Car Shoppers Ignore Your Marketing… Until Now
Have you ever thrown away a mail piece, didn’t read an email, ignored a voicemail, or scrolled past a display ad? Of course, we all have! And car shoppers do the same. Luckily we have a solution to minimize the amount of ignored marketing and maximize the amount of marketing that is consumed, understood, and acted on.
High Frequency, Multi-Channel Marketing
At T3 Marketing we rely heavily on our high frequency, multi-channel marketing strategies. We understand that a consumer can easily ignore one element of our outreach but it becomes harder to ignore and easier to consume marketing that is personalized to them, delivered through 3 or more mediums, and seen 5 or more times in a 30-day timeframe.
So How Do We Do This?
We utilize the following mediums to communicate our message to a hyper-targeted list of prospects:
- Direct Mail
- Calls/Voicemails
- SMS Text
- Display Ads
Start With A Goal
Every marketing campaign begins with a goal. Let’s assume that our goal is to sell more cars to people who are likely to trade in their vehicle. We want to encourage car owners to trade in their vehicle and upgrade to a newer vehicle. Our next steps are to gather a list of prospects that we feel may be in a position to trade in their vehicle and potentially interested in purchasing a vehicle from your dealership. Most of the time this would be someone that meets one or more of the following criteria:
- Has owned their vehicle for 3 or more years and hasn’t opened another automotive loan since this purchase
- Has purchased at your dealership
- Hasn’t purchased from your dealership but does own the same brand vehicle that you sell
- Has serviced their vehicle at your dealership but has never purchased from your dealership
- Has a lease that is expiring in the next 1 – 6 months
The Right Data Is Vital To Your Success
After we have our goal and our target prospects, now we need to create our messaging. We want this messaging to be extremely personalized and very natural in its delivery. Let’s assume that we are a Nissan dealership and we want to target vehicle owners that own a Nissan that is 3 – 6 years old. We also have proof that this person has not purchased another vehicle since the purchase of this Nissan. Now we want to create hyper-personalized messaging that resonates with them.
Personalized Messaging Is Key
We will send out and create a direct mail piece, email, voicemail scripts, text messages and display ads that all communicate the same message. Then we will deploy these over the course of 30 days. Each piece of communication will help educate them on the fact that they can sell their vehicle for $##,### and purchase a brand new vehicle without changing the amount that they pay each month.
If we JUST send a mailer, JUST send an email, JUST leave a voicemail, etc then it is VERY likely that our message will be ignored. To avoid being ignored we do the following:
- Send an email that lets the consumer know that you just sent them a mailer that contains an offer to buy their vehicle
- Send a handwritten letter that shows that consumers that you know that they drive a 2014 Nissan Altima, you are willing to purchase it for $##,### and they may be able to purchase a 2020 Nissan Altima and possibly lower their monthly payments.
- Send an email letting them know that they should have received the offer in the mail. We will recite the offer in this email.
- Leave a voicemail that lets them know that you have reached out by mail and email. Let them know that you have an aggressive offer to purchase their vehicle and that you’d like to talk.
- Begin to serve them display ads that encourage them to trade in their vehicle and upgrade to the latest model
Increased Response Rates = More Cars Sold
When this is done correctly, the consumer cannot possibly ignore your message. There is a very high chance that they heard your communication, consumed it, and now have the option to respond or not.
It’s undeniable that high frequency, multi-channel marketing increases your response rates on every marketing campaign. By doing this, you can make the most of the data that you are targeting.