Marketing During COVID-19: Capitol Shine
The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 resulted in businesses shutting down from coast to coast. Many businesses, such as Capitol Shine, only offer in-person services which can be tricky during a shutdown. With people working from home, that meant a steep decrease in demand for auto detailing services.
The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 resulted in businesses shutting down from coast to coast. Many businesses, such as Capitol Shine, only offer in-person services which can be tricky during a shutdown. With people working from home, that meant a steep decrease in demand for auto detailing services.
To combat this, Griffin & Co. created a campaign called “Creative Spending.” The primary goal of the campaign was to educate customers on how they can still support local businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic through, you guessed it, creative ways. These ways included volunteering, online shopping, gift cards and take-out restaurants, among others. By including a list of other businesses and industries in the Arlington area (from the Arlington Chamber of Commerce), Capitol Shine was able to reach a wider audience as other businesses and individuals shared the campaign.
The secondary goal ties into the first: Selling digital gift certificates through the Capitol Shine website. By purchasing a gift certificate now, customers could use them at a later time which helped provide immediate funds.
Social media posts of the campaign were shared by other businesses, organizations and individuals in and around Arlington.
Key features of the campaign included:
Shareable images with an easy-to-understand message
Emailed out to current email list
Shared on social media including
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
LinkedIn
Google Business
Call-to-action in the form of purchasing digital gift certificates
Images of the campaign can be seen below or on Capitol Shine’s website at www.capitolshine.com/blog/support-local-business-through-creative-spending.
New Responsive Website: Capitol Shine
We recently created a brand-new beautiful website for Capitol Shine, an auto-detailer in the Washington, DC metro area. Previously, Capitol Shine was using 3 separate websites with different purposes:
We recently created a brand-new beautiful website for Capitol Shine, an auto-detailer in the Washington, DC metro area. Previously, Capitol Shine was using 3 separate websites with different purposes:
The main website was a Drupal CRM, but did not include mobile functionality. The website also lacked HTTPS, which has become a standard feature for ranking well with Google and other search engines.
The mobile site was a customized app that had the essential information, but did not match the main website in aesthetic which sometimes created confusion with users. It also had problems with crashing often and had a different URL, which hurt SEO rankings.
The blog was also separate. Since the Drupal website did not have the best blogging feature, Capitol Shine was using a Wordpress blog that linked to the main website.
All of these together contained essential items for any brand these days: a main website, a mobile website and a blog. The main website was created several years ago before a mobile version was needed. However, as time passed, a mobile component was created by using a customizable app to help those scheduling services online. The blog has also been a big part of the Capitol Shine brand, ranking heavily in search engines due to using the right keywords. However, with each of these websites having different URLs, Capitol Shine did not rank as well as it would with a central website, which is where Griffin & Co. comes in.
We decided that using a customized Squarespace website would best suit the needs of the client. Squarespace websites are responsive so it would work on any devices, thereby eliminating the need for a separate mobile site. In addition, Squarespace has a superior blogging platform compared to some other choices, which served the need to continue ranking high on search engines.
Key features on the new website included:
Responsive layout
Updated SEO and different SEO keywords for each page, depending on its function
Updated professional photos for a more clean and higher-end look
HTTPS security. As of 2018, Google started listed websites without HTTPS as “not secure”. More on that HERE.
Video background on the homepage to engage with the audience
Banner and pop-up functionality to display different monthly promotions
More detailed scheduling system
Updated services and offerings. Capitol Shine has grown from an auto-detailer to a full-service detailing, tint, vinyl, paint correction and paint protection shop, which needed to be reflected in the brand.
The end result was a larger, SEO-enhanced, mobile-friendly website which more accurately reflects brand. Visit www.capitolshine.com to explore the many features.
