Some industries are labeled with a bad reputation no matter how trustworthy the individual business entity is. Auto body shops and marketers are two such industries. So what happens when a well-known marketing agency teams up with Staten Island’s only environmentally friendly auto body shop to increase business? This week’s Vonsense podcast, “How to be a better client” can answer that question.
This week the Von Agency team spoke with Barry Crupi, Co-owner and operator of Barry’s Auto Body to get his opinion about why his various marketing campaigns have been successful.
The first point that Barry brought up was the need for the client to know what s/he expects to gain from the marketing campaign. There are many forms of marketing – from Facebook ads, to LinkedIn, to YouTube videos and podcasts. Each platform presents different creative opportunities. As a client it is important to communicate your goals to your marketer and to work with them to adjust the campaign to optimize performance.
Passariello brought up the importance of tracking. In his words, “If you can’t track it, don’t do it.”
The team discussed the importance of being realistic when it comes to expectations. Several of the campaigns The Von Agency created for Barry’s Auto Body were a bit edgy and resulted in a few negative comments even though the overall campaign was successful. As Barry said, “Sometimes you have to ruffle a few feathers in order to get people’s attention.”
The group discussed involving family in marketing campaigns as was the case with the “I Gotta Guy” series in which Barry, his sister and partner, Michelle and his father appeared in the video. Barry said that it was extremely important because all of his family is involved in the community so people recognized them in the video and connected them to the business.
That led to the discussion about what role community involvement plays in marketing. Barry emphatically stated that volunteering in the community and donating to local non-profits was extremely important because that creates trust between the community and your business. When small business engages with charitable institutions, everyone wins.
The group all agreed that customer service is the best marketing opportunity a business has. When you provide a quality experience for your customer you establish a solid base for word of mouth business, especially in today’s competitive market when customers are not geographically restricted on where they can shop.
To learn more about how to be a better client when dealing with a marketing agency, listen to this week’s edition of Vonsense: