Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Automotive Direct Marketing Growth


Direct marketers need some good news right now.

We were happy to read this bit of news from Direct Magazine.

"Automotive manufacturers are projected to invest $9.8 billion in direct marketing to generate $108 billion in sales by 2012, according to report findings released by the Direct Marketing Association."

Talk about a nice return on investment. Even better that we're talking billions, as in "B".

So, what is the deal with automotive marketing?

"Automotive retailers generated greater than a $33 return for every dollar invested in direct marketing in 2007, which represents the highest ROI of 52 industries tracked by the DMA."

What makes direct marketing such an effective channel for the automotive industry? Here's our opinion: auto retailers typically include these three important direct marketing success components:

  1. The local nature of car shopping. In other words, you buy your car from the dealership in your area, and an intrinsic aspect of direct marketing (as opposed to branding, for example) is that you can focus specifically on sending your message only to those consumers who live close enough to visit the dealership.
  2. The ability to target your prospect exactly when they'll need and want to buy from you. Did you know that you can actually use credit data to understand when an individual's auto loan/lease is ready to expire? This is, of course, the perfect time to present that perfect offer.
  3. The 'cool' factor. If a creative piece can capture the imagination of the reader--you know, make them really imagine themselves as being better off (more hip, more in-the-know) if they own your product (think i-Phone), they'll definitely be more open to your message. Automotive marketers have the ability to cause their prospects to imagine themselves behind the wheel of your (fast, sleek, green, luxury, cute) vehicle. That's pretty compelling.

Can you think of other reasons why automotive marketers are able to maximize the direct marketing channel? We'd love to hear your input!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed this post! Thanks!

Unknown said...

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