Lately I seem to be having problems the approach we dealers take to advertising.
More specifically: we had a LOUSY May -- cut the advertising for June! We have to save expenses!
I just can't imagine McDonalds or Coca-Cola cutting-off a campaign mid-stream because the monthly tallies weren't what they thought they'd be.
My question: do dealers have a juvenile approach to advertising?
OK -- aim for $300 per unit. We plan to sell 1000 cars in June, so our ad budget is $300,000 in June. Even though we sold 900 cars on a $270,000 budget in May... we have more to spend in June. (But the advertising seemed to "work" in May, right?)
And conversely, as mentioned above -- cut the ads when we're going to sell less.
Is this really how advertising works? I know it's how the balance sheets work: costs vs. revenue. But a new gimmic/event every month?
How about branding vs. traffic drivers? Obviously we're not going to spend $20K on a mailer in January in Minnesota -- there's no market. But what about that broadcast or digital message that we need our clients to see/hear 7 or 8 or 9 or 10 times to make a favorable impression. Do we not do that in January? Will that move hurt February/March sales?
I'd love to hear from somebody NOT doing the typical dealer two-step.
