Episode
Stop Spray and Pray: The Marketing System Helping Auto Shops Fill Bays in 2026 [E216]
- Podcast
- Business By The Numbers
- Published
- Apr 2, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2620
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Summary
Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve What if the reason your car count is down has nothing to do with your marketing — and everything to do with your people? And if you don't know who your ideal customer actually is before you spend a single dollar on advertising, are you really marketing, or just hoping? Hunt Demarest sits down with Mike DelaCruz, founder of Overdryve Marketing and a 15-year veteran of the automotive aftermarket. Mike's path through DemandForce, Kukui, and Vehlo gave him a front-row seat to what works across thousands of shops. In 2023 he launched Overdryve as a fractional CMO service for independent repair shops — and in under three years built an 11-person team. This episode covers the full marketing picture: building a customer avatar using USPS carrier routes and census data before a campaign launches, diagnosing whether a slow shop has a retention problem or an acquisition problem, and why the "$79 oil change" mentality is costing shops tens of thousands in lifetime revenue. Mike also pulls back the curtain on Overdryve.OS — their AI-powered platform that integrates with Tekmetric and sends real-time alerts when your lead count starts to slip — and gives a straight answer on the Google vs. AI question: 50/50 today, shifting hard toward AI over the next two to five years. Whether you're tired of panic-marketing every slow January, or you've never thought seriously about lifetime customer value, this conversation will change how you think about the front door of your business. What You'll Learn... (03:03) Throwing a Hail Mary: how Overdryve Marketing was born. (08:08) Why "I need more cars" is the wrong place to start. (09:01) USPS routes, DMV data, and census reports: know your customer before you spend…