Driving Customers to Your Dealership the Right Way

Courtesy of Beach House Graphics

So you're thinking about having a contest to bring more traffic into your dealership. This is a rather common tactic, but if it's not executed properly, contests can make car shoppers more likely to run for the hills than through your dealership's doors.

Besides driving customers away, a poorly handled contest could also cost your dealership a substantial amount of cash. A Wisconsin Ford dealership had to pay a fine of over $75,000 for misleading customers about the prizes they were offering during a promotion. Since we don't want that to happen to you, here are some promotional ideas that you can use to draw customers to your dealership.

Teamwork

Sponsor a local sports team. Provide the team with uniforms, banners, etc. (all with your dealership's name on them, of course) so that at each game, hundreds of people will see your dealership's name. Include unique phone numbers on each form of advertisement so you'll be able to easily measure what's most effective.

Ask the Car Dealer

Partner with a local radio or TV station and do a weekly segment called "Ask the Car Dealer." On the radio or TV station's website, the audience can send in questions for the car dealer with no obligation to purchase. The stations can advertise on commercial breaks for your dealership and send people to their website for your insight.

Give Back

Collaborate with a charity to host an awareness day, and sell items containing your dealership's name and logo along with the charity's name and logo. Advertise that a portion sales from that day will be donated to the charity.

VIP Event

Send invitations to interested prospects in your city. Host a party with music and food open only to those who provide an invitation. After the event, send a thank-you note with an exclusive offer to those who attended.

Once you test out our tactics, try a few of these suggestions from CarStory.