Updated: October 21, 2016 

Legendary University of Alabama coach Bear Bryant was seldom seen without his rolled-up game plan during games. While he recognized the importance of preparation, Bear also understood the importance of stepping it up in the final act: “Winning isn't imperative, but getting tougher in the fourth quarter is.”

In January, we published a piece called “5 Questions to Ask About Your Dealership's 2016 Marketing Plan” with the recommendation that dealers take the new year as an opportunity for a little self-reflection on their approach to marketing strategy. With the end of the year approaching, we felt it appropriate to revisit this piece to power a strong finish to your 2016.

The choices you make today determine not only whether your dealership is building valuable, long-lasting, consistent revenue streams throughout the rest of the year, but also how effectively you’re retaining your hard-won customers and maximizing the value that lives in your database. These five questions will help you toughen up your marketing strategy in the fourth quarter and set yourself up for a winning 2017.

1. Do you view marketing & advertising as an investment or a cost?

With its ever-expanding range and typical lack of consistent metrics, marketing and advertising is viewed by many dealerships as a squishy but necessary evil. After all, everyone else is doing it, right? It’s hardly surprising that this mindset often leads to a collection of the latest “next big things” with little to show in the way of actual results.

But when you start analyzing your marketing and advertising as an investment with an associated return, you can start increasing its effectiveness. This shift can also help illuminate some of the other common gaps we see in dealership marketing.

2. Are you maximizing your database’s potential?

Your database has the potential to be one of your dealership’s most valuable assets – but like any good tool, it’s only as effective as the way you handle it. Are you unwittingly squandering the value of your customer data by over-messaging your email list?

If you’re seeing excessive churn on a regular basis, it could be because you’re over-messaging your database with ineffective, one-size-fits-all campaigns. Email remains one of the most cost-effective communication channels with an average 4400% ROI, but a customer is more than just an email address. Collecting and updating data such as telephone numbers, text opt-ins, and social media isn’t just good practice; it allows you to reach your customers at the appropriate time on their preferred communication channels.

3. Are you following the clues to learn more about your best customers?

Image: dynamosquito

Finding new customers of any kind is great – but what if you could find more of your best customers? Here’s where a little detective work comes in handy (bowler cap and pipe optional). Every customer click tells a story, and looking at the non-promotional content your high-value customers are interacting with can provide clues to their interests. The more of this content you’re putting out, the more valuable the insights.

There’s a flip-side to this as well: have you also identified your low-value customers? After analyzing their databases, many dealerships find that they’ve been throwing money away trying to recapture low-value defectors while their best customers go ignored.

4. Are you taking a global view of your marketing activities?

We know how easy it is to get bogged down in the details, especially when you’re following up with a different vendor for every separate channel or campaign. The issue is that there hasn’t been an easy way to see all of your traditional and digital marketing and advertising activities in one place – and many vendors want to keep it that way.

When your marketing “partners” make you work harder to get to your data or are unable to provide meaningful results, your investment suffers. It’s your right to pick partners that will work together collaboratively to maximize your return or who can handle more of the pieces to execute on a comprehensive marketing strategy.

5. Are you striving for continuous improvement?

Here’s the kicker: Your dealership’s marketing can (and should) always get better.

And the way to do that isn’t with any silver bullet, but with testing, testing, testing. Even small changes can make a big difference (one client saw open rates increase by 11.15% simply by experimenting with the day of the week of their newsletter send).

Now that you know the right questions, discover the answer. The 3 Birds enterprise-level marketing and analytics platform is an integrated digital solution that makes it easier for dealers to see the effects of their marketing activities and make smart plays when it comes to winning new customers as well as maximizing the lifetime value of your existing ones. Schedule a call for a fourth-quarter huddle with the experts at 3 Birds and take your marketing strategy to the next level.