Automotive Direct Mail Firing On All Cylinders

Since most automotive direct mail campaigns have a “hit-n-miss” component that sneaks up and appears when it’s least expected, a celebratory boasting is warranted whenever a solid run emerges. This latest string of successful automotive direct mail campaigns stretches back to the middle of March (of this year). The few minor adjustments we’ve made have resulted in a major impact in the overall volume of new and pre-owned sales for the dealers we’ve serviced.

So, if a sudden surge in sales is what you’re looking for, now would be a good time to call. Free consultations are offered between 8am and 4pm (PST). To reserve a free consultation, fill out our contact form completely and you’ll be contacted a.s.a.p. Media Kits with samples, pricing, etc., are available upon request.

No obligation

No purchase necessary

FOUR MAJOR SUMMER SALES TOOLS

With Factory leasing no longer being an option for many dealers, a peek into the old marketing trick bag could be well worth the time. Our turnkey direct mail programs are virtually plug-n-play. If you’re ready for a big pay day, then browse our featured programs below. Every one of these programs will be available in August, 2008.

 1. Severe Traffic Builders (for emergency situations)

• Giant Key Mailers – 17X22 full color w/$50k in prizes (recent events include 54 units sold off 30k pieces). Prices starting at only $0.79 (30kp).
• Gigantic 9X12 Jumbo Postcard w/high quality key affixed. Full color double-sided key mailer on card stock w/multiple prizes. Prices starting at $0.69 (50kp).
• Giant 11X17 Tri-Fold Saturation Key Mailer. Double-Sided full color on 80lb. gloss w/high-quality key taped to inside panel. Multiple prizes to drive traffic. Prices start at $0.69 (50kp).
• All Key mailers are fully insured for prizes: 1) $25,000 in cash, 2) Vehicle giveaway ($20k), 3) 42″ Plasma TV, 4) 4-Wheeler ATV, 5) $100 in cash. For additional saturation traffic builders, call or email us for samples and prices.

2. Title List Mailers (for targeted trade-ins for pre-owned inventory)

• Mail the piece of your choice to our title list that catalogues current owner with the current vehicle at the current address. With variable data printing, mailers can reference the owner’s name as well as vehicle. This is an insider’s secret that every successful dealer is using below the radar. Great for toggling between dealer database and title list. Best for buyback and conquest. Highly effective, no nonsense mailing list.

3. Pre-Screened Credit Offers (for high-gross sales)

• US Capital MasterCard Credit Sale. This piece is a pre-screened credit offer backed by a real auto lender (you can switch financing) that has an actual US Capital MasterCard affixed to the piece. This extremely official looking piece generates a large volume of credit applications by pre-screened Beacon-filtered customers interested in obtaining an immediate auto loan. All events are exclusive and customer must physically appear at dealer location to take delivery. Prices start at $1.39 (10kp) and $1.59 (5kp). Larger volume discounts are available. Price includes first class postage, credit data from TU/XPN/EFX, toll free # with IVR/CRM and 24/7 call center and appointment setting.
• Live Check Mailers – Send pre-screened credit offers to qualified prospects in your market area. Piece includes a funding check already made payable to your dealer. All customer has to do is register online or call IVR to secure funding code. Then they walk live check into your dealership and you match their credit approval with a vehicle from your inventory. Strong advances such as 120% of MSRP or retail blue book makes it easy to roll no money down deals, or absorb negative trade equity. Prices as low as $1.29 (10kp) and $1.57 (5kp). Great grosses are continually reported.
• Credit Mailers are best for dealers with strong finance departments. The above programs allow dealer to use any lender they choose. No demand for first right of refusal are ever made. Dealers have total freedom and are never restricted or boxed in.

4. Ongoing Lead Programs (for Spec-Fi depts.)

• Current top-rated lead program is our BKLeadXpress, a daily BK trigger program that sends US Capital MasterCard mailers to every discharged BK the same day it is discharged. This program focuses on the customer’s need to establish positive post-bankruptcy credit to enhance their future credit rating. Using your auto loan as the catalyst, this program makes a strong run at every discharged bankruptcy in your market area and gives them strong reasons why they should buy a vehicle from you right now instead of waiting for their credit to get better first. Program requires dealers that have lenders to finance fresh discharged BK’s with as little as $2,000 down payment with strong employment history.  
• Facts: 37% of consumers purchase a vehicle within the first 30 days of their discharge. 70% of consumers will purchase a vehicle within 90 days of their discharged bankruptcy. These “ready-to-buy” prospects are the hottest commodity in the Special Finance world, and they’re available immediately upon set-up.  
• Depending on size of dealership and aptitude of Special Finance manager, one time investment is approximately $2500 to $3500 for 6 to 8 months worth of leads. Manifest with phone numbers are sent daily to dealer for immediate phone follow up prior to mailer’s in home date. Ample opportunities await the sales and finance professional with auto lenders to buy this paper.

 5. Internet Lead Services and Online Applications (disc.)

• Due to the highly frivolous, unscrupulous, and fraudulent nature of many lead providers and their leads, we have indefinitely discontinued offering internet leads to our clients. Our reputation is too valuable to blow for a quick buck, and so we give internet leads away for free to dealers that we do business with. Whether it be 12 leads or 496 leads, we do not charge for them nor do we stand behind them as authentic or exclusive. We apologize if this hurts anyone’s feelings, but our long-term outlook on our business always takes precedent over short-term profit. Our decision is final.

Media Kits, samples, and price cards are available upon request. Just email or call and request.

Meeting the Challenge of Automotive Direct Mail and Online Marketing

Auto Dealers are truly between a rock and a hard place (see image of auto dealer to the left). On the one hand, they know that good direct mail works, and on the other hand they know that some good online marketing works too. This forces some dealers into having to make a decision because since neither is free, and since most dealers don’t have an unlimited advertising budget, most stores will be able to only utilize one or the other. But if the decision needs to be made, which should they pick?

First, let’s take a quick look at some of the features of each that make them successful. Then we will consider a proposed solution of integrating the two and synthesizing the successful features of both direct mail and online marketing.

Automotive Direct Mail: There isn’t a conceivable scenario in which direct mail can become obsolete all together for the automotive industry. Think about this, if everyone decided to stop doing it, it would create an open market with no competition and before you know it everyone would be mailing again. Unless some kind of law or restriction on who can mail what is legislated, direct mail isn’t going anywhere and will still remain one of the more preferable means of automotive advertising.

Successful Features of Direct Mail: 

• Delivery is straight to prospect in the home
• Tangible means that can not only be seen, but felt, handled, etc.
• Direct Mail is received and reviewed at a specific time of day allocated for such things as opening and reading mail
• Variable printing makes offer personalized
• Control of geographic distribution
• Results are immediate compared to other means

Online Marketing: This can be a broad descriptive category, but for our purposes here we will limit the term to include email blasts, third-party leads, SEO, microsites, and spots. This medium has potentially unlimited possibilities and is limited only by the imagination of the developers. It is obviously inevitable that the day will soon come when a nationwide de-sensitization of internet users will lead to the ignoring of such ads that say, “Click Here For A Free Vehicle Delivered To Your Home!” With so many unlimited opportunities for marketers online, internet users are quickly becoming aware of scams, tricks, and “specials” that are perceived as over-promising and under-delivering. The skill for online marketers will be in separating dealer ads from the rest of the online ads that users will become conditioned to viewing as literally invisible.

Successful Features of Online Marketing: 

• Large audience is online
• Internet is used for research
• Prospects prefer internet to respond online vs. calling toll-free
• User controls the pace online
• Internet is interactive

These highlighted features of the two mediums of direct mail and online marketing provide a framework for us to explore the consideration of a synthesis of the two. This consideration is what led to the development of Hill Marketing’s progressive line of automotive marketing tools. We have masterfully produced colorful customized mail pieces that maximize personalization while providing customer response options both by toll-free numbers as well as online.

The toll-free number doesn’t need explanation at this point, so I want to take a look at the call-to-action response online option. In addition to top-performing direct mail design, prospects are provided with a website to visit that contains their name in the url. This is bound to get their attention and worst case, due to sheer curiosity, provoke them to visit the site online. This transition from direct mail to online is prompted by the prospect’s own personal name in the url on the mailer. Example, if the prospect’s name is John Greenleaf, his mailer will have a url in big letters that says: Hey John, be sure to visit http://www.JohnGreenleaf.abc.com to get your personalized message from ABC motors.

When the prospect logs on to his personalized url, he will find a customized landing page that is designed to look like the direct mail design. This maintains the theme of the campaign and immediately strikes familiarity on the subconscious level of the prospect’s mind. The customizable, personal landing page will have a personal message in the prospect’s name and will correspond with any other pertinent information.

The landing page will feature an interactive section where the prospect will be able to fill out a form with survey and comment box. This landing page, due to the specific route the prospect used to get there, can employ many of the great tricks of the internet such as, “As soon as you complete the form below, you will be eligible to win one of the following prizes!”

The prizes will be the same prizes that are used in standard direct mail, the biggest difference is that instead of having to visit the dealership to become eligible to win, all the prospect has to do is visit his personal website from the convenience of his leisure. This will substantially increase response rates and allow dealers to capture valuable information that direct mail could never do.

For instance, the survey on the landing page can determine whether the prospect owns or leases, whether they will be in the market in the next 30 days, 4-6 months, over 1 year, or over 2 years, whether they prefer new or used, etc., as well as whatever comments the prospect wishes to submit. Over time, the data captured here can become the dealers most valuable list, and the web traffic to this page can far exceed the dealer’s own website, virtual showroom, online inventory, etc.

We will also offer a customizable “Thank You” page upon exiting that can offer a link to dealer website along with any message desired. We will also provide dealers with a stat page that tracks all the action (traffic activity) that the mailer generates. This comprehensive statistics page is a great tool for managers to follow-up with on leads given to the sales staff.

Now, I have leaked just about enough information to scratch the surface of the intelligent person’s curiosity. If you don’t get it, yet, you will soon – but probably in the mail from a rival competitor. What we have accomplished is the perfect balance between direct mail and online marketing without raising the investment one would have to make for a very inexpensive direct mailer. For samples and more information, or to quickly set something up at your store, click here and we’ll send you our media kit.

Automotive Direct Mail: Recent Results and “Across the Board” Averages

This is a record of eight recent sales events I did using automotive direct mail. I will list the response rate, dealership location (State), and an “across the board” average for a hard number on our automotive direct mail performance! 

• 3.39% – TX
• 2.50% – TX
• 1.74% – TN
• 2.22% – TX
• 1.72% – AL
• 4.95% – NH
• 2.72% – OH
• 2.04% – NC

The combined “across the board” average is 2.65% response rate. These do not include responses that circumvented the process in which leads are logged. We can reasonably add at least a half percent in non-logged responses, bringing our “across the board” average to an (unconfirmed) 3.15% – ON AUTOMOTIVE DIRECT MAIL!

Do you see now how I can unashamedly boast of having the TOP-PERFORMING automotive direct mail products in the country? How is your mail company doing?

Automotive Direct Mail: Summer Solution?

If this past Memorial Day Weekend is any indication of how automotive direct mail will perform this Summer, then expect a “push” on certain mailers and a “whoa” on others.  Out of the three different pieces I mailed, one stood head and shoulders above the rest.  Was it (a) the saturation pieces?  Was it (b) the credit mailer (pre-approved)?  Or was it (c) the one I said would out-perform anything it came up against? 

Not to pat myself on the back, but it was “c,” the one that I predicted beforehand to out-perform anything it came up against.  That’s right!  The greeting card I designed behaved just like I created her to do.  She was a good little animal this past weekend generating an average of 27 deliveries per 5,000 mailed!  At less than $180 per vehicle, General Managers, Principles, and those beloved bean-counters are all of a sudden paying close attention to those marketing folks over at Hill Marketing.

It makes total sense.  People love receiving greeting cards in the mail, be it a birthday, holiday, special occasion, etc.  Perhaps some sort of psychological satisfaction subliminally occurs when their fingers are carefully tearing open the edges of the sealed envelope.  Perhaps the anticipation of the unknown source of joy that awaits inside the envelope sets the stage in the mind that leaves it vulnerable and persuadable to a degree uncommon to standard automotive direct mail.

I really don’t know the exact reason.  But as far as reliable empirical evidence goes, dealers that run this mailer always sell many units.  If you have a favorite mailer that you run, I suggest you try it at least once.  Shoot me over the copy and I’ll get a proof out to you in the greeting card format.  If I don’t substantially increase your response rate, you can say so here on my blog in the comments section for the world to see.  But if you end up like everyone else – COMPLETELY SATISFIED – then we’ll keep it our little secret while you stealthily go into your PMA and snatch up all them deals, leaving your competitors in the dust.

Email for prices, turnaround, etc.  Also available: saturation, pre-approved credit mailers, buyback, title swap, customized, free consultation – no obligation.

Ron Cogan Gives Advice on Quick Ways to Cut Your Gas Bill

According to Ron Cogan‘s article “5 Quick Ways to Cut Your Gas Bill” at greencar.com, he says that many are asking when this [high gas prices] will end.  Cogan adds that some consumers get mad, while others “suck it up and just pay the price, figuring it will go away.”  Cogan bluntly adds, “[i]t wont.”  Then he asks the question: “But what can you do about it?”

I agree with Cogan that the gas price problem won’t go away.  In fact, I’d take it a step further and add that it will get worse.  I’m not trying to paint a bleak and negative financial future, but if experts are correct in predicting $7 per gallon gas prices, then Cogan’s advice should be taken with all seriousness.  Here’s a basic summary of his article’s 5 ways to cut your gas bill: 

1. Don’t drive as much.
2. Ease off the pedal.
3. Resist the need for speed temptation.
4. Avoid mid-grade or premium fuel unless necessary.
5. Check tire pressure and maintain recommended PSI.

All of these ways except for #4 result in using less fuel which results in cutting your gas bill.  #4 cuts your bill only if you do not have a high-performance vehicle, or a vehicle that requires a higher octane fuel (i.e. 89, 91, etc.).  But this distinction between #4 and the others speaks volumes to toward solving a deeper issue – the vehicle you drive.

If two separate people followed Cogan’s advice to the tee in exactly the same manner, we would expect to have identical gas bill cuts.  But this would only happen if the two experiments were with identical vehicles, number of passengers, etc.  But if person #1 drove a 1999 Toyota Camry V6LE and the other a 1999 Chevrolet Suburban 2WD, the degree of savings would be affected by the degree of difference in fuel consumption and efficiency of each respective vehicle.  Bottom line, the Suburban would be more expensive to maintain than the Camry because the Suburban gets 12 miles per gallon while the Camry gets 22 (guess-timation).

So to further enhance the wealth of wisdom in Cogan’s excellent article, I would suggest that *if* you drive a “gas hog,” consider trading it in and leasing or purchasing a much more economical and fuel-efficient vehicle.  The intention of this article is not to suggest a make and model, just to suggest that you seriously consider the adjustment of your driving according to Ron Cogan’s advice, and to do so in the most fuel-efficient vehicle you can get into.  After all, if those experts are right, and if gas hits $7 per gallon soon, then many of our lifestyles will require adjustments if we can’t afford to drive anywhere!

Click here to read Ron’s article.

Automotive Direct Mail: Memorial Day Sales Update

This Memorial Day Weekend, 2008, has been forecasted to be the best selling weekend of the year.  Make sure that your staff is ready to handle the sudden surge of customers.  Since things have been kind of slow lately, it is possible that your staff has formed some bad habits due to the light traffic, and in the process may have become lazy.  Now is the time to wake them up because they’ll make the difference for you this Memorial Day Weekend.

I suggest that you do an early Sales Meeting Friday Morning (5/23) and establish the tone for the weekend.  Be sure to put out big spiffs with qualifiers for top man/woman, top gross, most units, etc.  Make sure that the Sales Meeting is dynamic in tone and be sure to motivate the crew.  For those of you that are running Hill Marketing Sales Events this weekend, be sure to provide your managers with the audio recordings of the sales training that is on the DVD that is included in your giveaway package that should have been received today at your dealership (FedEx).

Keep your head in the game this weekend.  It’s going to be good!

Awesome Memorial Day Weekend Sale and How Automotive Direct Mail Saves the Car Business Once Again!

I am sure that more vehicles will be sold this Memorial Day Weekend than last year’s.  I am so excited at how receptive and pumped up everyone is about our Memorial Day Weekend 2008 Sales Event!  Putting these sales together has been extra fun this year so I just want to say thank you to all you car dealers out there that signed up.

They told me that it was sheer genius how I wrote my new sales letter using our Title List Data to go after those old gas hogs and make purchase offers for trade-ins for something a little more economical.  Many car dealers that called me for the first time did not know that I had access to massive lists of trucks, vans, SUV’s, etc.  When they saw my sales letter they just about flipped!

Here’s my reasoning.  Follow my thought process and see for yourself if this doesn’t make perfect sense.  Everyone knows about the gas price problem (I won’t argue for that here).  I attended a conference last month that had a session regarding the high demand for web developers and I.T. personnel in religious organizations (churches, ministries, etc.).  Since gas prices are forecasted to reach $7 per gallon in less than two years, these religious organizations anticipate losing much of their commuter attendance (people that drive a long way to get there). 

Many of these organizations have multiple gatherings on different days of the week (i.e. men’s groups, women’s groups, youth meetings, etc.).  With the economical pressure being experienced by American families, many of them will need to “cut back” on attending except for Sunday, or whichever respective day.  So the need for web developers and I.T. personnel emerges.  Why?  Because the plan is to accommodate those unable to attend by making services and meetings available online through streaming video and other interactive formats.

The point of mentioning all this is to direct your attention to when and how I got the idea.  I thought, “If these large organizations see such an impact on their businesses due to gas prices, then that could be huge for my dealers!”  (I’m always looking out for you guys!)

I got back to the office and pulled some counts in some suffering areas of the country (those most likely to be effected worst).  I queried 1981 to 1999 trucks, vans, and SUV’s from Chevrolet, Ford, and Dodge (gas hogs) within 20 miles of a particular store I do monthly campaigns for.  I came up with 185,000+ titles!  This means that I can send a purchase offer to the owner that is relevant to his needs while making an offer for a gas-saver!

Plus, because I can use variable data printing, the letter can be made out to the owner’s name, regarding his exact vehicle (make, model, year, color, etc.), at his current address, from the sponsoring dealer.  So it can say (sample, not actual direct mail offer):

Scott,

My name is John Greenleaf, Used Car Manager at ABC Motors and I want to make you an offer on your 1992 Chevrolet Suburban.  With gas prices on the rise, I thought it would be worth a shot to write you because you may be interested in selling or trading now more than ever before. 

To be sure I win your business I’ve hired three independent appraisal companies to compete for your trade-in, just in case you want to want to trade for a more economical vehicle.  These appraisers will be at my dealership this Memorial Day Weekend only between 9AM and 6PM.  Give me a call if you can make it…

Initially I thought that I would write this as an additional product for Memorial Day only.  But now it seems that most dealers want to run this program till the end of the year.  With over 100k titles in our database for most PMA’s, you can run 10,000/month till 2009 without mailing to the same person twice!  This means that you can overcome the car dealer blues that this recession is causing.  So stop crying (the blues, that is) and start selling!

Automotive Direct Mail has saved the car business once again.

Sincerely,

John Greenleaf (takes a bow)

Marketing Director

Hill Marketing Group

Protected: Memorial Day Weekend 2008 Automotive Direct Mail – Sell the Most Units with This

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Auto Sales Marketing War: Memorial Day Weekend 2008 (pt. 1)

A friend of mine sells TV and radio spots to car dealers.  He told me that business is pouring in from every corner of his market.  Auto Dealers are really concerned about this year’s Memorial Weekend sales.  He has shared as much as he could without violating confidentiality agreements, and let me just say this just might be the roughest year yet. 

What has surprised me most is the strategy that most of these dealers are using: the same old lost leader four days only type of message.  Oh, don’t forget the, “Only at ABC Motors” tag at the end.  Think about this, if the average customer in a typical PMA hears an average of twelve ads from five different dealers, all saying basically the same thing, and all saying that it’s only at their dealership, then the only message that really gets through is that this weekend would be a good one to buy a car because everyone is having some sort of special sale!  Is that the message that dealers really want to get out to the buying public?

Well, I’m not in TV and radio, so maybe there’s something I’m missing.  Perhaps dealers want to create a general buzz out there and compete for business from the showroom floor level; sort of like fishing.  I guess from my perspective this idea just doesn’t sound like the smartest way to do things.  To me it seems that dealers should operate much more efficiently than this.  I agree that dealers should spend money on TV and radio to promote their brand and location over a long period of time, but when you begin to exploit the lifeblood of your future reputation in exchange for a short-term gain, it jeopardizes the effectiveness of a perpetual continuance of the TV and radio medium, therefore lessening its efficiency – seemingly intentional.  Unfortunately, there is an invisible terminal point of hyper-exploitation that when ultimately crossed, the effects are fatal. 

Many automotive advertising agencies are just as blind to this as dealers.  The agencies that are aware of this are so sales-driven that they are convinced that “what is ethical” is doing whatever it takes to continue to make sales – even if it means withholding pertinent information from their clients (auto dealers) necessary to their success.  That’s exactly how my buddy is.  When I asked him if he told his clients how many radio and TV spots are being sold for Memorial Weekend 2008 to several competitors in a PMA, he said no.  I can’t use his exact expression for fear of giving away his recognizable identity, but let’s just say that he revealed his preference for his own paycheck over his clients’ success.

For me, my paycheck is based on my clients’ success, so they’re hand-in-hand.  It’s too hard to chase after new business these days, so I’d rather keep my current book as happy as a pig in mud.  Contrast that with my TV and radio buddy.  I showed him what I was doing for dealers this Memorial Day Weekend and his reaction was one of fear.  I ran it past him to see if any of his clients could use it instead of the over-saturated TV and radio, and rather than do what’s right, he refused to show it to his dealers and trusted that he would force dealers to buy his snake-oil. 

When he and I did a side-by-side cost analysis and comparison (on his laptop using his company’s software program), he openly agreed and conceded that my Memorial Day Weekend program would benefit dealers substantially better than his.  So I asked him why he wouldn’t do his good clients a favor and run mine past them at least out of courtesy, he answered that he didn’t want to give up any business.  I replied to him that this would keep them on board because it would prove to them that he had their best interests in mind.  Since his brain isn’t wired with the capacity to comprehend such a concept as that, he had a glossed over look in his eyes and began looking over my shoulder, scanning the room for the waitress (we were in a local bar and grill here in OC)!  One of the major drawbacks of Orange County is that it is filled with “dudes” like that.  Anyhow, I think I’ve made my point.

Since this blog is an outlet for me to vent as well as update, I thought today I would vent an update and kill two boyd’s with one stone!  One, to report that TV and radio has been way oversold this Memorial Day Weekend, and two, that my Memorial Day Weekend 2008 auto sales promotion is going to make me famous with the dealers I run with that aren’t being shepherded by ’08 BMW driving Orange County Advertising Agents with iced-water in their veins and the conscience of a mercenary.  OK, there, I said it!  And, NO, I won’t share it online.  If you want to see it, you need to request it here.  There are already way too many clues in this post.