How a Local Agency Drove 139 Tire Shop Leads with $65 in Facebook Ads

Marketing is changing. No longer are ads in the newspaper the main way people find their service providers. The tech-savvy world is looking elsewhere. With an increasing number of potential customers spending lots of time online, every industry needs to be willing to adjust and test new marketing methods to survive. In this case study, we're going to talk about one niche in particular Facebook marketing works well for: tire shop sales. What's better is the same process can be used to help your client's business in a real and measurable way. Some people may not see how it could work, but if you're thinking that way, prepare to be surprised by the amazing results!

The Campaign Goal

We all have goals, but with marketing, goals need to be specific. If they're not, how will we know if we reach them?  Think about your last marketing campaign. How successful was it? Do you know exactly how many customers resulted from it?  How many people saw your ad? If you don't know any of these numbers you aren't alone, but with a marketing funnel campaign, you can stop using guesswork to measure your results.

The goal of many marketing funnel campaign is to help businesses reach new customers using Facebook's advertising tools. Small, local businesses may not have a huge marketing budget, but even with a limited budget, a Facebook Marketing Funnel Campaign can be much more effective than traditional marketing. For example, buying billboard space may seem like a great idea, but how do you measure it's effectiveness? Admittedly, it's very difficult to measure results from traditional marketing efforts.

Traditional marketing relies on putting a message out in the hopes that it reaches the eyes or ears of an interested consumer. The problem is, how do you know if it's working or not? The advantage of using Facebook for advertising is that almost everybody is on Facebook: in fact, almost everybody's Grandma uses Facebook!

Now, you could put an ad on social media with no strategy or structure and hope to get some leads, but there's no guarantee that it would reach the people you want to get your message to. And let's face it, some industries may seem to be a bit more tough to crack the lead gen code on. Which leads us to the goal of this funnel: to get leads into a local tire shop, at one of the busiest times of the year, Christmas. Anyone with experience in Facebook advertising knows that ad competition during the months of November and December is fierce. So, what can you do to drive leads for a tire shop on a shoestring budget? 

In this case study from Always Local Marketing, you will see how they used Leadkit to obtain 139 leads for a local tire shop. Not only will we show you the exact number of people that were reached by the campaign, the exact number of customers that completed the funnel, and the exact percentage of the market that was reached for their local tire client, we will walk you through their funnel (so you can replicate the process, too.) The best part is that this style funnel works in almost any niche – all you have to nail down is a jaw dropping offer.

The Funnel

In the tire store campaign, the primary focus was on reaching those who were in need of tires and oil change services. The Always Local Marketing used several different criteria to tailor the campaign to their ideal customer. So let's actually break it down one piece at a time.

The first group that was defined in the campaign was the target age group. This was also the broadest category, as drivers in need of car maintenance and tire services range from 16 to 99 and possibly beyond. Narrowing the audience by age would have unnecessarily limited the number of people the campaign could reach.

Another important factor of the campaign was limiting the audience by the age of their car or truck. The tire store campaign chose to direct their ads to people whose vehicles were 6-10 or 11-16 years old. Both vehicle age groups were available as separate categories, and the marketing team selected both for this campaign.

Part of the reason for selecting slightly older vehicles rather than brand new was realizing that older cars tend to have more maintenance needs and costs, making them better candidates for the services offered by the tire store.

Also, the campaign reach was limited to people in a few local towns. For the advertising goals to be effective, the campaign needed to reach only a local audience. The goal was to bring customers to the brick and mortar location, and not only to come, but come ready to buy tires, oil changes, etc.

The Ad

Now that we know who we are trying to reach and what we want them to do, we can design the campaign. A good campaign needs a great offer or some information that is of value. We call this a jaw dropping offer. It's even more effective when each step in the funnel provides additional value to the customer.

Keep the ultimate goal of the campaign in mind throughout the process. For the tire store, that central goal was to get more customers to come in for service during the holidays. From there, the goal was to build rapport with the store staff and a sense of trust in the services offered, to keep them coming back.

How did a tire giveaway funnel campaign meet these goals? First, by exciting the viewer with a chance to win a free set of four new tires. Entering the sweepstakes to win the tires was the initial value offered to the potential customer.

The ad was titled “Holiday Tire Sweepstakes: Happy Holidays from the Team You Trust,” and was designed to immediately catch the potential customer’s attention. Who doesn't want to win something, especially a brand new set of tires? Even if tires are not needed, the idea of winning is exciting! The ad image was bright and highly contrasted with the rest of the Facebook newsfeed, aiming to stop users mid-scroll.

The ad copy above the image was super short (no sales pitch needed) because the offer is super clear and valuable on the surface.

The Landing Page

From the ad, the agency sent users to a Leadkit landing page that mimicked what they saw in the ad and were asked to enter their information. It may seem redundant but it's a really important step in any funnel. The flow from ad to landing page should feel like a natural flow. They have done this by using the same image from the ad, on the background.

The landing page also was very clear to stipulate that the tires must be in stock and the recommended size for the winner's vehicle. This is to help cut back on anyone abusing the prize by requesting the most expensive tire set available.

The Follow-up

After signing up on the landing page for the chance to win a full set of tires, each customer then received a coupon for 50% off an oil change at the tire store via the Thank you page, email and text message. To add urgency, they had to claim the offer within 24 hours. Even if there was no need for an oil change at the moment, the sense of limited time made the offer more engaging and helped push users to visit the shop even before finding out if they won the sweepstakes.

The tire funnel process worked from the first contact to the moment the customer made their first purchase at the store. There was no stopping halfway through the step-by-step process.  Once the funnel is set up, the automated follow-up process keeps in touch with leads. That’s right, Leadkit sends an automated series of messages to the customer via both text and email over the course of two days following their sign up. 

Without automation, you would be spending too much of your valuable time trying to reach out to all the potential customers one-by-one, spending hours sending emails and text messages. Not ideal for someone trying to grow their agency.

Results

So you say, where are these amazing results that will knock my socks off? I know this is why you've kept reading to this point: this is what you care about (maybe you even skipped to this paragraph)!

In the case of this tire store, the campaign reached a total of 3,406 people. From that total number, 1,018 people visited the landing page, and 139 solid leads were generated. That’s a conversion rate of 14.77%. For these excellent results, the tire shop spent only $65.33! Numbers like that are very helpful! Not only do they look great on paper but they also mean a lot more tire sales and many more oil changes for the local tire shop.

One of the best things about Facebook marketing is that companies can know quickly and easily if the campaign is doing its job or not and can adjust based on the results.

On top of all of this campaign building and valuable data, the tool the marketing team used, LeadKit, gave the company a list with the contact information for the people who entered their information into the offer system, showing who had actually called in to claim their bonus offer. That’s more than just names. It’s value to your business.

In a nutshell, this tire giveaway funnel campaign worked because:

• It determined the ideal target market for the offer, auto owners that would be in need of routine services.

• The ad and landing page was simple, used appealing words and pictures that directed the potential customer sign up for a chance to win a full new set of tires.

• There was a specific follow up with the customers through an automated, step-by-step process that provided maximum value to them, and urgency to bring them to the store.

• The client then continued to contact and nurture those leads. 

Every campaign that’s built is as different as the clients that use it, but effective Facebook ad strategies are always applicable. Our case study, the tire funnel campaign, provided the flexibility, structure, and data that the tire store, and every company, needs to run a successful marketing funnel campaign to grow their business.

Have questions on this funnel? We’ve got answers. Drop us a comment below, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can. And, don’t forget to share your results with us once you test drive this funnel!

Facebook adFacebook Ad Agencyfacebook leadstire shop funneltire shop leads