Gambling With Your Data

How Automotive Dealers Gamble With Their Mailing Lists: Protect Your Investment

Some people will take great automotive mailing lists and drive them straight into the ground.

One way to do that is simply to send once and then stop marketing for a couple months. Regular contact with your target audience is crucial.

Another way to gamble is to use the list for snail mail only.

Let’s rip the band-aid off right away.
Some people hate direct mail. For them, it’s almost as disruptive as putting your brand on a blimp and driving it through their kitchen window.

Other people feel that way about email.

If you search Google for email and direct mail in the same search, you’ll see dozens of articles on which one is best. This kind of misinformation is absolutely great for your business. Why?

If everybody else uses only one of these media channels, but you use both, you’ll take their customers and come out as the winner.

Be Where Your Customers Are

You must be where your customers are. They are everywhere. You should be too. Studies show that customers reached via multiple channels spend between 3 and 4 times as much as those who only respond to one channel.

You’ve heard the old saying, “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” The concept certainly applies to marketing. That’s why it’s so important to use a variety of methods to reach the customer.

Your e-mail should include the catch phrases, brand name and other identifying marks used in the print piece, and the channels must reference one another. Similarly, the e-mail subject line must repeat the envelope copy or a dominant line in the postal piece.

Keep it short. Perhaps 30 to 40 characters. Make it action-oriented, brand-specific and benefit-driven. The “from” line in the email should match the name used in the postal piece. Each channel has different strengths. Direct mail confers legitimacy. Email is interactive and easy to use.

The message should be the same in both. You should invest in both.

Protect your advertising dollars, send both emails and direct mail.