Traditional Advertising Still Wins the Day; Here’s Why.

As an auto dealer, you have important products and services the people in your community need. But that by itself isn’t enough to make you successful; you have to let them know you’re there to satisfy those needs and persuade them to visit your dealership. That’s where advertising comes in, and the automotive advertising channels you choose make a big difference between just surviving and thriving!

While many dealers opt for online ads, dealers should never forget their bread and butter: radio and TV advertising, otherwise known as “traditional advertising”! While social media advertising certainly has benefits, radio and TV advertising remain the more effective option for dealers. Why? There are a number of reasons.

First, traditional advertising has a wide reach and, when coupled with a high frequency, can effectively target specific audiences at the lowest cost per thousand. According to this article from Nielsen, radio and television still reach more Americans than any other advertising medium. This means dealerships will reach customers who are most likely to be interested in their products or services multiple times over the course of a week, presuming an appropriate campaign is being deployed. As a hidden benefit, they also reach people who are not yet in the market for a vehicle, but soon will be.

Second, radio and TV ads can help to build brand recognition and establish a dealership as a reputable business. By consistently airing well-produced ads, dealerships can create a strong brand image and increase their visibility in the market. This is all part of the dealer’s effort to earn increased customer loyalty and repeat business.

Third, traditional advertising allows for more creativity than social media advertising. With radio and TV ads, dealerships can create engaging, memorable advertisements that stick in the minds of potential customers. They can use humor, music and other creative elements to make their ads stand out. Social media advertising, on the other hand, is often limited to a few seconds of video or a static image with a short caption. And even the best social media campaigns don’t yield the same amount of net profit as radio or TV.

The Takeaway
The tried-and-true traditional forms of advertising – radio and television – are still proving to be effective in terms of reaching a broad audience and generating new leads. To get more than their fair share of their respective auto-buying market, reaching potential customers at the beginning of the buying cycle (or better yet creating a buyer by solving their current problem) – something radio and TV excels at – is of utmost importance.

In the next blog, we’ll discuss the types of radio and TV creative that JKR Automotive Advertising offers its clients … which ones are right for specific dealerships … and the elements that make our ads so successful. If you don’t want to wait until then, feel free to call us at (321) 397-0777 and we’ll give you the details that will change the way you do your advertising.

JKR Automotive Advertising: We Move Cars.