Image is very important for a successful business. With all the competition in the service station market, it is what will set your operation apart from the others. Branding and marketing are not limited to ads and billboards anymore; they are a part of your business that you have to seamlessly integrate into your operations. A well-planned marketing campaign will include how your c-store layout and advertising on your pumps. A successful strategy will drive more customers to your sundry and fuel sales to increase revenue. Here are the top 3 tips for branding and marketing your gas station.
Make sure you are visible online
The biggest issue here is the online presence a lot of independent fuel retailers severely lack. To market your gas station, you just need to be online. In a 2015 survey, it was found that 77% of customers thought a business was more credible if they had a website. 88% of small business owners said having a website made their business easier to find (Verisign, 2015). This alone should convince you to set up either a website of your own or a free Google site through the listing for your business. Not only will you appear more credible and professional, but new customers will be able to find you easily. You will be able to post updates, and you will be able to brand your business both online and offline.
Use of your pump screens to advertise your in-store products (if applicable)
Since pay at the pump is becoming hugely popular, sundry sales can suffer. One way some fuel retailers have gotten around this issue is by advertising promotions on their pumps’ screens. Promotions like ‘buy $20 of gas and get a free coffee’ get customers in the door and looking around at other items. Once they get to your till, impulse items are also more easily purchased since the customer feels they are already getting something at a discount. If you don’t have pumps with screens capable of displaying ads, though, a small investment into some displays (analog or digital) around your pumps will generally have a similar effect.
The goal here is to get paying customers interested in the items that have higher margins for you. Understanding what your customers want is a good place to start. Take a look through your POS reports to single out items that perform the best and use them to your advantage. Having a good strategy for promotions can also help your brand your gas station as the superior choice in the area.
Target people that can access your station within 10 minutes
Customers are fickle in their choices because so many are available to them these days. However, the most common factor behind a customers’ decision to go to a gas station is convenience. To market your gas station, you have to know your customer base. A study by NACS found that 93% of consumers have a convenience store within 10 minutes of them in cities and 86% have one in rural areas (NACS, 2018). This means that you’ll be very unlikely to see consumers if you’re more than 10 minutes away from them. Targeting the area within a 10-minute radius of your store is very important. The same study found that 33% of people chose a gas station based on the convenience of the location.
Building up from these will only improve your marketing strategy and give you an advantage over others. Your customers are the best indicators of what strategies you should use so listen to them and their needs.
iPOS for Fuel from Wiz-Tec allows you to quickly and easily provide discounts and create promotions right from your point of sale. Take control of your marketing right from your touchscreen.