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Marketing Ideas

KYT0715

Lot Lizard
Aug 22, 2019
8
3
First Name
Courtney
Need some help from all you smart marketing folks...

BDC Manager here with little to no experience in the world of marketing, back in the auto BDC world for just shy of 7 months. I know my leads are contingent upon marketing/advertising, inventory, pricing, service, etc. - one big full circle. My small dealership (150 sales/month, mostly new) is struggling with the third party used car leads (prices set at too high % of the market for the vehicle), and we lose a lot of new car business to the bigger dealerships with more inventory and who are willing to lose on the front. According to my marketing manager (who is out sick right now), we aren't hardly spending any money right now on advertising...(don't ask me why)...just a little to some third parties and brand. Good news, once we get the appointments out of the leads, show and sell ratios are great. We thrive on selling a great experience with superb CSI ratings and a hometown feel.

As a result of what I assume the colder seasons upon us and lack of advertising, my leads have decreased 22% in just one month period (plateaued for about 2 prior to decreasing). So I was up at the sales desk this afternoon talking about how we need to spend some marketing money to help pump up my leads (and quality ones at that) in a rather nonchalant way, not expecting anyone to respond. Our managing partner heard me and basically said...Ok, figure out what'll work and I'll spend the money, but it HAS to work.

For a moment I felt I had put my foot in my mouth, but then I realized, it might be the opportunity I need to help with my leads. I have to at least try, right? With my marketing manager out sick...something needs to happen. Might get myself fired trying, but hopefully not...

Anyway, based on the BDC results I've had while I've been here, I know where I don't want to spend more money (brand in particular), but I've seen success with traffic to our website. I mentioned paid search to him, his response was that it could get pricey...

So I'm reading through some threads on here and I'm trying to find ideas, maybe explore some new options or programs, but don't want to fall into some BS marketing pitch. I see Facebook being a popular, inexpensive option...that's a start, right?

Any advice or ideas is appreciated!
 
Actually, this is one of the biggest issues in automotive retail. No offense to you and your job title change, but dealers promote the wrong people for vital positions and wonder why they get eaten up by greedy, lying vendors.

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Edit:

What you need is a total strategy, one in which you can measure for its effectiveness across many important automotive digital metrics. If that helps your cause? Let the shark attack begin in your Inbox. Watch the vendors that contact you now...
 
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Actually, this is one of the biggest issues in automotive retail. No offense to you and your job title change, but dealers promote the wrong people for vital positions and wonder why they get eaten up by greedy, lying vendors.

giphy.gif


Edit:

What you need is a total strategy, one in which you can measure for its effectiveness across many important automotive digital metrics. If that helps your cause? Let the shark attack begin in your Inbox. Watch the vendors that contact you now...

@Alexander Lau , thanks for your response, but I'm just looking for ideas from this community. I wasn't promoted by any means. Just wanting to try to help boost lead traffic while my marketing manager is out sick and my MP agreed that we need to do just that. I'm in full communications with both persons and would need to be in full agreement on a plan or direction before a trigger is pulled...
 
@Alexander Lau , thanks for your response, but I'm just looking for ideas from this community. I wasn't promoted by any means. Just wanting to try to help boost lead traffic while my marketing manager is out sick and my MP agreed that we need to do just that. I'm in full communications with both persons and would need to be in full agreement on a plan or direction before a trigger is pulled...
So you're saying you are "filling-in" while this person is out and they didn't leave you a clear path or did they kill your previous advertising? It's not going to be easy for you to switch vendors or pull money from what worked into a new vendor agreement, so contact the person that is out and ask him or her to flick your shit back on. Maybe I'm overstating the obvious here. I find it extremely odd that the person out turned off your marketing components.
 
So you're saying you are "filling-in" while this person is out and they didn't leave you a clear path or did they kill your previous advertising? It's not going to be easy for you to switch vendors or pull money from what worked into a new vendor agreement, so contact the person that is out and ask him or her to flick your shit back on. Maybe I'm overstating the obvious here. I find it extremely odd that the person out turned off your marketing components.
@Alexander Lau Yup. Agreed. Thank you!
 
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Focus on making sure your message is air tight on how you offer a better experience, more personable, etc than the high volume stores that will lose on the front. Yes, you will always lose some customers who see price as the *only* way to buy, and watch a number of them complain about the poor service they receive after the fact.

Email marketing is coming back, open & engagement rates are not as doom and gloom as some people would suggest.

Marketing/Advertising comes down to having a solid message, that shows you have a solution to the problems your customers have.
 
The golden rule of conversion is this: You have to answer your customers' questions & issues.

Ask yourself this question: What action is taken on your end on 3rd parties, but mostly on your website to do so.

What's the message your users are looking for in direct relation to their problems:

For example, due to the current situation putting everyone's job at risk for a few months, how can you answer that concern?

Issue/Concern #1: This is how we address that
Issue/Concern #2: This is how we address that
Issue/Concern #3: This is how we address that

... and so on.

It's a valid framework you can use every day, on everything.