I was recently assisting a shop with marketing and I noticed a peculiarity about this shop that I thought might be true of many others as well. This facility is located approximately in the middle of several very different types of residents and businesses. In one direction, potential customers are primarily Asian and very family-oriented. 

Franklin

A smaller area adjacent to them consists of very wealthy estates housing a very elite potential clientele. In the opposite direction, the population consists of lower income Hispanics and blacks. And immediately surrounding the shop is a business and commercial district with a wide mix of ordinary American and ethnic business owners.

It became obvious that marketing literature, ads and messages aimed specifically at any one of these geographical areas would not communicate well to the other groups. To reach each of these distinct zones effectively, it would be necessary to tailor-make promotional messages that would reach each specific group.

Wide and narrow messages

The problem with creating a marketing message that will appeal to nearly anyone is that it has to be very general. A specific message is always more powerful, but by being very specific, it automatically excludes many viewers or listeners. If we craft an advertising message for lower-income prospects, it could turn off elite, high-end vehicle owners and suggest that this is a cheap shop that wouldn't do quality work. Of course we could aim all promotions at the elite prospects, but the shop does need a certain amount of mid-range volume business and that would call for a different message.

Fortunately in this shop's area, there are many local publications serving each of the zones, so tailoring very targeted ads has not been a problem. But this is only a small start, since publication advertising is rarely effective for body shops. The ads are inexpensive, create a neighborhood presence, and can open the door for press releases and special articles at times. A much more specific zone strategy was needed to really reach these very different communities.

Youth - a good common denominator

It's well known that a large percentage of accidents are caused or experienced by young drivers. This affects parents whether they are in a rich, Asian, Hispanic, black or any other ethnic or cultural group. This area's public schools dropped driver training a while back, so beginning drivers must now seek out commercial driving schools.

We decided to work on some alliances with the best of the driver training schools in each of the zones. We only selected those that had a good Better Business Bureau rating, and were recommended by the Auto Club and a local public school's administrators.

We found several local schools hosted a "Safe Driving Day" from time to time, and arranged to participate in these. We also arranged to set up a safe driving class at the shop every month, and set out to get an agreement with each of the driver training schools to send their students to one of our classes.