Driving instructors are under constant pressure to continue to market to keep the “car door” open and starting a new driving school is an even greater challenge. The irony of being a successful learner driver instructor is when the student passes the test they no longer need a driver instructor. So the ability to do effective marketing is essential for growing a driving school business.
Unlike years gone by when the Yellow Pages, advertising in the local paper and a letterbox drop were the primary forms of marketing for a driving school. You now have many cheap and effective channels, both digital and traditional, at your disposal to reach your key audience.
Here are some marketing channels you should include in your driving school marketing in 2024.
Create a high-performing website
A website has to act as your strongest brand identity, your best salesperson and contain convenient features to make doing business with you easy.
Fifteen years ago you could think of your website as a brochure (that you might have dropped in a letterbox). If you’re still thinking that is what your website is you’re losing business FAST.
The website should as a minimum:
- Explain what you offer
- Why/How you offer that service better than any other driving school (USP – Unique Selling proposition)
- What students think of your service (Social Proof)
- Your Guarantee
- Multiple channels including chat, email and Direct Message to contact you.
- Your pricing structure (explained in a competitive manner)
- And most importantly the ability to easily book a driving lesson, purchase lesson packages features and pay online.
- As well as being on-brand and looks current.
It also needs to be well optimised so the information is in the right order and the call to action (to book with you) is front and centre.
Start by Driving traffic to your website through paid options
Most digital marketers spruke, free traffic through a social media channel or organic search is the best form of marketing. That may be true, but it takes months if not years to establish a well-respected social presence or ranking for keywords that can actually grow your business.
This is where paid search can quickly fill the gap as you grow organic marketing channels behind the scenes.
In 2024 your learner students will primarily be using Google search, Instagram (Meta) and Tik Tok. So leverage their paid advertising options to start to drive high valued traffic to your website.
Either engage a highly successful paid search consultant or start by working out your profit margins and what you will need to achieve as a cost per lead or cost per booking.
Get into social media marketing
We discussed the paid versions of some highly targeted Social media platforms but, you also need to establish a stream of engaging conversations and delight them with quality content. For instance, upload fun and informative videos that gather heaps of likes, shares, and other social singles (Our gold nugget of advice….Post your students that pass a test and tag them into the content). Also, use instant messaging features as customer service tools and impress them with your response times.
You also need to consider that parents of the students are also your target audience as they are most likely paying for the lessons (you’ll find more of them on Facebook) so ensure that is part of your mix.
Claim business listings
While SEO can take some time to gain traction, what won’t take too much time is claiming your business listings on sites like Google My Business, Yelp, Local directories, and Driving School directories. Creating profiles there will put you in front of people looking for driving lessons via organic search and the all important Google Maps.
It is crucial to provide accurate and current information in your listings, including address, website address, business descriptions, phone number, social profiles, and working hours.
Finally, Think Local..
Consumers tend to prefer businesses that demonstrate a strong sense of social responsibility. Think and act local. You can raise awareness of your brand by participating in secondary school events, business shows, conferences, and workshops. Seek out similar non-competitive businesses to collaborate on cross-promotion deals. Additionally, make an effort to network with other business owners, managers, and leaders.
Get featured in prominent media outlets and publications and collaborate with bloggers in your area. Finally, sponsor real events (local sporting teams) and fund social movements you believe in. Your efforts should eventually yield results in the form of awareness, free press, and good faith.