Industry News & Trends

Car Dealers To Increase 2007 Ad Spend?

Car Dealers To Increase ’07 Ad Spend?

An article from

BizReport.com
reports a new survey from Cars.com indicates that many automotive dealers will be upping their online advertising in 2007. The results are on track with a similar study by eMarketer.

According to the Cars.com survey, which polled readers of the website’s DealerADvantage newsletter in October, shows that two-thirds of dealers (about 62%) will increase their online advertising in 2007. Meanwhile 20% say they will at least maintain their current advertising budget and only 18% say they will spend less online next year.

I’d like to know where online, dealers will up their spending more money. Will it be more 3rd Party Leads, Search Engine Marketing, Banner ads in local portals or better websites? Most dealers are being forced to increase their online marketing budget if they want to continue to sites like AutoTrader, Cars.com and eBay.

Founder of DealerRefresh - 20+ Years of dealership Sales, Management, Training, Marketing and Leadership.
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    Lynne Zieler
  • November 29, 2006
I would like a list of states where I would pay no sales tax when buying an automobile
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Im sure that many dealers will be increasing their paid search spend. Print ad spend and results are declining and I feel like many dealers like the direct response medium of paid search. If done correctly with complete tracking in place the ROI for a search marketing campaign can be a lot larger then many traditional media buys.
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Working for both Cobalt Group and now with Comcast Spotlight as their Automotive Marketing Specialist I see tons of reports, articles, and such based on the advertising budget moving to online...

BUT WHAT IS ONLINE?

Online advertising on Cars.com, Autotrader, Vehix for inventory or the actual advertising that is available? Do third party leads count? What about local news paper or Broadcast stations' online websites?

How do we decipher the Online vs Traditional?
And Why has it taken this long to move it online? There have been reports like this for YEARS.

The traditional media is not dead, but as a dealer you have to think about frequency and finding your niche. There is more market share to be had, you are going to fight for it, and then fight to keep your customer. Keep in mind why people shop from you: Service, parts, Inventory, Special Fi, or just because of your location. Use this to your advantage and brand it. From there start expanding your budget to include these other options that are out there - Be an early adopter and you can win, but dont think that moving budget from here to there every month will get you more sales. Think long term and you will prosper and make it through the lean months.

As always,
Have a great end of month & Happy Holidays!
Greg K.
Seattle, WA

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