MARKETING CASE STUDY:
Automotive Vehicle Sales/Lincoln Dealership
About our client.
This locally owned Lincoln franchise dealer sells, services, repairs, and provides parts for new Lincoln automobiles (Lincoln Continental, Lincoln MKZ, Lincoln MKC, Lincoln Nautilus, Lincoln Aviator, Lincoln Navigator, Certified Pre-Owned Lincolns, and other used automobiles to clients in their local metro community.
They also perform warranty repairs and maintenance on all Ford vehicles.
Not only do they compete with other Lincoln dealers in their market, they also compete with other brands in the luxury auto category.
Results
Client: Lincoln Metro Franchise Dealer Store.
Location: Colorado, United States.
Industry: Automotive Sales.
Time Frame: 6-Month Campaign.
CAMPAIGN REACH AND FREQUENCY
MARKET SHARE RANK
1.2 MILLION
EMAILS SENT
30 INDIVIDUAL AD CAMPAIGNS
#1 IN
SALES VOLUME
WESTERN U.S. REGION FOR
LINCOLN
MARKET SHARE WORLDWIDE
#1 IN
LINCOLN BLACK LABEL SALES
WORLDWIDE PEER GROUP
Services used:
Permission-Based Email Marketing.
They had a market share problem.
"Our market share was much lower than we thought we should be compared to our peer group. Lower rankings mean lower sales volumes. It is a vicious cycle because it trims decisions we can make about acquiring more new and used inventory, and it affects floor plan costs and our team size.
Before we started this campaign with Align2Compete, our single-point luxury auto franchise was ranked #12 in sales volume in our Western United States Region for Lincoln franchise dealers. We needed to improve that.
And our email strategy was ripe for change because our current large vendor was experiencing rep churn, and we were starting to feel a lack of love and attention from them."
Vehicles on the lot too long cost dealers money.
Our agency had a "Goliath" media competitor to beat first.
We love talking with dealer principals and general managers because they live in a world of 'real retail' in the automotive business. Beating their local competition is vital. They work with several media vendors and agencies and expect a true partner to help them drive vehicle sales instead of generating vanity metrics.
They expect their vendors to offer creative and cost-effective solutions as they should.
This client couldn't care less that we had years of successful experience helping dealers sell vehicles on sites like Cars.com, email marketing platforms, and large daily newspapers.
"If you can beat the big city daily team and meet our OEM rigid Co-op standards on a limited test of emails to local zip codes, then we will expand our media budget with you."
1
Automotive is an 'eat or be eaten' competitive category.
Store General Managers need real
results performance.
2
Identify and message to a custom audience from our proprietary database of luxury vehicle prospects.
The key here is resolve and commitment to get in front of the right audience for those most apt to buy a Lincoln.
We identified a handful of vital zip codes close to their store based on income, age, and lifestyle. We recommended that they send the emails out at 8am on Thursdays so that their weekends would have lot and showroom traffic momentum.
We built the creative collaboration with this store's Marketing Director to make it appealing and attention-grabbing. We had to successfully get pre-approval from Lincon's OEM Co-op team each time before an ad could run. Their brand guidelines are among the most demanding in the auto industry.
3
Trial and Soak your marketing message.
Buying a $95,000 Lincoln Aviator vehicle isn't like choosing where to go out for dinner tonight. That is a lot of money, even if you are affluent and you have choices. Maybe you also like BMWs or Audis?
There is risk involved in getting this right. Higher-risk purchasing decisions require the frequency of messages for a dealership's marketing. There are no 'one-and-dones'.
The risk of a major purchase gets reduced for vehicle shoppers with solid research on what, when, and where to buy. These purchases take more time. Soaking a great audience with your message keeps your store top-of-mind.
We started with an email cadence for this dealership of three times per month, sending out 50,000 to the same audience each time. They liked what was happening with email opens, clicks to the their vehicle detail pages and vehicle sales.
Our budget grew with them quickly and after six months we were sending out eight email blasts per month with over 300,000 addresses reached. We were creatively soaking their patch because they decided they wanted to own it at the expense of their competition. They captured more market share and, with that, grew new and used vehicle sales volume.
Weekly used vehicles specials emailed-out at 8am every Friday
So given what you have just read, do you feel that your current marketing team and resources are fully aligned with your business objectives? Where do you see disconnects or areas for improvement?
Our agency had this overall business impact on their store.
6-Month marketing campaign.
1.2 Million Emails Sent
THEIR STORE IS THE PLACE TO BUY A LUXURY VEHICLE.
30 Unique Ad Campaigns
TOLD THE LINCOLN BRAND STORY AND CREATED EXCITEMENT.
#1 In Sales Volume
WESTERN U.S.
REGION FOR LINCOLN.
#1 In The World For Lincoln Black Label Sales
WOLDWIDE MARKET SHARE.
Dave and Mike managed a weekly email marketing ad campaign for our team at the Lincoln store. They were skilled at analyzing our needs and presented excellent creative ideas. The plan was very effective at driving new and used vehicle sales and making our return on ad spend more efficient than before.
During Align2Compete's campaign, we rose to #1 in our Western U.S Region for Lincoln Sales and to #1 in the world for Lincoln Black Label Model Sales.
-Marketing Director
Lincoln Franchise Dealership
Does your dealership need a fresh edge to reach more
auto-intenders?
If the next step is a discussion,
then choose your preferred means.