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Kenmore, NY · Auto repair shop · Local campaign

Winter-ready checks before the first lake-effect snow

Ben Kowalski made social posts and ran Meta ads for Summit Auto Care, an auto repair shop in Kenmore, NY (Oct 6 – Nov 14, 2025): 71 free-check bookings before the first snow.

Client
Summit Auto CareAuto repair shop
Where
Kenmore, NYTown of Tonawanda, North Buffalo, and Riverside
When
Oct 6 – Nov 14, 2025
Services
Social posts, Meta ads

Results

Oct 6 – Nov 14, 2025

  • 18,200People reached by the ad and posts
  • 655Clicks to call or book online
  • 71Free-check bookings by phone and online
  • $294Meta ad spend, $4.14 per booking
  • 58Batteries tested, 14 replaced before the snow
  • 29Visits that added a second service

The brief

Summit is a three-bay shop on Delaware Avenue in Kenmore. Every year the morning after the first lake-effect storm brings dead batteries, tows and a week of overtime, and then December goes quiet. The owner wanted that work spread across October and early November: oil changes, brake checks and battery tests done before the weather turned. The limits: three bays and four techs, only the offers the owner approved (a free brake check and a free battery test), and no scare talk about safety.

Goal
Fill October and early November with maintenance visits before the first lake-effect storm brings breakdowns and tows.
Who and where
Commuters in Kenmore and Tonawanda who drive to work every day, within ten minutes of the shop.

What the client gave me

Last November’s work orders by day, with the spike the week of the first storm, phone photos from the bays, the two free-check offers worded exactly as the owner wanted them, and the oil-change sticker they put on every windshield, which most customers never look at.

One of eleven dead batteries pulled the morning after last year’s first storm.
One of eleven dead batteries pulled the morning after last year’s first storm.
The bays at 7:30 a.m. after last November’s first snow, taken by the owner.
The bays at 7:30 a.m. after last November’s first snow, taken by the owner.

What I made

One check a week: the oil sticker, a free brake check, a battery test, then a checklist that bundles them into one visit.

  1. Is it time for an oil change?
    Is it time for an oil change?Started with the sticker on the windshield, the one check every driver can do in ten seconds without a tech.Caption Starts with something every driver can check in ten seconds: the sticker on the windshield. Easy wins build trust for the reminders that follow.
  2. Free brake check this month
    Free brake check this monthThe free brake check, with no appointment needed, since walk-ins are how most new customers first try Summit. Shot on the lift in the shop’s own light.Caption Brakes matter more on icy roads. A free check gives a low-pressure reason to come in before the weather turns.
  3. Cold mornings start with a good battery
    Cold mornings start with a good batteryHeld until the first week the overnight low dropped near freezing, then posted the free battery test that morning.Caption Posted the first week overnight lows drop near freezing, when people start to worry about the morning start.
  4. Winter-ready in one visit
    Winter-ready in one visitBundled the month into one visit, in the order the techs do it: battery, brakes, wipers and fluid, tire tread.Caption Bundles the month into one appointment. Drivers who came in for one check see what else is worth doing before the snow.

How it went out

Where it ran

  • Summit’s Facebook page
  • Google Business Profile
  • Kenmore and Tonawanda community groups
  • Text reminders to past customers
  1. Oct 6“Is it time for an oil change?” on Facebook, Google and two community groups
  2. Oct 8Meta ad starts with the brake check, $8 a day
  3. Oct 13“Free brake check this month” on the page and Google
  4. Oct 20Text to customers due for service, with both free checks
  5. Oct 28First overnight low near freezing: “Cold mornings start with a good battery”
  6. Nov 3“Winter-ready in one visit” becomes the ad and goes up on Google
  7. Nov 14Ad ends, the week the first lake-effect snow arrived
Best ad: Free brake check this month

Meta ads

Audience
Adults 25 to 65 within 5 miles of the shop: Kenmore, the Town of Tonawanda and North Buffalo
Budget
$300 planned, $294 spent
Dates
Oct 8 – Nov 14

The brake check ad got the most clicks, at $0.42 each. The winter-ready ad, from Nov 3, booked more visits per click, because by then the forecast was doing half the work. The battery post never ran as an ad: it did fine on its own the morning it went up.

What happened

The text to past customers brought the most, 26 of the 71 bookings in its first two days. The battery post was the one people shared, mostly tagging someone whose car wouldn’t start last winter. Of 58 batteries tested, 14 were replaced before the snow, and 29 visits added a second service, usually wipers or an oil change. The oil-change post is the one that didn’t work: lots of likes and almost no bookings, since drivers checked the sticker and went to the quick-lube place down the street. The first storm still brought 6 tows, against 19 the year before.

What I’d do next

Lead with the battery test, timed to the first cold morning, and send the text the same day. Drop the oil-change post or pair it with something only a full shop does. And keep a list of customers whose batteries tested weak, to call the week the first storm is forecast.

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Availability updated Oct 12, 2026.

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