-trip or routine maintenance rather than a general message about fixing cars. MBI builds the creative and the lead form, and the leads go straight to the shop.
One offer at a time. A local Meta lead campaign for a repair shop can promote a defined maintenance offer such as brakes, A/C, battery, pre-trip, or routine maintenance.
Meta ad · Facebook
Printing
Where do auto repair door hangers fit next to the mail?
The short answer
Door hangers sit beside the mail. MBI produces 6x9 postcards, service-reminder postcards, door hangers and flyers for a repair shop, and data, print and delivery have been in-house at MBI since 1989, so the piece designed for a campaign is the piece that gets printed and mailed.
The formats. Auto repair print formats are documented as 6x9 postcards, service-reminder postcards, door hangers and flyers.
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 201 sets card-price physical standards at not less than 3-1/2 inches high, 5 inches long and 0.007 inch thick, and at not more than 4-1/4 inches high, 6 inches long or 0.016 inch thick for each stamped card or each half of a double postcard and not more than 6 inches high, 9 inches long or 0.016 inch thick for each postcard; it sets letter-size standards at not more than 11-1/2 inches long, 6-1/8 inches high or 1/4-inch thick, and requires an aspect ratio (length divided by height) of 1.3 to 2.5 inclusive.
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 201
Beside the mail
Explainer · Printing
Magnet · Printing
New movers
What does the new-mover campaign send to a household that has just moved in?
The short answer
A new-mover mechanic-introduction postcard offer. The card introduces the shop to a household that has just arrived in its area and gives a reason to book a first visit, before that household has settled on a garage. MBI builds the new-mover list, designs the card and mails the drop.
The documented mail. Auto repair direct mail is documented as local postcards that promote oil changes and seasonal maintenance, target new movers, and remind existing customers to return for service.
Postcard · Direct Mail
Questions
Questions a repair shop asks before it mails
Searched for auto repair shop marketing, auto repair advertising or mechanic shop marketing? Same work, same answers.
What kind of direct mail works for an auto repair shop?
Local postcards. They promote oil changes and seasonal maintenance, reach households that have just moved into the area, and remind existing customers to return for service. MBI plans the list, designs the card, prints and mails it, so one team can answer for the whole campaign instead of a repair shop coordinating three vendors.
How does a service-reminder postcard bring a past customer back?
It works from the shop's own customer list. MBI agrees the mailing cadence, then produces and mails each drop, so the reminder goes out without anyone at the counter having to remember it. It is one of the three campaigns MBI runs for a repair shop.
What settles the cost of an auto repair mailing?
Producing the piece and mailing it are the two costs; format, quantity, list and postage move them. The audience and the piece are agreed first - a 6x9 postcard, a service-reminder card, a door hanger - and the campaign is quoted from there. What moves an auto repair number is set out on /capabilities/direct-mail/direct-mail-cost.
What has to be printed on an oil-change offer before it is mailed?
The terms. The FTC's advertising guidance for small business says an ad offering something free or at low cost in conjunction with the purchase of another item should clearly and conspicuously disclose the terms and conditions of the offer, and that claims must be truthful and backed by evidence.
How recently does an auto repair mailing list have to be updated?
Within 95 days. USPS requires each address in a mailing at commercial First-Class Mail presorted or automation prices, or at USPS Marketing Mail prices, to be updated within 95 days before the mailing date, using an approved method such as Address Change Service or NCOALink.
How big can an auto repair postcard be?
A repair shop's postcard sits inside DMM 201.1.2.1: it must be no more than 6 inches high, no more than 9 inches long and no thicker than 0.016 inch, within an aspect ratio of 1.3 to 2.5, though mailers may use an 11-inch by 8.5-inch sheet to create four identical-size postcards.
Does MBI print the pieces it mails for a shop?
Yes. Data, print and delivery have been in-house at MBI since 1989, so the card designed for an oil-change drop is the card that gets printed and mailed, with no hand-off to an outside printer in the middle of a campaign.
Get started
Start an auto repair campaign.
Say which of the three campaigns it is, and the area around the shop it should reach. It goes to a real member of the MBI team, not a queue.