Next Day Traffic

The average person is exposed to more than 2000 messages per day. ‘Message’ being defined as an advertisement. People are being subjected to more and more information every day and are getting less time to absorb it. 

The way to be effective with a :15, :30 or :60 message is this – repeat the same points over and over. Do not pretend that your dealership ad will win any kind of award for creativity; the award comes in the form of traffic and you benefit from the profit. Keep your message simple and repetitive and you will win the mental shelf space that your product has with your customer.

With the news of dealerships closing, public companies making major changes and sales volume dropping dramatically there still is one thing that these times are great for… Gaining Market Share.
 
While some dealers will cut back to zero spending and zero share of voice in the market, others will pinpoint the most effective channels of advertising and dominate these, even though they must do it with less money than they have before. Inventory becomes a major factor and you have to spend more time now planning and ordering your cars than you ever have before because you are probably going to sell a few less of them.  
 
Keep the right inventory, advertise in the right places and keep a heavy focus on creating traffic out of your owner body and you WILL gainmarket share in a time like this. You don’t have to blow ad money out the window. Be precise and know who you are talking to and set a course to increase your share so when the market comes back (which it will) you will be unstoppable.

Remember the Pontiac Aztek, what about the Cadillac Catera and don’t forget the mighty little Toyota Echo. The automotive advertising world is changing more rapidly than it ever has before. There are hundreds of media formats, programs even methods of planning and buying media. But one thing that remains a cold hard fact (and please don’t let it hurt your feelings if you actually like any of the products mentioned above) “when you advertise core products – you are talking to a larger share of the market with an interest in what you are merchandising.”
 

• Example 1 – A Honda dealer’s core product lineup includes Accord, Civic, Pilot, Odyssey and CR-V, but Accord and Civic account for 65% of his new car volume. Is there any question that his TV and Radio dollars are better spent advertising Accord and Civic rather than trying to push a cold product like the Ridgeline?

• Example 2 – A Ford dealer’s new car sales are up in % this year while new trucks are down. Ford has just launched the new Flex…they are not selling and are stacking up on his lot. You have a limited ad budget and F-150 is still the #1 selling truck in America. There is not even a shadow of doubt – you advertise F-150 all day long, using every penny you have and steal share from other Ford dealers selling F-150s.

• Example 3 – A Toyota dealer has sold all of his Corollas except for what he has sitting on the ground, maybe 15 or 20 and is not getting anymore for the year. Corolla has been his number 1 selling vehicle for the past 4 years so we better think about advertising something else right? WRONG – advertise Corollas as aggressively as you ever have before until you sell every last one. Then start advertising Used / Off Lease cars or even certified Corollas as if nothings different. I guarantee 90% of the average people on the street cannot tell you the difference in a certified car from a new car. 

 
Advertise your core products – regardless of what you may think, there will always be more buyers in the market for a core product.

Being mindful of the times and the economic situation that all dealers are facing, I found myself in a dealership working with a very skilled operator on a 4th quarter budget. In order to make the financial statement look as good as possible we were discussing how to allocate funds for a few events that had to bleed over from October to November. I caught myself making a reference about in which month we should apply for the co-op and if that would decrease the remaining budget; the general manager made a comment that anyone who reads this should not soon forget.  

“You cannot manage a business or a marketing plan based off how much money is in your co-op account. If you did that you might as well go ahead and only buy the cheapest spots you can, hoping they will work. I will spend what I need to spend to do it right – otherwise I won’t spend anything at all.”

In retail automotive advertising, you have to understand the power of Reach&Frequency and budgeting your money properly to get the job done. You cannot manage your marketing efforts based off the percentage that the factory takes away and then makes you jump through hoops in order to claim.

GUESS WHAT – Somebody with a greater online presence for car shoppers already does and you may not be taking advantage of it.

Every dealer that I have worked with and evaluated their website has one thing in common, more direct traffic to their pre-owned search pages than they ever imagined. It is true that your website will attract just as many PRE-OWNED intenders as it will NEW CAR intenders. Online used car shoppers are shopping for something special – the exact vehicle that they picture in their mind as “the perfect used car.” They are shopping based on the some of the following key items and probably in this order PRICE, MILEAGE, COLOR, CONDITION,& FEATURES – but what if there are no compelling features or no differentiating benefit to your vehicle from someone else’s? What happens if you don’t differentiate your vehicle when the customer is on your lot? You know the answer: they will walk. And unlike a customer that you see who walks off your lot, you never know if this customer is on your website unless you are pulling very detailed traffic reports.

Here is the simple fix – make the person managing your used cars and updating your inventory understand that there is unlimited space(and there is zero cost) in putting every single option from “power steering” to “AM/FM/CD Player” to “Reinforced Steel Safety Cage” on your used cars housed on your website. Every feature can become a benefit to the online used car shopper. Make sure the description and details about your Used Cars are not blank – otherwise your submitted used car leads may be blank as well.

Here’s an idea if your Managers&Sales People are “addicted to print” and you aren’t. Have your ad agency create a newspaper ad for you just like they always do, show it in the sales meeting or post in the training room and tell the agency not to run the ad.

You can even go as far as spiff people if they can tell you if traffic comes in off the print ad to see what your staff says. You will find just as we do, the sales people still sell the ad cars first and claim everyone who came in on Saturday came in off the newspaper ad.

There was a sportscaster whose trademark comment was ‘I’m just telling it like it is!’ It worked for him, and it worked for Crown Nissan in Birmingham, AL. The dealership just completed a nearly 5-week campaign and the results were spectacular, all because they asked very directly for the community’s help in reaching a sales goal.

When General Sales Manager Bob Cruthirds met with Strong, LLC, his advertising agency, on July 18th, he made his position very clear. “We’re in a nationwide sales contest,” Cruthirds said, “and we’re in it to win it!” The goal was 40 Nissan trucks sold before August 31st and if the mark were met Crown would be in line for a sizeable bonus.

The challenge was clear – the dealership had not sold 40 Nissan trucks (Titans, Frontiers, Armadas, Pathfinders, Xterras, Quests) in the previous three months combined. Cruthirds and Strong agreed that time was critical; they needed to finish July big and keep the momentum going right into August.

A media plan was designed to move money to close July heavy, and hit August with nearly two times the normal schedule weight with 500 GRP’s. Because most dealers don’t advertise early, Crown received premium placement, as well as significant bonus schedule spots – all by moving money, not adding money!

Cruthirds has been the TV face of Crown Nissan for nearly 5 years, and for these commercials he spoke directly to the situation. For July, in shirt and tie, Cruthirds said, “It’s the end of the month, another record breaker… but now a new challenge, and for Alabama’s #1 dealer to win… prices never before offered!”

Cruthirds came back the first of August, just as direct; “There’s not another dealer in America so serious about saving you money…prices as low as $15,000!” By close of business August 20th, Crown Nissan had hit their goal – people had come in asking for Nissan trucks!

The success of this campaign goes straight back to attitude; everyone – the dealer, his sales force, the agency – was in it to win it. Crown captured the spotlight and the market with a decisive plan and quick-turn commercials that gave a clear reason to buy from Crown. “We asked our market to help us win,” Cruthirds said with a smile, “and they stepped up!”

Take a minute and have your Internet Manager or Internet Salesperson show you how many visitors your website had in the last 30 days. I promise you will be shocked. Have your Manager show you how you can pull these reports for yourself so you can randomly check on the traffic your site is getting and then DO IT on a weekly basis.

Chances are you are getting thousands of visitors every month, if not every week. The next step is to dive into your site and see where your traffic is going, and do the math to see how many leads you are getting. What you may find is that you are getting all this traffic to your site, which never results in an actual lead; the final step will be to go through your site with managers and internet managers and address all the numbers that you see.

Do not fall into the trap of thinking everything the media is saying about leasing is accurate. The latest data reviewed still shows 20% of all new vehicle transactions in 08 have been leases. The luxury imports will continue to lease more than anyone else but looking at the top leasing manufacturers, Honda, Ford, Toyota and GM are currently reporting 15 – 21% leasing penetration. In your efforts to work with your managers on good effective hooks and great merchandising – there is no substitute for having a well trained sales staff who can take a customer off a lost leader ad car and flip them into a lease.

You have to remember a majority of your staff does not and will not ever think like you do. They will believe more of what they see on TV and read Online. When the market slows, you have to use every trick in the book to stay on top of it, so pull out your “Leasing Advantages” materials and retrain your salespeople on how to talk to customers about why leasing your products is different from what they hear from the news media.

In other words, if you could only have your website do 10 things, 
what would they be? 

1.  Efficient back-end tools:  This way you can add/remove content and update your contact information and online specials with ease.

2.  Search engine optimization:  Your site/dealership will benefit from the thousands of visits that are populated through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Live Search(formerly MSN).

3.  Trade-in appraisals:  Invest in a trade-appraisal company that will provide you with leads complete with the customer’s contact and trade-in information. Give your online shoppers complete vehicle information. 

4.  Vehicle comparisons:  For your benefit, focus on manufacturers’ strengths and benefits while down playing the strengths of your competitors’ products. Advanta-STAR is one company offering that service. Customers go to the Internet for research. If you don’t provide them with the information they want, they’ll look someplace else. And far too often that someplace else is your competitors’ web sites.

5.  Inventory Showcase:  Each unit on your lot has a window sticker listing the vehicle’s equipment, price and any special discounts. Be sure to use a system that can move that same information to your virtual lot. This way all online shoppers are given as much information as possible.  

6.  Credit applications:  Make sure you have 2 credit applications available on your site. One of the two should be a much shorter version (4 lines or so) for noncredit challenged customers. The other should be a more thorough application for any credit challenged customers. 

7.  Parts  &  Accessories:  Create a listing with photos, pricing and descriptions. Be sure to include a shopping cart available for online purchases.

8.  Phone numbers:  You need to have a minimum of 2 different phone numbers listed at all times. One should be for sales and the other for service. This is especially important if you are using a system to track the numbers. 

9.  A/V download capabilities:  With today’s technology the uploading of commercials and web videos has become a common practice. Make sure your site is just as advanced, if not more than your competitor’s. 

10.  Testimonials:  People like to do business where business is being done. A website with an empty testimonials page is like a parking lot with no cars. What people can’t see – they will not believe. Don’t just tell them you’re a great place to do business, let your customers tell them.