This case study shows how a local ad agency helped a Lincoln dealer reach #1 in their region for sales volume in 6 months. Their customer acquisition marketing focused on broadcast email as a key strategy in local zip codes. 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. Contact Us

Get a senior marketing team as your Agency of Record. Align2Compete plans, runs, and optimizes campaigns so your growing business stops guessing and starts winning. Agency of Record Your in‑house, fractional marketing team—without adding headcount. The Agency acts as your ongoing marketing department, aligning all your tools, tactics, and vendors under a single, clear strategy so your marketing finally works together instead of in pieces. The core idea. Our Agency of Record (AOR) service gives you a dedicated, fractional marketing team that leads strategy, coordinates execution, and keeps your brand consistent—without adding full‑time headcount. We act as your in‑house marketing department, focusing your efforts on what actually drives growth. The problems we solve. Problem 1: Scattered, ad‑hoc marketing with no clear direction. “Tired of random acts of marketing?” “Lots of activity, no real strategy?” “Everything feels reactive, nothing feels planned.” “You’re busy, but your marketing isn’t moving the needle.” Problem 2: No in‑house marketing leadership, but can’t justify a full hire. “You need a CMO, not another full‑time salary.” “Too small for a full team, too big to keep winging it.” “Experts on call, without HR headaches.” “Senior marketing brains at small‑business prices.”

Mike Higgins Principal and Co-Founder Align2Compete, LLC Mike's story For the past 25 years, I have worked in all things digital sales and marketing. As a principal and Co-Founder of Align2Compete, I focus on assisting our customers in developing a deep understanding of the consumer and business owner segments that comprise their core audience and then developing tactics to speak to that audience in the appropriate tone and language. I also founded Brushfire Sales, which assisted companies in optimizing outbound sales channel efficiencies. Brushfire helped digital ad agencies with novel tactics and strategies to support their end customers. As EVP/COO of Media News Group Interactive, I oversaw tech strategy, product, training, strategic partnerships, and revenue for the 2nd largest newspaper publisher in the U.S. As a digital pioneer, I was on the ground floor at MapQuest and Weather Labs, a start-up that the Weather Channel acquired. Mobile: 303.332.3370 Email: Email Me LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelghiggins/

The case study shows how revenue growth marketing can help charter schools and community colleges attract more students during open enrollment periods. MARKETING CASE STUDY: Charter/STEM School Open Enrollment About our client . This STEM/Charter and Middle school is part of a network of public, open enrollment, free charter schools in the Colorado area. Their eight campuses serve middle and high school students. They are widely considered to be among the leading open-enrollment STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) schools in the United States. They have become a destination for educators nationwide. 100% Of our graduates have been admitted into college, university, or a postsecondary program. Results Client: Charter/STEM School. Location: Colorado, United States. Industry: Education. Time Frame: 1-Month Campaign. SCHOOL ENROLLMENT GOAL CAMPAIGN ATTENTION FULL CLASSROOMS OPEN ENROLLMENT RERIOD 23,157 EMAILS OPENED AND READ RETURN ON AD SPEND $1.53 COST PER CLICK Services used: Permission-Based Email Marketing. But we had a big problem with 50 empty seats . "Our STEM/Charter school had empty classroom seats; this was a recurring problem for us. Open seats are critical, lost opportunities to grow our school. We had to move fast in a concise open enrollment window that only occurs a few times annually. We must notify parents/families of the details during open enrollment periods. We were looking for additional marketing channels that are cost-effective for us to bolster what we were already doing to drive attention to attract new students." We felt we could help them, but that depended on isolating the right audience . Before we recommended the tactical execution of any strategy or budget, we pulled a count from our proprietary database audience by demographics and zip code. The counts matched the target households that the School needed to reach. The counts looked strong to reach adults that had children present in their homes, ages 9 -11. This gave us the confidence to push this strategy forward with the client. We recommend a total of 14 zip codes that are in a tight radius of the two school locations. 1 This is where we find out if we can help you or not. 2 Don't screw up the creative; make it compelling. This looks like a small thing, but it is a big thing. Many businesses get this very wrong with email marketing. We designed two custom HTML email blast creative pieces for each school to communicate all the details of their open enrollments and when Open House Tours would be available for the families. We crafted their subject line to create excitement about open enrollment and included their video to help drive the message home emotionally. 3 Got the word out fast with repetition. This is where creative strategy meets with just enough message repetition to get attention without being annoying. Over the four weeks of the open enrollment campaign, we sent out five email blasts of 25,000 each time for 125,000 email sends. Each school's target market was the focus with the intent of reinforcing, with repetition, the core message that open enrollment was here for great school choices for the parent's children. 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? Results that put students in open classrooms. 1-Month marketing campaign. 23,157 EMAILS OPENED AND READ. 1,867 CLICKS TO OPEN ENROLLMENT LANDING PAGE AND OPEN HOUSE INFO. $1.58 RETURN ON AD SPEND COST PER CLICK. FULL CLASS ROOMS MET THEIR OPEN ENROLLMENT GOAL. This campaign put butts in seats. Your agency allowed us to specifically target the parents of families with school-age kids in the household. This email marketing tactic was delivered to our school when we needed it. It is 'our new go-to strategy' because it puts new students in our classrooms when we have open seats. -Admissions Director Colorado STEM/Charter Middle School Are open classroom seats weighing on your mind? We might be able to help. If the next step is a discussion, then choose your preferred means. Contact Us

This marketing case study shows the actual results from revenue growth marketing by an agency that helped a specialty retailer draw more in-store traffic to achieve their sales goals. MARKETING CASE STUDY: Specialty Retail Stores - Texas MARKETING CASE STUDY: Specialty Retail Stores -Texas About this client . This client is a franchisee owner of 15 specialty soap stores in the key Texas communities of Houston, Dallas, and Austin. Each store takes tremendous pride in handcrafting every soap bar in their Soap Makery with delightfully scented, handmade plant-based soaps. They are the definition of specialty retail with brick-and-mortar locations aligned with a major grocery chain and associated retail around them. Client: A Franchise of 15 Specialty Soap Stores. Location: Texas, United States. Industry: Retail Specialty, Brick & Mortar. Time Frame: 10-Day Campaign. Results STORE SALES ENGAGED SESSIONS AD ENGAGEMENT BY PRODUCT 270 377 131 SOLD TUBS OF LAUNDRY SOAP THAT WEEKEND CLICKS TO RSVP TO THE EVENT AND PRODUCT PAGES CLICKS TO LAUNDRY SOAP AS THE MOST POPULAR ITEM Services used: Permission-based Email Marketing. Store Foot Traffic Studies. But they had a store traffic problem. “In the last 14 months, we aggressively opened eight new retail stores in various Texas locations in larger metros. We also opened stores in smaller Texas towns. In each case, our grand openings were very successful, but once the buzz died down, we started to see store visits dip, especially during the early days of the week and even on some weekends. We were searching for an additional way to create a new buzz about our first anniversaries and raise store traffic numbers, which meant more in-store sales. We asked the agency if there is a cost-effective way to reach more of our core audience of women, ages 30 - 55, in the zip codes within a 10-mile radius of our stores? Most of our store's anniversary dates were coming quickly so we needed to add juice to our current tactics.” What our agency did. 1 Researched store foot traffic. Researched their store foot traffic data vs. their competition, going back one year before suggesting any messaging strategy. Kind of like a time machine, we determined who they shared store traffic with and who they didn't from mobile device ID geo-recognition. We found some surprise data points in the local shopping patterns of shared store visits with complementary competitors that they did not realize they had. 2 Align2Compete got the word out locally with a small test permission email blast that was recommended to support their Houston stores' First Anniversary Sale Event. At 8 AM the Tuesday before the weekend, we sent 25,267 emails from our proprietary list within a 10-mile radius of one of their Houston stores that needed enhanced attention. The emails were sent only to women, ages 30 - 55, who had children present in their households. We ensured the emails had information about their RSVP for doorbuster and laundry soap special offers. Chose the audience and got the word out fast. 3 Designed a creative message that was compelling. This looks like a small thing but it is a big thing. Many businesses get this very wrong with email marketing. We designed a custom HTML email blast creative piece for the client to communicate the tremendous in-store events and specials they had going. We crafted their subject line to create excitement and counseled the franchisee on which products to feature. 4 Provided in-store visits attribution from the email. We provided Mobile Device ID tracking attribution for those who saw the email blast and as a result, went to that store for 30 days after the blast was delivered. 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? Their best results were with laundry soap sales, their highest margin, and customer retention items. SOLD TUBS OF LAUNDRY SOAP THAT WEEKEND. 270 4,501 EMAILS OPENED AND READ. CLICKS TO RSVP TO THE EVENT AND PRODUCT PAGES. PEOPLE VISITED THE STORE ATTRIBUTED BY MOBILE DEVICE ID TRACKING. 377 19 Results from a 2-week campaign. Laundry soap was the most clicked product item. The actual number was closer to 76 over the month as only 1/4 allow themselves to be tracked this way. “At our Houston store, the best sales from this event were from Laundry Soap, our highest margin and customer retention item. This was the most cost-effective single-store sales event ever, with a great customer turnout. We liked the test so much that we will use Align2Compete to execute the same strategy on a larger scale for our April anniversary sale events for our 5 Austin, TX stores.” -VP of Marketing For the Texas Franchisee. Get the word out fast out about big store events just like this franchisee did. If the next step is a discussion, then choose your preferred means. Contact Us

You hire us for marketing and growth strategies, not page views and clicks. Discover client wins, industry success stories, and insightful blog articles that elevate your marketing game. Let us turn strangers into customers, solving your most nagging revenue challenges. You hire us for revenue , not page views and clicks. When revenue sucks. There is no peace in your world. You feel it, sales are stagnant, and your pipeline of new deal prospects is starting to dry up. More About This How to avoid making a big mistake. Let’s face it, website traffic is important but if it is not driving top-line sales or profits then you just have some stats, columns, and bar graphs. You don’t need a bunch of leads; you need a steady stream of a few leads that convert to sales on a regular basis. You Need Why us . Dave Hiebeler Mike Higgins We love your problem way more than you do. We’ve worked on thousands of successful campaigns in wide-ranging industry categories. We are business owners, unapologetic sales pros, and advertising message dogs at heart. Meet The Team Client wins . These are the clients, the industries, and the case study evidence to back up how we operate. View The Evidence Growth hacks . Everyone says that by Dave Hiebeler and Mike Higgins | Apr 13, 2021 You might want to audit with a fresh eye the claims or statements your business... dave11140 Dec 20, 2023 2 min read Dave and Mike are guests on the Action’s Antidotes Podcast by Dave Hiebeler | Jul 29, 2022 Click here to listen to the podcast From the show notes: Every business, every owner, every employee has... dave11140 Dec 20, 2023 1 min read How Much Should Your Business Spend Per Month with a Marketing Agency? BY: Dave Hiebeler | June 8, 2023 Disclosure: The following article was authored 100% by a human with experience in the category; it... dave11140 Dec 19, 2023 8 min read Advertising: Do you have a brand familiarity problem in your patch? By Dave Hiebeler | July 26, 2023 (Above image source: 123rf.com) Disclosure: The following article was authored 100% by a human with... dave11140 Dec 19, 2023 8 min read View All

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