This is a guest blog by Paul J Daly, Creative Director at Congruent.

He is speaking at the DrivingSales Executive Summit on A Crash Course in Dealership Branding.

Good marketers pay attention to their logo and their ads.

Great marketers pay attention to their brand.

Doing the latter requires atypical commitment; It takes long-term vision and focus. This is why there are so few great brands…especially in automotive. We seem to be caught in an endless cycle of new algorithms, click attribution and cost-per-click. We dump money in, and out pop the leads…hopefully.

This shouldn’t be a surprise to us. After all, since the very beginning of the car business, we’ve adopted and cultivated a month-to-month, hero-to-zero culture. Why should our marketing decisions be any different? Because there is a better way.

I’m suggesting that the business of selling, servicing and providing for the transportation needs of our customers is better off with thoughtful, well executed branding. By "better off" I mean; our teams will be more enthusiastic and longer tenured, our customers will be more motivated and loyal, and our profits will be better in this margin compressed world.

Sure, all of this sounds romantic and great. Maybe even a little idealistic.

It isn’t.

When we don’t fully understand something we move away from it. This is the involuntary, hardwired response of the human brain. If something isn’t clear, it could be dangerous.

Branding shouldn't feel dangerous. Great brands are thriving in the marketplace everyday. I’m on a mission to bring CLARITY to dealership branding in my session at DSES 2018 in October.

I’m going to define what a brand is and isn’t. We’re going to examine some of the most effective brands. We’re going to reverse engineer what your customers are looking for in a relationship with you. Most importantly, I want you to leave with some actionable next steps to building a brand that has staying power.

I believe that we are entering an era in which great dealership branding will be the differentiating factor in dumping some of the negative baggage the industry has been carrying for years. I’m excited to play a role. 

I hope you join me during the first breakout session of the event on Sunday at 4pm for “A Crash Course in Dealership Branding”. Really, you know you don’t have any plans yet…put it in your calendar now.

See you soon…