A brand is more than just your OEM’s logo slapped on the website or POP Marketing. In fact, customers know who your manufacturer is, but do they know who or what your Service Lanes Brand Message is?

More often than not when looking at various dealer websites, there isn’t anything that sticks out. All of the coupons (if there even are any) all look the same. And there is nothing that says who or why you should service at “ABC Service Center.”

Or in some cases, there is the occasional video of “why service here” where no one watches the whole thing. (when is the last time you watched an entire brand video on YouTube?)

Instead of capturing who and what your brand is on your website the customer is left reading the reviews - using them to shape their opinion of your brand. Something we have to remember too is that the customer is not servicing their vehicle every month or once a week. Therefore, it takes that much longer to change their perception about your brand if they have had a less than perfect experience.

Think about it for a moment. If the customer has a bad experience at a restaurant - sure s/he might write a bad review. But that bad experience does not shape their views on the restaurant industry in a whole, no? Why? Well, the customer goes to the next venue mostly forgetting about their bad experience.

Whereas, in our industry, the service intervals for many could be as much as 6+ months apart.  And so when the time comes for them to do service again they will go back to their last visit, which in some cases might not have been so pleasant. Sure, you might have reached out to the customer to apologize trying to rectify the situation. However, the damage is already done, and the customer will think twice before s/he returns to the dealership.

That is why there is so much emphasis and focus on what your “brand is,” which can make or break keeping the service customer!

Here are some tips/suggestions that can help identify who and what your brand is:

• Do your service advisors know what your brand stands for? Does your brand logo have a meaning?
• Does your service lane or dealer have a “slogan”? Might sound cheesy, but successful brands have a message or a theme that is recurring in all of their campaigns. While the OEM has one, which many require being visible in the showroom - do any of the advisors know what it is?
• If you do have good reviews - are they visible on your site? This will surely help with converting the customer who's on the fence about returning.
• Bottom line, there are so many places to choose from, and your customer will choose what is best for them. So it is essential to have a consistent brand image that translates well to the customer.

What is your brand image? Do you have a slogan that is part of your brand logo?