Facing the Top 3 Service Department Marketing Challenges in 2025
In 2025, dealership service departments are under a lot of pressure to drive revenue, retain customers, and differentiate themselves from independent shops. Yet, many fixed ops managers and marketers still struggle to gain traction. Why is this? Because while sales departments have embraced digital tools and strategic messaging, service departments are often left with outdated tactics and underfunded campaigns.
Let’s talk about the top three marketing challenges dealership service departments face right now—and what can be done about them.
Low Awareness and Underutilized Capacity
One of the biggest challenges is simply getting customers to remember that the dealership even offers service. Despite often having factory-trained technicians, OEM parts, and better amenities, dealership service departments are often overlooked in favor of independent repair shops or national chains. A major reason? Lack of consistent, service-focused marketing.
Too many dealerships treat service as an afterthought in their digital presence. Their Google Business Profile may not include service hours, reviews, or photos. Their website might not have SEO-friendly landing pages tailored to specific services with special pricing. Or worse, they’re not remarketing to their sold customers with timely maintenance reminders.
The fix: Prioritize service marketing with a consistent content strategy, optimize for local SEO, and automate follow-ups with customers who haven’t returned since their purchase. Tools like branded service videos, mobile-first appointment scheduling, and localized PPC campaigns can help fill unused bays and boost retention. Here at FixedOPS Marketing, we specialize in all of these tools and PROVE THEY WORK.
Inconsistent Messaging and Lack of Differentiation
“$49.95 oil change” is not a compelling offer anymore—especially when every competitor in town is saying the same thing, perhaps even at a lower price. Many service departments rely on outdated, generic promotions that fail to communicate value, convenience, or trust.
Additionally, the branding between sales and service is often disjointed. While the showroom is pushing high-end luxury or rugged reliability, the service department is running bland coupon emails or social media posts with no consistent tone or design.
The fix: Elevate service marketing by aligning it with dealership-branded content. Use video content to show technician expertise, clean facilities, and high-touch experiences. FixedOPS Marketing offers hands-off, automated, dealership-branded videos and content that caters to your marketplace. We will highlight benefits like mobile service or holiday specials. We’ll personalize the messaging to speak to where the customer is in their ownership journey—not just blast the same offer to everyone. We do the work for you.
Difficulty Measuring ROI
Many fixed ops leaders say they have no clear idea what their marketing is doing. They’re investing in email campaigns, social media, or paid ads—but they can’t tie those efforts directly to service appointments or repair orders (ROs). Worse, is when one vendor takes credit for all your website traffic… Without clear attribution, it’s hard to justify the spend—or improve future efforts.
The fix: We integrate directly with your DMS and drop automatic reports directly into your inbox. We will show you the revenue that our solution generates for your service department. We look beyond vanity metrics like opens or clicks or webpage views, and focus on KPIs like cost per RO and revenue. We give you transparent metrics that prove the solution works.
In Conclusion
The fixed ops department represents a huge profit center—but only if it’s marketed strategically. By increasing awareness, strengthening messaging, and tracking real results, dealerships can turn service into a growth engine rather than an afterthought.
Need help building a smarter service marketing strategy? Let’s talk. marketing@fixedopsmarketing.com.
