Conventional
advertising is dead. For the last five years, many dealers have been getting
increasingly less results in their advertising. After many years of consulting
with dealerships large and small I have come to the conclusion that there are
five critical mistakes that dealerships make in their advertising.
Mistake #1 – Automatically
Trusting Your Advertising Agency –
I will start by
saying that I am sure there are many good advertising agencies that provide
great services. I am also sure that there are many more agencies that don’t
understand direct response marketing methods and because of this waste tons of
money and opportunity for you.
As I walked
through the NADA Convention hall this year and saw many large displays, it was
evident that so many agencies were regurgitating the same conventional dribble
that is not getting dealers results. Many dealers operate out of the same gene
pool when it comes to marketing and advertising.
When an agency
starts off by telling you that you have to increase your budget or start by
spouting statistics about reach and other measurements for a media, I would
suggest you grab your rear and run. At NADA, I saw print ad examples being
shown by advertising companies that had the dealerships name as the headline.
Ninety percent of your ads effectiveness is in the headline. Using the name
without an offer attached is a waste. Brand advertising for a local or regional
dealership is bunk. You build a brand by selling a ton more vehicles, period!
Mistake #2 –
Using Traditional Advertising vs. Direct Response Marketing
There is a
difference between conventional advertising and direct response marketing. Many
people think direct response marketing is direct mail. Direct response
marketing is a form of marketing that can be used in any media not just direct
mail. In today’s market, ninety percent of your marketing should be in direct
response marketing.
Direct response
marketing highly targets three things – Market, Media and Message.
Many
advertising agencies often start off by getting a budget and then telling the
dealer which media they should be in – TV, Radio etc. This is a mistake. There
is no such thing as a bad media. How you target the media with your message is
the key. The key word is target. Targeting your audience is much more than just
saying you want to reach people in your surrounding area or males 25-35. The
ability to highly target your market is greater than it has ever been.
Mistake #3 –
Not Truly Identifying and Measuring Your Return on Investment
From Your
Marketing –
Before I even
consider a consulting relationship with a dealership, I conduct an interview
process that takes about two hours. In the interview process, I always ask what
the dealerships advertising budget is. When I get the answer I ask why it’s
that amount. My question usually brings a few stutters and stammers. The
answers to the question usually range from the following, “That’s what my
agency suggested”, “We budget about $200 per car”, “That’s what our budget has
always been”, or “That’s what our Twenty-Group is doing.”I always respond to their answers by asking
why.
It’s a fallacy
that you have a static, never changing budget that’s correct for your
marketing.If you spend $1 to get $10 in
profit then it’s a good idea to keep spending until those results change. To
know what your results are, you must set up processes to measure everything.
You are losing a fortune in wasted advertising dollars each year because of a lack
of process to measure your results. “Quantify to Qualify.”
Nothing can
keep you from getting a quantity of quality buyers if you want. Bad brands, bad
economies, bad locations are just excuses. There are only two choices in life.
You can choose to believe in abundance or you can choose to believe in
scarcity. The root of the word scarcity is scare. How you think and feel about
your marketing and business is directly linked to that choice. Email me at info@tewart.com with 6 Marketing Ideas in the
subject line and I will send you 6 simple tips to make more money now.
