Buffalo, NY · Tire and auto repair shop · Local campaign
Snow tire swaps before the first-snow rush
Ben Kowalski made social posts and ran Meta ads for Westside Tire & Brake, a tire and auto repair shop in Buffalo, NY (Oct 20 – Nov 22, 2025): 96 swaps booked before the first real snow.
- Client
- Westside Tire & BrakeTire and auto repair shop
- Where
- Buffalo, NYWest Side, Black Rock, Grant-Ferry, and Riverside
- When
- Oct 20 – Nov 22, 2025
- Services
- Social posts, Meta ads
Results
Oct 20 – Nov 22, 2025
- 14,100People reached by the ad and posts
- 588Clicks through to booking
- 96Swap bookings before the first real snow
- $336Meta ad spend, $3.50 per booking
- 24Customers new to the shop
- 74Swaps in the week after the snow, down from 138
The brief
Westside does about 300 snow tire swaps a year, and nearly half of them used to land in the week after the first real snow, with cars lined up down the block. The owner wanted swaps spread over late October and early November instead. The limits: two lifts for tires, Saturdays only until 2, no rush fee, and the forecast decides the timing.
- Goal
- Spread snow tire swaps across late October instead of one jammed week after the first snow.
- Who and where
- Drivers on Buffalo’s West Side and in Tonawanda who keep a second set of tires in the garage.
What the client gave me
Last year’s swap count by week (138 in the week after the first snow), a photo of the line out front that week, a look at the storage racks, and the owner’s rule for every post: never say snow tires are required, because in New York they aren’t.
What I made
Teach the coin test, show how quick a swap is, share Saturday hours, then post “beat the rush” when the forecast first mentions snow.
Try the coin testThe coin test, shown with a quarter, which the techs prefer for winter tires. It gives drivers a reason to check before it snows.Caption A ten-second check drivers can do in the driveway. If the tread is low, they already know who to call. Seasonal tire swapShot in the shop with stored tires on the racks. In and out in under an hour answers the time question before anyone asks.Caption Answers the main objection, which is time: most swaps are done in under an hour while you wait. Open Saturdays 8 to 2Saturday 8 to 2, shown on the shop itself. Most drivers on the West Side can’t take a weekday off for tires.Caption Most people can’t leave work for tires. Saturday hours turn “someday” into this weekend. Beat the first-snow rushKept as a draft until the forecast first said snow, then posted at 6 a.m. that morning with the booking link.Caption Held until the forecast first mentions snow, then posted the same morning. That’s when drivers are finally thinking about tires.
How it went out
Where it ran
- Westside’s Facebook page
- Google Business Profile
- Black Rock and Riverside community groups
- A text to customers with tires in storage
- Oct 20“Try the coin test” on Facebook, Google and two community groups
- Oct 22Meta ad starts with the coin test, about $8 a day
- Oct 27Text to 212 customers with tires in storage, with a booking link
- Oct 29“Seasonal tire swap” on the page and Google
- Nov 3“Open Saturdays 8 to 2”, for the first Saturday in November
- Nov 10, 6 a.m.Snow in the forecast: “Beat the first-snow rush” posted and swapped in as the ad, $14 a day
- Nov 22Ad ends
What happened
The storage text did half the work: 51 of the 96 bookings came from it within a week, from people who had been meaning to call. When the forecast finally showed snow on November 10, the post went up at 6 a.m. and booked 29 swaps by Wednesday. Saturdays are what didn’t work: they filled so fast that the Saturday post still drew a line at 8 a.m. on November 8, and a few people left. The week after the first real snow the shop did 74 swaps instead of 138, and nobody waited outside.
What I’d do next
Send the storage text first, in mid-October, before any post. Make the two busiest Saturdays appointment-only. And keep “Beat the first-snow rush” and its ad ready to go the moment snow shows up in the forecast.
More work by Ben
71 free-check bookings before the first snow
Tell Ben about your business
Share where you are and what you’d like more of. Ben usually replies within a day.
Availability updated Oct 12, 2026.