Online Marketing

I had a few options regarding online presence and marketing through social media. In the end, I decided to go with:

1) Facebook - focused on auto detailing posts, networking with other small business owners

2) Nextdoor - focused on building a client base within my surrounding neighbourhood

3) Yelp - focused on building a portfolio to attract clients from all over the lower mainland

4) Squarespace - to build a landing page for prospective clients

I lacked pictures of my work when setting up my website and social media pages. Without pictures of my work, such as before-and-after photos, it would be difficult to let prospective customers know the quality of my work. So I began to build my portfolio.

I started taking pictures of any detailing work I did, whether it was on my parents, friends, or neighbour’s car. It wasn’t much to begin with, but it was a start. I began posting these pictures on my social media posts. On Facebook, I targeted car groups and small business groups. On Nextdoor

I would be lying if I said I didn’t expect instant results. Part of me was very confident that with these few initial pictures of my work, I could get at least one customer to book an appointment with me. One week went by, two weeks went by… nothing. At this point, I was ready to start giving out free details to get more marketing material. I helped more neighbours detail their cars, and I began to offer first-time customer discounts.

After the third week, I booked my first client through Nextdoor. It’s hard to describe what I felt, but it wasn’t something I could experience in my current job as an accountant. It felt like finally beating a boss after hundreds of attempts and failures - I felt like I made it. All the time it took to establish my online presence and market my business has succeeded.