What Value Do You Place on Added Value

Winter is a time of year that I have learned to hate as much as I love. It’s a great reminder of how much you really enjoy a “hot car market” especially when more than half of your clients are buried in a couple feet of snow and most phone calls start with “well, we finally got to open today.” Yep, it makes me ready for the spring and summer selling season where I can walk in the office on Monday morning and read sales reports from clients who had massive weekends. It sure beats wondering how many of them even opened up because of bad winter weather.

But the silver lining about this time of year comes from the clients’ numbers who are consistent year-long advertisers. They get an absolutely foolish amount of added value spots during the months like this when most competition doesn’t advertise. I have come to believe that advertising is like drinking coffee, you don’t just start and stop one day. You remain consistent. If you don’t drink enough of it you seem lethargic and if you drink too much coffee you may find yourself spinning out of control.

The more consistent you are with media gives you the power to demand and receive more added value spots. The bright spot I can see right now in the throes of a blizzard stricken February is an unprecedented amount of added value spots for our dealers. No they are not selling more cars than they will in peak months, but the exposure and the gain in share they are getting makes them primed and ready to be operating at full speed when the rest of the market just starts to advertise.

Some think March is the time you really have to get started in automotive retail marketing but truth be told if you wait until March to start – you’ll be too late. There are a lot of dealers already running as fast as they can and they have eaten all the added value that the rest of the market could have had for breakfast.