Warning: The Hard Truth About Automotive Advertising By: mediaadgroup

If you’ve spent any amount of time selling automobiles, then you know the importance of advertising, and getting new people to your dealership. But, as every savvy car dealer knows, there are plenty of companies willing to sell you on why their advertising is the best.

Will most advertising firms give you Guaranteed results? TV Stations, Radio Stations?- Nope. So for most automotive dealerships, advertising is much more like a crap shoot. Try this, test that, call that consultant so and so, etc. etc. Now, tell me, does that sound familiar?

And we must not forget the digital world. We’ve got Google Yahoo, AOL, Facebook, and a whole host of other social media networks, Car Dealer SEO, and all kinds of other technical goodies! You almost have to have a full time internet junkie on staff just to keep up. This alone can be very frustrating, and a big drain on the cash.

And then there are the GURUS. Oh let’s not forget the boys. After all, they only charge thousands for a seminar, right? So you get free coffee, a few good ideas, and a LOT of fluff. Where do you get a guru certificate anyway? Oh please give me more concepts. No results, thank you, no measureable system…. Just more smoke, fluff, and concepts. Arrrrg.

So there you have it, after all it is the jungle. And if you’re like most car dealers, you don’t care about learning a bunch of new technology, you just want a stream of fresh leads right? Phone, internet, what difference does it make? The goal is simply to get folks in the batter’s box.

As my buddy in Florida says, “just get me a lead in the door , email, fax, or on the phone, I can take it from there.”

So with a truck load of advertising options, and most without guaranteed results, many dealers opt for the sling stuff at the wall method. Try enough stuff, advertise in every paper, magazine, phone book, radio station, tv station etc.

Well let me ask you something… if all that worked, would we have thousands of dealerships closing their doors?

OK now that I’ve managed to remind you of just how many systems there are out there, that do not have a good ROI for your dealership, perhaps you’d appreciate some good news?

First let’s clarify a few simple things, to make sure we’re together. There are 2 main types of advertising; Interruptive, and Interactive.