Marketing 101: The Tale of Two Customers
In this giant shift into the digital space, a great deal of time and focus is being spent on customers that are already in the market. Take a moment and think about the customers you may have left behind in a rush to the internet, the ones that are not in the market, and the ones you can bring into the market with the right message. They may be your best customers.
Marketing is growing ever more scientific and complicated and the basics are getting left behind. I'm going to tell you the tale of two customers in your dealership, two customer types that is, and one of them is probably getting lost in the complicated new world of marketing.
The marketing landscape is shifting in a big way. It seems as though everything is moving into a digital space. Let's face it, being able to break down marketing success into math has been a real awakening. If you're like me, your first reaction was, "Wow, I can actually leave much less to chance and now actually measure the return on investment for every dollar." Pretty soon massive amounts of marketing budgets, if not entire marketing budgets shift into the digital space. Then gradually you start to realize you're losing something, something that's difficult to put your fingers on, but certainly, you seem to have less control in a way. You know something is missing.
You look at those new "digital experts". Experts in search engine optimization, and marketing. Experts in analytics, and you realize, they are missing something also. Call it the basics. Call it experience. Call it what you will, but as marketing has shifted into the digital space, some things haven't really changed. The basics of marketing have not changed at all. People are people, and in this example, I'm going to tell you about two customer types, one of which may have gotten lost in the shuffle.
There used to be this company, and maybe there still is, that came around having this giant used car sales at dealerships all over the place. They would make a deal with the dealer where they would arrange all the marketing, usually flyers; they would bring their own staff, sales manager, closer, finance manager, and even salespeople. Then they would take a percentage of the gross leftover after expenses. It was literally a hit and run. With quite a similar aftermath when you think about it.
The messages in the ads and flyers would be something like, "Bank repo sale! Three days only!" Then the rest of the ad would support the idea that the sale, the inventory, and the opportunity were an opportunity to get something you wouldn't normally be able to get. An opportunity to get a great deal on a repo. An opportunity just to take over payments on a repossession, so credit didn't matter. It was all BS but it worked. It brought customers into the market that were not currently in the market. The really great thing about bringing customers into the market, that are not currently in the market, is that they are not shopping. They assume it's a good deal, but it may not be. They are just overwhelmed by the excitement, the perceived opportunity to get a deal, or even get a loan, and they just sign and drive away. At these sales, there are lots of deals. Huge grosses. Not a great way to do business, just my opinion.
That's the first customer type in this tale of two customers. The customer that is not currently in the market. The customer who is being brought into the market by some special offer or circumstance. A customer who isn't shopping, and comparing prices! A sale these days usually isn't quite enough to draw in this customer, but the combination of a sale, with a series of special circumstances, whatever they may be, is designed to bring customers into the market who are not currently in the market, is a key part of a strong marketing plan.
In this giant shift into the digital space, a great deal of time and focus has been spent on the second customer. The customer in the market. More and more dealerships are fighting for the lowest price on vehicles just to generate a lead. Marketing departments and companies fighting for keywords and rank in the world of search and optimization. All of which is critical in today's world, but much of it focused on that second customer. That one is in the market. Searching inventory sites for the lowest price. Searching Google for "lowest priced used cars", "bad credit car loans", or a "2018 Volvo 650", all of which are customers who are in the market.
As you compete for price on keywords, or blow your brains out trying to rank the highest organically for some set of keywords, and continue to drive down your used car prices to stay competitive, take a moment and ask yourself if you have forgotten about that other customer out there. That customer you can bring into the market, who is not shopping you against three hundred other dealers. That one who is not actively searching for a loan that you have to pay $17 to Google just to have the opportunity to show them your website.
Take a moment and think about that customer we may have left behind in a rush to the internet, the one that’s not in the market. The one you can bring into the market with the right message. You don't have to create some dramatic lie like some travelling band of hammerheads, you just have to dream up some special messaging for a sale, or event, that will draw some people into the market who are not currently in the market, some people that may let you make a reasonable profit. You can do it on the internet, but these types of campaigns are also well suited for radio, TV, and even flyers.
So the next time you sit down to plan your marketing, ask yourself if you have left those customers behind. They may be your best customers. Good luck and good selling.
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