Here’s something most shop owners never connect: what you charge and what your marketing says are the same conversation.
If your brand screams “cheapest in town” but you need higher margins to survive, you’ve built a trap for yourself. And if your brand promises premium service but your pricing doesn’t reflect that, your customers are confused — and confused customers don’t stay loyal.
David Rogers just published a piece in Shop Owner Magazine called “What It Takes to Move the Needle,” and one of the most important ideas in it is brand alignment — the relationship between your market positioning and your pricing strategy.
The Nuance Nobody Talks About
Here’s the reality David lays out in the article: if your brand is built on trust, transparency, and community reputation, you probably can’t charge the highest labor rate in your market and maintain that positioning. There’s a ceiling your market will accept, and that’s okay.
But — and this is the part most owners miss — that doesn’t mean you have to accept the lowest rate either.
It means you engineer your pricing mix to hit your goals within your brand positioning. If your labor rate is mid-market but your parts matrix is optimized, your focus needs to be on communicating the value your customers receive. The better warranty. The free vehicle pickup and delivery. The free shuttle rides. The things that justify the investment and make your customers feel smart for choosing you.
The McDonald’s Lesson
David uses a great analogy in the article: McDonald’s doesn’t use a flat markup across small, medium, and large combo meals. They price strategically. They know most people order a medium, so that’s where they make the most profit.
Now look at your shop. Are you being that intentional?
Your parts matrix should make you the most margin on the parts that move the most. Your diagnostic time should reflect that it’s the most skilled work you do — not given away free to “get the car in the door.” Your shop supplies should be engineered into your profitability, not tacked on as afterthoughts.
This isn’t about gouging anyone. It’s about being intentional.
What Does Your Marketing Actually Say?
Here’s where this connects directly to your marketing: every piece of communication you put out — your website, your direct mail, your Google profile, your social media — is either supporting your pricing strategy or undermining it.
If you’re charging premium prices but your marketing looks like a discount tire shop’s flyer, there’s a disconnect. If you offer pickup and delivery, a nationwide warranty, and loaner vehicles but none of that shows up in your messaging, you’re leaving money on the table.
Your marketing should communicate the value behind your prices. Not the prices themselves — the value. That’s what builds the kind of customer base that doesn’t flinch when you hand them an estimate.
Being Intentional Beats Being Busy
One of the biggest themes in David’s article is the difference between being busy and being profitable. You can be slammed, bays full, phone ringing off the hook — and still have nothing left at the end of the month.
The same applies to marketing. You can be “doing marketing” — posting on Facebook, sending postcards, running Google ads — and still not growing. Because activity without strategy is just noise.
Intentional marketing means every dollar you spend supports a specific outcome. It means your brand positioning, your pricing strategy, and your customer messaging all point in the same direction.
There’s always a path to your goals, but you have to design it intentionally — not stumble into it.
Let’s Align Your Brand and Your Bottom Line
At Automated Marketing Group, we build marketing strategies that support what you’re actually trying to accomplish — not just “get more phone calls” but build the right customer base at the right price point with the right messaging.
Ready to make your marketing work as hard as you do? Contact AMG and let’s build a strategy that aligns your brand with your business goals.
