Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bobby Compton on April 3, 2012 at 12:11pm

@ Troy - I'm glad you discovered this thread. My main point behind this is that I don't count out one avenue of opportunity to create more and better business.

I've never been so sold on what I do that I would ever limit myself on what others do. In fact, I've made it a point to incorporate much of what others do with what I do. Everything is ever changing, reaching people is still the same just in different forms of the how to! 

I appreciate all you do my friend!~ HAVE A TURBO CHARGED DAY!~ 

Permalink Reply by Bill Alberts on November 29, 2012 at 3:54pm

I have recently taken on a dealership that had the Suzuki franchise and no other. Yikes!  They were in the top 5 nationally consistently and the campaign they ran was strictly "old school."  Billboards, radio, TV and classifieds.  Horrible web presence and no social media exposure whatsoiever. No CRM, no tracking data and nobody clearly permitted toact in the dealers name while he was out, even on vacation.  You must call him.  Debt at the store is minimum and profitability is high. Now before you laugh and say it is Suzuki, they were selling 70 new units a month regularly as well as doing an OK job with used in a city with a population of 45000.  A very rural community.  Now they find themselves looking for a franchise, Mitsubishi, tops their list and they believe the same approach will work with them.  Mitsubishi was in this town once before and failed to produce more than 15-20 new units per month and that volume was spotty.  I said all that to say this, whatever works.  Yes, an aggresive web presence and an accurate tracking tool along with some minimal social media would add to the delivery picture...........they just don't see it that way.

Permalink Reply by Bobby Compton on November 29, 2012 at 4:05pm

@ Bill Alberts - Firstly, thanks for sharing your experience here on dE. I've found that sometimes making simple sense isn't so easy, but the simpler your case is made the better chance of having a receptive audience to your ideas, concepts and what you know to be current and relevant avenues to market and advertise.

I'm a firm believer that demographics will vary, some places a web presence really isn't all that it's cracked up to be, while other areas maybe T.V. is not the solution, in most cases as you shared, all of them are a solution to one degree or another. Cross branding, and marketing multiple channels with a consistant and professional message, yet personalized to separate the dealer on a personal basis from the rest, I'm big into grass roots marketing and tying  a dealer into the community - social media and the rest are a great way to promote client interaction and testimony! 

Would love to hear how you go about implementing and or devising your marketing plan for your new and future task at hand. Please share here as we can all use the difference in experiences and the how to do, as well as we are here for you as well to bounce off off and to collaborate with.

Happy Holidays my friend!~ 

Great Selling.............

Permalink Reply by Mark Tewart on December 1, 2012 at 5:09pm

The argument of digital vs. conventional is a false one. Message, Market, Media and Match. Utilize and get high ROI from digital and conventional. Get even higher ROI when you utilize not only 1 step advertising but multiple step media that utilizes digital and conventional together with intentional congruence. Never fall in love with just one media source be it digital or conventional. One is a bad number in advertising and business. 

Permalink Reply by Paul Accinno on December 1, 2012 at 6:14pm

Mark....Agreed! So much has been said about the new Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) model and how it has turned the old “Purchase Funnel” literally on its side. ZMOT describes the auto purchase process as a more linear process than a funnel. It starts with “Stimulus” in the form of TV or other traditional media. Next is the Zero Moment of Truth, when most shoppers begin their research. The First Moment of Truth is when shoppers actually enter the dealership, and finally the Second Moment of Truth is when they experience the vehicle/dealership and share with others.   

The concept of the Purchase Funnel has always been more vertical, starting at the top of the funnel and working down to the actual purchase.

In a new proprietary report called “The Purchase Funnel 3.0” from the Futures Company (formerly Yankelovich), advertisers are given an opportunity to better understand a consumer mindset throughout their purchasing evaluation process. The report shows….”In the automotive category, television commands the most relative strength throughout the process. 70% of awareness for the automotive category is attributed to television advertising. “Internet Plus” (essentially any online behavior outside of email) has the second-most impact, peaking with 17% in the consideration phase, when most of the consumer’s research would likely begin. Activity on blogs and review sites in the automotive category is more than double the average of all other categories.”

While these therories seem at first glance to be contradictory…they are actually complimentary. The difference in these studies indicates that TV “Stimulus” is responsible for building awareness and interest to learn more and this action is more “Advertising Induced” whereas the internet shopping is more “self-directed”. Another way of saying this is that TV creates more awareness for a dealership while the internet provides better, trackable shopping tools….so both are important and it’s not an either/or choice; do I spend my money on traditional media or do I spend my money on digital media? 

One of the attributes of broadcast media is that it brings people “into the market”. I like to call these shoppers “Early-Market” as opposed to “In-Market”. As an example, an individual is watching the late news and sees an ad for a local car dealer advertising their FINAL MODEL YEAR END CLEARANCE with a payment of $136 a month on a 36 MPG Chevy Cruze. This person may be in the “Early Market” stage; however this deal may be perceived as too good to pass and may move them to the “In-Market” stage sooner than anticipated. Now as the models stipulate, they will begin their shopping process using all sorts of digital methods.

Another example of how TV works with Digital media and awareness is the trust and familiarity factor that we have with brands that are advertised on TV. When faced with the myriad of ads online, a shopper is more apt to click on an ad from an advertiser that they know and trust rather than clicking on an ad from a total stranger, assuming they don’t just click on every ad they see. 

Getting back to the Purchase Funnel for a moment…it also appears that the traditional roles have changed as well. For years the top of the funnel had been the domain of the OEM. In fact sometimes you may have wondered if they were selling windy roads instead of automobiles. At the middle of the funnel, Tier 2 ad groups would support the theme and tonality of the OEM and throw in a deal here and there and the dealer would basically say buy now. However in recent years, it seems the roles have changed. Many of the OEM’s are running constant themed promotions with the deals included. The ad groups run the same spots, simply adding more weight and the dealers are trying to figure out whether they should spend more money, on traditional or digital. Given the fact that Tier 1 and 2 advertising is decidedly more “deal oriented”, in this economy it makes sense that if Tier1 is going to say “what & how much” and Tier2 is going to say “when to buy” the dealer should spend more time saying “why buy from me”. So an effective strategy might be to run 15-second bookends, one devoted to the reasons to buy for your dealership, and the second 15-second spot devoted to a compelling offer that drives them to your website to learn more. 

In advertising/marketing, as in life, it is always better to have a balanced approach.  You need an effective level of traditional advertising to create stimulus and brand your dealership, and a tactical level of digital media to capture the “in-market” shoppers that you have cultivated.

 

 

Permalink Reply by Mark Tewart on December 1, 2012 at 6:43pm

Great response Paul. Very well thought out.

Permalink Reply by Big Tom LaPointe on December 4, 2012 at 8:57pm

Not over, and not dead, but certainly transitioned to the background. I think dealerships should use event hosting and participation to leverage social media...not just post on a FB page and put their clown on youtube. IMHO

Of course we think that interactive chat is one way to better engage prospects, but check out this statistic overall I wrote for an article...

During the decade that ended in 2010, dealers cut newspaper and radio ad dollars by a staggering 67% and auto dealership internet advertising has exploded by more than 500 percent (Source: NADA)! 

Permalink Reply by Pat McKemy on October 18, 2013 at 1:48pm

I absolutely agree that traditional ways of advertising are over,and social media is the new in thing.The messages and views you get social on the social media are so personalized and you get instant views about the product.

Permalink Reply by Willis Williams on October 18, 2013 at 4:26pm

I was in advertising for a daily newspaper a few years ago.  I sold ad spaces and contracts for all types of businesses; print and digital.  I can personally tell you that traditional advertising is not exactly dead but I would say that it's in "hospice".   Print is still VERY expensive when you compare it to digital advertising. 

For example:  Let's say customer A has a business and he wants to buy 1 full page ad in our newspaper with 3 colors.  That ad would cost $1400 for just ONE DAY.  Keep in mind that you only have that day of exposure and a circulation number that's big but doesn't really pinpoint your target audience.  You have no idea who's looking at your ad, you just know it's out there. 

 I can take that same $1400 and run digital ads on the newspaper's website on a rotating basis, with click-through traffic that connects you to customer A's website.   I can geo-target the ads to make sure the right eyeballs are looking at them (your target market) and set when the ads will be seen (like M-F between 7am until 5pm for instance) and run those ads for possibly 3-4 months on that same $1400.  The great thing about digital is that you can customize a campaign on virtually ANY type of budget.  I follow the trends and not only is digital the way to go but MOBILE is where the future of digital advertising and marketing is heading.  If you rely on traditional and ignore digital; you will be left behind. 

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