Smaller, Local Based Marketing Companies Get the Job Done Better
Owning a small, New England based, digital marketing firm is a dream come true. Though, since my company’s vertical is working with new car dealerships, it can sometimes feel like an uphill battle; not unlike looking at the summit of Mt. Everest from low in the foothills. But, the best thing about being small is the ability to come in under the radar.
Most of the time, a dealer will get roped into using services from a large vendor because their manufacturer “recommends” they use them for other services.
What I see very often is the larger digital vendors are rarely able to exceed the customer expectation. I’m not going to name names but your dealership probably deals with at least one of them. What is the main issue? To be direct, there are several, but let’s look at the biggest problem dealers face when working with a large vendor for digital marketing services.
To put it bluntly; large digital vendors make quantity their primary focus, when it should be quality! This is where I see larger vendors falling short. How can a company that has thousands and thousands of clients all over the country know exactly what each dealer needs to do to beat out their competition? The short answer is; they don’t. And to elaborate, they likely don’t care. The manufacturer tells its dealers to use company A for their website as they’ve signed a contract with them. Well, after the website is done, Company A will tell the dealer that they have other services they can offer. Great, but guess what, those same services are being offered to every other dealer in your PMA. How the heck are you supposed to stand out?
I was recently called in to speak with the GM and the owner of a dealership I work with. The last two months had been a bit slower than they would have liked and they wanted to know what else could be done besides the solutions I was already working with them on. I immediately suggested we take a look at all of the other marketing avenues they were doing. As it turned out, their website vendor was hitting them for $4000 a month for pay per click advertising and website retargeting. Here’s where it gets interesting; I had my team look into this and one thing we found was that their PPC ads were not only generic and lacking the all important call to action (CTA), but one of my colleagues in California was seeing the ad!!!
Why is a dealer in the Boston area serving ads to California residents?? This isn’t a Ferrari dealer or a dealer who specializes in rare, one of a kind vehicles, it’s a top 10 manufacturer brand. When they sat down with their vendor rep, the only thing the rep could offer was “well, we’ve been able to get you 57,000 impressions this month.” I don’t care if you got them five million impressions, it didn’t do anything!!! They immediately cut all funding to that large vendor and allocated a sizeable chunk to my company to begin with. They’re already seeing better results.
On top of mediocre digital campaigns, you also run the risk of things like duplicate website content and having the same social media posts as dozens of other dealers around the country (see graphic from Automotive Digital Marketing). For these reasons, it is best to go with a small, local based digital marketing company who knows your PMA and can custom tailor a package of solutions to assist you in conquering your closest competitors. Just make sure that when you commit to a small automotive digital marketing company, that they commit to you fully and don’t run across town to try and sign up your competitor.
Another issue I hear about from dealers time and time again is customer service. I vividly remember sitting in the office of a dealer principle with his entire senior level staff one day last summer going over what I had to offer them. The owner’s son, the service manager, pulled up a receipt from a vendor they were working with at the time. The only problem was that they had no idea what the vendor was doing for them, as they had no line-itemized document. After unanswered phone calls to both of their reps as well as no one at the corporate office picking up the phone (it was a late morning meeting) plus an additional 10 minutes of discussion, I left with a contract in hand.
When you work with a smaller, local based and local focused firm, you’re working with a small business, just like yours. With the bigger companies there are layers of people to answer to, in a smaller firm, it’s typically the owner who builds the relationship and works with the client. Every customer that chooses to work with my firm gets my direct cell phone number and is told that no mater what day it is, no mater the time, if there is a problem, I am only a phone call away. In some cases less than an hour drive away.
Before you decide to go with a large vendor for your digital marketing or before you re-up with your current vendor, look into what a smaller vendor has to offer first. You’ll likely end up with better solutions, a superior customer experience and you’ll most certainly see your budget spent well.