With the global economy slowly bouncing back from the depths of a recession, automotive manufacturers are expecting to see a similar bounce back in vehicle sales and leases.  Assuming that both trends go hand in hand that people are more willing to spend on cars thanks to an increase in consumer confidence – automotive direct marketers may be emboldened to try and capture these newly-interested customers with new vehicle marketing campaigns. 

But will new vehicle purchases really rule the day for automotive marketing?  In actuality, customer retention and automotive service marketers may be the ones benefitting the most from the economic upswing.

Why?

In research conducted by R.L. Polk & Co., a premier provider of automotive information and marketing solutions, the trend appears to be heading in another direction – a growing number of vehicle owners are holding onto their vehicles longer than expected.

The study notes that in 2001, vehicle owners held onto their automobiles for 47.5 months.  Fast forward to 2010’s second quarter, and the data shows that rate has climbed to 52.2 months.  Some factors that contribute to this rising number may include the economic climate, tighter financing rules by lenders, warranties/extended warranties, and the increase in vehicle durability ratings.

So how can automotive customer retention and service marketing campaigns capitalize on the trend of owners keeping their vehicles for longer than expected?  DMEautomotive recommends developing proactive, multi-channel communications that talk to your customers about your retention and service programs. Broadcast your customer loyalty initiatives, or create seasonal service campaigns.

When these initiatives are successful, you not only build your service base and reach customers who hold onto their cars – you’ll also create relationships for when customers are in the market to make a purchase.  And with the economy starting to trend towards the black, that time may be fast approaching.

With the global economy slowly bouncing back from the depths of a recession, automotive manufacturers are expecting to see a similar bounce back in vehicle sales and leases.  Assuming that both trends go hand in hand that people are more willing to spend on cars thanks to an increase in consumer confidence – automotive direct marketers may be emboldened to try and capture these newly-interested customers with new vehicle marketing campaigns. 

But will new vehicle purchases really rule the day for automotive marketing?  In actuality, customer retention and automotive service marketers may be the ones benefitting the most from the economic upswing.

Why?

In research conducted by R.L. Polk & Co., a premier provider of automotive information and marketing solutions, the trend appears to be heading in another direction – a growing number of vehicle owners are holding onto their vehicles longer than expected.

The study notes that in 2001, vehicle owners held onto their automobiles for 47.5 months.  Fast forward to 2010’s second quarter, and the data shows that rate has climbed to 52.2 months.  Some factors that contribute to this rising number may include the economic climate, tighter financing rules by lenders, warranties/extended warranties, and the increase in vehicle durability ratings.

So how can automotive customer retention and service marketing campaigns capitalize on the trend of owners keeping their vehicles for longer than expected?  DMEautomotive recommends developing proactive, multi-channel communications that talk to your customers about your retention and service programs. Broadcast your customer loyalty initiatives, or create seasonal service campaigns.

When these initiatives are successful, you not only build your service base and reach customers who hold onto their cars – you’ll also create relationships for when customers are in the market to make a purchase.  And with the economy starting to trend towards the black, that time may be fast approaching.

Buying a car has never been easier: pick a car that fits your price range, check out a few reliability rating sites on your selection, go to the dealership for a test drive and – should everything fall into place – you’ll drive off the lot with a new vehicle purchase.

For car dealerships and their direct marketing strategies, it’s only half the battle. 

In the online age, there are numerous pipelines for potential car buyers and automotive service customers to obtain reviews of dealerships.  Such sites as DealerRater.com offer prospects a one-stop shop for anything and everything related to a dealership: customer service, quality of work, friendliness, overall experience and price of the vehicles in their inventory.

So what can you do to get your automotive customers to share their experiences?  Try one or two of the following to get started!

Happiness is a warm review. Get your satisfied customers to spread the word that their dealership experience was a great one.  Word of mouth marketing – either by verbal or non-verbal forms – is an important way to influence others in their vehicle purchasing decisions.  Dealers should give their raving customers referral bonuses for helping to drive traffic into their dealership.

Launch a social media strategy. By installing a social media strategy for your dealership, you’ll put yourself in the driver’s seat.  It’ll give you all the tools needed to monitor conversations about your dealership and provide a chance to perform some reputation management should a negative review come careening your way.

Give incentives. It’s never easy to get your customers to offer a review of your sales or service process.  Often times, a person who buys a vehicle just wants to hit the streets and show their purchases off to their friends.  Grab their attention by offering incentives like a discounted service visit or an automotive detailing package for their vehicle.  Giving them a financial incentive should help get those reviews flowing.

As easy as it is for prospective automotive buyers to buy a new vehicle, it’s just as easy for someone to go online and offer an opinion on their car buying or automotive service experience.  By placing a priority on netting positive reviews for your dealership, it serves as a better opportunity to land more people into your showroom and make those sales doors swing.

~ Missy Jensen, Social Media Manager at DMEautomotive

Bio:
Missy designs, deploys and maintains the social media initiatives for DMEautomotive in an effort to increase brand awareness, distribute company and industry news, provide updates on products and services and promote consumer engagement. Missy enjoys the process of learning; researching and watching projects come to fruition!

Prior to her transformation into a web specialist and work with DMEautomotive, she has 10 years of experience in the marketing and communications industry. Missy served as the Director, Handicapping & Communications for a regional golf association and helped successfully launch and maintain a cutting edge technology-based ticket resale program on behalf of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Missy attended St. Lawrence University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Psychology. She also holds a Master’s Degree from Miami University in Oxford, OH. She can be reached at missy.jensen@dmeautomotive.com and check her out on LinkedIn.

Buying a car has never been easier: pick a car that fits your price range, check out a few reliability rating sites on your selection, go to the dealership for a test drive and – should everything fall into place – you’ll drive off the lot with a new vehicle purchase.

For car dealerships and their direct marketing strategies, it’s only half the battle. 

In the online age, there are numerous pipelines for potential car buyers and automotive service customers to obtain reviews of dealerships.  Such sites as DealerRater.com offer prospects a one-stop shop for anything and everything related to a dealership: customer service, quality of work, friendliness, overall experience and price of the vehicles in their inventory.

So what can you do to get your automotive customers to share their experiences?  Try one or two of the following to get started!

Happiness is a warm review. Get your satisfied customers to spread the word that their dealership experience was a great one.  Word of mouth marketing – either by verbal or non-verbal forms – is an important way to influence others in their vehicle purchasing decisions.  Dealers should give their raving customers referral bonuses for helping to drive traffic into their dealership.

Launch a social media strategy. By installing a social media strategy for your dealership, you’ll put yourself in the driver’s seat.  It’ll give you all the tools needed to monitor conversations about your dealership and provide a chance to perform some reputation management should a negative review come careening your way.

Give incentives. It’s never easy to get your customers to offer a review of your sales or service process.  Often times, a person who buys a vehicle just wants to hit the streets and show their purchases off to their friends.  Grab their attention by offering incentives like a discounted service visit or an automotive detailing package for their vehicle.  Giving them a financial incentive should help get those reviews flowing.

As easy as it is for prospective automotive buyers to buy a new vehicle, it’s just as easy for someone to go online and offer an opinion on their car buying or automotive service experience.  By placing a priority on netting positive reviews for your dealership, it serves as a better opportunity to land more people into your showroom and make those sales doors swing.

~ Missy Jensen, Social Media Manager at DMEautomotive

Bio:
Missy designs, deploys and maintains the social media initiatives for DMEautomotive in an effort to increase brand awareness, distribute company and industry news, provide updates on products and services and promote consumer engagement. Missy enjoys the process of learning; researching and watching projects come to fruition!

Prior to her transformation into a web specialist and work with DMEautomotive, she has 10 years of experience in the marketing and communications industry. Missy served as the Director, Handicapping & Communications for a regional golf association and helped successfully launch and maintain a cutting edge technology-based ticket resale program on behalf of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Missy attended St. Lawrence University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Psychology. She also holds a Master’s Degree from Miami University in Oxford, OH. She can be reached at missy.jensen@dmeautomotive.com and check her out on LinkedIn.

In the past, a visit to a car dealership’s customer service department was much like a visit to the dentist: an appointment filled with long wait times and much trepidation about the results.

While there still may be some trepidation on the sticker shock of your vehicle’s maintenance bill, automotive customer service and customer service retention has been much improved thanks to progressive practices and technology.

The Goodwill Dealership Ambassador. At higher-volume dealerships that require a bit of a ‘traffic cop’ to direct customers to varying departments, a greeter has come to serve as not only a dealership ambassador but also as a key part in a dealership’s customer service plan.  A greeter’s role also expands beyond the typical greetings to an incoming customer: they serve as a multi-functional customer service representative who can handle the setting of service of appointments, sales or service calls that require a return message and notifying the appropriate personnel that you’ve arrived for your sales or service appointment.

Online, All the Time. Thanks to the emergence and improvements of the Internet over the better part of the last two decades, automotive dealerships have come to utilize the dealership’s public face – the website – for more intuitive customer service.  By implementing a simple submission or request form on their website (where such information as model, mileage and needs is requested), a customer now has 24/7 access to their dealership’s service department.  The submission form can also serve another purpose as the information can then be submitted into a database for the dealership’s marketing efforts, including direct mail pieces for upcoming Sales events and Service specials.

The Reach of Text. In concert with having a direct email marketing campaign, short message service (SMS) – the text component of your wireless or web communications device – serves as yet another element in the evolution of automotive customer service programs.  SMS can serve a dealership in a number of ways: it offers customers an ‘opt in’ to get up-to-the-minute information regarding the service status of their vehicle, the latest sales promotions and coupons.

As time marches on, car dealership marketing and other automotive customer retention

Initiatives will continue to improve.  The continued progressive practices and the institution and utilization of technology has helped relieve that trepidation and made a visit to a car dealership a pleasant one.

~ Missy Jensen, Social Media Manager at DMEautomotive

Bio:
Missy designs, deploys and maintains the social media initiatives for DMEautomotive in an effort to increase brand awareness, distribute company and industry news, provide updates on products and services and promote consumer engagement. Missy enjoys the process of learning; researching and watching projects come to fruition!

Prior to her transformation into a web specialist and work with DMEautomotive, she has 10 years of experience in the marketing and communications industry. Missy served as the Director, Handicapping & Communications for a regional golf association and helped successfully launch and maintain a cutting edge technology-based ticket resale program on behalf of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Missy attended St. Lawrence University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Psychology. She also holds a Master’s Degree from Miami University in Oxford, OH. She can be reached at missy.jensen@dmeautomotive.com and check her out on LinkedIn.

In the past, a visit to a car dealership’s customer service department was much like a visit to the dentist: an appointment filled with long wait times and much trepidation about the results.

While there still may be some trepidation on the sticker shock of your vehicle’s maintenance bill, automotive customer service and customer service retention has been much improved thanks to progressive practices and technology.

The Goodwill Dealership Ambassador. At higher-volume dealerships that require a bit of a ‘traffic cop’ to direct customers to varying departments, a greeter has come to serve as not only a dealership ambassador but also as a key part in a dealership’s customer service plan.  A greeter’s role also expands beyond the typical greetings to an incoming customer: they serve as a multi-functional customer service representative who can handle the setting of service of appointments, sales or service calls that require a return message and notifying the appropriate personnel that you’ve arrived for your sales or service appointment.

Online, All the Time. Thanks to the emergence and improvements of the Internet over the better part of the last two decades, automotive dealerships have come to utilize the dealership’s public face – the website – for more intuitive customer service.  By implementing a simple submission or request form on their website (where such information as model, mileage and needs is requested), a customer now has 24/7 access to their dealership’s service department.  The submission form can also serve another purpose as the information can then be submitted into a database for the dealership’s marketing efforts, including direct mail pieces for upcoming Sales events and Service specials.

The Reach of Text. In concert with having a direct email marketing campaign, short message service (SMS) – the text component of your wireless or web communications device – serves as yet another element in the evolution of automotive customer service programs.  SMS can serve a dealership in a number of ways: it offers customers an ‘opt in’ to get up-to-the-minute information regarding the service status of their vehicle, the latest sales promotions and coupons.

As time marches on, car dealership marketing and other automotive customer retention

Initiatives will continue to improve.  The continued progressive practices and the institution and utilization of technology has helped relieve that trepidation and made a visit to a car dealership a pleasant one.

~ Missy Jensen, Social Media Manager at DMEautomotive

Bio:
Missy designs, deploys and maintains the social media initiatives for DMEautomotive in an effort to increase brand awareness, distribute company and industry news, provide updates on products and services and promote consumer engagement. Missy enjoys the process of learning; researching and watching projects come to fruition!

Prior to her transformation into a web specialist and work with DMEautomotive, she has 10 years of experience in the marketing and communications industry. Missy served as the Director, Handicapping & Communications for a regional golf association and helped successfully launch and maintain a cutting edge technology-based ticket resale program on behalf of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Missy attended St. Lawrence University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Psychology. She also holds a Master’s Degree from Miami University in Oxford, OH. She can be reached at missy.jensen@dmeautomotive.com and check her out on LinkedIn.

In my last blog, we discussed how themed products could impact your target direct marketing (TDM) campaigns.  We emphasized how formulating a strategy and creating a theme for your TDM initiatives can get your target’s attention and get them in your automotive dealership’s doors.

Recently, we have also pondered so the question: “How many times does your door swing and your cash register ring?”

Now we’ll tackle the biggest facet of making your door swing and grabbing your customer’s attention to visit your dealership …CREATE PAIN!  Simply put, creating “pain” is giving your customers reason to visit your dealership and create sales traffic.

So what would quickly create “pain”? People are always willing to discuss the features and benefits of a current product or promotion; you’re planting a seed in their minds that something else might be a better option.

More importantly, what is this pain they incur by not purchasing and can they live without it?  Furthering that, would your customers be losing money if they do not conduct business with you today, this week or even next month?

To get their attention, always describe and expose the pain of not purchasing today.  In other words, show your customers what they lose by not buying today and would could the consequences be should they pass on their decision.

That’s where the “Hook/Pain” strategy comes into play.

So what price do you set to “hook” this product onto a consumer where they still feel good after the purchase?

One “hook” to use would be to find the value of a product, expose it and give it a new, unbelievable Price Tag.  The price tag sets the bar for perceived value and needs to be an identifiable value that would noticeably lost if not owned-type of value.

A hook is supposed to make the pain feel good.  If someone’s in the market for brakes, you want them to feel like they shouldn’t miss the latest brake special; if they’re in the market for a new car, the customer should have the perception that they cannot afford to miss the opportunity to buy a new car.  In offering a price tag that’s so ridiculously affordable, it’s an offer that’s too good to refuse and therefore, you’re always promoting a “hook” for the “pain”.

The key to the automotive direct marketing campaign is simple: create a theme that offers to relieve the recognized “pain” by offering a “hook” as a call to action to get the customer to immediately visit the dealership to act on the “hook”.

In my next blog item, we’ll attack the strategies involved in how to determine the “Message” for your TDM.

Happy planning...

~ Paul Ryan, Field Account Manager @ DMEautomotive

Bio: Paul Ryan brings over 25 years of experience in sales, sales management, marketing, and client services. He joined DMEautomotive in February of 2008, as a Regional Territory Manager. With proven success as an inside sales representative selling the FullCircle Solutions’ Bullseye program, he was recognized frequently as Sales Person of the Month and received the highest honor of Sales Person of the Year for 2008. In August of 2009, Paul managed, “Direct-To-Dealer” – Mail Division, responsible for overseeing the sales for the “Direct-To-Dealer” Mail Division. Currently he is traveling in the Midwest as Field Account Manager. Paul graduated with a B.B.A, in Business Administration from Iowa State University in 1982.

In my last blog, we discussed how themed products could impact your target direct marketing (TDM) campaigns.  We emphasized how formulating a strategy and creating a theme for your TDM initiatives can get your target’s attention and get them in your automotive dealership’s doors.

Recently, we have also pondered so the question: “How many times does your door swing and your cash register ring?”

Now we’ll tackle the biggest facet of making your door swing and grabbing your customer’s attention to visit your dealership …CREATE PAIN!  Simply put, creating “pain” is giving your customers reason to visit your dealership and create sales traffic.

So what would quickly create “pain”? People are always willing to discuss the features and benefits of a current product or promotion; you’re planting a seed in their minds that something else might be a better option.

More importantly, what is this pain they incur by not purchasing and can they live without it?  Furthering that, would your customers be losing money if they do not conduct business with you today, this week or even next month?

To get their attention, always describe and expose the pain of not purchasing today.  In other words, show your customers what they lose by not buying today and would could the consequences be should they pass on their decision.

That’s where the “Hook/Pain” strategy comes into play.

So what price do you set to “hook” this product onto a consumer where they still feel good after the purchase?

One “hook” to use would be to find the value of a product, expose it and give it a new, unbelievable Price Tag.  The price tag sets the bar for perceived value and needs to be an identifiable value that would noticeably lost if not owned-type of value.

A hook is supposed to make the pain feel good.  If someone’s in the market for brakes, you want them to feel like they shouldn’t miss the latest brake special; if they’re in the market for a new car, the customer should have the perception that they cannot afford to miss the opportunity to buy a new car.  In offering a price tag that’s so ridiculously affordable, it’s an offer that’s too good to refuse and therefore, you’re always promoting a “hook” for the “pain”.

The key to the automotive direct marketing campaign is simple: create a theme that offers to relieve the recognized “pain” by offering a “hook” as a call to action to get the customer to immediately visit the dealership to act on the “hook”.

In my next blog item, we’ll attack the strategies involved in how to determine the “Message” for your TDM.

Happy planning...

~ Paul Ryan, Field Account Manager @ DMEautomotive

Bio: Paul Ryan brings over 25 years of experience in sales, sales management, marketing, and client services. He joined DMEautomotive in February of 2008, as a Regional Territory Manager. With proven success as an inside sales representative selling the FullCircle Solutions’ Bullseye program, he was recognized frequently as Sales Person of the Month and received the highest honor of Sales Person of the Year for 2008. In August of 2009, Paul managed, “Direct-To-Dealer” – Mail Division, responsible for overseeing the sales for the “Direct-To-Dealer” Mail Division. Currently he is traveling in the Midwest as Field Account Manager. Paul graduated with a B.B.A, in Business Administration from Iowa State University in 1982.

In today’s technology-based environment, businesses and consumers have turned away from the traditional mainstays for information gathering.  Rather, they are utilizing other avenues to obtain information and share amongst peers.  Social networking, topic-specific RSS (Really Simply Syndication) feeds and blogs like this one highlight three such avenues people are using to get information and thus be embraced by automotive direct marketers.

As marketing techniques continue to progress, the ability to target specific locations for automotive direct marketing campaigns is made easier.   Now, rebates, service specials and pricing are no longer unique to just a specific marketplace.

So how do these tools impact your automotive dealership’s direct marketing campaigns? How do they affect their database management systems?

On the surface, the answer to both questions is simple: it will have an affect on both.

Social search not only provides almost instantaneous feedback for direct marketing efforts, but it also connects marketers to others who share some of the same interests.  Consider these stats that a June 2010 study from ROI Research Inc. revealed about the desire of social media users connect with brands:

• 50% of Facebook users click on ads to “like” a brand
• 37% learned about a new product or service from a social networking site
• 32% of respondents have recommended a product, brand or service to friends and associates via a social networking site
• 32% of Twitter users “re-tweet” content provided by a company and/or product
• The want for printable coupons (49%), sales notifications (46%) & new product updates (35%) ranked high on consumers lists

These results show how the social search relationship can provide direct marketers with an invaluable amount of information that can also easily be sorted by parameters such as dates and time for easy reference.

Database management systems stand to benefit from the development of practices in searching social networks.  These portals can provide details without actually getting your hands dirty searching through your database records by making your data more relevant and timely.  There are tools available to marketers that allow for users to “check in” to locations their area, giving marketers instant feedback on their campaigns

Going forward, using search portals like social networks to gain customer insights for your direct marketing efforts will become vital to any campaign.  Any direct marketing campaign is sensitive to factors like third-party influences.  By monitoring social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, your marketing strategies will be guided by real-time views and thus, make your programs both relevant and timely.

~ Missy Jensen, Social Media Manager at DMEautomotive

Bio:
Missy designs, deploys and maintains the social media initiatives for DMEautomotive in an effort to increase brand awareness, distribute company and industry news, provide updates on products and services and promote consumer engagement. Missy enjoys the process of learning; researching and watching projects come to fruition!

Prior to her transformation into a web specialist and work with DMEautomotive, she has 10 years of experience in the marketing and communications industry. Missy served as the Director, Handicapping & Communications for a regional golf association and helped successfully launch and maintain a cutting edge technology-based ticket resale program on behalf of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Missy attended St. Lawrence University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Psychology. She also holds a Master’s Degree from Miami University in Oxford, OH. She can be reached at missy.jensen@dmeautomotive.com and check her out on LinkedIn.

In today’s technology-based environment, businesses and consumers have turned away from the traditional mainstays for information gathering.  Rather, they are utilizing other avenues to obtain information and share amongst peers.  Social networking, topic-specific RSS (Really Simply Syndication) feeds and blogs like this one highlight three such avenues people are using to get information and thus be embraced by automotive direct marketers.

As marketing techniques continue to progress, the ability to target specific locations for automotive direct marketing campaigns is made easier.   Now, rebates, service specials and pricing are no longer unique to just a specific marketplace.

So how do these tools impact your automotive dealership’s direct marketing campaigns? How do they affect their database management systems?

On the surface, the answer to both questions is simple: it will have an affect on both.

Social search not only provides almost instantaneous feedback for direct marketing efforts, but it also connects marketers to others who share some of the same interests.  Consider these stats that a June 2010 study from ROI Research Inc. revealed about the desire of social media users connect with brands:

• 50% of Facebook users click on ads to “like” a brand
• 37% learned about a new product or service from a social networking site
• 32% of respondents have recommended a product, brand or service to friends and associates via a social networking site
• 32% of Twitter users “re-tweet” content provided by a company and/or product
• The want for printable coupons (49%), sales notifications (46%) & new product updates (35%) ranked high on consumers lists

These results show how the social search relationship can provide direct marketers with an invaluable amount of information that can also easily be sorted by parameters such as dates and time for easy reference.

Database management systems stand to benefit from the development of practices in searching social networks.  These portals can provide details without actually getting your hands dirty searching through your database records by making your data more relevant and timely.  There are tools available to marketers that allow for users to “check in” to locations their area, giving marketers instant feedback on their campaigns

Going forward, using search portals like social networks to gain customer insights for your direct marketing efforts will become vital to any campaign.  Any direct marketing campaign is sensitive to factors like third-party influences.  By monitoring social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, your marketing strategies will be guided by real-time views and thus, make your programs both relevant and timely.

~ Missy Jensen, Social Media Manager at DMEautomotive

Bio:
Missy designs, deploys and maintains the social media initiatives for DMEautomotive in an effort to increase brand awareness, distribute company and industry news, provide updates on products and services and promote consumer engagement. Missy enjoys the process of learning; researching and watching projects come to fruition!

Prior to her transformation into a web specialist and work with DMEautomotive, she has 10 years of experience in the marketing and communications industry. Missy served as the Director, Handicapping & Communications for a regional golf association and helped successfully launch and maintain a cutting edge technology-based ticket resale program on behalf of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Missy attended St. Lawrence University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Psychology. She also holds a Master’s Degree from Miami University in Oxford, OH. She can be reached at missy.jensen@dmeautomotive.com and check her out on LinkedIn.