Use Every Opportunity to Communicate Your Message

The other day I walked by an older model car with lettering on it. Along the back and both sides, the message was the same:

• FREE loaner car
• Mark's Auto Body
• Phone number

I slowed my pace and absorbed the communication. My first thought was, "A loaner car. Hmm, you don't see those anymore." My second thought was, "It's good that a business still offers a loaner car." Then the marketer kicked in, and my third thought was, "What a smart way to market. I am making this the subject of my next Insight."

Mark's Auto Body was wisely offering loaner cars to people having work done at Mark's shop. Due primarily to insurance premiums, most auto body and car repair shops have curtailed this practice. That leaves the person who is having his or her car repaired searching for transportation, which is a problem. Mark's solved this problem by having the loaner car.

Then Mark's took the opportunity to tell this to others by writing it on three sides of the loaner car.

I was impressed.

Why?

First of all, Mark's offered a service that others did not, which was a free loaner car. That alone differentiated Mark's from its competition, creating a unique selling proposition for Mark's Auto Body. Knowing your unique selling proposition is critical to marketing profitably.

Second, Mark's used the car as a rolling billboard to communicate the message to all who walked, drove, or in anyway came within the vicinity of the car. Mark's only expense to do this was the cost of the paint and perhaps someone to do the painting. Since auto body shop personnel work with paint, that someone was very likely at Mark's.

Most importantly, Mark's actually wrote the unique selling proposition on the car. Of all the wording Mark's could have had, writing "FREE loaner car" along with the name and phone number was the best way to get attention and to communicate Mark's message in easy-to-understand wording. The importance of this marketing was not just that the car had a message but the content of the message.

Mark's Auto Body used the opportunity of the loaner car to communicate a unique selling proposition to its target market, which is anyone who owns a vehicle. Do you do this? Is your unique selling proposition on all your communications with your target market? Take a look at all your materials, your attire, your office, your vehicles, and even the door into your building. Do you use all these opportunities to communicate your message in easily understood wording?

If not, do it. Use every opportunity to clearly communicate your message.