Branding your Dealership on TV

Advertising on televisions continues to be one of the most prevalent and successful starting points to a successful ad campaign. Although you may be worried that the audience is fragmented or DVR’s create a risk, ask yourself this question – why do the major manufacturers continue to spend 100’s of millions of dollars on TV? The answer, because it works. That’s why Cars.com and AutoTrader spend tens of millions on TV…because it works. Television creates a strong cornerstone to an on-air and online advertising campaign that will move units and for a powerful ROI.

While you’re pondering the major manufacturers, have you also wondered why they spend 25 seconds of every spot showing the products in great locales, and only five seconds giving you the offer – and only giving you the offer one time? There’s a reason for that as well – we know that of any advertising medium, television included, the majority of the audience is not currently in the market for a vehicle. No matter the offer, no matter how many times or how loud the offer is given, it won’t change that. The majority of the audience is going to make that decision at another time…tomorrow, next week, next month, or even next year. Those shoppers, once they become shoppers, are not going to run back to the tv, hoping a great ad will come on – at that point they’re going online. Probably starting at Google, and you certainly hope they Google you by name, not ‘used cars for sale in my city.’ Then it’s just a click to your site, inventory and email box.

So does that mean television is inefficient? No, just the opposite. Television has the ability to reach 100% of your target audience and emotionally connect you to that audience. And done correctly, with spot conception and production, your audience will watch your spot every time it runs, whether they’ve made the decision a new vehicle (or new to them) is in their immediate future. There are very specific tools of the trade that our years of experience can help you incorporate in the campaign. Remember, it’s a big package, that starts with concept, production, online components etc. Don’t let anyone convince your store to create advertising that contributes to the clutter or doesn’t compliment every other form of advertising.