If Your Ad Budget Got Cut in Half, What Goes First?

[SheanKirin]

Most stores we talk to are spending more on digital than they were a few years ago and getting less for it. Cost per lead keeps climbing. When ownership asks what's working, the answer is usually a stack of reports that all take credit for the same traffic.

So here's a thought exercise. Say your ad budget gets cut in half tomorrow. What goes first, and what do you protect no matter what?

For context, I'm Shean with Dealer Alchemist. I spent 22 years in dealerships before starting the company, so I've sat on both sides of this conversation. Here's how I'd think it through:

1. Start with the customers you already have. Your database is the most powerful thing you own. These people have already bought from you or serviced with you. Before you cut anything, make sure you're getting everything you can out of the customers you've already earned.
2. Get efficient before you get cheap. Look at where you sell, not just where you advertise. Pull your sold units and compare them to where your money is going. A lot of stores find they're spending in places that don't sell and missing the places that do.
3. Protect the shoppers who are already looking. Take a hard look at your in-market tactics. The people shopping for a car right now are the last ones I'd want to lose. You would be amazed at how many companies are claiming attribution for something simply because their IP address received a display ad...
4. Own your analytics and tracking. Dial in your tracking and be honest about attribution. Look at your own analytics, not just the reports that come from outside the store. If you can't see it in your own numbers, be careful making decisions based on someone else's. If you're not tracking every single incoming call and the results from it, you are missing the boat.

None of this is a hard rule. Every market is different, and plenty of stores have good reasons to do it another way.

So we want to hear from you. If your budget got cut in half, what goes first and why? What would you never cut? And has anyone had to do this for real? What happened to sales?