There's nothing wrong with shopping at the local supercenter. The convenience of getting toilet paper, bananas, a video camera, and a package of socks for the kids all in the same place saves time and often saves money as well. However, there are lines that shouldn't be crossed. If you're looking for something as important as a suit, you probably want to go to a place that specializes in them.

That's why it concerns me when I hear from dealers who are marketing to their customer database or even to conquest lists through their one-stop-shop providers like CRM companies. I'm not trying to start a way with any of these companies, but it simply doesn't make sense to perform one of the most important and detail-driven marketing practices through systems that simply aren't designed to handle them.

Yes, many other companies throw in loyalty or conquest marketing into their tool set because they can, but that does not mean that it will be effective. There is an art and a science to appending and cleansing a database that should be handled by specialists just as there is a quality factor inherent to the art and science of tailoring a good suit. Loyalty marketing takes strategy. Conquest marketing requires a strong plan. Neither can be done appropriately through website or CRM automation tools. Doing so is checking off the box rather than taking advantage of the full potential.

Your database can be turned into gold for both sales and service. However, trying to do it with add-on tools is just as bad as trying to fill your business wardrobe from the same place that you buy cereal. Can you get a suit at Walmart? Sure you can. Of course, a suit is supposed to make you look great and stand out. If your wardrobe came from a blue light special, chances are you'll stand out in it for all the wrong reasons.

Marketing to a database must be handled with care and through the level of expertise that can only be achieved through specialists. Don't mark it off as "done" just because you have some drip marketing emails hitting a bunch of spam filters in your database. Make it work by putting real effort into grabbing the low hanging fruit that your database can be.

There's nothing wrong with shopping at the local supercenter. The convenience of getting toilet paper, bananas, a video camera, and a package of socks for the kids all in the same place saves time and often saves money as well. However, there are lines that shouldn't be crossed. If you're looking for something as important as a suit, you probably want to go to a place that specializes in them.

That's why it concerns me when I hear from dealers who are marketing to their customer database or even to conquest lists through their one-stop-shop providers like CRM companies. I'm not trying to start a way with any of these companies, but it simply doesn't make sense to perform one of the most important and detail-driven marketing practices through systems that simply aren't designed to handle them.

Yes, many other companies throw in loyalty or conquest marketing into their tool set because they can, but that does not mean that it will be effective. There is an art and a science to appending and cleansing a database that should be handled by specialists just as there is a quality factor inherent to the art and science of tailoring a good suit. Loyalty marketing takes strategy. Conquest marketing requires a strong plan. Neither can be done appropriately through website or CRM automation tools. Doing so is checking off the box rather than taking advantage of the full potential.

Your database can be turned into gold for both sales and service. However, trying to do it with add-on tools is just as bad as trying to fill your business wardrobe from the same place that you buy cereal. Can you get a suit at Walmart? Sure you can. Of course, a suit is supposed to make you look great and stand out. If your wardrobe came from a blue light special, chances are you'll stand out in it for all the wrong reasons.

Marketing to a database must be handled with care and through the level of expertise that can only be achieved through specialists. Don't mark it off as "done" just because you have some drip marketing emails hitting a bunch of spam filters in your database. Make it work by putting real effort into grabbing the low hanging fruit that your database can be.

Accuracy.

There, I said it. Within that one word lies the keys to unlocking the true potential of the customer data you have available to you. If you have the most accurate data, you'll be able to craft marketing, conquest, and retention campaigns that will boost your business faster than anything else available to your dealership.

Of course, it's not easy to achieve the level of accuracy necessary for the top levels of success. It requires that you cleanse your data rigorously to separate the wheat from the chaff. It also requires that you append the data to include the most recent information about individuals. Some of you are doing this to some extent today. Others are relying on their vendors and hoping that it's happening. Most have fallen for a shotgun approach either because they are doing it themselves and aren't sure that the chore of cleansing and appending is worth the effort or they let their vendors take the dangerous and costly shortcut of going straight for the data, any data, without a plan and with no sense of accuracy.

There's a fourth category - those who are not using their database for marketing at all. It's better to be in this category than to be using a shotgun. Bad data can damage the good data.

There's a reason that the laws regarding email spam, junkmail, and call lists are getting stricter across the board and have been for some time now. People don't like to be solicited without consent.

On the other side of the fence are those who provide the communications, whether it's email providers, ISPs, mailing services, or BDCs. These entities do not like spinning their wheels. In every case, there is a price to pay for bad data.

Combine these two aspects and you have the ability to damage the good data with bad data. In email, for example, if you're sending out too many that are bouncing, getting counted as spam due to recycled email addresses, or go unread because there's nobody there to read them, it can hurt your chances of your emails making it into the inboxes of people associated with the good data.

Even if you're running an internal BDC, bad data can waste their time and hurt moral. It only takes one bad follow up call to spin someone's head and hurt their chances for the rest of the day. A database that does not get cleansed regularly can yield wrong information about the person they're trying to contact. A database that does not get appended can result in old information being used by the BDC. People get married and divorced, after all. These types of life changes are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the needs for data appending.

Whether you're doing it yourself or you're having someone else do it for you, focus on the accuracy of the data that you're using. It's cheaper to use bad data, but at what point is saving money going to cost your more than you saved?

Accuracy.

There, I said it. Within that one word lies the keys to unlocking the true potential of the customer data you have available to you. If you have the most accurate data, you'll be able to craft marketing, conquest, and retention campaigns that will boost your business faster than anything else available to your dealership.

Of course, it's not easy to achieve the level of accuracy necessary for the top levels of success. It requires that you cleanse your data rigorously to separate the wheat from the chaff. It also requires that you append the data to include the most recent information about individuals. Some of you are doing this to some extent today. Others are relying on their vendors and hoping that it's happening. Most have fallen for a shotgun approach either because they are doing it themselves and aren't sure that the chore of cleansing and appending is worth the effort or they let their vendors take the dangerous and costly shortcut of going straight for the data, any data, without a plan and with no sense of accuracy.

There's a fourth category - those who are not using their database for marketing at all. It's better to be in this category than to be using a shotgun. Bad data can damage the good data.

There's a reason that the laws regarding email spam, junkmail, and call lists are getting stricter across the board and have been for some time now. People don't like to be solicited without consent.

On the other side of the fence are those who provide the communications, whether it's email providers, ISPs, mailing services, or BDCs. These entities do not like spinning their wheels. In every case, there is a price to pay for bad data.

Combine these two aspects and you have the ability to damage the good data with bad data. In email, for example, if you're sending out too many that are bouncing, getting counted as spam due to recycled email addresses, or go unread because there's nobody there to read them, it can hurt your chances of your emails making it into the inboxes of people associated with the good data.

Even if you're running an internal BDC, bad data can waste their time and hurt moral. It only takes one bad follow up call to spin someone's head and hurt their chances for the rest of the day. A database that does not get cleansed regularly can yield wrong information about the person they're trying to contact. A database that does not get appended can result in old information being used by the BDC. People get married and divorced, after all. These types of life changes are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the needs for data appending.

Whether you're doing it yourself or you're having someone else do it for you, focus on the accuracy of the data that you're using. It's cheaper to use bad data, but at what point is saving money going to cost your more than you saved?

Conquest sales can be exhilarating. Let's face it, there's something medieval, even carnal about the concept of taking sales from your competitors. Even the action itself has an incredible name. "Conquest" - it sounds epic and it's something that we all want to do.

It's more than that, though. It's a double-dip. Every conquest sale is a good thing for our numbers and a bad thing for a competitor's numbers. Many of us have gone that extra mile when we found out that we're not only selling a car but also preventing a dastardly competitor from getting a sale as well.

Let's put the romantic aspect of it aside. Conquest sales are, in reality, hard. They are not the low hanging fruit that dealers should focus on first. They are a luxury that dealers should be doing when they know for certain that they have their own customers contacted regularly and coming in to continue buying cars from the dealership.

Keep in mind, I own a company that actually sells a conquest solution! It's in my best interests to promote the idea that you should be getting as many conquest sales as possible. With that said, I strongly encourage dealers to go after the low hanging fruit first. Retaining customers and converting them to do business with you in other departments is the lowest hanging fruit available to dealers and it's something that we feel must be done before any thoughts of taking someone else's business. Here's why:

Your Customers are Already Your Customers

On the surface, it sounds like a silly statement, but let's dig a little deeper. In our industry, we are often misguided to believe that we'll sell someone a vehicle and they're probably done with us for a couple of years unless they choose to service their cars at the dealership as well. Even then, they're probably just coming in for the cheap services, right?

Wrong.

The data that we've seen indicates that you can dramatically increase your service profits simply by marketing appropriately to those who have already bought a car from you. They're already doing business with you. Why wouldn't you want to have a strategic plan to keep them coming in for more. Conversely, your service customers are often the easiest to convert into sales opportunities. We all know that, but it's surprising how many dealers are not taking advantage of this fact.

While You're Conquesting Them, They're Conquesting You

When dealers are busy stealing each others' customers, the net result is often a wash. So many dealers are finding success in conquest marketing thanks to the lack of loyalty amongst most car buyers today that they feel like they're getting somewhere with it. In many cases, they're trading rather than increasing the number of people buying cars.

The beauty of marketing to your own dealership's customer database is that you're not only getting more business as a result, but you're also preventing your competitors from conquesting you. Take advantage of your relationship with them by staying in front of them. Every gap in communication is an opportunity for your customer to look at others. Stay in front of them. Don't give your competitors an open opportunity.

There's Money on the Table

It all comes down to the original concept here. People in your current customer database are the lowest hanging fruit available. Just because they bought a car from you last month doesn't mean that nobody else in the household is in the market this month.

Dealers are competitive by nature and taking advantage of the resources available to them is the easiest way to get that low hanging fruit. Stop leaving money on the table. Stay in front of your customers and turn them from being one-timers to life-long champions. We all want to be conquistadors. Sometimes, that means taking better care of your own kingdom first.

Conquest sales can be exhilarating. Let's face it, there's something medieval, even carnal about the concept of taking sales from your competitors. Even the action itself has an incredible name. "Conquest" - it sounds epic and it's something that we all want to do.

It's more than that, though. It's a double-dip. Every conquest sale is a good thing for our numbers and a bad thing for a competitor's numbers. Many of us have gone that extra mile when we found out that we're not only selling a car but also preventing a dastardly competitor from getting a sale as well.

Let's put the romantic aspect of it aside. Conquest sales are, in reality, hard. They are not the low hanging fruit that dealers should focus on first. They are a luxury that dealers should be doing when they know for certain that they have their own customers contacted regularly and coming in to continue buying cars from the dealership.

Keep in mind, I own a company that actually sells a conquest solution! It's in my best interests to promote the idea that you should be getting as many conquest sales as possible. With that said, I strongly encourage dealers to go after the low hanging fruit first. Retaining customers and converting them to do business with you in other departments is the lowest hanging fruit available to dealers and it's something that we feel must be done before any thoughts of taking someone else's business. Here's why:

Your Customers are Already Your Customers

On the surface, it sounds like a silly statement, but let's dig a little deeper. In our industry, we are often misguided to believe that we'll sell someone a vehicle and they're probably done with us for a couple of years unless they choose to service their cars at the dealership as well. Even then, they're probably just coming in for the cheap services, right?

Wrong.

The data that we've seen indicates that you can dramatically increase your service profits simply by marketing appropriately to those who have already bought a car from you. They're already doing business with you. Why wouldn't you want to have a strategic plan to keep them coming in for more. Conversely, your service customers are often the easiest to convert into sales opportunities. We all know that, but it's surprising how many dealers are not taking advantage of this fact.

While You're Conquesting Them, They're Conquesting You

When dealers are busy stealing each others' customers, the net result is often a wash. So many dealers are finding success in conquest marketing thanks to the lack of loyalty amongst most car buyers today that they feel like they're getting somewhere with it. In many cases, they're trading rather than increasing the number of people buying cars.

The beauty of marketing to your own dealership's customer database is that you're not only getting more business as a result, but you're also preventing your competitors from conquesting you. Take advantage of your relationship with them by staying in front of them. Every gap in communication is an opportunity for your customer to look at others. Stay in front of them. Don't give your competitors an open opportunity.

There's Money on the Table

It all comes down to the original concept here. People in your current customer database are the lowest hanging fruit available. Just because they bought a car from you last month doesn't mean that nobody else in the household is in the market this month.

Dealers are competitive by nature and taking advantage of the resources available to them is the easiest way to get that low hanging fruit. Stop leaving money on the table. Stay in front of your customers and turn them from being one-timers to life-long champions. We all want to be conquistadors. Sometimes, that means taking better care of your own kingdom first.

​If there's one thing that gets me riled up when talking to dealers, it's finding out that there are two completely different strategies being applied to their traditional and digital marketing. It made sense a decade ago when the digital age was first coming into existence in automotive marketing. It made a little sense a few years ago when the digital spend was much smaller than the traditional spend at most dealerships. Today's modern marketing strategies combine rather than separate the messages that are put out on the different channels.

In fact, the only real difference between digital and traditional marketing is the difference in venue. Otherwise, a holistic approach is the right way to go.

This isn't a blanket statement that I'm making without understanding. I've seen the differences. Dealerships that have one message going out through television or direct mail and a completely different message on their website or through email campaigns are not seeing the level of results that are possible for dealers who are viewing marketing as a singular practice across channels.

I'm not saying that you don't have to position the messages differently. The type of messages are still venue-specific. However, that means that you don't want a "click here for more information" link on a direct mail piece. It means that you don't want to use print-ready stunning graphics and images on your email campaigns. It does not mean that you need the messages to be completely different and it definitely does not mean that you want two different departments at the dealership (or two different companies partnering with you) to develop messages that are not synced up.

There is a flip-side to this. A warning. There is a trend for traditional ad agencies to get into digital out of necessity and there's a similar trend for digital companies to start diving into traditional marketing. I only know a handful of companies doing it right out of the dozens of companies giving it a shot. Those dozens do not even included the local shops trying to get into the mix and stay relevant.

This isn't easy stuff, but it's not so hard that dealers can't tell the difference between good and bad. It really comes down to data and intent. You can see the difference. If they're using weak data, run away. If they're getting involved in their digital or traditional counterpart to stop the bleeding of business that they've been using over the years, run away even faster. Some people know what they're doing and others are just trying to keep their own business running by offering these other services.

If your instincts tell you that something doesn't jive, run away as fast as you can.

​If there's one thing that gets me riled up when talking to dealers, it's finding out that there are two completely different strategies being applied to their traditional and digital marketing. It made sense a decade ago when the digital age was first coming into existence in automotive marketing. It made a little sense a few years ago when the digital spend was much smaller than the traditional spend at most dealerships. Today's modern marketing strategies combine rather than separate the messages that are put out on the different channels.

In fact, the only real difference between digital and traditional marketing is the difference in venue. Otherwise, a holistic approach is the right way to go.

This isn't a blanket statement that I'm making without understanding. I've seen the differences. Dealerships that have one message going out through television or direct mail and a completely different message on their website or through email campaigns are not seeing the level of results that are possible for dealers who are viewing marketing as a singular practice across channels.

I'm not saying that you don't have to position the messages differently. The type of messages are still venue-specific. However, that means that you don't want a "click here for more information" link on a direct mail piece. It means that you don't want to use print-ready stunning graphics and images on your email campaigns. It does not mean that you need the messages to be completely different and it definitely does not mean that you want two different departments at the dealership (or two different companies partnering with you) to develop messages that are not synced up.

There is a flip-side to this. A warning. There is a trend for traditional ad agencies to get into digital out of necessity and there's a similar trend for digital companies to start diving into traditional marketing. I only know a handful of companies doing it right out of the dozens of companies giving it a shot. Those dozens do not even included the local shops trying to get into the mix and stay relevant.

This isn't easy stuff, but it's not so hard that dealers can't tell the difference between good and bad. It really comes down to data and intent. You can see the difference. If they're using weak data, run away. If they're getting involved in their digital or traditional counterpart to stop the bleeding of business that they've been using over the years, run away even faster. Some people know what they're doing and others are just trying to keep their own business running by offering these other services.

If your instincts tell you that something doesn't jive, run away as fast as you can.

​There is a ton of confusion out there when it comes to digital and traditional marketing. Despite the rise of the "savvy dealer" over the last few years, it is still clear that many of the offerings companies are putting out there focus on intangible results.

Don't get me wrong. I know that there are things that have value from a marketing perspective that are challenging to measure, but to say that something is delivering results without giving an ounce of data to support it is silly. Exposure is great, but at what point does exposure truly translate into sales.

I have no doubt that there are services out there that dealers have used and found to be completely lacking from a reporting perspective. Even worse are the vendors that are putting out reports that seem to be designed to verify that they're doing something rather than reporting on successes or failures.

As I dig deeper into the digital and traditional marketing worlds of the automotive industry, I'm learning that two things are very true and verifiable:

1. If it's bringing value, that value can be measured in some way
2. If it's not bringing value, companies will try to demonstrate value with confusing metrics or complex reports

Tangible, measurable value should be the cornerstone of any marketing company's reporting. If so much emphasis is placed on the intangible, can dealers really trust the alleged results? I'm not going to name any companies in particular. I just want to point out that it should be measurable or you should question whether or not it's bringing any value at all. If not, move your budget elsewhere.

​There is a ton of confusion out there when it comes to digital and traditional marketing. Despite the rise of the "savvy dealer" over the last few years, it is still clear that many of the offerings companies are putting out there focus on intangible results.

Don't get me wrong. I know that there are things that have value from a marketing perspective that are challenging to measure, but to say that something is delivering results without giving an ounce of data to support it is silly. Exposure is great, but at what point does exposure truly translate into sales.

I have no doubt that there are services out there that dealers have used and found to be completely lacking from a reporting perspective. Even worse are the vendors that are putting out reports that seem to be designed to verify that they're doing something rather than reporting on successes or failures.

As I dig deeper into the digital and traditional marketing worlds of the automotive industry, I'm learning that two things are very true and verifiable:

1. If it's bringing value, that value can be measured in some way
2. If it's not bringing value, companies will try to demonstrate value with confusing metrics or complex reports

Tangible, measurable value should be the cornerstone of any marketing company's reporting. If so much emphasis is placed on the intangible, can dealers really trust the alleged results? I'm not going to name any companies in particular. I just want to point out that it should be measurable or you should question whether or not it's bringing any value at all. If not, move your budget elsewhere.