If you’ve been reading my pieces for the last few months, you’ve probably noticed how passionate I am about branding. By branding every aspect of your dealership’s marketing, it makes the consumer’s experience on your website far more engaging and memorable.

In the past, I've discussed the significance of branding your website, your trade appraisal tools, your assessments, etc. That being said, there’s one thing I haven’t touched on with DrivingSales and that’s the concept of “branding your price."

Over the last few years, dealerships have eagerly pushed a “best price” model because it’s well known that consumers don’t like to negotiate. The theory was (and still is) that if you offer consumers the “best possible price” on a vehicle, it’s basically like shouting from the rooftops “we’re the best and you won’t get a better deal anywhere else."

The problem with the “best price” model is that despite consumers not wanting to negotiate, they still expect it — and if they don’t have the opportunity to negotiate, they become highly skeptical of whether or not your “best price” really is the best price. If they don’t get to negotiate, they feel conned….. even though you & I know you’re being totally transparent and honest with your consumers! So, what do you do? Simple. BRAND YOUR PRICE!

What Does Branding Your Price Even Mean?

Branding your price is exactly what you think it means. Basically, you take your “best price” model and you quite literally add your brand to it.

Let’s say your dealership is called “ABC Motors.” You could name your “best price” as “ABC Motors True Price” or “True Deal.” Essentially, the point of placing your brand onto this price is that you’re claiming responsibility of the legitimacy and accuracy of this fair deal. You wouldn't want your name associated with something deceiving, would you? Of course not. By branding your “best price,” your consumers are able to hold you accountable. And guess what? If their experience is a positive one, that helps boost customer loyalty going forward.

Along with becoming a more “pronounced” and distinguishable brand, there are lots of great marketing opportunities and benefits that come with branding your price. Here’s why branded pricing is such a good idea:

Provides an Opportunity to Educate the Consumer

One really cool aspect branding your price is that it opens up the opportunity to educate your consumers. If you’re going to proudly claim this best price as your own, then you might as well explain why. Take the time to tell car buyers how you managed to calculate that price in a creative way. Instead of writing up some longwinded explanation, create an image or a video that explains it. What’s particularly cool about educating your consumer on the pricing is that it makes car buyers want to learn more about your dealership; which helps increase the number of automotive leads your salesmen can work with.

You’d be so surprised how many free, easy-to-use tools are out there to make this possible. Adobe Spark is an awesome, easy-to-use platform that allows you to create videos and images for your website and your social media channels.

Offers a Competitive Edge

In addition to explaining how you managed to come up with your “best price,” you can use the “branded price” as an opportunity to make your actual dealership shine. In a short video or simple image, explain why buying from your dealership or auto group is a good idea.

Explain that this “best price” not only gets you an awesome set of wheels, but it gets you free or discounted services, coupons to auto shops in the area, a great customer experience — really anything that you think would be an advantage to visiting your dealership as opposed to another. You’re basically telling car buyers that this is the best price because you’re the best dealership.

There’s no question that competition in the automotive industry is fierce. By branding every aspect of your marketing possible (yes, even your price), you stand a greater chance of being remembered in a positive way.

Has your dealership tried branding its price? Tell us about it in the comments!