“Branding” is a term heard all over the advertising industry, but what does it mean? Simply put, it’s the way you want others to view your dealership. It’s providing potential customers with the understanding of what you represent. Branding is important because it’s an opportunity to provide an image of your dealership; it’s what can help make you recognizable.
This sounds simple enough right? Not exactly. It’s not just enough to come up with an idea of what your brand means, it’s developing a complete campaign that resonates this brand image to viewers throughout everything you do. You must ensure that the image you provide remains a constant through all forms of media – traditional, digital, social, and so on.
Websites, especially social media sites, provide a great opportunity to tell your customers who you are. Provide these details in web panels, status updates, tweets, blogs, etc, keeping in mind that each of these elements should reflect your dealership’s “personality”. You might think that this is distracting from your efforts to sell cars, but in fact this a tried and true way to increase sales. It’s important to showcase more than just current vehicle specials. Show visitors how you helped the local school raise money in a food drive, or how you volunteered at the local humane society. This helps make you more than just another dealership to potential customers, and therefore makes you have a deeming quality that makes you more memorable. Why would you want to be memorable? I think the answer is obvious, don’t you? If you’re memorable, when someone thinks ‘I need to buy a new car’, they’ll think of your dealership, and possibly buy their next vehicle from you. If you don’t stand out, they might not remember you and might not go to your dealership for their next car.
Are you ready to stand out in your local community as more than just a dealership? Contact us now, to get the ball rolling on branding your dealership!
How have your dealership’s sales been this year? If you said “better than expected”, you’re in the same boat as many dealerships in the country.
Industry experts predict that U.S. auto sales per dealership may climb to a record in 2012. Annual sales per dealer will increase to an estimated 805 vehicles from a previous estimate of 785, with an annual sales estimate of 14.3 million vehicles. The previous record was 784 per dealer in 2005.
What is the reason behind the numbers? One is that automakers have kept their networks relatively flat, meaning that existing dealerships have the opportunity to take advantage of increased sales volumes. Dealers are making a profit for the first time in more than three years without having to rely on their service departments to do so.
Another element that’s fueling sales is an increase in pickup truck sales. Experts believe that people who are buying trucks need them, and have put off buying them for a long time.
NADA points to new-vehicle incentives and rebates as well as declining prices on used vehicles as a couple factors that will contribute to this increase as the summer comes to an end. Reports show that August sales thus far matched July’s pace and could go even higher.
To make sure that your dealership is cashing in on the uptick in sales as much as your competition probably is, use your advertising to push not only manufacturer incentives, but also your used car inventory.
Having trouble getting your message out there? Contact us – we know exactly how to get the numbers you’re looking for!
By: Hayley Berger
When we think of intros we usually think of the song a baseball player walks out to, or a little :10 second clip before a TV show starts, but what about for car dealerships? What can an intro do for your dealership?
People buy cars from friends, not dealerships
You’ve heard this saying before, but think about it. Would you be more comfortable buying an ipod from your friend that works at The Apple Store, or through an online electronics store? Regardless of price, people like buying from someone they can trust. The product is the same, but we want to feel like we are getting taken care of, cared for, and of course “hooked up” with a deal. With any big investment, we want to feel like we’re getting a good deal, and that any future problems will be addressed. So why should our advertising be any different?
Center your advertising around “who” a customer is buying a car from, not about the product. They know your dealership, they know the cars. A car is a need. What a customer wants to know is who they are buying from. Rather than portraying your dealership as a big scary dealership that has no face, personalize your advertisements. All your advertisements, from TV commercials to print ads to internet ads should feature people – your sales staff or General Manager, for example. Have your BDC department send personalized emails with videos talking about why customers should schedule a test drive with them.
Don’t let technology fool you
In this day and age, most people find it much more convenience to send an email or text message rather than pick up the phone and dial. But when it comes to making a decision about buying a car, something that the average consumer researches more than a home loan, face time is essential. It’s crucial to realize how putting your face on digital and traditional advertising brands your dealership and can earn someone’s trust. Make the customer feel like a friend, show them your goofy side, your excitement to give them what they want and make them feel like they know you. It’s amazing to see the difference when someone walks in a dealership and feels like they know they guy in charge. Price no longer matters, they trust you and want to buy from you not another company.
Potratz is a pioneer in advertising strategy and has created countless success stories by personalizing our client’s ad campaigns. Need help with your strategy? Give us a call!
Pinterest has recently captured the attention of the masses, and the social media site is definitely gaining traction; it is now the seventh most popular social network, and keeps growing daily, so it’s vital to think about all that it has to offer in the means of social media. It’s important to consider the marketing potential Pinterest has. A popular image you post (which will link back to your business’s website) could theoretically get repinned on hundreds, or even thousands, of different users’ boards!
Using Pinterest For Your Business?
- Make sure your business makes sense with what Pinterest offers. You might be surprised at how many businesses can benefit from Pinterest.
- Use other social networks like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to direct more users to your Pinterest boards.
- Make sure you use Pinterest to feature all the different things your business can offer users.
- Follow popular names to build more awareness around your company.
- Spend a consistent amount of time on Pinterest so that stronger connections can be built.
- Keep your board clean, don’t pin too many different things onto it. Each board should have a clear theme.
- Users like to see boards that relay a lot of concise information, so promote your product as well as others.
What Not To Do On Pinterest?
- Don’t spam your product out.
- There is such a thing as too much promotion for your product. Keep it regular, but not constant.
- Don’t pin too much onto one board, make separate boards so you can keep them clean and easy to look at.
- Keep in mind Pinterest is all about images, so steer away from pinning too much text.
- Be consistent with the network.
The goal of Pinterest is to focus on consumer goods and products, which makes it an opportune social network for marketers to gain more clients and more attention, so don’t miss out! Not sure how to get started? Contact us now!
Should your dealership have a spokesperson? There are many factors to consider before answering this question. The spokesperson is the forefront of your company, and will represent your company to the public. Your chosen celebrity will most likely garner lots of publicity for your company, but the catch is that it might not always be good publicity. Simply put, there is a chance the face of your company could be embroiled in a public scandal.
Of course, most people emphatically believe that they would never hire a spokesperson with a questionable reputation, and would never hier someone they believe would garner negative publicity. The problem here is that you can’t see the future. You never know what could happen. Even the spokesperson with the most polished reputation could fall from grace for any reason, at any time. For unlimited examples of this, simply pick up this week’s celebrity gossip magazines. The public is liable to turn on America’s sweethearts unexpectedly, for a host of reasons. By no means will you automatically have problems if you enlist a spokesperson for your company, but it is a possibility that must be considered. You should also consider what actions will your company take should something of that nature transpire.
Additionally, it has become much more common for “celebrities” to endorse specific agendas. This can range from political candidates and platforms to personal causes like pet adoption or diabetes prevention. In this election year, many celebrities are endorsing a presidential candidate. You should ensure that your spokesperson doesn’t alienate a portion of your customer base and prevent you from making sales to certain demographics. From a political standpoint, many people believe a business should never endorse a campaign. Politics are for individuals to consider, not for a business to analyze.
Many of these potential problems that arise when hiring a spokesperson seem like they are only applicable to A-list, national celebrities, but that’s not always so. Every city has local influencers within the community, such as newscasters and radio DJs that could be enlisted to represent your brand publicly. Just because they aren’t easily recognized doesn’t mean their negative actions won’t make the news.
Overall, there are pros and cons to having a celebrity spokesperson. It is essential to have a public face associated with your brand, but it doesn’t always have to be a local influencer. The most important thing is to endorse your company through the dealership itself. Use your team to help promote you as a company. After all, they are truly the people who represent your company, as they are the most hands on with customers.
An abandoned Facebook page is truly a sad site. A page that has gone months without posts, no photos in site, and reviews and comments that have not been responded to is enough to depress any social media user. (user can be replaced with a different word..guru, junkie, fan, expert?)
Now, studies show that a poor Facebook page is more than just an eyesore. A recent market research study concluded that a full 50% of consumers value a brand’s Facebook page more than their website.
This study, which can be viewed here, http://mashable.com/2012/09/24/facebook-brand-page-value/, presented a full look at how a brand’s Facebook presence is viewed and valued. For example, 87% of people like brands on Facebook, and the number one motivation to do so is to take advantage of promotions, discounts, and giveaways. Equally important are the reasons why people choose to unlike brands, the number one being that the brand posted too frequently.
How can your dealership use this information to your advantage? First of all, make sure your Facebook page is well attended. Create a dynamic selection of postings, but don’t post too frequently. Make sure you give users an incentive to like your page. That can be by posting coupons for free services or gifts. For example, post a coupon for a discount on an oil change. Or, offer a coupon that will give users a free gift if they test drive a certain car. You can also run contests and award winners with a prize to increase interaction.
Of course, you’ll want to avoid posting too frequently. Don’t post more than 2 or 3 times per day, and space out your posts to reach customers who log onto Facebook at different times during the day. Always make sure your content is important, relevant, and varied.
While it’s essential to brand management to have a quality Facebook page, don’t abandon your website in the process. Keep in mind that 50% of consumers place more value on a brand’s Facebook page, so that means the other 50% will judge you according to your website.
Does maintaining an online presence seem overwhelming? We’re up to the task. Contact us for help.
Close your eyes and think of a store or another place you have visited that had a unique or pleasant smell. Keep your eyes closed and imagine that smell. Can you recall more detail about your experience? Do you remember specific details about the time you experienced the smell? How did you feel emotionally?
Those of you who know me also know I travel often for business, and I enjoy shopping for new pocket squares. On a recent trip to Miami, I visited the Hugo Boss store, and when entering the store, it hit me. I realized every Boss store has the same smell from Paris, France, to Hilton Head, S.C., to Buffalo, N.Y., to Miami. I just assumed it was the cologne they offer, so I continued to browse and started to think how the same aroma gave me the feeling of familiarity with my surroundings and put me at ease. I was then off to my hotel, and when I entered the doors to the Sofitel, it hit me again. The smell was was not the same as the Boss store, but was the same scent as other Sofitels I have stayed at in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Chicago.
I then remembered reading something many years ago about scent marketing, but it was more about the use of scent marketing and oxygen in casinos to keep people gambling longer. I knew there was something more to it, and I started to think of the many chain stores I had visited over the years; the chains would always have the same store layout and furnishings, but a select few would also have the same music and aroma.
This is also known as multi-sensory branding, and it’s an influential marketing tool that can build powerful brand recognition quickly.
How Smells Affect Us
There is a strong connection between smell, mood and emotion. The emotion center of the brain is closely connected to the amygdale and hippocampus, which influence memory, mood and behavior. Think of the smell of chocolate chip cookies and how that affects you. Chocolate chip cookies are a smell that the Hampton Inn uses to make you feel like you have arrived at home. Some boutique hotels use relaxing lavender to calm the senses. There are many businesses using multi-sensory marketing (e.g., Jimmy Choo, Sofitel Hotels, Samsung and even GM when they processed a smell called “Nuance” into the leather of all new Cadillacs).
Double Your Sales
Studies have shown different aromas can increase spending habits of an individual by double, but the studies also showed you can’t just spray some perfume and expect sales to increase. In fact, sales could decrease with the wrong aroma present, so you’d better seek out an aroma marketing company to determine what affects a purchase decision.
Branding Your Dealership Through Smell
Brand recognition by using an aroma in a showroom can create an impression with a shopper and can in fact create an emotional connection. What if you were to utilize that same aroma in a specific and specialized direct mail campaign for lease renews or increased-service-penetration mailers? An emotional connection could be triggered by the aroma of the direct mail piece and remind the individual of the happy day they drove away in that new car, with that new-car smell. Maybe the cliché “smells like a new car” is worth more than we give it credit for. Think of the possibilities of building your dealership’s brand with sight, sound, touch, taste and aroma.
Ethical Versus Non-ethical Marketing
The right aroma has proven it can create a brand identity and induce a sense of well-being, a good mood, a relaxed state of mind, and cause an individual to spend up to twice as much money. The question could come into play that scent marketing can be a form of manipulation. In other words, it is like a drug and can make a person react differently than they normally would.
So, I ask you, is this manipulation of consumers, or is it an ethical form of marketing that you would consider for your dealership?
By: Nick Yocono
You may have heard that you can’t have your cake and eat it, too. But that may not be true, at least when it comes to your new car’s engine.
With gas prices continuing to rise, manufacturers have shifted away from the big engines in favor of smaller engines that produce improved mileage. At the same time, consumers don’t want to lose the power they were accustomed to getting from previous models. So, how do manufacturers give consumers the best of both worlds?
Ford has responded to this new demand with “Ecoboost”. These new engines boast the same specs in horsepower and torque as their bigger displacement opponents, but with much improved mileage and emissions. Ford is not the only one doing this either, other companies have also started utilizing this engine setup, under different names, for their new models. So what is the secret?
The answer is quite simple: turbochargers. A Turbocharger uses exhaust gasses to spin its turbine and suck more air into the engine. That, along with more fuel, will create bigger explosions in the cylinder and therefore more power will be generated. A Ford F-150 equipped with an “Ecoboost” engine has a twin-turbocharged V6 instead of the traditional V8. What the turbocharger allows the engine to do is act like a V6 and get mileage similar to one while driving around. Most of the time you don’t need full power from the engine, such as when you’re maintaining your speed or during deceleration. When you actually do need some power, the turbocharger can spool up and provide that extra boost in power to make the engine perform similarly to a V8. This equates to a engine that will get better mileage and perform the same as a bigger, naturally aspirated, competitor.
Engines similar to Ford’s “Ecoboost” are being used in various new cars. Dodge recently released its new Dart, which on certain models, comes equipped with a 1.4L MultiAir Turbo engine option. The Chevrolet Cruze is equipped with a 1.4L Turbo “Ecotec” engine option. Even luxury manufacturer BMW has switched out the inline six in their 3 series base models for 2.0L Turbo engines. These cars all boast similar performance with much improved mileage to their predecessors.
Fuel mileage is the name of the game when it comes to selling cars in today’s market. Each year more and more small engine turbos show up on the market. If you’re in the market for a new vehicle that gets better mileage than the one you drive now, be on the lookout for setups like these.
By: Hayley Berger
When we think of intros we usually think of the song a baseball player walks out to, or a little :10 second clip before a TV show starts, but what about for car dealerships? What can an intro do for your dealership?
People buy cars from friends, not dealerships
You’ve heard this saying before, but think about it. Would you be more comfortable buying an ipod from your friend that works at The Apple Store, or through an online electronics store? Regardless of price, people like buying from someone they can trust. The product is the same, but we want to feel like we are getting taken care of, cared for, and of course “hooked up” with a deal. With any big investment, we want to feel like we’re getting a good deal, and that any future problems will be addressed. So why should our advertising be any different?
Center your advertising around “who” a customer is buying a car from, not about the product. They know your dealership, they know the cars. A car is a need. What a customer wants to know is who they are buying from. Rather than portraying your dealership as a big scary dealership that has no face, personalize your advertisements. All your advertisements, from TV commercials to print ads to internet ads should feature people – your sales staff or General Manager, for example. Have your BDC department send personalized emails with videos talking about why customers should schedule a test drive with them.
Don’t let technology fool you
In this day and age, most people find it much more convenience to send an email or text message rather than pick up the phone and dial. But when it comes to making a decision about buying a car, something that the average consumer researches more than a home loan, face time is essential. It’s crucial to realize how putting your face on digital and traditional advertising brands your dealership and can earn someone’s trust. Make the customer feel like a friend, show them your goofy side, your excitement to give them what they want and make them feel like they know you. It’s amazing to see the difference when someone walks in a dealership and feels like they know they guy in charge. Price no longer matters, they trust you and want to buy from you not another company.
Potratz is a pioneer in advertising strategy and has created countless success stories by personalizing our client’s ad campaigns. Need help with your strategy? Give us a call!
How have your dealership’s sales been this year? If you said “better than expected”, you’re in the same boat as many dealerships in the country.
Industry experts predict that U.S. auto sales per dealership may climb to a record in 2012. Annual sales per dealer will increase to an estimated 805 vehicles from a previous estimate of 785, with an annual sales estimate of 14.3 million vehicles. The previous record was 784 per dealer in 2005.
What is the reason behind the numbers? One is that automakers have kept their networks relatively flat, meaning that existing dealerships have the opportunity to take advantage of increased sales volumes. Dealers are making a profit for the first time in more than three years without having to rely on their service departments to do so.
Another element that’s fueling sales is an increase in pickup truck sales. Experts believe that people who are buying trucks need them, and have put off buying them for a long time.
NADA points to new-vehicle incentives and rebates as well as declining prices on used vehicles as a couple factors that will contribute to this increase as the summer comes to an end. Reports show that August sales thus far matched July’s pace and could go even higher.
To make sure that your dealership is cashing in on the uptick in sales as much as your competition probably is, use your advertising to push not only manufacturer incentives, but also your used car inventory.
Having trouble getting your message out there? Contact us – we know exactly how to get the numbers you’re looking for!
