Your dealership needs a positive presence everywhere consumers gather. Social, tv, print, radio, mobile...using every medium short of graffiti on the subway to get your message out makes your brand stronger.

Just because you don't use a particular method yourself (e.g. Facebook) doesn't mean that you won't find your next best batch of loyal customers that way. Though such a multi-faceted approach might seem like fragmentation at first glance, in truth diversifying your marketing efforts as much as possible gives you the opportunity to reach a wider audience and integrate your brand messaging across channels.  Doing so will ultimately increase both the impact and the return of your marketing investment.

• Wider reach. One major strength of a diversified approach to marketing lies in the varying ability of each channel to reach different market segments. While relying on just one or two vehicles to deliver your message may have worked in the past, today consumers have so many choices about where to find their information that you may be missing wide swaths of potential clients if you’re not utilizing every option. Did you know that women and people 55 and older are two of the fastest growing segments of social media users? TV, print and radio each have their own strengths as well. You can’t afford to leave any stone unturned when it comes to creating a strong brand and delivering your message.
• Enhanced analytic abilities. When you diversify your marketing, you’re automatically creating a system to measure and compare the results from each prong of your attack. Knowing which customers have come to you through the respective channels allows you to observe what works at any moment as well as to see the trends as the numbers change over time. With that awareness you are better equipped to meet the new reality head-on and keep a steady stream of buyers in any context.
• Specific scope. The varied nature of the different channels lets you be confident you’re directing your message geographically, demographically, based on lifestyle factors and in an unlimited number of other ways for the widest possible reach. It also allows you to target the message to match the needs and desires of those who predominantly rely on the medium.
• Brand messaging consistency. Using a diversified approach to marketing doesn’t mean different messages for each channel. You’ll take a different tone in each, perhaps varying the emphasis to meet the particular strengths of the marketing medium, but your message remains intact. The 20-something shopper who was attracted to your dealership via videos ads placed alongside his YouTube entertainment will hear the same message about your brand that wins over his parents (who are footing the bill) when they perform a Google search or see your television spots. Deliver what customers need to know about your selection, service and commitment to long-term relationships through all the different media they’re comfortable using. When they hear the same message in different ways from different sources, your brand’s strengths are further solidified in buyers’ minds.
• Storm insurance. What happens to dealerships that rely too heavily on only one medium when contract negotiations go bad and kill an entire sports season or when your local paper is among those that go under entirely? Dealers who don’t diversify are unnecessarily vulnerable to all sorts of events, from GM’s current Facebook and television balking to unexpected spikes in radio advertising rates. Putting all your eggs in one basket isn’t any smarter for marketing than it is for other critically important plans.

Ensuring your dealership has a diverse presence in the marketing landscape can be intimidating at first, but the results will help you thrive over the long term. Reach new audiences and anchor yourself by sharing your message through all the channels there are. It will pay off in longer relationships and a strong client base to help you weather any kind of storm.