Impressions or Clicks?

The Greatest Fallacy of Automotive Internet Advertising Dollars. 

Ok, we all know that 33% of all new car sales for import stores are currently coming (or should be coming – WAKE UP CALL) through your website in the form of organic new car leads.

So what are you or your internet managers doing looking at a proposal from any vendor that tries to sell you impressions instead of clicks? To define each term the way car guys understand them:

Impressions – people who view a web page, or website that your ad is shown on and can be seen by the viewer. (There is no guaranteed way of knowing if they physically saw your ad or not)

Clicks – money, actually MO’ MONEY, because these people have seen an ad – either graphical or text ad in a search engine, taken the trouble to click it and have landed on your site. One small step for man, one giant step towards MO’ MONEY.  

Too many dealers are getting sold packages and programs through TV Stations, Radio Stations, Newspapers (The Birmingham News is notorious for this) that sell you nothing but impressions. My simple advice: DO NOT BUY THEM. The price you pay for an impression pails in comparison to the value that you get for paying for a click.  

Some people will listen to this and some won’t. If you don’t care about where you spend your money, that is your problem. Ad dollars are an investment in Traffic. If you want to invest with the “Bernie Maddoff of the Automotive Advertising World,” then go ahead and buy a package from the next sales rep that comes into your dealership and pedals “impressions.” If you want to invest your money in something that is worth your time and that of your staff – invest your money with a company like Strong, and put your dollars on a search engine like Google. Oh yeah, and do it while the market is rising – not when it is dropping.