Project: EDGE Motorworks
Livery design for the EDGE National Championship-winning BMW E36 M3.
Brand
We redesigned the EDGE Motorworks brand and integrated it into everything from business cards and race cars to the exterior of their building.
Industry: Automotive Repair, Auto Racing, and High Performance Automotive.
Website: https://edgemw.co
Web
Leveraging the brand work we did, an SEO-ready WordPress website was designed, written, and built. We also host and maintain the website, so EDGE can concentrate on what they do best.
Marketing & Operations
Marketing: Only essential marketing was necessary. This focused on Porsche, BMW, racers, aficionados, and EDGE’s customer base.
Operations: We automated pre- and post-service communication and integrated new shop software alongside corresponding operational policy.
Challenges: Too Busy Doing the Work
A small shop with world-class expertise can’t take the time to plan or create marketing and operational efficiencies.
The solution, or solutions, couldn’t require too much of EDGE’s involvement, as their time is always at a premium. This meant that we had to be almost completely autonomous, which can only happen with trust.
Our work will always pale in comparison to the detailed and engaged customer experience EDGE delivers. Everything we did was designed to expand on the live customer experience, or not to get in its way.
Solution: A Slow Burn
EDGE Motorworks is a small business in a very favorable position. It has more work than it can handle, a loyal customer base, and aggressive marketing isn’t necessary. What is needed are all the tools and methods that keep it current and meet its customers’ ever-changing expectations.
Our mix of heightened brand representation, web design and content, social marketing, and customer relationship management happens at a slow burn, because that’s what was possible with a boutique.
EDGE Motorworks has always been a ‘seat-of-the-pants’ business. While that approach has served us well, we knew a better, more structured way was possible. Perfect Thirds has integrated new branding, marketing, and technology to help us reach that next level. They have worked with a very measured approach, recognizing that we need to transition more slowly than other businesses. We especially appreciate how they produced the website, stay on top of the marketing efforts, and manage the associated vendors, all with very little interaction required from us.
— Anthony Zwain
Partner
EDGE Motorworks, Fremont
Branding
Does a Local Shop Need Brand Consulting? We think so.
Everything great about EDGE Motorworks was not immediately evident in their online presence. Consequently, their depth of expertise and positive reputation were not being seen or read by potential customers. We knew we had to change this.
Beyond visuals, branding encompasses every interaction and expression a customer or potential customer experiences. To address this, it was essential to increase the website’s “cool factor,” its overall usefulness, and its communication potential.
Web Development
A Necessary Evil
This is how many small businesses feel about websites. We wanted to take EDGE beyond that thinking and build something more than cool, something practical.
Even though it’s not a haven for content consumption, the website needed to articulate the EDGE brand. Every traveler from a Google or Apple Maps search, and there are a lot, is a potential customer.
In the unattended website experience, we ensured we set expectations, integrated scheduling, and designed with a bias towards aficionados.
Marketing and Operations
Marketing
Print, specialty (swag), and social marketing aren’t currently being used for lead generation. They are necessary to build brand presence and reinforce it.
Operations
Automated scheduling and estimates eliminate up-front time on the phone so EDGE can use the time for deeper engagement with customers and their cars.
Pre and post-service email and text campaigns address everything from scheduled oil change reminders and follow-up service to sending declined services that owners need to address.
Modern shop software that reduces labor, saves time, and increases communication. It sounds like Nirvana, but it’s true. We eliminated the need for separate text, cloud storage, and shop software by integrating a state-of-the-art system.
This allows EDGE to significantly streamline its workflow and enables us to define a scalable operational policy. This will allow EDGE to more easily bring new technicians into an efficient infrastructure.