It's annoying to invest time and money into your marketing only to get little to no results.

How to get the most out of your marketing investment in five steps

1. Invest in SEO

SEO (search engine optimization) is a necessity for marketing investments. The best thing about SEO is that it doesn't cost as much as paid advertising, and it's a long-term solution. 

SEO will continue to pay off after you've finished optimizing your website, meaning you can reap the rewards of SEO years after investing in it. 70% of marketers agree that SEO is better than PPC (pay-per-click) for generating more sales. 

Search engine optimization is also necessary for improving your ranking on Google. The better your SEO is, the higher up the search engine results you go.

How do you improve your SEO?

• Updating your Google Business Profile 
• Writing keyword-rich meta titles and descriptions 
• Using relevant keywords in your content and your headings
• Adding alt-text to any images on your website
• Building backlinks 
• Increasing the number of citations your business has

What are backlinks?

Backlinks or inbound links are links on different websites that link to your website. Google and a lot of other search engines see backlinks as proof that your website is a reliable website to suggest to their users. 

If you have a high number of backlinks, you'll have a higher chance of ranking at the top of the search results. 

However, these backlinks must be high-quality, meaning they must come from reputable and trustworthy websites; otherwise, they're entirely useless. In fact, Google often penalizes companies for having links from shady places. 

What are citations?

Citations are when your business is mentioned on other websites. For example, if your business is mentioned on YellowPages.com or SEMA.org for example, that would be a citation. The same goes for any blog posts or articles that mention your shop's name. The more relevant to your business the citation is like getting a mention or article on MotorTrend.com the better.

Like backlinks, citations show the search engines that your business can be trusted. Building citations involves sending out accurate and relevant information to your audience, letting them know where to find your business. 

Citations that contain your NAP (name, address, and phone number) have to be consistent. If you have a few citations and they all have different info because your shop moved a couple of times or your phone number changed then this will affect your ranking. 

It affects your ranking on Google because you’re simply confusing the search engine and in turn, your customers. If you have different information on each citation then nobody will know your correct contact info and location and Google hates this.

So when web crawlers find your business listed on important listing directories, they'll know that you are a genuine, trustworthy business. 

You can do a lot more to improve your SEO, and hiring a specialized team to take care of it for you is key to creating the best SEO strategy possible!

2.  Update your website

Having an updated, modern-looking website full of all the information your client could need is necessary for a good digital marketing strategy.

Without a working website, your marketing will fall flat. Even if you get clients to your website if they're faced with a dull, untrustworthy-looking site, they won't convert - rendering your marketing useless.

A good website is the only way to get your clients to stick around. We recently conducted some research and discovered that only 45% of shop websites were professional. This meant that a whole 55% of auto restoration, restyling, and performance shop websites looked unprofessional. 

To ensure that your clients stick around, start improving your website's appearance and trustworthiness today.

By hiring a team of professional website developers and designers, you can make sure your marketing won't go to waste.

Make sure your website is:

• Easy to read
• Easy to navigate and understand
• Nice to look at from a design aspect
• Professional and up to date
• Full of all the information your clients need to know
• Loads fast
• Includes an SSL Certificate

Don't forget to add regular content to your blog too! Having high-quality blogs and articles on your website proves that you're an expert in your industry.

3.  Improve your presence on social media

Updating your social media is also important for your digital marketing. By having an up to date social media full of exciting and relevant content, you can attract people to your website.

20% of auto shop businesses still don't have a social media presence which is crazy considering social media has many advantages to marketing strategies. 

So many people are on social media, over 4.6 billion to be more exact, and all these people are using and checking social media daily. 

The more you post on social media, the more you'll attract people to check out the fantastic work you do in the aftermarket auto restoration, performance, race, and restyling industry. 

Make sure you're posting relevant things to your social media too. If it's irrelevant, your audience won't want to interact with you, and they'll skip subscribing or following you. 

If you don't have a good social media presence, you're also missing out on the opportunity to foster a relationship with your audience and get real marketing results for your company.

Don't forget to post more than just text and images too! Upload videos of your work or some behind-the-scenes footage of your shop to show your audience what it's like in your business.

4.  Enhance your email marketing

If you want to make the most out of your marketing, we suggest focusing on email marketing. You should never underestimate the power it has! 

Email marketing has the best return on investment of any digital marketing technique, and less than 25% of auto shop businesses have a functioning email marketing campaign. 

Sending regular emails to your audience will encourage them to check out what you have to offer, and it'll keep you top of mind when they're looking for the services you offer. 

How do you even create an email marketing campaign?

First, you must create an email list full of interested prospects. The easiest way to gather emails is with the help of an irresistible lead magnet. 

Lead magnets can be anything from exclusive content and free downloadables to a discount on their first project with you. 

Now that you have a stack of emails ready, it's time to build a relevant, engaging, and valuable email marketing campaign. 

Remember, it's important not to spam your audience with countless emails as that might end up driving them away instead.

Try to write a weekly or monthly newsletter to get your readers into a routine of opening your email. 

5.  Concentrate on your branding

Do you ever wonder how many companies become a go-to for almost every consumer?

How did Starbucks become one of the most popular coffee shops despite fantastic small, local coffee places?

The answer is simple - with branding and brand equity.

Brand equity is the value a brand adds to its products or services simply by being itself. So many people choose to get a coffee from Starbucks rather than a small, local coffee shop!

How do you develop brand equity?

• Build greater brand awareness
• Communicate what your brand stands for
• Engage with your audience 
• Improve customer loyalty

Brand equity takes time to develop, but the more you work on your marketing strategy, the more you'll be able to position your brand as the go-to aftermarket auto performance, restoration, and restyling shop. 

Marketing can be challenging to wrap your head around, especially if you're unfamiliar with what you should be focusing on and when you should be focusing on it. 

But, with the right help, you'll be able to quickly develop a digital marketing strategy that works perfectly for your shop. 

The team at Motorhead Digital has been working with performance and restoration shops for years, and we know how to help you build the perfect strategy for your digital marketing campaign. 

Get in touch with our team today to get noticed online and bring in the high-value projects your shop deserves.