When Tas and his team took over a failing automotive business, they transformed it into Victoria Park Auto Services before eventually relocating and rebranding as Workshop 7 (a name chosen by their customers through a Facebook competition). This journey through Auckland’s competitive landscape presented both challenges and opportunities, particularly when it came to establishing their digital presence in a new location.
The team needed a marketing strategy that would connect them with the right customers in their area. However, their initial experience with digital marketing left them questioning whether online channels could truly deliver value for their business.
The Background
After successfully running Victoria Park Auto Services for several years, Tas and his team faced a significant challenge when they lost their lease. After a period of uncertainty and a short-term three-month lease at an interim location, they finally secured their current premises and rebranded as Workshop 7.
“We did a Facebook competition, so our customers named the workshop,” Tas explains. This initial positive experience with social media prompted them to explore other digital channels, though Tas admits he was never particularly drawn to platforms like Facebook and Instagram. “It’s just not my gig,” he says.
The Challenge
Having invested in a new website, logo, and rebranding, Tas wanted to explore SEO to maximize their online visibility. His first experience with an SEO provider, however, left much to be desired.
“We had this guy who took me through this whole process and showed me about all this great stuff that he was going to do.’ And then he signed me into a contract for 12 months,” Tas recalls.
The issues quickly mounted. The provider started by criticising virtually every aspect of their website – from keywords to copy to backlinks – claiming “everything is terrible.” This led to additional costs beyond the already expensive contract.
Monthly reports consisted of “squiggly lines” and technical jargon with little practical relevance to the business. “I don’t care about any of this stuff,” Tas remembers thinking. “You’re telling me about all this stuff and it’s really technical… but actually all I really want to know is has the work created any more business for the workshop.
By the six-month mark, Tas had decided not to renew. When the provider claimed he was locked into a two-year contract, Tas refused to continue payment, feeling the service had delivered no tangible results despite the significant investment.
Working with Ark Advance
After hearing positive feedback about Ark Advance through his BNI network, Tas decided to give digital marketing another chance. Initially skeptical after his previous experience, he appreciated the straightforward approach.
“I had a one-to-one with Chris and it wasn’t a sales pitch… I told him what my budget was and I thought, well, I’ve got to give it a go. What have we got to lose? I’ve already spent a whole bunch of money and it hasn’t got me anywhere.”
The Solution
While the first couple of months showed similar patterns to his previous experience, the situation quickly changed as Ark Advance implemented a more targeted approach to Workshop 7’s digital strategy.
Rather than using broad keywords like “servicing cars Auckland” with an extensive 25km radius, Ark Advance recommended:
1. Narrowing the geographic focus: Reducing the target radius to just 5km around the workshop to capture truly local customers
2. Specialising the services: Focusing on European vehicle maintenance with specific keywords like “Audi servicing” or “BMW service”
3. Customer mapping: Analysing where existing customers were located to better understand their market reach
“When I came to ARK”, Tas explains, “you told us what we shouldn’t continue doing and why. When we looked at the mapping data, we could really see a concentration of where the old workshop was and then you could see a migration of where the new workshop was.”
The Results
The results were unmistakable. Workshop 7 began receiving consistent, high-quality website inquiries – between one and three per day – specifically for European vehicle services.
“We were getting inquiries about all sorts of things,” Tas says. “And then I was like, ‘Well, obviously it’s working!”
The campaign’s effectiveness was further proven when Workshop 7 became too busy before Christmas and asked to pause their advertising temporarily:
“Before Christmas, I said to you, ‘Man, turn it off. I can’t deal with all this work.’ And we noticed it go away,” Tas confirms. “We did seriously see a drop off, which was quite good because that’s what we wanted. That kind of proved why that’s working.”
Most impressively, in the last 12 months, Workshop 7 has attracted hundreds of new customers through Google, with consistent monthly performance bringing in new clientele who typically return twice a year per vehicle.
Looking Forward
While many competitors in the automotive repair industry have struggled since COVID, Workshop 7 has maintained steady growth. This success has positioned them to the point where they’ve outgrown their current premises, though they’re cautious about relocating and potentially losing their established local customer base.
“As a workshop in the last two years, we haven’t noticed a downturn in work. A lot of my competitors have,” Tas notes. “We kind of feel that there was a whole lot of stuff that we did right at that time – we changed the workshop, we had a fresh branding, we’re doing the Google Ads stuff. There’s a whole lot of stuff that kind of happened all at once.”
For Workshop 7, Google Ads has become their exclusive advertising channel outside of service reminders to existing customers. After trying radio advertising and other channels with difficult-to-measure results, they appreciate the clarity and demonstrable ROI of their digital marketing.
“I like what we’re doing, because we can actually measure it,” Tas says. “The industry’s gone through a real tough time in the last four years… but we as a workshop in the last two years haven’t noticed a downturn in work.”
