AUTOMOTIVE ADVERTISING & MARKETING

Automotive Advertising Functions

Four Important Automotive Advertising Functions

JKRAdvertising / Automotive Advertising, JKR Advertising News /

January 6, 2015

Today’s blog is all about automotive advertising functions. Automotive advertising can be found all over the place … on radio or television, on the Internet, in print and even on billboards. If someone asked you why you advertise, you might reply with a simple answer that talks about enhancing your dealership’s bottom line.

While that is certainly the ultimate goal, there are some things that have to happen before, during and after the advertising is consumed by the public to get to that point. With that in mind, here are four automotive advertising functions that cause people to take a closer look at your dealership and ultimately buy cars.

Function 1: Inform Customers

Your advertisements should give potential customers information about your products and services (specials, sales, new products, etc.) and why they should buy from you. Without advertising, a customer may never have known he/she had the option of a certain product or service at your dealership – or may not have even thought of your dealership at all!

Function 2: Develop Brand Identity

During the entire advertising process, an auto dealership not only makes their products and services known, they also differentiate themselves from one another by displaying their own unique selling proposition that help build emotional relationships and loyalty with that dealership.

Function 3: Bring About Action

If your advertisement is captivating and powerful, it will persuade customers to want to buy your products and services. Each advertisement should contain an effective call to action, which encourages potential customers to come to your store, visit the dealership Web site, etc.

Function 4: Enlarge Your Customer Roster

This is the ultimate goal of all these automotive advertising functions. After all, any business needs a large, consistent customer base to ensure their success. When you constantly present the people in your community with your dealership’s message, you positively reinforce your store and your brand(s) … with the goal being long-term relationships with both existing customers and the new ones you’ll get in the future.

JKR Automotive Advertising: We Move Cars

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Post-Pandemic Dealer Gross Profits are Down – But They Don’t Have to Stay There!
March 13, 2024
It is no secret that dealer gross profits per vehicle are down sharply in the post-COVID automotive world. According to a recent article in Automotive News, gross profits of the six largest publicly traded dealership groups plunged significantly from Q4 2022 to Q4 2023. One of them was actually down 35% per vehicle!

The article explains: High interest rates, more expensive vehicles and a steadier post-pandemic supply chain continue to soften demand and bring it closer to pre-pandemic levels. Still, new-car buying has remained strong overall …

This means that, while sales volume is similar, overall bottom lines are lower for many dealers due to the reduced gross profits. What about your dealership?

Being Realistic
It’s time to turn the page! The time for dealers to simply be order takers for people willing to pay MSRP for a vehicle (and in some cases more) has passed and dealers have to work hard once again to achieve acceptable gross profits.

Selling a high volume of cars doesn’t control gross profits, no matter how much you wish this was the case. Correct processes and menu pricing – and strict adherence to them – do!

What kind of processes?
∙ Slow down the transaction! Your sales staff has to once again sell the customer on the features and benefits of every new and pre-owned vehicle on your lot.

∙ Your salespeople and managers should devalue the customers’ trade-in value (politely, of course) as much as possible. After all, if the customer expects you to lower your price, shouldn’t you be able to do the same on their trade? Remember, you’ll have to fix it up, put your name on it and resell it to someone else with all the tenacity you would a brand-new car. So make sure you buy it right … because the profit is made when you buy it, not when you sell it!

∙ To that end, management should be ready and willing to leave the desk and do thorough walk-arounds on each trade to ensure the best outcome for the dealership.

The Cure for Low Gross Profits
If you are like a lot of dealers these days, you could use some good news. Here it is: while you may not have the capability to achieve profit margins similar to those you enjoyed during the pandemic, they could likely be improved. JKR’s clients enjoy the benefit of attracting not only more customers, but better ones, too!

If meeting and exceeding your sales goals (and increasing gross profits at the same time) sounds great to you, you need to call us. Don’t settle for reduced gross profits when help is out there to get you closer to where you’d like to be.

Want to know how we do it? Reach out to Senior Partner Richard Brauns (407) 701-4233 or Partner/Vice President Jon Albert (407) 718-2494 today.

JKR Automotive Advertising: We Move Cars.

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