In this issue I'll share answers to questions from readers I've responded to during the past year.
Q: How many used cars can you advertise in one radio spot??
A Chevy dealer in Omaha writes, "My used car manager and I disagree on how many vehicles we should run in our radio ads. The announcer we use at the radio station can talk pretty fast. He can reel off 10 cars, their equipment, and price in one spot. I say that's too much information for anyone to understand in sixty seconds."
A: And I say you can both be right. If you are trying to advertise 10 vehicles with 10 different prices, the ad will sound like incoherent jabber. However, you can comfortably advertise 10 different vehicles if you don't try to include all the equipment, and offer all the vehicles at one price, or in a price range. If your state requires the VIN number for any vehicle, that would limit your number of vehicles to about 5 or 6. Otherwise, the ad will sound very confusing. If you want to advertise a lot of different vehicles with different prices, cut several different spots and rotate those within your used car radio schedule.
Q: Is a print ad effective without prices?
The general sales manager of a luxury import dealership in Dallas says, "I would love to get away from pricing all of our cars in the newspaper, but I'm not brave enough to gamble with our ads that seem to be working pretty well. Your thoughts?"
A: Since you're in a large market, I would assume quite a few dealers advertise price. Our research says customers check the display ads to get an idea of the going "street price" of a vehicle. Many of your competitors might advertise vehicles at invoice...or even below invoice. You can never win the price game in the paper unless you are a "smoke and mirrors genius," and frankly, that is the most despised aspect of automobile retailing. Most people don't believe the prices dealers advertise are real anyway and feel price has to be negotiated with the deal. If you can create an ad that says you are definitely in the price game without specific prices you probably won't notice any drop in traffic from your ads. You didn't indicate whether you are running any broadcast, but if you can afford to be on radio or TV, you might try running ads for new vehicles without a lot of pricing, and utilize your print ad dollars for used vehicle specials, sub-prime financing, emphasis on new vehicle inventory, etc. It is my feeling that broadcast sells and print tells. Use electronic medium to create excitement, urgency, and sell the sizzle. In fact, if you're going to advertise price, broadcast might be the best place for it because it's hard for a customer to take your radio or television ad into your competitors showroom. Use print to provide information the customer can use such as location, hours, web site address, phone, directions, map, etc.
Q: Are there any advertising "hot" buttons customers respond to?
The owner of a medium market Ford dealership in New Mexico writes, "I know some of my ads work better than others, but is there any research that lists customer "HOT" buttons that create better response to ads?"
A: Absolutely. The two most powerful words in the history of advertising are NEW and FREE. People always want to be on the cutting edge, experiencing the latest technology and ideas. And of course a lot of people still believe in a FREE lunch. It seems you just can't overuse these two words. If you don't believe me, walk down the aisle of your local grocery store and see how many boxes and jars have the words NEW AND IMPROVED, and some form of FREE on them. Of course in most places it's illegal to use the word FREE in any automobile advertising, but if you're creative you might find a few ways. How about: call our toll-FREE number...our information is always FREE. In some of the latest automobile advertising research I've studied, there are some definite "HOT" buttons...as well as some "NOT" buttons. The "HOT" buttons are a substantial number of vehicles offered at a certain "value" price, money-back guarantees on used vehicles, and ads that are easy to read, see, or hear, and easy to understand. "NOT" buttons (ads that research says turn shoppers off) are ads with lots of "fine print," ads that offer only one or two vehicles at a sale price, and anything blatantly deceptive.
Q: Which media should we use?
An import dealer in the greater Boston market says, "We've been in the newspaper for 22 years. Every ad agency we talk to wants to put all of our budget on television. My sales manager says we should go strictly direct mail. Help!"
A: If it's any consolation, you're not alone on this one. It's the biggest area of confusion for most automobile dealers, but I can give you the answer in one simple word: RESEARCH. If you don't have some kind of research program in effect to determine where your media dollars go, you are not only behind the times, you are downright foolish. It is just amazing to me how most automobile dealers-otherwise good business people-will fling hundreds of thousands, sometimes even millions, of dollars at the "advertising dart board" hoping some of it will get near the bull's-eye. Here are the cold hard facts: Newspaper effectiveness is decreasing year after year, and when you factor in rate increases with loss of readership, you are wasting a lot of money if this is where the bulk of your ad dollars are spent. Television has become extremely complex with cable and satellite offering upwards of 500 channels in some markets. Direct mail can be effective with the right message and proper target, but most of our dealers who do direct mail tell us it works best when done sparingly. Even radio has its problems. Increasing multiple station ownership has decreased programming options and raised rates to an ineffective level in some markets. And radio stations will have an even greater challenge when auto makers start offering satellite music receivers in new vehicles in just over a year from now. The Internet has great possibilities but is still in the embryonic stages of development, although some dealers have figured out how to milk substantial direct sales on a cost-effective basis from the Web. A portion of your ad budget must go to continuous, ongoing research to discover the listening, viewing, reading, and awareness habits of your customers and potential customers. Until that happens, your advertising expenditures will continue to be highly ineffective. Stop asking your wife, the used car manager, and your brother-in-law where to advertise. Get the black-and-white facts from a reliable research program.
Jim Boldebook is President of Creative Broadcast Concepts (CBC), an advertising/marketing agency working with some of America's most successful dealerships. If you have specific questions or require more information about this subject, please check the appropriate box on the reader response form on page 3. jboldebook@dealeronline.com