This car dealerships experience with Waze Local ads is making a strong case for targeted advertising on smartphone apps.

Advertising on a billboard, as per Chandler Communications, might be a tried and true way to spend advertising dollars to the tune of 3.8:1 but a possible 42:1 ROI sounds downright impossible. Apparently not. According to Automotive News on their report on this Kia of Bedford Massachusetts dealership that popped up on my feed earlier today (Sept. 9, 2018) a potential $3,000 spent on advertising dollars might’ve brought in, on average, $125,000 of sales (with some quick maths done by Search Engine Land.)

Embed from Getty Images

With an advertising budget that hovered around $175,000, according to the director of operations at Kia of Bedford,

We were spending ungodly amounts of money on traditional advertising.

Back in 2016, this Kia dealership partnered with PureCars Digital Solutions, an advertising firm that pushes nontraditional ad initiatives over traditional advertising (think youtube videos and smartphone app ads over billboards and inflatable floaty men with arms.)

Embed from Getty Images

Reading through AutoNews’s report, the best line came from management and sales when they first started to implement this advertising plan from PureCars

“I was met with a lot of pushback,” he said. “They’d say, ‘You don’t know anything about cars. … It was a long fight. They couldn’t get out of that automotive mindset to listen to the computer guy.”

Two years later, the results speak for themselves. The dealership’s advertising budget slimmed down considerably from $175,000 to around $145,000 a month. All the new digital advertising means that the dealership gets about 25 more calls a month directly linked to local Waze apps in particular. Their service department saw a 57 percent increase in repair leads which, back of the napkin maths, means an additional (potential) $125,000 of revenue if you take in to account the average price for repairs in Ohio.

In a shift that probably ruffled a few feathers who’ve been at that dealership for a long time, the store’s traditional advertising plan was put to the wayside as these new digital targeted, geographic-specific ads took their place.

Digital advertising is still in its formative years in my opinion and is changing daily (dare I say even hourly.) Traditional advertising, frankly, won’t cut it anymore. People’s eyeballs aren’t looking at billboards, they’re glued to their cell phones or, in this case, in-car navigation.

If you’re reading this and are a car dealership still spending thousands of dollars on an inflatable wavy arms guy and a man with a spinning arrow, perhaps it’s time to reconsider your advertising strategy to something more digital.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here