Automotive Direct Mail has been a driving force in the auto industry now for many years. It has been a proven marketing medium time and time again with a long track record of success. You have many forms of direct mail strategies whether it be a 11x17 key mailer, or an 8pg credit card mailer, whatever it might be, one thing is for certain having options has never been a problem. Automotive Digital Marketing is fairly new with less of a track record; however if done correctly, has and does produce optimal response. Recently there has been a trend called “multi-channel marketing??? and it is slowly making its way into the automotive industry. Automotive Multi-Channel Marketing refers to the practice of interacting with consumers using a combination of indirect and direct communication channels such as –websites, social media, newspaper inserts, direct mail, email, mobile, radio, TV etc; thus enabling the customers to take action in their responses – preferably to buy a new or used car or go to the service department - using a combination of each medium of their choice, but all with the same message. There are many dealerships out there that do this form of marketing consistently but most of them do not. Dealerships are prone to have a different message in all their advertising. Their direct mail campaign is different than their TV commercial or what they are pushing on their social media.
I have found there are a couple of reasons why this is happening. First, dealerships do not have a marketing company in place that offers such capabilities and secondly they do not fully understand why multi-channel brand marketing is so vital. Automotive Multi-Channel Brand Marketing allows consumers to see the sale and branding compiled in the multiple advertising mediums portraying the same message.
Herbert E. Krugman had a notion that has been adopted and widely used in the advertising arena across the globe. The following statement encapsulates his notion: "Let me try to explain the special qualities of one, two and three exposures. I stop at three because as you shall see there is no such thing as a fourth exposure psychologically; rather fours, fives, etc., are repeats of the third exposure effect.
"Exposure No. 1 is...a "What is it?" type of... response. Anything new or novel no matter how uninteresting on second exposure has to elicit some response the first time...if only to discard the object as of no further interest...The second exposure...response...is "What of it?"...whether or not [the message] has personal relevance...
"By the third exposure the viewer knows he's been through his "What is it's?" and "What of it's?," and the third, then, becomes the true reminder . . . The importance of this view . . . is that it positions advertising as powerful only when the viewer...is interested in the [product message]...Secondly, it positions the viewer as...reacting to the advertisement—very quickly...when the proper time comes round.
Print Auto Mail is a company that has adopted Herbert E. Krugman thinking and has perfected it using direct mail as the main driver. They have proven that using the direct mail message as the forefront to start the overall advertising message has been proven to drive much more traffic than if they had used TV or any other medium. Direct mail is able to saturate a market much more effectively than any other medium. A dealership can virtually target every person directly in their target market, compared to T.V, Inserts or Social Media in which not everybody will be using constantly, but only on occasion. However, each person does have a buying pattern and needs to be reached in other forms of advertising. If the message they are seeing is always different, they will not see any significance in the advertising and will be less likely to respond. But if the advertising brand message is the same throughout each medium used with the direct mail as the main driver, the odds of them responding to the advertising, studies have showed to be 10 times higher.
Print Auto Mail specializes in Automotive Multi-Channel Brand Marketing and has packages readily available for any Automotive Dealer in the United States.
Posted on November 15, 2013 by admin
We have found that there are many Automotive Dealerships that do not have the sales force to handle large gift seeker style saturation mailers and/or desire to have a more qualified buyer. The Automotive Black Book Direct Mail program would be a perfect fit for such dealerships. Dealerships that have a smaller or less skilled sales force need to target people that are more apt to buy and not someone they will have to try and turn into a buyer. The Automotive Black Book Direct Mail program allows dealerships to target their customer base or a year make and model list with the black book appended. This will allow them to input the updated trade in value of the person’s car directly on the mail piece.
The Direct Mail piece has full variable of the customer’s vehicle information thus adding value to the mail piece as well as attracting buyers. This allows them to see what the trade in value of their car is and takes away their guessing. The beauty of the Black book program is that it can be used in conjunction as a Used Car mailer or as a New Car Mailer. When targeting as a used car mailer, dealerships can aim for individuals that have purchased their previous car 7 to 10 years prior and entice them with a quality newer used car. Same concept applies when a dealership wants to sell new cars. They can target individuals that have previously purchased a car within 3-5 years and entice them in buying the latest and cutting-edge new car model. Either way you are targeting more buyers and not just gift seekers.
This program is extremely cost effective and works well within any budget. We have seen a tremendous response to this program and would recommend any dealer looking for a program that wants to attract qualified buyers.
Posted on June 26, 2013 by pete
Many Automotive dealerships have internet marketing departments and they should. They are constantly having to update their site with all the new cars, used cars and the special promos that auto dealers run each month. I have seen many conflicting issues as far as Auto Dealers Internet Marketing departments making their sites SEO optimized. Some of them do a decent job with on-page work but the majority I have found do not do a great job with their off-page SEO. Off-page SEO is where you do work like Press Release, Article submissions and bookmarking in order to get backlinks to your website. I know dealerships are learning more and more each day about SEO and how important it is. I also know that hiring an outside SEO company is vital to their overall growth in competing with their competition. For example let’s say you’re in a big market, and you have many other dealerships in that market wanting to rank for the top spot on the SERP(search engine results page) and your dealership has less back links then your competitors website. This means that now your website will not rank as high as your competitor and you will possibly lose business because of it.
Another important off-page SEO factor is asking whether your dealership is trying to attract customers from cities or other parts of the state that are not directly in your direct market reach. You can achieve this by setting up a back end landing page with proper keywords. You can then do off-page SEO marketing to reflect that page with that targeted city or specific location in your state you wish to reach. Once your keywords are optimized you will then start seeing more traffic form that location and your overall floor traffic will increase as well.
An even greater way to help with overall increased traffic flow from an outside location is to combine Automotive SEO with Automotive Direct Mail. Print Auto Mail has had great success in this multi-channel approach and can help your dealership greatly with your increased market penetration. We are a One-Stop-Full-Service Automotive Expert Company in providing your dealership with high traffic. We do this with Automotive on-page or off-page SEO, combined with a targeted and non-targeted Automotive Direct Mail Campaign such as credit score or saturation mailers. Call us today and let Print Auto Mail fulfill all your Automotive SEO and Automotive Direct Mail Needs today!
Posted on April 12, 2013 by admin
Automotive Direct Mail Embossed Credit Card has continued to surpass all expectations.
In general, Automotive Direct Mail has done its part, history shows that it does drive traffic to the local dealership. The problem is not that it does not work but it is because the local market is saturated. There are Automotive Staffed Event teams out there that have hit a market so hard that all the buyers are dried up and all you are left with are the gift seekers that dealerships see over and over again. The Automotive Personalized Embossed Credit Card when designed properly does not target the gift seekers but the buyers!
Psychology plays a major role in how Print Auto Mail comes alongside the dealership with assisting in finding the buyers that are needing a car and not just searching for a deal or a freebie. The personalization of the embossed credit card brings a more authentic feeling to the consumer and it separates the Auto Dealer from the other Dealers that are doing the non-personalized credit card mailers. We also couple that with a live BDC appointment setting, call center and live bar code scan and scanner for more effective response tracking. Each Automotive Dealer that has done the personalized embossed credit card with us has repeatedly done it with great responses.
This Automotive Direct Mail campaign will NOT disappoint and will MOST DEFINITELY drive buyers to your doors!.
Give us a call today!
Print Auto Mail @
951-461-1400!
Posted on March 14, 2013 by pete
For those of us that have been in the industry for a while, we know that Automotive Direct Mail is a cost-effective way to advance business and generate revenue. If you are looking for one of the most balanced strategies, automotive direct mail can walk the line between effectiveness and cost. It is significantly less expensive than methods such as direct-response television ads and telephone solicitation, while it generates more responses than magazine, newspaper, and radio ads. We have seen a huge shift in the way that we promote business. There is also now a whole new realm of online and email marketing that we can use in connection with Automotive Direct mail campaigns.
Multichannel customers, those who shop online as well as in person, can be some of your most profitable customers. The Wall Street Journal reported on a study done by the US Postal Service, and wrote, "...consumers who received catalogs from a retailer spent 28% more on that retailer's Web site than those who didn't get a catalog. 'The more often you mail,' the study said, 'the more sales you could see.' “This study just shows what we've known for years. It is important to identify your multichannel customers and design a direct marketing program to maximize your sales and profits from these customers. You can increase your sales, sometimes exponentially, by combining your automotive direct mail with a managed email marketing program that reaches your computer-savvy audience that they can also share with their online friends.
Saturation mailing can be one of the most cost effective automotive direct mail marketing there is, targeting every potential customer within a given geography. Typically, saturation mailers have only a few filters and produce a very healthy ROI when planned and delivered correctly, but there are key factors that you must manage to make sure your saturation mailing is successful. We've seen dramatic increases in profits when clients combine postal mail with email. E-mail marketing solutions are a very affordable way to enhance your automotive direct mail marketing program. It has been said that more than 90% of online consumers check their email at least once per day—and an astounding 77% say email is their preferred channel for receiving permission-based promotional messages. It is important to take advantage of this within our automotive direct mail campaigns. It is important to not replace one with another but to open a new aspect of potential and prime customers in your market.
Posted on July 30, 2012 by pete
One of the most effective ways to promote your business is through folded automotive direct mail. They provide more space than postcards while remaining portable. Self mailers expound on your business’ products and services while providing space for highlights and headlines, and for visual elements such as images and symbols.
An important advantage of custom printed self mailers over other marketing media is the folding options available, improving portability and the capability to better organize your mailers text. We have 2 popular options for your automotive direct mail needs. The custom tri-fold self mailer configuration is chosen by many businesses because it offers six panels when complete, which is enough real estate to lay out your text and images without the end result looking crowded or busy. With custom tri-fold mailers, you can emphasize certain areas of your mailer and also use to your full advantage the sequence in which your readers will open your custom printed mailer. With this folding design, you can arrange your panel headlines from most important to least in the same sequence your reader will be opening your automotive direct mail. It is important for your automotive direct mail to create a professional custom mail piece. The tri-folding of the mailer is done in a way that is set up to be very cost effective. The tri-fold design fits within the “letter class??? of mailing which is one of the cheapest classes of mail possible. This type of automotive direct mail is typically trucked to the SCF (sectional center facility). We sort the mail down to carrier route walk sequence, allowing for quick delivery and extra postage discounts.
Another option for your direct mail campaign is the Bi-fold mailer. Also called a half fold or 4- pager, these mailers are good option when you want your automotive direct mail to stand out a bit from the other mail in your customer’s hand. They are folded to 8.5 x 11 which is considered a regulation “flat size??? mailer. They are an effective and convenient style of print that is sure to please. We have found great success in shipping these mailers directly to the DDU’s (Destination delivery unit). With this option, the mail is going directly to you local post offices. No waiting for processing before mail delivery. Because of the additional processing and flat postage cost, this option is a bit more expensive, but perfect for someone who is looking to see delivery faster and more direct.
Whichever option you choose, there are distinct advantages to choosing either option. Let Print Auto Mail create an impacting campaign for all your automotive direct mail needs.
Posted on April 23, 2012 by pete
Social responsibility is something that seems to keep coming up in many various conversations and reading material that we have seen lately. Social responsibility defined is “an ethical ideology or theory that an entity, be it an organization or individual, has an obligation to act to benefit society at large.??? One of the nation’s largest retail stores has put together many programs to help out neighboring communities, such as giving a percentage of sales to local schools and sponsoring a free museum entrance on the first Sunday of the month. So, when I came across an article that CNN.com had on their homepage Wednesday regarding global slavery and what we can do about it, I felt compelled to pass it along to you.
The article is part of the ongoing “Freedom Project- Ending Modern Day Slavery??? from CNN. The article starts by addressing sheer numbers that have captured my attention. Estimates range anywhere from, ten to thirty two million people that are caught up in some sort of slavery today. That’s right ten to thirty-two MILLION! Experts in the field say there are two main reasons for this discrepancy. The first reason is that the people they are counting are, by definition, a hidden population. There is often shame, fear, and embarrassment associated with this issue and those that are caught up in it keep to themselves. “The second problem is more of a theoretical one where the definitions are not specifically in place. We don’t have a common definition as to what slavery is.??? I think the most encompassing definition comes from Roger Plant, who formerly worked at the ILO, when he said, “when you get into work or service without the freedom of choice and you can’t get out of it without punishment or the threat of punishment.??? The biggest consequence of incorrect data is not knowing the full scope of the problem or where it’s concentrated. This can lead to poor decisions on where to focus resources and how best to solve the problem.
That leads us back to the beginning. What is our responsibility in all of this? What can we do and will our small part really make a difference? We, at PrintAutoMail, know the importance of stopping the cycle of slavery. We contribute and volunteer with those companies that have that in mind. Another initiative that seems to be gaining ground in combating slavery is the fair trade movement, which seeks to govern work conditions and wages. I think when it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you educate yourself and resolve to DO SOMETHING!
What about you? What are you doing to promote the general welfare of humanity at large? Leave a post and let us know your thoughts and concerns. Let’s stand together to get the awareness out and DO SOMETHING!!
Posted on March 10, 2011 by pete
The more you can communicate to your customers in multiple channels the better. PURL's often allow you to capture information via the internet that can be used to help you understand your clients. A PURL is one of the best ways to increase the response rate on your Automotive Direct Mail. PURL stands for "Personal url." A "url" is a Uniform Resource Locator, or in layman’s terms, a personalized website.
Who is the personal in PURL?
Anyone you send an Automotive Direct Mail piece to will have their own personalized website. This is a great way to capitalize on our narcissistic tendencies as consumers. Because face it, we all love to see our own name in lights. We put on the mail something along the lines of "Attention John, check out your website below for added offers & discounts: “www.BuyACar.com/JohnSample" Every mailer will have a different website with the person's name included in the URL.
What is the experience like for the PURL user?
•Automotive Direct Mail customer logs on to their PURL
•Fill out quick form of questions & info
•Customer receives a thank you email from dealership immediately
•They receive follow up email correspondence or email from an actual person at the dealership within the next couple of hours
Why would YOU put a PURL on YOUR direct mail campaign?
1. Reach untouched market. The people that respond to mail by walking in the door or picking up the phone are different from the people willing to go online to check things out. It is just one more avenue designed to get you sales.
2. Respondents are in the market to buy. Unlike some typical prize seekers, a great percentage of our people say they are in the market to buy in the next 6 months.
3. Boost traffic to your Website. After the potential customers log on to their personalized website we can set up a link to drive them back to your website letting them look at inventory or pre-qualifying them for an auto loan
4. Genuine Leads mean more automotive SALES. These leads are real and can be tracked in real time. You get an email stating they are looking at their PURL and that gives you the chance to follow up while they are still in the mindset of looking at cars.
This is a great internet marketing tool to use in conjunction with your Automotive Direct Mail that is greatly under utilized. You get a live interested buyer and your customer gets that personalized customer service they are looking for. Contact PrintAutoMail today at 951-461-1400 and ask us to give a boost to your Automotive Advertising Campaign.
Posted on February 10, 2011 by pete
While reading an article interviewing the new chairman of NADA, I came across an interesting statement. Stephen Wade said that one of the biggest complaints that dealers were having is that the NADA was doing too much. It sounded like the proverbial too many cooks in the kitchen problem. In a time where dealerships were being pitted against each other, Wade said one of the things that suffered the most was dealer relations and that one of his biggest goals of this year was to increase factory relations and to see dealers become more profitable. Not a bad goal, right? As Automotive Direct Mail suppliers it is a goal that we share and would definitely like to see.
Our working relationships are so important when it comes to how we do business and what we can accomplish. It made me realize we are all on a thin line between being productive and being inefficacious. Respect is at the heart of building business relationships. It is the glue that holds together the functioning of teams, partnerships and managing relationships. We understand this dynamic and have worked to foster mutually respectful relationships with all of our Automotive Direct Mail clients. Identifying and understanding differences allows people to shift their position to one of compromise and negotiation. If you know what you are looking for it is easier to defuse problems before they start. Below is a list of some of the main differences we see in the business world today.
1. Communication Styles- Not everyone communicates in the same way. It can be difficult at first, but once you have taken the time to figure out how each other communicates there will be fewer arguments and more done.
2. Non-Verbal Communication- Non-verbal communication can include body language, facial expressions, and tone. With this additional understanding of what is really being communicated more effective collaboration is possible.
3. Learning Styles- People learn in different ways. When we understand and utilize a person’s unique learning style it can make communication and understanding easier for all involved.
4. Differing Values- While if communicated and understood, these can usually be resolved. However, there are times when conflicting values can be so different that they cannot coexist on the same team.
5. Company Culture- Different companies have different cultures. It is important to realize this and give new employees time to learn and integrate into their new systems.
6. Individual vs. Team- Taking the time to identify and then address both individual and team dynamics are an important balancing act.
We have implemented these into our Automotive Direct Mail teams and have seen success when we identify the issue and take a minute to see it from the other side. I hope these help you in all your business needs and if we can do anything to help in your Automotive Advertising please feel free to email or call us at 951-461-1400.
We look forward to building a Team Relationship with YOU!
Posted on February 3, 2011 by pete
It is not very often that we hear this phrase, especially in the Automotive Direct Mail world, but that is exactly what Volkswagen announced this week with its new Passat. The company will start making these cars in their new Chattanooga, TN plant early in the second quarter and that has allowed them to drop their price tag by almost $7,000. Jonathan Browning, CEO of Volkswagen Group of America said, “The Passat will become our second-best-selling car behind the Jetta sedan. In addition to the price difference between the German made and American made Passat, there will be a few design differences specifically for American buyers. The American made Passat will have a longer wheel base, which in turn gives more leg room in the back seat. There will be various trim and equipment levels along with 3 different engines to choose from.
We too often fool ourselves into thinking that in order to get more, we have to pay more. In this day with technology being what it is, we at Print•Auto•Mail utilize our many years of experience in the Automotive Direct Mail industry to better further the response rates of your Direct Mail Campaigns. Our proven methods bypass the often “search for best priced??? mentality that comes with organic marketing. Using our Automotive Internet Marketing Campaigns our automotive dealers are seeing a higher gross per vehicle sold than most of your generic advertising methods. We have found a way for you to do more and pay less!
Contact Print•Auto•Mail today to get started on your Next Campaign @ 951-461-1400
Posted on January 19, 2011 by pete
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