Many times, small mobile car detailing businesses fall short in their promotions and public relations. In general, one could attribute this to the fact that business is always good and automobiles in the United States are quite plentiful, even more so than people. In fact, there are 1.2 cars for every man, woman, and child in this country, including all school buses, postal jeeps, delivery vans, and police cars. Think about it; all boats, motorcycles, trailers, motor homes, SUVs, minivans and cars? Sure there is a lot of business to be done. But certainly, since it’s mostly a cash business, there’s no reason why you can’t run it like a real business and grow it into a huge endeavor. Here are some promotional ideas:

Call a radio station.

Find out when your next event is. Offer to wash the car of everyone who shows up. Tell them you’ll even wash the radio station’s van. They will announce on the radio throughout the week that “Joe’s Mobile detailing and Car Wash” are washing cars at location X for free. Show up and bring the whole family.” Yes, you’ll be working hard all day, but the referrals and the goodwill and future clients will be enough to add a second or third unit to your small business.

Blood donation.

Offer to wash the car of anyone who shows up for a blood drive, as long as it’s a big turnout. Challenge your local car wash and any other competitor to a competition who can get the most people under the age of 25 to donate blood. ‘Alert the media’ about the event. Use a public official – the mayor, etc. – to judge the contest. Do not charge customers. Make it a real big event. Bet on the quality and the number of units washed in an hour or in thirty minutes. Even if you lose, it’s great publicity.

Look, if you want to win the promotional game, you have to think outside the box, so what are you waiting for anyway? Embossed on an invitation; please that’s ridiculous. Get out there and kick some butt.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *