Running a truck wash business can easily turn into a 24/7 activity depending on the hours of operation. And to this point we must also consider that trucks run up and down the interstate every day of the year, and every time of day or night. Not long ago a truck wash manager from the United States asked me about increasing his daily wash volume, he was looking for suggestions. Well, the most important thing to increase sales is marketing, but not just any type of marketing works in the truck washing industry.
You see, local radio is much less effective these days due to all the Satellite Radio users, truckers like to have 100s of channels to choose from while driving through the middle of nowhere for hours on end. They get used to it and shut off the local stations. Cable TV doesn’t work, you cannot watch TV while driving, and most truck drivers do not read the local news papers as they drive through each town. So, how can you best market?
First determine your market segments; Local fleets, Independent truckers, long-haul carriers, LTL carriers, local fleets, race car crowd, and RVs. So, let’s discuss the need for both for;
- Grass Roots Local Marketing
- Telephone Sales
- Increased Signage
- Website Strategy
- Future Mobile Smart Phone Integration
- Potential Use of GPS Driven Google Maps Aps
For local marketing (local fleets and local private large sized vehicles), it makes sense to do grass roots marketing to attain local customers including RVs, Oversized Vehicles (not able to go to a regular carwash easily) and local fleets belonging to companies and government agencies. For this I use my own proprietary “Bonzai and Blitz” marketing plan (available for $100 Starbucks Card) which has been used in cities throughout the nation with great success in the washing sector. The plan can be modified and used as the basis for implementing a local grass roots marketing mission in just about any city.
Telephone sales work best when contacting over-the-road dispatchers of truck fleets. Of course it is also wise to have some decent freeway frontage signage 25 miles away from your truck wash as trucks approach from various directions. It also makes sense to get in on the new mobile smart phone application software so it will alert drivers as they approach – their phone knows their GPS location and will alert them when they are close to your truck wash.
Let’s face it, when marketing a truck wash, it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach that is going to get the job done. If you want to increase traffic and daily volumes you are going to have to be thinking here.