Now that President Barack Obama has signed into law the most sweeping economic package in decades, offering a rescue plan designed to create millions of jobs and boost consumer spending. It is just a matter of time before the Obama stimulus dollars flow throughout dealerships. It is important for dealers to capture this new sense of excitement and begin generating vehicle sales numbers reminiscent of a few years ago. A positive spin on this will enable your dealership to capture additional business, but what will it take to get your store out of your current mundane advertising mode?

First, make your advertising sound exciting. Express an enthusiastic message. If your advertising sounds dull, your dealership sounds dull. The second thing to understand is that same message you ran in 2008 will not work in 2009. Customers are looking for a better value today than ever before—frugality is now in style. Consumers are determined to not overpay for automobiles.

Try doing comparison advertising. Show why your brand is better than competitive brands; show why your store is offering more than your direct competitor. If multiple stores sell the same product, you must give consumers reasons to shop your location. The country is changing; the car business is changing; and your dealership advertising needs to change too!

If you do radio, you may want to freshen up the style of your spots. Maybe a fresh announcer, perhaps a catchy jingle, or possibly a totally new message. If you are on TV consider similar changes and a new fresh video look as well. As for print, a new look for your newspaper will also be a welcome change. Old tired ads will bring the same poor results. In the old days (2006) we would say keep your ads looking consistent. Change is needed in advertising, however, now more than ever.

Start bringing the Internet into play with your traditional media. Find ways to drive people to your site or create a special landing page that will force consumers to check out your offer. Give the consumers more, more reasons to shop at your dealership.

Along with improving your message, you need to make sure your media buy is stronger. Radio and TV stations along with newspapers are offering nearly twice as much value in many cases as they offered last year. You need a strong media plan in order to succeed in 2009. Find the stations or newspapers that want to be your partner this year and give them the bulk of your advertising budget.

Be creative with your advertising. Yes, be creative! You must plan and you must think outside the box in order to win today. Most important—do not cut your advertising. There are many ways to save money on advertising and there are many ways to be better at advertising, but once you start chopping up your budget, you are on defense, rather than offence. If you stop advertising, the next sale you will have will be your going out of business sale. We will get out of this mess, but the only way out is to sell our way out.

 

Tom Letizia is the president of Letizia Mass Media, a full-service advertising agency specializing in automotive. He can be reached at 702-777-2121 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .