Shop Membership
What We Do
NARPRO – The Network of Neighborhood Auto Repair Professionals is a group of passionate and compassionate, locally owned and operated auto repair professionals, dedicated to their business, their employees, and their community. Although a marketing company, primarily focused on the promotion and growth of its members’ businesses, it is equally a company that is committed to the local communities in which we are rooted and will always consider that when making decisions that affect both. We both solicit and encourage our members to participate in the many community-oriented activities throughout the year.
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What is a Cooperative Marketing Association and how will it help me?
Our Co-op Marketing Association helps independent shops compete effectively and affordably with large chains and franchise outlets.
The Co-op pools the resources of all its members to provide marketing and advertising that no one shop or small group of shops could afford on its own.
Here’s the problem many shops face. An individual repair shop draws its customers from a small area – usually a 1.5 to 5 mile radius of the shop (the “Draw Zone”). General broadcast advertising, marketing, and public relations are targeted at a much larger audience – say a Metropolitan area, city or county. In order to buy advertising on radio, TV, Yellow Pages, newspapers – even the internet – the independent shop must pay for a great deal of advertising that isn’t targeted at their Draw Zone, so it is, in fact, “wasted” on people who will never come to your shop purely because it is too far away. When using this general audience marketing strategy a single shop often wastes approximately 85% of its advertising dollar.
Here’s why Cooperative Marketing works. You share the costs; you share the customers. Customers in your Draw Zone will be presented to you. They can go to your custom NARPRO web page, see photos of you and your shop, find out all about the services you offer, your techs, certifications and your experience. They’ll be able to call or even make an appointment right from your page.
You’re Independent, but get the Benefits of your Association. We educate consumers how NARPRO goes to great lengths to enroll only shops that have a proven Track Record of Trust. They value a NARPRO.com recommendation and feel confident in choosing a shop affiliated with our network. As a NARPRO member you are the beneficiary of the trust NARPRO has built with the consumer.
NARPRO takes care of the marketing – you take care of the customer. We put together the group of shops, develop your custom NARPRO web page, create and implement the advertising, provided signage for your shop, and help track your customer satisfaction level and phone calls. You do what you’ve always done – build and maintain a quality relationship with your customers.
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NARPRO Helps Good Customers Find You
Our job is to bring you new non-coupon clipping customers – customers who are looking for a good shop they can do business long term but couldn’t have found you otherwise.
The car owners we market to look for a trusted referral, they search for information, and they make their decisions based on evidence, not the kind of fluff found in an average Yellow Pages ad or a shop website.
NARPRO talks about what’s important to them – finding a great, independent, neighborhood shop that’s convenient to them. They want a shop with
- Local Ownership
- A Verified Track Record Of Trust
- Superior Customer Service
- Certified Technicians With Quality Equipment & Parts
- Quality Repair Backed By Quality Warranties
- A Trusted Third Party Evaluation & Certification
That’s what NARPRO gives them.
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Earning A NARPRO Certification
Because of our standards NARPRO does not accept everyone. In fact we limit membership in an area to so you won’t be overloaded with competitors.
And those shops that pass our 26 tests for Quality, Integrity, and Customer Satisfaction earn a NARPRO recommendation which really means something to car owners. It means that they trust NARPRO to list only the best, most reputable shops in the area.
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What Marketing Do You Do Now?
Making NARPRO part of your marketing mix makes sense, but it shouldn’t be the only thing you do.
In working with top, independent repair shops since 2004, we’ve learned a lot of things that are important to the customer. The #1 marketing priority of the most successful shops was communicating with their customers. Before you send a postcard, before you spend a penny on your website, before you do anything to attract new customers – keep in regular contact with the people who already know you, that trust you and make it easy for them to refer you to their friends. (and you’ll save loads of cash if you get their e-mail addresses – an e-mail costs far less than a stamp).
Second, ask your best customers for the compliment of a referral. Build a simple referral program where you set aside some funds to reward both the referring party and the new customer coming in on a referral.
Only after you’ve built a contact program and a referral program centered on your long term customers, can you afford to turn your attention to attracting new clients – and for that, we think NARPRO is a great place to start.
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How NARPRO Markets for You!
We use various methods and media to communicate our message – that NARPRO lists the best and most reputable neighborhood auto repair shops and auto body shops in the area.
The goals of each and every component of our Marketing Mix are to
- Increase Brand Awareness
- Push people to our website NARPRO.com or our blog FindAnHonestMechanic.com so they wind up finding and calling YOU
- Build a base of “Fans” (our VIP members) that we can communicate with on a regular basis keeping NARPRO and your shop on their mind
We Use
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Broadcast Advertising With Talk Show Host Endorsements
We have found that advertising on Talk Radio makes sense for NARPRO.
Talk show hosts carry more weight than others when communicating with their own listeners. We try to find the ones with the most loyal listeners to maximize the effectiveness of our radio advertising and leverage the “word of mouth” referral process.
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Internet Advertising
Pay-per-click, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Geographic “targeting”, banner ads, and links are the major components of our internet advertising campaign.
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Public Relations
A strong PR component influences consumers much more effectively than paid advertising. NARPRO works every day to pitch stories and concepts to local, regional and national news media.
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Social Media Marketing
SMM is “word-of-mouth” on steroids. NARPRO uses Blogs, FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube and the like to communicate our message, cultivate “fans” and encourage them to share their experiences with their networks of friends.