The good news and bad news about automotive ad campaigns is that price and results are not necessarily connected.  

You can pay the same price for poor results as you would for great results.  The difference is based on what you put into your campaign before you implement.  Plan well and you’ll get better results.

Here is a four-step method to plan your advertising so you can see better results from your campaign without spending more money.

Step 1: Understand your strengths

Ask yourself these questions:

● Why do people buy from you?

● What do you really do for your customers?

● How are you better than your competition?

● What special skills or advantages do you have?

The answers to these questions are your competitive advantages. They are what make you stand out from your competition. They may be related to price, location, professional skills, responsiveness or your own personality.

People buy from you because you do something for them no one else does. Understand this and you’ve taken the first step to
create a better campaign.

Step 2: Identify your ideal customer

To promote your car or tire dealership, you should focus on people who value what you do. Your strengths (or competitive advantages) will help you focus on who will most value your service or product.

For example, if your primary strength is the fact that you sell & service trucks, target every message on truck owners & buyers. 

Focus on people who will place a high value on what you can do for them. These will be your most loyal and profitable customers.

Step 3: Create a meaningful message

This is, without question, the most important element in your advertising.  Crafting a message that is compelling, persuasive and delivered to the heart will overcome poor production quality and a weak media schedule.

Conversely, the greatest media schedule and the slickest production will fail when combined with a message that doesn’t resonate with prospects. 

Your message needs to make your prospects want to do business with you.  Engage the imagination and tell the customer what they want to hear.  Speak in language they understand, not your industry jargon.

Finally, deliver one message at a time across all mediums your campaign employs.  This will deliver greater returns for you.

Step 4: Deliver your message as often as your budget allows.

You’ve analyzed your strengths, you know who your ideal customers are and you’ve created a message that targets the emotions and will persuade people to want to buy from you. 

Now it’s time to buy ad space / air time.  You have multiple choices here:  TV, radio, SEM, PPC, social media ads, outdoor, direct mail and so on…

Just remember these final tips as you plan how to deliver your message:

• Set a budget for your campaign.

• Get the most exposure possible for that budget.

• Focus your exposure on your target group.

Unless your budget is unlimited, you need to choose delivery vehicles that focus your message.

For example, if you have a single location retail store and you know 90% of your customers live within two miles of your store, focus your message on people who live within two miles of your store.

It’s also important to not cut your campaign short.  NO campaign will deliver instant customers that prove to be the loyal & profitable.