Ladies' night at the local bar includes free drinks for the ladies.
What's the intention?
Where the women go, the men will follow – and the men will pay.

Ladies' Day at the car wash where all women receive $2 off their extreme wash.
The next day is Men's Day.

Does anyone see these efforts as "misguided"?

In a bar, the women are being used as bait. With the car wash, they get the same special that the men get, just on a different day.

How special do the women feel now?

There is a lot of talk about appealing to women throughout the industry. There are speakers, women's groups, articles written, guidelines for speaking to women, and consultants paid for such things.

These efforts aren't pushing the envelope far enough and in most situations aren't changing anything regarding the perception of women from the dealership.

Is it just a PR Move?

When it comes to marketing – any type of marketing – every part of your staff and every part of your marketing must carry out the message at every touch point across your dealership and brand.

Having a Ladies' special, such as Half-Off Oil Changes on Wednesday, says a lot about the dealership and marketing – and none of it is good.

When it comes to your marketing efforts, it's either ALL or NOTHING!

What does this promotion say about your company?

Half-Off Oil Changes for Ladies on Wednesday

• 
  Sorry guys – you pay full price all the time
• 
  Ladies – we need to incent you to use our services, but only “care” one day a week
• 
  If you want anything other then an oil change or Wednesday's don't work for you, you are out of luck
• 
  Wednesday's are our slow day, so we are going to try to boost it up Ladies – we love you part of the way, but not completely

To fully understand the all or nothing sense in marketing, let's take a real world example of a dealership that is truly embracing a target market by not only offering specials, but clinics and lifestyle services.

This dealership includes the marketing on Digital Screens inside the dealership, banners, on-hold announcements, radio and print. Every employee at the dealership completely embraces the marketing efforts and it is seen in the community as a leader. And guess what – it's not all about the cars. Free manicures, pedicures, nutrition clinics are added to the weekly marketing efforts to complete the marketing cycle.

Don Hattan Chevrolet in Wichita, KS is doing marketing all the way and is an industry leader, showing others how to progressively move away from past stigmas of a male dominated industry. Jill Hattan, General Manager, says:

The program brings in 200+ people per week into the dealership. We utilize this marketing tool ahead of everything else in order to create an identity in the community. The women that come to our events own Chevy's, but also own other types of cars too. We educate them on simple maintenance and upkeep, take care of them with manicures and pedicures and really dedicate a lot of efforts to making them feel comfortable, not only in our dealership, but with cars in general.

Read more about what Jill and her team are doing here:
http://www.donhattanchevrolet.com/Ladies-Day-Specials

And check out her home page to see how she includes "Ladies" in every part of the marketing efforts! It's even on her voicemail when you call.
http://www.donhattanchevrolet.com

Jill and her team are an example that other dealerships and other industries should follow. If the bar and car wash want to offer a promotion to the ladies, then do it all the way without degrading the people you are supposively marketing to.

Whatever your marketing efforts are that say you are different, make sure people know about it and see it everywhere they contact your dealership. Print, Digital, Signs, Online and your staff need to all be aligned to get the most impact and “good will” for your efforts.

Todd Katcher
Digital Dealership System
c: 615.669.5244
skype: sdm.todd
twitter: @digitaldealers
web: www.digitaldealershipsystem.com
blog: www.fouronthefloorblog.com