Introduction
$480K a Month Added, With the Marketing Budget Cut by More Than 40%
Lube City engaged me as VP Marketing on a strategic contract to lift revenue across its 29 quick-lube locations in Alberta. The business had been spending $20K to $30K a month on digital campaigns at returns that did not justify it. The constraint turned out not to be advertising at all. People choosing an oil-change shop do not respond to ads; they check reviews and pick the highest-rated location near them. So instead of buying more media, I fixed review generation across the network. At the sites already trading, car count rose 30%, revenue rose by $480K a month across the 29 locations combined, and the marketing budget came down by more than 40% at the same time. Three new locations opened on the back of the result.
How I Drove Growth: Five Areas of Marketing Impact
Audited the $20K to $30K a month going into digital campaigns and the returns coming back. Spend was not the problem. The deciding factor for a customer was the star rating of the nearest location, so the work moved from buying attention to earning trust.
Diagnosing the Real Constraint
Cut the marketing budget by more than 40% and redirected the effort to the lever that actually moved customers. Few marketing leaders can show spend going down and revenue going up in the same period; here both happened because the constraint had never been spend.
Cutting the Budget by More Than 40%
Built review generation into the daily operation of every location, so ratings reflected the service customers actually received. Higher ratings put each site at the top of local search, which is where an oil-change decision is made.
A Review System Run Location by Location
Trained and coached around 150 people across the 29-location network, so the change lived in the branches rather than in a head-office campaign.
Training the People Who Make It Work
Car count rose 30% at the sites already trading, and ticket value and sales rose with it. Measured same-store, the result is clean: the three new locations that opened afterwards are not inside the number.
Growth Measured on a Same-Store Basis
$480K a month in added revenue across 29 locations
01
Marketing budget cut by more than 40%
02
30% car count growth at the sites already trading
03
3 new locations opened on the back of the result
04
~150 people trained and coached across the network