Happy Friday, Everyone! This week's Friday Poll topic is CAR DEALER advertising.
How's your business from auto dealers these days? Up? Down? Flat?
Are some of your local car dealers moving their ad dollars out of radio and into digital?
What are you doing to cultivate and expand auto dealer advertising on your station?
This is a great post topic... I think not just for car dealers but clients in general. Commenting to see where this goes!
Too many car dealers are believing the lies about social media. Like the emporer's New Clothes, they think it works because people tell them it works. Like direct mail, radio does what it takes to direct the potential business.
And radio is everywhere. Social Media only works if you sit there and stare at your screen. (And they think is't free.)
Car Dealers seem to be one of the few industries that continue to spend as much if not more money to have a presence on our station. Maybe it's the fear of NOT being on radio when their competitor is and losing a deal. That's not to say they're still not using social media and google word ads as well. Almost everyone searches and compares vehicles online now before ever setting foot in a dealership. Unless they're a sub-prime customer. And we have plenty of those kind of ads running too.
How do we cultivate and expand. Good production and a strong schedule helps for sure.
Where we have taken a hit is the "event" advertising, where a lot of non-profits that used to NEED to use radio a decade ago to get the word out for their event now pretty much exclusively use Facebook
From Clark Thompson: "Our team was just discussing the Friday topic this week. This year, we’ve been a bit up. One of our biggest focus areas is how we can get our dealership’s to present themselves to our listeners in such a way, that their name becomes part of the household. That they will be “raving fans” and go back to buy another car later, get their services done there, and to be an ambassador to tell others. We are encouraging them to focus on not only the product(s) but also how they are connected in their communities. That will separate them from the “screaming sale’s spots” that we typically are accustomed to on radio."
at November 17, 2017 8:09 PM PST
From Alex Mann on the RSC Facebook page: Digital = bottom of the funnel buyers ONLY. Ready to buy now. That is a VERY small % of individuals who will buy a vehicle in the next 12-24 months. When you market exclusively to the bottom of the funnel, you leave money on the table. What are you doing to get on the radar of individuals who will purchase a vehicle, or at least begin looking, in 3 months from now, 9 months from now, etc? Radio DRIVES heavier response on digital by laying the ground work in the mind, over time. And that is true of ANY category we call on.
Alex Mann makes an excellent point. A young, focused, and intensely driven car-dealer friend of mine is fond of saying that car sales is mainly a "today" business, and he invests his advertising dollars mainly to go after what Alex calls "bottom of the funnel buyers.," the low-hanging fruit. It's almost as if no one else matters. Now, he would say that's not the case, that everyone matters. But his advertising is all about the here and now.
Now, where customer service is concerned, his philosophy and practice are exemplary. He takes such good care of his customers during and after the sale, that they typically become repeat customers and brand ambassadors for him. This is the real secret of his success. But because he does not devote any meaningful portion of his advertising dollars to LEVERAGE the value of this terrific customer service to influence others who have not yet set foot in his dealership and experienced the same wonderful treatment, he's depriving himself of a significant opportunityto MULTIPLY significantly the effectiveness of his customer service.
This is my greatest frustration, because I am unable to get him to see the value in this approach, compared to spending money only to reach today's buyer.
I see no reason why a car dealer cannot enjoy the same success that other businesses have discovered by taking this approach. I'm convinced that if he were to invest his advertising dollars to win the hearts and minds of prospective buyers long before the triggering event, with a campaign populated by messages that resonate with his universe of local prospects, he'd find his business increasing even more as a result. This approach takes time to establish and build, but once its momentum reaches critical mass, it becomes unstoppable and continues to pay dividends as long as it is maintained.
Good related reading, by the way, Roy Williams' Monday Morning Memo on "Radio vs. Pay-Per-Click."
