Traditional Advertising, is it truly over as many might say?

I've found that there are different environments, climates and demographics that call for traditional advertising! Although Social Media is on the move and in my opinion will be sooner than later, the #1 source to reach a customer, traditional advertising must not be counted out!

In some towns the paper is still King, while in others a local T.V. station is King and believe it or not in some towns Radio is King.

While the hot topic of today is online digital marketing and social media, my message is this; don't count out any source or avenue to reach a dealers customer base, and rather than assume what is best for a dealer in their climate, it's more important to learn of what their climate and demographics call for!

Tip of the week on dE...

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I agree 100% John, facebook speed dial!

John Skelton said:

Ummm... I like the message.and the picture  ...  the two combined tell a great story that...FACEBOOK IS THE NEW SPEED DIAL

I will believe that Traditional Advertising is "over" when the major internet companies (like autotrader and cars) stop using TV to promote their websites.  :-)  The most effective dealerships have a strategy that incorporates BOTH!

 

Frank Drigotas

CBC Advertising

www.cbcads.com

"Working With A Handful Of Great Dealers"

Combined digital and conventional advertising campaign(s) with a consistent / urgent message is a very powerful (under utilized) tool available to every dealership. Conventional advertising is not dead... the "herd" is just thinning out. Good Selling! DTG

Advertising 101 -- conventional or digital -- suggests that you need to define your message, your market, go where your customers are and then deliver them a relevant message with a call to action.  Marketing may have a slightly different agenda and method but they both boil down to understanding human nature 

 

People will always take the path of least reistence to get what they want and trying to tell them what they want is much harder than letting them tell you.  Social networking and word of mouth advertising has always been a part of advertising. Social media -- including Facebook -- is simply a new channel to contain the conversation that is the market made possible by the Internet and the technology that has been developed to capitalize on it as an advertising medium.

 

My point is that technology may provide new ways to deliver the message, however there is no need to throw out the baby with the bathwater!  Generational preferences, cultural differences, socio-economic barriers and even geographical logistics will contribute to determining which media may work best for any particular target audience.  One conventional wisdom that has survived the WWW is that a diverse media mix delivering a consistent message will produce better frequency and retention than any single source.

 

The number of impresions are more quantifiable with digital media, however the subliminal messages delivered by the billboards, radio commercials between your favorite song, TV commercials that survive the DVR and print ads that you accidentally see as you are killing time in the bathroom -- (sorry for that image but I am getting to my point) -- still build awareness that will make 2+2=5, if you are using the right two! 

 

My point is that conventional media still deserves a seat at the table.  The trick is to monitor the R.O.I. sourced from every automotive advertising investment and adjust your allocation of funds within your budget accordingly.  The new technologies that drive the internet include referencing your mobile and conventional websites in your broadcast media and embedded short codes, (SMS text messaging links), and QR codes in your print media.  These tools allow you to capitalize on the ability to quantify your R.O.I. on old world media using the capabilities developed in the new world solutions.

 As always, inspect what you expect and focus on making friends vs. sales and your R.O.I. will increase.  After all, what are friends for!

 

I don't think we need to differentiate traditional ways with new, I think they need to work together to optimize your message and personalize it to each unique viewer. We need to acknowledge that some of the old tricks still work, and work well combined with some of the new platforms.

What happens when someone gets a million clicks on their site or video? They talk about it on the Today show. Jay Leno might invite them on. Fox News might bring it up. Thanks to that mention on television, the video now has two million clicks. You doubled your clicks on a non-traditional campaign by gaining exposure on a traditional media.

Until the Superbowl is watched exclusively online, I don’t think the old is going away anytime soon. That's also the most popular week for bigger, flatter, HD TV purchases.
I do believe we must start thinking outside of  the box. I have owned and operated a Super Sale Company since 2001. January 1st I put my suitcase in storage and took a job as a GM. Great move for me and my family. I am not looking to be sold, however, we are interested in exploring advertising ideas with Dealers/GM. We are looking for methods of advertising that are working for your dealers. We have a great owner who is opened to ideas and trust my judgement.

Hi Russel,

 

I suggest that you go to the NADA Convention in San Francisco as well as the 10th Digital Dealer Conference in April.  You will be able to find all of the best practices you seek in one barrel at one time!  Add a review of previous posts on DealerElite and some other automotive advertising networking portals like Ralph Paglia's ADM and Brian Pasch's Internet Sales Manager and you will be picking the brains of the best of the best!

 

After all, what are friends -- DealerElite, ADM, ISM, NADA and the DD Conferences -- for!

Russell L Coyne said:

I do believe we must start thinking outside of  the box. I have owned and operated a Super Sale Company since 2001. January 1st I put my suitcase in storage and took a job as a GM. Great move for me and my family. I am not looking to be sold, however, we are interested in exploring advertising ideas with Dealers/GM. We are looking for methods of advertising that are working for your dealers. We have a great owner who is opened to ideas and trust my judgement.
This discussion covered a lot of ground, basically Phil Zelinger nailed the topic, but to say it just a bit more succinctly, customers will find the information they want in different places, so dealers need to be visible both in online and traditional channels.

The problem comes in when the messaging in those channels is not the same. My friend Dave Hein shared some industry research that said newspaper advertising was very effective for dealers in driving visitors to their websites. The problem and disconnect came in when the consumer wanted more info on the advertised vehicles/programs and when they went to the website they found no further information on the items that "teased them" in the newspaper advertising. That mean lost sales opportunities.

Dealers need to have a unique landing page to measure, track and optimize the ads they place in traditional channels. Our research study showed that 80% of auto retailers will NEVER think out of the box in regards to their advertising. Another 12% will give it a half hearted try and execute poorly, and the other 8% will focus on the channels and markets that really bring results.

We are currently helping dealers focus on two market segments that can double or triple their sales volumes within 9 mos to one year, Their advertising costs stay the same, but they need to make other organizational changes in their stores to capture these markets. I'll report back in a few month to share some of our progress.
Great reply.....

Frank Drigotas said:

I will believe that Traditional Advertising is "over" when the major internet companies (like autotrader and cars) stop using TV to promote their websites.  :-)  The most effective dealerships have a strategy that incorporates BOTH!

 

Frank Drigotas

CBC Advertising

www.cbcads.com

"Working With A Handful Of Great Dealers"

I maybe a bit biased, but in 1992 when I started out a young direct mail salesman, I was warned by many to get in and get out fast because direct mail was a dying breed, it was getting "saturated" and not as effective as once was.  Since I consider this a traditional advertising form, I think it os relevant to say, we spend our days bringing a traditional media a new world spin.   We at Dealer World  www.mydealerworld.com are consistently turning (20 years later after it was to be saturated) a nearly 400- 500% return on investment average for our clients with in a 2 week period.   By most investment measures it is an amazing stat, by typical branding advertising and some of the new social media formats it is OUTSTANDING.  Dealers love technology, it is easy to get sucked in to the world of FREE advertising.  There is a place for it.  But I have a dealer who doubled his business with our Radio campaign in a months time, a dealer who realized a 180K profit in November off our Traditional style mail piece with the NEW WORLD spin.   I say, keep our eyes peeled, it is changing, but the dealers who are still committed to traditional style advertising I find are the ones with the real stories right now.  They are in the digital media game, but it not their bread and butter.
Russel,  Please feel free to call me anytime.  610-570-3022.  We have a hybrid type mailer that I think you being from the super sale world will truly appreciate.  We use no gifts and or gimmicks.  We are able through super strong themes and lead generating websites to BUYERS on the lot not gift seekers.  If you train your guys like I would, and I am sure you do,  Imagine what they will do with "mail" traffic that actually wants to buy a car.   I'd love your input if nothing else,  Best of wishes as a GM, With your menatality you will kill it.  Troy Spring, President, Dealer World

Philip Zelinger said:

Hi Russel,

 

I suggest that you go to the NADA Convention in San Francisco as well as the 10th Digital Dealer Conference in April.  You will be able to find all of the best practices you seek in one barrel at one time!  Add a review of previous posts on DealerElite and some other automotive advertising networking portals like Ralph Paglia's ADM and Brian Pasch's Internet Sales Manager and you will be picking the brains of the best of the best!

 

After all, what are friends -- DealerElite, ADM, ISM, NADA and the DD Conferences -- for!

Russell L Coyne said:

I do believe we must start thinking outside of  the box. I have owned and operated a Super Sale Company since 2001. January 1st I put my suitcase in storage and took a job as a GM. Great move for me and my family. I am not looking to be sold, however, we are interested in exploring advertising ideas with Dealers/GM. We are looking for methods of advertising that are working for your dealers. We have a great owner who is opened to ideas and trust my judgement.
 

Many newspapers like mine have opted to offer traditional advertising with a twist. I for one offer all of my advertising clients a three for one package. You get your traditional advertising in our monthly print publication, you get online advertising on our web site www.adealersjournal.biz which we link it back to yours, and then we give the bonus of direct email marketing we your ad is placed on our weekly e-newsletter. As a perk we also place your ads on all off our social networking sites like our fan page on facebook, auttr, LinkedIn, dealer elite, and the many others. You have to meet your potential advertisers and you current clients in the middle with today’s advertising needs.

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