Are your dealership’s advertising strategies paying off? If not, it it’s time to review the stakes and align your wager with the hottest thing to hit the online strip—Digital Advertising. With over 70% of the population in North America
Dollars and Sense
By the end of 2007, trends indicate that nearly $30 billion will be spent in North America Canada
The demand for online advertising is booming, and the increasing numbers of dealers who are channeling advertising budgets away from traditional media and implementing digital marketing strategies are skyrocketing. These results demonstrate that auto retailers have the sense to recognize the continued growth in the online automotive audience and the unparalleled opportunity to target specific customer prospects and capitalize on driving more of the exact types of customers they want into their showroom floors, websites and telephones.
Internet advocates have long labeled digital marketing as the most accountable of all ad media. That claim used to be more hype than truth; however, methods and technologies now in place are making the measurement of online ad effectiveness an everyday reality available to any dealership. Are you using them to increase your ad efficiencies?
Rules of the Game
The NUMBER ONE rule that you absolutely need to discover if you're serious at all about making money from online advertising is to know the game. Luck comes and goes, but knowledge stays forever. With the right message, the right placement, and the right marketing strategy, your dealership can make every online initiative payoff with increased sales and profits. Later in the article we’ll cover the fundamentals of Digital Advertising and how other Dealers are making every pull a payoff with increased traffic to their website, telephone and showroom floor.
This brings us to rule NUMBER TWO: Consult a professional. Consulting a qualified Digital Advertising professional is crucial to the success of your dealership’s digital marketing strategy. Many Digital Advertising and closely related Search Engine Marketing (SEM) firms make promises but are unable to deliver satisfactory results because they lack both basic knowledge and a deep understanding of the latest trends that drive successful online automotive marketing initiatives. For example, how many SEM providers capitalize on your OEM’s current incentives and rebates in order to increase the QUALITY of traffic they are driving into your web sites and landing pages?
Amateur created online display Ads such as banners, leaderboards, skyscraper and inline GIF and JPG images are okay, but if you’re like most dealers, odds are that you will want some professional help in this highly volatile and competitive industry of online automotive retailing where there are many ads competing for viewer attention. Experienced and knowledgeable automotive marketing professionals will bring their technological programming skills to Digital Advertising, as well as their promotional creativity, eye catching designs, and automotive marketing savvy. Look for industry experts who can match their expertise with your dealership’s inventory, branding and local market reputation in a manner that serves your store’s marketing mission by creating and distributing into the right web sites the most innovative, attention-grabbing graphic content.
Fundamentals of Digital Display advertising
Through the rise, fall, and resurgence of online display advertising, eye catching and exciting multimedia enriched animated ads are now all the buzz! History was made 13 years ago when the first online Banner Ad was purchased. It measured 468 x 60 pixels, was purchased by AT&T, and read, "Have you ever clicked your mouse right here? You will." It’s been a wild ride, but times have changed to today's myriad forms of online ads, including permission email, keyword-targeted search engine listings, interactive rich media ads, streaming audio and video and consumer-fueled "viral marketing.” We are now accustomed to seeing a webpage bordered by online advertising. Far from being merely wallpaper, eDealers are realizing the increasingly rich online ad formats are effective in sparking the interest of car buyers and encouraging them to spend a significant amount of time interacting on the website after click-through. Market research proves that Digital Display Advertising consistently generates the highest conversions into showroom traffic, completed lead forms and telephone calls. In other words, the right online ads generate sales and profits.
Understanding the basics of Digital Display Advertising will help your dealership in designing and implementing an effective and lucrative online strategy for each dollar of Digital Ad budget.
What is a Digital Display Ad?
Display Advertising is the most popular form of advertising on the Internet, and I’m sure you’ve seen more than your fair share of Banners, Skyscrapers, Leaderboards and Squares of various sizes. A Digital Display Ad is a high impact graphic or video ad displayed within high traffic web sites, like CNN.com, that prospective and existing dealership customers see when a page loads within an area around the dealership’s local address (geo-targeted) or targeted region. This Display Ad commonly advertises a make or model, and it can also be used to promote seasonal events, fuel economy, sales events, special finance services or incentives such as low APR’s, Trade-In assistance and factory rebates. These unique advertisements appear on all sorts of web pages and vary considerably in appearance and content; but they all share a few basic functions, such as communicating the dealership’s offers or reputation, and as an entry point into another site designed to convert the interested consumer into a viable electronic lead or phone call. A Digital Display Ad is simply a form of customer communication and a portal into your sales funnel.
How do they work and why are they there?
An online Display Ad can be very similar to a traditional ad you would place in a newspaper or magazine. But, there is a huge bonus available… the added ability to transport a potential customer directly to a Landing Page, Microsite, or a Deep Link such as into the inventory of your Virtual Dealership! Just imagine your customer reading a newspaper ad, then being able to touch it and be automatically ‘teleported’ to your dealership showroom! That’s powerful!! Another tremendous advantage of Digital Display Ads over traditional print ads is the capability to infuse dynamic media enrichment like audio, video, and animation to better highlight your dealership’s specials…It’s like a TV commercial infused into your newspaper ad and then click enabled to become an advertisement on steroids! A virtual 800 Lb. Gorilla in the world of advertising.
Even though the often criticized little Banner Ad was the first form of online advertising, web site display advertising has come a long way since the early days of images that say “click here!” and then drop you off at the dealership’s homepage of the website. Digital Ads can contain other forms of rich media as well, and many use interactivity like motion and sound to draw attention and convert to prospects. The uses of high-converting technologies like Flash, Java and the ever present animated GIF image have taken this form of online advertising to a whole new level!
Key Elements of Effective Online Advertising
Like most forms of advertising, Digital Display Ads can vary considerably in quality because their creators vary a great deal in ability and experience. The range is even greater with Digital Ads than with most other forms. Regardless of whether you test your own skills on creating a Banner, Leaderboard, Skyscraper or Square Ad, or if you rely on the knowledge and expertise of a seasoned automotive professional, you will need some fundamental information in order to fully understand the characteristics of this “rich media advertising” frontier:
Size—Originally most popular in the 468x60 pixel version, banners are now available in many different sizes and shapes and are traditionally categorized as either Banners, Leaderboards, Buttons, Squares, or Skyscrapers. Skyscraper formats, Flash pop-overs and expandable size ads triggered by a consumer mouse-over have been gaining in popularity during recent months.
Colors—Research has shown that certain color schemes produce more desired results. The most commonly used color combination is orange and blue, but the trends change almost monthly!
Copy—Some of the most effective online ads use simple, direct copy to entice prospects to engage: 1) Get something for free, 2) Save money, 3) Make shopping experience easier.
Imagery—Image is everything, so many dealerships use photography that shows “happy” customers, or any combination of upbeat images that showcases the intended customer reaction to their product.
Media Enrichment—Rich media formats which include the overlay, the expandable banner and streamed video, essentially harness the advantages of broadband to build more sophisticated online advertising. The aim of this richer creative is to entertain the user in order to entice them to interact with the dealership offer. Digital ad technology allows for animated or richer versions of standard display formats to provider a robust experience for the visitor, creating a brand experience without even leaving the site they visited.
Interactivity— Since Digital Displays can contain rich media, they offer levels of interactivity that other forms of advertising can't. The main drive of animated ads is to gain click-throughs. Along the same lines, more and more dealerships are pulling the lever with Flash overlay ads. These ads overlay the text of Web pages and entice customers to view much more than can typically fit into a Digital Display Ad.
Marketing your Digital Displays
The placement of your Digital Display is crucial to its success. Post your Ads on sites visited by your potential customers. If you’re promoting Ford Mustangs, buy space on sites visited by college students like YouTube or MySpace. The quality of leads generated from targeted markets generally yield higher click-throughs and are more likely to result in increased sales and greater ROI.
Always have more than one Ad to promote each vehicle. A Digital Ad usually burns out after a surfer has seen it three times. If your click-through is steadily declining, then it is time to rotate your Digital Ads.
To post a digital ad, you can do either or all of the following:
· Pay publisher sites to post your digital ads
· Pay an Ad Network to post the digital ad on a number of publisher sites
The most effective and cost efficient manner to distribute digital ads is through an Ad Network. This is an organization charged with the representation of advertising space for a group of websites for the purpose of maximizing revenue and minimizing administrative costs through aggregation. The role of the modern Internet Advertising Network is to transact, serve, track and report the distribution of digital ads from advertisers to publishers using an efficient, interactive marketplace. Large Ad Networks include a combination of search engines, media companies, and technology vendors.
Make it a point to check on your digital ads’ performance every few days. By monitoring your ads’ performance, you can modify or eliminate under-performing ads before they waste away your advertising dollars.
Business Mechanics of Digital Ads
Every dealership must spend money to sell cars. Spend aggressively, but spend smart by knowing the market and mechanics of Digital Advertising. The basic business model of the Digital Ad is simple. Different payment models can be used depending on the primary goal of your dealership’s campaign.
Cost per Thousand/Cost per Impression
CPM refers to Cost Per Thousand and CPI to Cost Per Impression. Each time a user views a web page, that constitutes one impression. The method of pricing in CPM is a holdover from print ad days. Typical CPMs for less targeted inventory can range from $0.25 to $5.00 per thousand impressions. Therefore, a dealership that wants to purchase 100,000 impressions at a $5 CPM will sign a contract for $500. Targeted impressions are worth much more to dealerships. If you buy space on a site that is popular with car enthusiasts who are in an attractive demographic for your dealership, you can expect to pay up to 10 times the rate of untargeted ad inventory.
Cost per Click
CPC is normally associated with paid Search Marketing; however Digital Ads can be priced this way when the aim is to drive traffic. CPC pricing models are based on paying only for those ads that experience a “click-through.”
Cost per Acquisition (Cost per Lead)
Cost per Acquisition (or Lead) is an advertising campaign pricing model based on paying for direct results. This model takes many forms (leads, sales, etc.) and is increasing in popularity due to the ease of implementation and accounting compared to traditional media. This model is great for dealerships, as you pay only when an ad delivers a defined acquisition.
Flat Rate
Flat Rate means a fixed cost per month regardless of traffic or amount of impressions. This may appeal to a dealership that is testing an online campaign generally targeting niche markets.
You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks!
Old habits are hard to break. This could not be truer than in the automotive retailing industry where Dealers have relied on traditional forms of advertising to sell cars. Even though the Internet has changed the way consumers buy vehicles, there are still some fundamental similarities as well as differences. TV is about the mass market message, and the internet is for individual relationship building. Digital marketing is the model that bridges the gap between the ‘great divide.’ With the similarity to traditional print media, Digital advertising has the potential to maintain the relevancy of a 30-second TV ad while also utilizing the attention-grabbing interaction of the internet.
Generally speaking, Digital ads yield two benefits. First, they increase traffic and leads by enticing consumers to ‘click’ and enter your sales funnel. Each time this happens is called a "click-through", and the number of click-throughs divided by the number of impressions is called the "click-through ratio." This provides a direct measurement of a Digital Ad's effectiveness. Higher click-through ratios are sure to generate results such as increased sales, profits, and higher returns on investment for your dealership.
The second benefit, but less measurable, is building brand recognition. Whether brand recognition is part of your strategy, depends entirely upon your dealership’s situation. A person who has visited a site with your dealership Advertisement posted on it has been “branded” without even leaving the site. When you really think about it, both benefits can be defined in two words: Increased Sales! With Digital Advertisement technology, every pull is a payoff!
Catch the Fever
Many Dealers are realizing that online marketing is now their best investment and are shifting budgets from traditional media to digital initiatives including Digital Advertisement marketing strategies. It’s impossible to ignore the results!
The eBusiness staff and the entire management team at Courtesy Chevrolet San Diego are excited about their continued progress for the remainder of 2007, and on into 2008. So far in 2007, they have increased their self-generated percentage of total internet leads received by 24%, and those leads are converting into sales at a much higher closing rate than the leads they purchase from third party lead suppliers!
At Scott Robinson Honda in Torrance , CA
On the House: Co-Op Advertising
If you are a little leery about your investment in online advertising, how about letting your OEM foot some of the cost? Through an online cooperative advertising management strategy, dealers can capitalize on the marketing muscle and advertising incentives of their OEM.
To put is simply, cooperative advertising is the sharing of costs for locally placed advertising between a dealership and a manufacturer. Many dealers are not aware that the same co-op advertising reimbursements are available not only for traditional media, but for digital marketing as well. Courtesy Chevrolet participates in all areas of OEM co-op advertising and commonly receives over $3,000 a month in refunds.
‘No Gamble’ Guarantee
The unparalleled advantages of Internet marketing have given birth to a whole new realm of advertising for dealerships. Whether it be through a non-animated display of the dealer’s logo or expandable skyscraper, display advertising is helping dealerships to successfully reach customers in a targeted, cost-effective, and measurable way.
When you gamble, your risk is determined by chance. With the right technology partner and the right online marketing strategy, the only chance involved with Digital Advertising is the chance to promote and grow your dealership, boost profits, and increase ROI! Consult with a qualified professional to devise the optimal strategy for maximizing the performance of your Display Advertising initiatives. With the right marketing combination and the right team, you can turn your online investment into a sure bet with a big payoff!
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Types of Digital Ads | |
Ad Size |
Ad Type |
468 x 60 |
Full banner |
728 x 90 |
Leaderboard |
250 x 250 |
Square |
200 x 200 |
Small Square |
336 x 280 |
Large Rectangle |
300 x 250 |
Inline Rectangle |
120 x 600 |
Skyscraper |
160 x 600 |
Wide Skyscraper |
392 x 72 |
Full Banner/ Vertical Navigation Bar |
234 x 60 |
Half Banner |
125 x 125 |
Square Button |
120 x 90 |
Button #1 |
120 x 60 |
Button #2 |
88 x 31 |
Micro Button |
120 x 240 |
Vertical Banner |
From this 1994:
To this 2007:
Use checklist graphic
Tips for Banner Payoffs
1. Use enticing shapes/colors
2. Create catchy headers
3. Incorporate animation
4. Use creative designs
5. Choose optimal placement
6. Engage with interaction
7. Rotate banners regularly
8. Target your banners
9. Monitor banner performance
10. Do your math
