Now's Not The Time To Slow Down 

According to a recent J.D. Power and Associates forecast, new-vehicle sales in 2008 are expected to reach their lowest levels since 1994, dropping to 14.95 million cars and light trucks. This obviously isn't good news for our industry, and your first instinct may be to cut back on spending (including marketing and advertising), ride out the rough times and wait for sunnier weather. But if you do that, you'd be missing a huge opportunity. 

First things first... if you're experiencing a slow-down in sales, the last thing you'll want to do is to cut back on the only thing that can drive sales - namely advertising and marketing. 

Second, slowdowns like this are an opportunity for the marketing savvy among us to capture market and mind share so that when things rebound, as they most certainly will, you're in the driver's seat.  

One way to accomplish this is to ramp up your traditional media spending during this lull. Chances are you'll even probably see some favorable media rates. But an even more effective way to capture the market and mind share you desire is to employ a number of digital marketing techniques. Such tactics as video emails, email marketing allow you to expand your reach at a cost per contact far lower than traditional media efforts. Here are a few things you might consider: 

1.      Expand your base of opt-in customers - those loyal customers who agree to receive emails and other electronic communications from you.

2.      Use multimedia and email tools to expand the reach of your television and radio campaigns to your online audience.

3.       Expand the functionality of your web site to better capture leads and drive them toward closed sales.

4.      Use online coupons and other offers to create an incentive to act now. 

These and other digital tactics, combined with a traditional media schedule, will position you well when the market turns around. Everyone else will cut back... and you'll use this slow down to steal their customers and their market share.  

Is Your Site Plug In Ready? Yes! 

Regardless of who built your website, where it is hosted or how often you change it, your site is Plug-In ready. Dealer Impact's Plug-In Technology is specifically designed to bring added functionality to any and every dealership site. Expand your site's capability to capture leads, display multimedia content or incentives customers all without concerning yourself about the little technical concerns that always seem to get in the way. All that, and you don't have to switch providers. 

It's that easy to Plug and Play with Dealer Impact. 

Contact your Dealer Impact Representative to learn more about Plug-In Technology and how these unique modules can plug right into your current site and begin driving leads directly to your dealership.

Doing Good The Dealer Impact Way 

The team at Dealer Impact would like to thank our clients and partners for helping us support a variety of local charities with which we're involved. One recent effort saw the team set out to collect food for our furry and feathered friends at the Animal Rescue League. We donated more than 1,900 pounds of pet food - an average of nearly 120 pounds of food per employee. That ought to keep the rescued pets in puppy chow for quite a while.  

In addition to the Animal Rescue League, Dealer Impact and its employees also support Big Brother Big Sisters, March of Dimes, Ronald McDonald House, and Combat Hunger.

Again, thank you to our clients and partners for helping to make these donations possible.

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