AUTOMOTIVE ADVERTISING & MARKETING

iHeartMedia Honors JKR Advertising at NY Headquarters

iHeartMedia Honors JKR Advertising at NY Headquarters

JKRAdvertising / Automotive Advertising, Company News, JKR Advertising News, JKR in the News, Press /

July 30, 2019

Today more than ever, traditional AM/FM radio continues to be a cost-effective advertising option for America’s automobile dealers. Because of this, a tremendous working relationship has developed between iHeartMedia and JKR Advertising & Marketing … leading to the media giant honoring the automotive advertising leader as one of its top partners.

Key iHeartMedia executives hosted JKR Partners Jeff Johnson, Richard Brauns, Kevin Baumann and Jon Albert in New York this past week, recognizing them for their work.

“It was amazing to hear JKR’s partners talk about why they love radio, how they see the evolution of radio over the past several years and why they continue to recommend it,” said Jonathan Faulkner, iHeartMedia Senior Vice President of Digital. “They understand that broadcast radio drives consideration and awareness.”

The wide-reaching scope of iHeart (it owns more than 850 stations nationwide), along with radio’s ability to affordably target large numbers of specific listeners multiple times, make iHeartRadio a valuable advertising tool for JKR’s clients. In fact, it is so effective that JKR ranked second in Tier III (local/dealer) automotive agency in the United States for iHeartRadio advertising placement.

“It was very interesting to see the impressive research the iHeart executives prepared for us,” Johnson said. “We were able to see how JKR compared to other agencies, not only in terms of media billing but also how remarkable our schedules were in causing a significant lift in our clients’ Web traffic.”

In addition to Faulkner, JKR met with John Mackenzie, Divisional Vice President of Automotive, Midwest and Southeast; Joie Davis, Vice President of Automotive, North Florida; Cameron Brown, Division Vice President – Digital Sales; and Nancy Andreatas, Senior Account Manager.

JKR Automotive Advertising: The car dealer ad agency.

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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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