One of our greatest success techniques is pace. We’re always chasing after it. More speed equals a lot more action that creates more results. But speed doesn’t always indicate doing things faster. Occasionally the most speed can be gained from choosing the best place to focus your time, energy and dollars. We call this… looking for the Closest Money.
We are constantly working and refining success strategies and marketing thoughts like these to help our private clients and members get more done and have a business and life that more ESP – Enjoyable, Simple and Prosperous. Nowadays we don’t expect you to spend all your precious time in marketing and refining the success strategies which we do it in the regular basis. BUT we do expect you to take the opinion we give you because we’re boiling it down for you and hopefully making you think about things you wouldn’t have thought about otherwise, challenging you to do things you wouldn’t normally do and making your brain work in ways it doesn’t naturally.
The Closest Money Strategy is something so simple and so critical to your car dealer marketing and sales success but we don’t know if we’ve mentioned here in this column before. We at least know we haven’t made a BIG enough deal about it here. We are only going to be scratching the surface of this concept here… but today it is essential and if you aren’t doing this you need to start immediately leveraging this opportunity for speed!
What we’ve identified recently is a honey-hole for dealers that quite possibly could be the closest money for you. So I’m certain you’re asking yourself…”Jim & Travis, what are you talking about??”
We’re talking about effectively and scientifically collecting your prospects’ and customers’ contact information-including email address and leveraging it fully. That means the meaningful communications that are sent so frequently with which you will be able to build a genuine relationships with your clients.
Many of the people who market over the internet understands this concept. But many dealers we encounter do not get the power of this. You need to be actively creating & using a database. Your database is GOLD! Most dealerships collect their customers’ contact info when they buy something and some do a good job at keeping it current and in a usable state but most don’t even do that. But just as significant as maintaining your customers’ data you also need to keep your prospects’ information.
If a lead calls up on the telephone or an up shows on the lot you must have a system that collects their information. Ever notice how whenever you buy anything at RadioShack they always ask for your full address? They collect the information vigorously. At the very smallest amount you want a prospect’s email address and their permission to send them stuff in the future… It is imperative and can quadruple the efficiency of your marketing and drastically impact your bottom-line. At best, you want full contact information so you can mail, email and phone them.
So here’s the big question…
How do you get all the info? You ought to have a system dedicated to itself which enables you to get at least the mails of the persons who calls up or else who comes into your location. You need something to exchange for their permission to market to them in the nearby future… No one is really going to give you their most valuable possession (their attention and time) for nothing.
So if you are going to have a chance at meeting them to give you their contact number and in return their attention and permission to create an open talk and a relationship on which you have better than something which they actually want. We recommend using valuable information and the concept of giving value first. We’ve all heard of added value after the transaction right? We think that is NONSENSE… You are rewarded for the value you deliver to the marketplace in conjunction with what you do potentially better than anyone else. And you have to deliver that value FIRST – Before a sale is ever made.
That’s how you get people’s attention and permission and create relationships and customers for life. That’s how you create raving followers that recommend you and talk about you to others. That’s how you get more referrals than you can handle and that’s how you can harness the power of that elusive, best-marketing-on-the-planet-because-it’s-free, Word Of Mouth Marketing. But it all starts with aggressively pursuing and making it TOP priority to collect the contact info (especially email) of all the prospects you ever come in contact with. With email you can market to them for free in the future.
Somewhat about 10 years later the automobile business has reached a fork in the road. The industry was challenged by a newly (or soon to be) informed and empowered client base. From that point forward sellers have been faced with a choice: hang on to those old school sales and automotive advertising methods or join the ranks of the next generation dealers who rely on a “more sophisticated” approach… a kinder, gentler car business.
This option is still facing thousands of dealers who’ve yet to “choose a side”… but time and distance have now developed the possibility to look back and ask, “Are those ‘old school’ techniques really out of date?”
In an effort to simplify (but at the risk of generalizing), let’s examine some of the elements of the “old school” approach:
• Higher-pressure selling environment
• Dealer-controlled selling process
• Less price/margin simplicity
• Emphasis on front-end profit
• More dependent on traditional advertising like print, radio, television or direct mail
• “Hook” based marketing post
• Customer’s vehicle choice inspired by profit potential and bank advance
• Bigger push for substantial down payment
• Pre-qualification moved toward front of sales process
• Sales are made in person, on the spot, on the lot
Now let’s take a glance at the “more sophisticated” new way of doing things:
• Low-pressure selling environment
• Customer prohibited buying process
• Completely transparent pricing and profit margin
• Emphasis on earning money in the long term and willingness to forgo immediate profit
• Focus on rapid turn, high volume
• Less dependent on traditional advertising
• Price-based promoting messages
• Customer’s automobile choice uninfluenced
• Little or no pre-qualification
• Sales procedure exists in large part in email, on the web, on the phone
So which one is better? Which do you feel we think is better?
Of course, there’s no right answer. Eventually dealers should choose to do business in a way they feel most comfortable… and find to be most effective.
However, We strongly suggests against the flatly rejecting either “old school” or “new school” techniques and instead give confidence dealers to become impartial thinkers and operators who are prepared to take the best and most effective elements of any approach and use it in their establishment.
The real risk is in the vast assumptions that have been developed about the “new economy” and the “new consumer.” There’s a sense in the business that all clients are well-versed and all informed consumers will require the lowest price and reject any form of pressure. These assumptions are simply not true.
In reality, To be frank customers still have the similar lizard mindsets which they had a decade ago. And as clever as it would be if the Internet could speed up the pace of evolution, it can’t and it hasn’t. Individuals still have desires, which are furnished by owning a nicer, newer car. They still have anxieties or doubts, which prevent them from entering the buyer’s circle. An effective dealer’s job is to leverage the wishes and overcome the doubts.
The idea that consumers in 2010 are data-driven drones who make only purely logical decisions is false and will spoil this business. You would be wise to refuse that notion and prevent it from damaging your business.
Tactics vs. Intent
Nowadays the generalizations are made with respect to the dealers who utilize some tactics. For example, we’ve heard dealers who think themselves part of this newer generation accuse other dealers who continue to make extremely high front-end profit making use of “old school” tactics of being somehow unethical.
The broad philosophical question: Is making a profit unethical?
That’s for you to decide. But for the reasons of this article, let’s assume we all agree that making a profit is ethical. This is, after all, the car business… not the car basis.
In fact, Dealers provide the valuable services to the public by the means of finding, sourcing and arranging for the transportation of vehicles to their location, inventorying those vehicles so that customers can browse multiple options, helping customers find and arrange for financing of their selected vehicle, providing the opportunity to service the vehicles, etc.
For that service dealers deserve a profit (As an aside, nobody questions or criticizes grocery stores, or clothing stores, or electronics stores for making a profit. Why should making a profit at a car store be any different?) How much profit is the right profit? As much profit as the market will bear, one customer at a time.
That aside, the question becomes: Is the use of “old school” tactics wrong?
We submit that the tactics used are far less important than the intent of the dealer using them. A dealer whose mission is to help as many people as possible satisfy their emotional desires by helping them own a nicer, newer car is not a bad person. Can we agree on that?
Then it should follow that whatever tactics are used to make the sale, as long as the strategies are not dishonest, regardless of “old school” or “new school”, are good and reasonable. And a dealer should find and execute any and all tactics that help secures purchase that they feel comfortable with.
“Old School” Plus “New School”
Makes the Most “Profitable School” In The Industry
In our view, “old school” tactics are wrongly demonized and forged beside by an increasingly contemporary-minded industry simply because they’re old.
Additionally, “new school” tactics are rejected by dealers who refuse to embrace new technology, simply because they’re new.
But such polarity doesn’t need to exist. This isn’t Washington! What good do partisan-style, ideological, intra-industry politics do for a dealer? None. The reality is the leading approach is a hybrid approach.
“New School” Dealers should realize:
• The Internet has not reinvented the car business. It is actually a tool which is to be used and leveraged, not a savior.
• There’s much more to Internet marketing than just listing vehicles and prices (in fact, that may be the most horrible thing you can do). People are now just looking for the information online leaving beyond just prices.
• Traditional automotive marketing still works and limiting your marketing to the Internet is a dangerous proposition. You’re simply leaving money on the table if you ignore traditional media.
• While more informed, consumers are as emotionally driven as ever.
• Low pricing is not the only, or best option (it’s simply the convenient option, chosen by lazy and unimaginative marketers…that’s a topic for a different article).
• Making a profit is not wrong… even in 2010.
• While making a profit long term is important, your business will grow faster and better if you can also turn a profit immediately. The larger profit you make on the front, the more you can make investments to acquire new customers. The more wealth you invest to acquire the new clients, the better you grow.
• Dealers provide a valuable service, and should strive to provide that service to as many people as possible.
• It is completely possible to sell a decent volume and make a decent profit. High margin does not directly equate to lower volume.
• Applying pressure for a customer to make a buying decision is not wrong or evil. In fact many customers are anxious for someone to help them finalize their decision, and a little nudge from you is all they need.
• As of this writing, people still buy cars in person. We don’t see customers entering in their credit card online and having their car delivered by UPS. Until that becomes the norm, the car business is still a brick and mortar business.
“Old School” Dealers should realize:
• You’re being talked about on the Internet whether you like it or not. You can join and direct the chat or you can be a victim of the conversation that occurs without you.
• More and more customers on a daily basis are turning to the Internet for information. If you’re not there, you will be invisible to those people.
• Making money in the short run is important. But long-term profit and the lifetime value of a customer are at least equally as important.
• Because of the proliferation of information, many buyers will know more about your vehicles than you do. Now you need to go beyond features, and start talking about benefits and helping buyers realize how this car will make them feel good.
In the final analysis, the most successful and stable dealers are those who provide high value in exchange for high profit and utilize all the tools and techniques available to them, regardless of age, to achieve that. Like the dealer who has a video blog AND a radio campaign, or uses a trade hook AND an opt-in form. New and old are not manually exclusive and should coexist for the best acquired results in your dealership.
If you are frustrated, burned-out, on the verge of broke and tired of wasting cash on marketing which does nothing to bring in new business to your dealership, get a cup of coffee and devote a few minutes of your time to discover some life-changing, client attraction strategies as used by the big guys in Daytime TV.
Yet before you start rolling your eyes and thinking, “Come on, there is nothing I can learn as a dealer by watching soaps!”….let me just ask you this one simple question:
Have you ever met a soap addict?
If not, bear with me for some time as I paint a quick scene.
Soap addicts the individuals that do not mind driving home so that they don’t miss the most current story line. They weep during a character’s funeral as though they’ve lost a real friend. They scour the internet for spoilers and other recaps if God forbid they miss a show. There’s even a 24/7 network dedicated to soap addicts so they can get their fix any time day or night. And think about switching networks? NEVER. These addicts are so loyal that crossing over to the other channel simply isn’t a choice.
Pretty powerful stuff huh? If only you could duplicate that type of client attraction and loyalty in your dealership…
Well wish no more because you CAN get your client’s attention and keep it even in a challenging financial system using few of the customer attraction strategies used by the creatives and marketing geniuses of daytime TV.
One thing these guys know for sure is that it is simply not sufficient to be in front of your prospects every now and again. No, you have to be ever present in their lives. You have to become a fixture.
This begs the question:
How do you do this– and do it fast in your own dealership this year?
The secret answer we are about to reveal permits you to accomplish constant, continual results, relationships and open dialogue with your prospective customers and customers and in a way that they would actually enjoy.
With these automotive marketing strategies, you will hook ‘em, sink ‘em and have them constantly returning for more every time.
As a matter of fact, these strategies are so powerful that once you start doing it… you would never be able to stop or your prospects and clientele may revolt.
No longer will you hope to be at the top of your prospect’s mind during their search for a new car-you would physically OWN their mind share….and they’ll love you for it.
It’s the same way daytime TV creates a loyal soap addict. You also could have loyal addicts of your store and personal brand.
Not to mention, this concept super charges social media, puts relationship building on steroids and gives you an instantaneous unfair advantage above all your competitors.
Plus, when you implement this strategy, you would become an instant celebrity and everybody will know you exist. No more, “Trying to get your name out there.”
I am about to tell you a wildly successful automotive marketing strategy you’ll likely reject… but I’m going to tell you anyway because IT WORKS.
In fact, this is one little thing you could do that would instantly give your business the power to draw in quality clientele who pay more, stay for a longer time and refer repeatedly.
And like we said, you will likely reject it …AT FIRST, but once we break this down into manageable pieces (and in plain English); you’ll be chomping at the bit to get started.
Yet before I let you in on this powerful marketing secret, let me just say this:
If you’re feeling the effects of tightening wallets, scarce credit and the fear-based economic recession then you know you need more horsepower than ever before to persuade someone to release their iron fist and spend cash at your store.
The importance of confidence and value has been previously discussed by us. We have discussed the change that is occurring in consumer confidence and spending habits.
These dynamics are not becoming better, unfortunately. In fact, they’ve gotten worse. So what that means is if you’re a dealer trying to get by with a little marketing or even sloppy marketing… or not tracking your marketing effectiveness all together, you’re really in trouble.
The good news is that you do not need to stay in this kind of trouble forever. You can swing the dynamics of this new economy back in your favor. And what I am about to tell you could assist you do just that.
So what’s it? What is this magic thing that would be able to instantly give your business a quick kick in the proverbial pants and have you attracting more customers than you have ever gotten even in the good times?
Write a book.
Seriously… write a book.
I’m going to give you a minute to either 1) stop laughing or 2) stop huffing and puffing and spouting off all the reasons why that will never work for you. As a matter of fact, some of the excuses going through your head probably sound a bit like, “I can barely write my name,” or “I do not have anything to say” or “Who is going to read it”…or better yet…. “I don’t have time to write a book! I have a BUSINESS to run”.
But that’s all nonsense and I’m going to give you a proven blue print to pump out a book targeted to your perfect customer which will automatically position you as a specialist in your field this very year.
As you might know we published our very first book, Gravitational Marketing; The Science of Attracting Clientele in March of 2008. When we wrote that book we didn’t do it the traditional way (we do not do anything the traditional way). When we wrote our book we were on a national seminar tour putting on 2-day seminars across the country. When did we have time to write a book?
Well we didn’t but we found time and we have done it for many of our VIP customers since.
Here’s how we did it…and how you could too:
1. Sit down and create an outline of the ten major questions or concerns your clientele have when purchasing and financing a car.
2. Find someone to ask you those questions in an interview style setting. Answer the questions as if you were talking to a customer on the lot. Explain in plain English and answer the questions making use of examples and stories. Record the interview.
3. Send the footage to a transcription company who would transcribe it for you and gives it back to you as text.
4. Find a local newspaper writer or editor and hire them to edit the transcript into more flowing prose.
5. Find a graphic designer to create a cover and layout the inside. Put your image on the front of the book.
6. Send the book to 48HrBooks.com and have copies made. You could do small runs and still get them under $4 a piece.
Writing a book positions you as a major expert and authority in the market. It elevates you above all your rivals, decreases buyer anxiety and distrust and speeds up the sales process.
A book also opens several doors in terms of local media exposure and free publicity chances for your dealership.
Writing a book with our method takes a bit of work upfront but it’s something that pays dividends for the life of your career.
So what are you waiting for? It’s time to get started!
NASCAR is a powerful business and marketing machine. There’s a lot you can learn about positioning your own dealership just by studying the lead-generating, profit exploding strategies of this racing giant.
You have probably heard of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart. They are all pretty famous NASCAR stars. But a name you might not know the name Mike Bartelli. Racecar driver? No. But he is a guy that knows lots about speed. Mike is a marketing guy and when it comes to NASCAR and motorsports marketing he is, “the” guy.
Mike is an expert in motorsports marketing, and as president of Millsport Motorsports he has helped NASCAR see record growth in popularity and sponsorship. Now Mike is chief marketing officer and senior VP of Petty Enterprises.
In a recent interview, Mike divulged some of the tricks to NASCAR’s Marketing Success. We’ve from then taken the ideas Mike shared and reshaped them to fit the car business. We’re currently serving them to you on a silver platter so you can utilize them in your own dealership this year.
So print this out, grab a highlighter or a pen and put on your thinking cap as you are about to go for wild ride.
NASCAR Understands the Power of a Celebrity Endorsement
In building their own monster brand, one of NASCAR’s main strategies was to use celebrities and celebrity endorsements to reach new fan bases. The NASCAR approach honed in on target groups of potential fans who normally will overlook the sport and reached out to them making use of a popular celebrity from film, television, music, sports, etc.
You see, nothing gets attention like celebs… Certainly NOTHING. While NASCAR undoubtedly knows this, most dealers in this country do not.
The purpose of marketing is to get your prospective client’s attention. So if nothing works better in getting attention than celebrities, why not use it?
Demographics don’t matter either. Wealthy investors, CEOs, credit challenged, blue-collar, white-collar they are all attracted to celebrities. We believe the reason is reach and frequency. Just as efficient car dealer marketing is about reaching a lot of people and a lot more significantly reaching them many times, celebs have an enormous amount of reach as their job is to be noticed and be heard.
One more reason why celebrities are strong marketing weapons is based on the power of association. People connect you to those they see you with. If you’re hanging out with celebs then you have to be one yourself. This is reassuring to your clientele and places you in a favorable light. And naturally prospective clients will like aligning themselves with you also, as they also want a piece of that celebrity pie.
Not to mention, consumers are more likely to refer business to the “cool” dealer that hangs out with celebrities over the guy they have never heard of. Remember, boring is safe, but it gets you nowhere. Leverage the power of celebrity and your potential customers would be chasing you down for a sale.
Think this doesn’t pertain to you? Think you can’t utilize superstars in your marketing because you cannot afford Dan Marino? Well think again.
There’s actually some low-cost ways you could begin featuring celebrities in your marketing instantly.
One strategy we like is designing a mail piece with a full color envelope making use of pictures of 3 well-known celebs your target audience would resonate with… let’s say, Barack Obama, Tiger Woods, Oprah Winfrey and YOU! You can use the headline, “What Do Barack, Tiger, Oprah and Mr. Dealer Have In Common.” Next to your picture you’d put your name and “owner of ABC dealership in XYZ town.” BANG, instant celebrity tie in. And that’s getting opened.
Or you could use your marketing dollars to purchase a celeb for direct sponsorship, endorsement or events. Of course most A-listers might be out of your price range but there is always someone affordable who resonates with your target market. Older celebrities who are no longer in their hay-day or more obscure celebrities such as popular contestants on reality TV shows could often be hired for surprisingly little.
Also remember that the recession affects everybody. Even celebs jump at the possibility to make some extra cash. More often than not it’s our impression of celebrities and our ego, fear of the unknown and apprehension created by star mystique which keep dealers from leveraging this super charger of a marketing resource.
You can find contact information on virtually any celebrity in a book by Jordan McAuley called the Celebrity Black Book available on Amazon.com or contact our office directly for celebrity broker recommendations.
NASCAR does not merely rely on big names to endorse and promote their organization. Rather, they create and promote their own celebrities to carry the brand. Mike attributes DALE EARNHARDT JR. and his development into the sport’s first true cross-over star as one of the reasons for NASCAR’s meteoric growth in the first part of this decade.
Based on that idea, if you can’t find a celebrity to endorse your dealership, you can just become one yourself. Think it is impossible?? Well in the age of YouTube, Social Media and the net, it’s really not.
Make yourself a local celebrity by beginning a blog, writing articles for your local publications, speaking in front of local groups, hosting seminars about smart car buying or credit strategies, hosting your own weekend radio show, etc. You could get a book or take seminar on DIY PR and begin getting your name in the press as a featured expert. Use social media to garner “fans” and build your celebrity status that way. Every little bit counts.
NASCAR Understands the Power of Cross Promotions
You may be a small guy in a big dealer pond, but you certainly do not have to promote like one. Actually, you can play a bigger game in this area simply by associating yourself and your business with other well known entities in your area. When done right, this could help reinforce the potency of your message and insulate you from being hurt financially and emotionally in the case of a failed promotion.
To break this down further, more promoting means teaming up with other businesses and advertising each other. Sometimes you see this in an auto mall, where multiple dealerships would pool their marketing dollars to create a larger splash in the market. At times you see this with multiple, non-competing businesses in a tight geographical area, where they combine their marketing bucks to bring customers to the general vicinity.
But if you wish to cross promote similar to NASCAR… you would have to do what these other companies are doing and take it to the MAX.
So forget auto malls and tiny marketing collaboratives… doing it the NASCAR way means partnering with famous (celebrity-like) businesses right from the start. For example, Tag Heuer, the watch brand, already has Tiger Woods secured as a celeb endorsement. Possibly you could connect with a local jewelry store that is a Tag Heuer retailer, to offer a Tag watch to one fortunate winner on Father’s day. Your automotive marketing could feature you and the jeweler (and Tiger). You could either share the cost of the marketing, or ask the Jeweler to offer the watch. You then have a big event, the jeweler is on site with a cut out of Tiger wearing a Tag watch, you have a putting contest (naturally, you could even tie in a golf course or country club for this, divide the marketing 3 ways!), you give away the wristwatch, you sell few cars, and everybody goes home contented.
Realizing that there is power outside of yourself is the key element here. You ought to expand your thinking to allow the opportunity of working with others and leveraging their existing celeb relations. Not to mention, you will be paying less cash for greater exposure as you learn to pull your resources and share the costs of these incredible campaigns.
Here are some of the great ideas that you may need to consider.
You can tie with local celebrities such as newscast personalities, local authors, radio DJs, local musicians, etc. Again, promote them and ask them to promote you. Maybe propose to pay for a printing of the next batch of CDs produced by a local popular band… with your logo and offer on the CD or inserted inside. A friend of ours lately offered to host a reception in his coffee shop for a group of young pageant contestants. The result was the current Miss America came by to visit the contestants, signed autographs, tasted his coffee and declared, “Best Ever.” Now he has a portrait of Miss America drinking his coffee that he can use forever.
As you expand your thinking on this, you will literally see opportunities all over. You just need to look through the lens of the power of celebrity to begin seeing them all. In less than an hour of focused concentration on this subject you can surely come up with 10 good ideas. Or, place the desire in your subconscious by writing it down on a piece of paper and carrying that in your pocket for a week. In time, the ideas will pop right into your head while driving in traffic, or standing in the shower, or after waking up in the middle of the night.
One of the most influential and leverageable activities that can make you rich is focusing on this element of your business. Whilst most individuals are moving cars around or writing on windshields or brewing coffee, you could be working on SPEED and quickly moving your business into the fast lane, while drafting behind the existing success and celebrity of somebody else. That is the true power of NASCAR!
If you really want to get the largest bang for your buck, there’s an extra step to take once the car dealer marketing and branding work is finished-that is making an environment where people really WANT to buy a car.
So many individuals blame the financial system for his or her lack of sales… however in 90% of cases, it’s not the financial system-it’s the EXPERIENCE you give them.
Let’s be honest… several used car lots have very little area to work with and can be pretty nasty. Does this equate to fewer customers and less gross? At some level yes!
But by setting yourself apart from your competitors through your image (on paper and in person) you can successfully scale back the event of commodity shopping.
One method to remove yourself from the commodity car game is to make your dealership astounding. You go to your dealership every day so you take the surroundings for granted. Think about the first time you visit a new place – a brand new restaurant, a friend’s residence or an amusement park. Your eyes are opened wider and your brain is processing new information. You notice everything. It’s simply what we do. Several of your potential customers are seeing your dealership for the very first time and their eyes are wide open and taking it all in.
A nice experiment to be certain your customers are “taking in” the right scenery is to physically walk through the front door of your dealership or your service department as though you were a patron. What are the first sights, smells and impressions you experience? How do they make you feel as a “paying customer”. If you don’t like what you see, fix them suitably.
It only takes seconds to make a first impression. What will your dealerships say in a fraction of a second?
Which vehicles are on the front line? Do you have banners and signs that match your image and marketing? Is the sale you promoted in the paper really happening? Is the personal experience as professional as the corporate logo?
However one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways in which to boost the client’s experience is to CLEAN THE PLACE UP. This is often ignored because it sounds obvious. People like clean environments unless they live in a cave. We know some folks love filth but they don’t like to go out to places and be in dirty environments.
If your store is screaming for a few TLC, appoint a cleaning service and get the place cleaned up. Don’t overlook the carpets, windows and concrete too. Dispose of the carpets and begin fresh if you are not able to get it professionally cleaned to get a new look.
A nice coat of paint will do a lot to brighten up the place too. A fresh coat on both the inside and the outside of your building every few years (and touch ups when required) can do more than you would think on the mental state of your prospects. However don’t take our word for it…next time you see Sherwin ask him.
Your aim as time goes on should be to strive for a congruency, or a sameness, between your advertising, your image, and the truth of shopping at your store.
As you accomplish a consistent level of professionalism in your automotive marketing, your image, and also the experience you provide, your brand can begin to rise in worth, making your job of selling and closing much easier every year….all for a part of the cost of working with overpaid design or promoting professionals!
Of course the over-priced promoting “gurus” or promoting reps won’t tell you this. These are the individuals who want you to believe “marketing” requires an enormous investment over a extended period of your time–which will solely be done by the experts.
“Image,” “brand,” “awareness,” and “exposure” they cry… as they inch nearer and nearer to your wallet.
Then of course they bewilder you with industry jargon just so you have no way of understanding what’s being done and what kind of results you’ll be able to really expect with such a campaign.
That’s hard enough to stomach for a rich dealer, let alone a small, used car dealer who won’t fathom spending $3000 for one ad simply to “get their name out there” and “hopefully” generate some leads.
But we’re here to tell you this whole marketing thing doesn’t need to be complicated or perhaps that expensive. After all advertising and design companies want you to think it’s, because that’s how they make their cash – charging small businesses, like car dealer marketing, a lot of cash to manage a process that looks terribly complex.
In truth, maintaining a top quality image and building a strong brand is actually pretty easy…and we’re about to teach you some high-end marketing and advertising tricks you can implement immediately-even on a budget.
Here’s the deal. A lot of what individuals assume about branding and image doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you just sell cars. And from expertise, spending a lot of cash on a high-end design company won’t necessarily achieve those goals either.
Don’t get me wrong– having a professional and polished image will make a huge difference in developing trust with prospective customers. And a spiffy appearance can assist you look larger and better than you really are (and a lot more safe than your other used car competitors).
BUT, it doesn’t need a small wealth to get the job done.
With the information given in this article, you’ll learn the tools and methods required to freshen up your look and makeover your entire image – including your brand, business cards, stationary, website, and leaflets – in about two weeks for not much more than a ninety nine Taurus at the auction.
So with that said, here are our top suggestions in beefing up your dealership’s promoting and branding efforts on a dime:
1. Don’t Waste Cash on “Perfect”- Good Enough is Good Enough
No one cares about your logo or site more than you do. So don’t get frantic and fanatical about the process and spend more money (and time) than required on these things.
Simply shoot for a polished, professional and simple look. You don’t need funky, over the top or award winning designs.
Ideally, you‘ll need to work with a designer to make sure a clean and professional website or logo, however simply know from the start you won’t need the most costly package or the needless bells and whistles they have to offer.
2. Brandscending
Yes, we made this word up. It’s a hybrid of branding and transcend. What we mean by brandscend is to rise above ancient branding plan. Most individuals assume branding is something that’s accomplished over a long amount of time with a ton of effort and cash. That’s true.
But that’s not the only way to attain a strong brand presence and a solid image (which of course nobody in the business will ever tell you).
Thus rather than listening to the marketing representatives and removing an costly “branded” ad for 10 months straight just to “get your name out there”, you’d do just as well with your money developing and maintaining a polished image and steadily using it in all your efforts –i.e. signs, commercials, mail, print ads, shirts, letters and web site, to further promote the worth of your brand.
3. Company Identity
The average price for a corporate identity package (logo, letterhead, business cards and envelopes) from a reputable design firm is about $3,000. Ouch!
However did you know that many very proficient graphic designers moonlight as freelance entrepreneurs? And without the expensive overhead of running a firm, their rates are MUCH cheaper. And by much less, we mean as much as 90% less.
Yes! Which means you’ll be able to get a complete and professional company ID package for as little as $300 by working with some online outlets. Merely search “corporate identity” on Google and you may find a long list of options.
Everything Else
Once equipped with your new look and emblem, you can hire a local graphic designer (or one of the people you found online) to apply that logo to your signs and banners. You can visit an embroidery store and have your logo added to golf shirts and hats. You can find the best site to get unique name tags with your new design.
The sky is the boundary. You’ll be shocked how proud you’ll be to show your new image in as many ways as you can. And you must – that’s how you make it pay off.
Who This Doesn’t Apply To
If you’re the sort of person who will need an executive board meeting to come to a decision on new logos and the headline for your web site these ideas probably aren’t for you.
Simply like it’s not always convenient to shop around or clip coupons for the best deal, you’ll should be prepared to be flexible and somewhat patient when addressing individuals via the internet. That’s the trade off to buy a brand new fancy look for your business for dimes on the dollar.
Times are changing and so is that the effectiveness of your marketing dollars… that is probably why you’re reading this article right now.
What used to bring in customers to your car dealership no longer works. And the recommendation you’re obtaining from the self proclaimed “gurus” who are really just vendors hocking next the subsequent mail sale or automotive technology gimmick all appears to contradict itself.
Not to say, you’re most likely being fed one in all two huge lies concerning what you’ll be able to expect and therefore the sort of results you must experience when marketing your automotive dealers during this “new economy”.
Thus before these lies perpetuate any further, let’s jump right in to the present article to set the record straight once and for all.
Myth #1: You Can’t Expect Results Overnight
If you can’t expect results overnight, how are you going to expect to stay in business?
Admittedly, there’s one kind of selling that will not produce results overnight-and that’s building a rock solid brand like Coke or Pepsi where customers would like only see the emblem to feel inspired to buy.
In fact building an enduring and competitive brand image to that magnitude takes a heap time and a TON of money. Neither of which you probably have at your disposal right now.
However before you suspend your head in sorrow because you don’t have precious time or resources to waste on long-term branding campaigns, there’s hope for you in another sort of advertising that’s rarely known (or understood) within the automotive industry.
That type of advertising is hardcore, retail-oriented, direct-response, lead-generating, low-cost, instructional based automotive marketing…which can most actually get you results over night.
In fact, that’s the entire purpose of direct response marketing. It conjures up prospects to take IMMEDIATE action to call/ visit your automotive dealership. Again, notice I said immediate action, because this can be not one thing you’ve got to attend months or maybe years to see results.
If your system is sound, your ads are positioned properly and your marketing uncovers the emotions of your customers, the results will be instant. You’ll turn it on and off like a light switch. And if you don’t see results instantly, one of these factors was faulty…guaranteed.
Brandscending
More good news! You’ll still embark on a great branding campaign while not a million dollar ad budget and years to speculate within the process.
In fact, branding can be achieved while not even paying for it. Many individuals misunderstand our position about branding and believe we have a tendency to suppose “branding is bad.”
Not so. Paying for brand is bad – unless you have got the time and money to do it properly. Most dealerships don’t. And for those who do, it’s becoming increasingly difficult due to the mass segmentation of the market.
However, building a brand at no cost could be a wonderful factor and comparatively simple to do. We like to call it “brandscending.”
Brandscending is the process by that your company carves out a clear and definite place in the minds of the folks who care most.
But, there are plenty of things you must do to leverage this method:
1. Learn who the prospects of your car dealership are and what they want. Then give it to them. That’s being interested and that’s what counts.
2. Have an identical and distinctive image that’s connected to any or all of your “results” oriented marketing. Over time, this can facilitate build residual brand effects.
3. Offer an experience that is fun, unique or risky. Do something that’s value noticing and worth talking about. As people begin to notice and speak, your brand price can increase.
The secret is this: never, never, never, never, buy a long-term ad with pretty graphics and nice font believing you “built a little brand” or “got your name out there.” You probably did not.
That kind of thinking causes you to ad agent’s dream. Everybody concerned in planning that ad will create cash…except you. Please don’t fall for that trap once more within the future.
In the first half you might have learnt about the myth 1 now, let us discuss about the second myth that a marketer has to understand in order to succeed in his business -
We genuinely feel sorry for anyone who believes this.
We’ve polled thousands of people and over 90% agree that the best form of marketing is word-of-mouth advertising.
Why? Because it’s FREE and it produces a higher primed prospect. Somebody else basically volunteers to talk regarding their experiences and gives a nice suggestion for your store. They then support their peers to test you out and new leads flock to your dealership as a result.
What higher advertising may you ask for?
Yet almost everyone thinks word-of-mouth is not possible to control. That’s nonsense proliferated by the pay-per-advertise media. They don’t want you to find out that there’s a approach to manage the best advertising method of all – the one that’s 100% free.
We’re here to inform you that you just can. We won’t mislead you and tell you that it’s easy. It’s not. But it is free, and when it works, it works in a BIG WAY.
While I can’t get into all the main points of controlling word-of-mouth advertising in this article, I can tell you that dealers who are successful in this space should be sensational. To do that you’ll need at least one of the following key attributes:
But keep in mind, the ability to regulate this elusive and desired kind of automotive advertising is solely available to those who have flushed their systems of all of the traditional garbage. These are the automotive dealers who learned how to figure smart, not hard as it relates to their marketing.
And the good news is that you’ll be able to be the dealer who capitalizes on word-of-mouth advertising this year.
This can be only done by the best of the best-or those fixing to be the best. By reading this information thus far, I’m going to venture that you’re in that category. Most people don’t do what you’re doing right now. Therefore if you simply take this information and use it, individuals can notice you. People can TALK ABOUT YOU! People will begin to gravitate toward you.
The trick is to position yourself as an professional and start selling to people who wish to listen from you by solving their problems, building emotional bonds with them, connecting with existing emotional anchors and having fun whereas doing so.
And in fact when you become that professional, that friend, that resource center or that client advocate, word concerning you and your store can unfold like wildfire.
Like I said, it’s not straightforward or designed for dealers stuck in a “status quo” frame of mine. There are multiple steps and layers to creating this happen, that again, can’t be covered in this simple article.
