FEBRUARY Marketing Ideas for your Dealership

How is your February Promotions Calendar looking?

February is all but mediocre in the dealership world.  February means Valentine's Day, President's Day, and the start of tax returns. What are you doing to Improve Your Promotions  this month?

We'll start by taking a look at each promotion opportunity one at a time, and we'll end with a free download opportunity for you and your dealership.  If you need artwork assistance for any of your holidays and sales events, we can create new artwork or customize provided images for your dealership's web banners, pages, emails, social media, showroom flyers/posters, and more.  

Valentine's Day

• Minimum:  Wish your community a Happy Valentine's Day from your Dealership Name.   An email or letter would be way over the top for this not-so-dealership-related holiday, however a banner on your home page, also shared on your social media, with your well-wishes is a small but great, bottom-budget way to improve your dealership's image.
• Rev it up a Notch:  Do a Valentine's giveaway promotion, advertised on your web site and social media, for $100-200 VISA Gift Card (for example) to pay for a night out on the town with your sweetheart or friends.  In lieu of a cash prize, you can partner with a small, local restaurant or retail business to offer a certificate in exchange for the free advertising of their business in your promotions.  Contact us for some quick ideas on how to best make this work!

President's Day
If you're a new car franchise, as you know it's very likely your manufacturer will have a President's Day Sales Event for you to promote, with great offers umbrellaed under a patriotic flair.  Any dealership, however, has opportunities to reach out to customers, prospects, and the general public for this national holiday:

• Minimum:  Again, wish your community  a Happy President's Day from your Dealership Name with a home page banner and social media post for a small contribution towards your brand image.
• Rev it up a Notch:  Promote your dealership's President's Day Sales Event with a banner linking to a web page promoting your event specials, and driving phone leads, form leads, and inventory and credit approval calls-to-action.  Of course, a link to your sales event web page should be included in your dealership's social media and blog posts leading up to the holiday and on the big day.  Don't forget to post flyers or posters in the showroom, customer lounge and service areas.
• Hitting the Gas:  In addition to a banner and web page with social media posts, and on-site flyers/posters at your dealership, send an e-blast to your customers and prospects highlighting some of your best deals, thus driving traffic to your dealership's sales event lead-driving web page.  Contact Us for our Sales Event Promotion Package discounted pricing, or for free ideas on how to grow your dealership's email contact list.
• Full Speed Ahead:   You can use all marketing and advertising solutions that make sense for your budget and advertising mix to promote your dealership's President's Day Sales Event, including: Radio, TV, Newspaper, Online Advertising, PPC, Test Drive Giveaways, Local Event Sponsorship, etc. in addition to the above promotion ideas to get your community's auto shoppers at your store for your President's Day Extravaganza.  

Tax Returns
February kicks off tax return season.  This is a great opportunity for used car and new car dealerships to help customers apply their tax return dollars into a smart down-payment on a new or used vehicle.  

• Minimum:  As you can probably guess by now, a home page banner and social media posts are the lowest-cost way to create and promote your Tax Return Event to your captive audience.  Need artwork?  We'll create Tax Time Event artwork to use in any of your dealership promotions.  
• Rev it up a Notch:   Promote your dealership's Tax Time Event by linking that home page banner to a web page showcasing all that their tax return dollars can do for them at your dealership — revealing the best current offers, down-payment programs, easy advanced credit approval, and more.  This is especially effective for special finance dealerships and BHPH dealers.  Of course, a link to your Tax Time Event web page should be included in your dealership's social media and blog posts throughout the entire tax return season, as well as a side bar or P.S. note in your dealership's prospect followup email templates.  Don't forget to post flyers or posters in the showroom, customer lounge and service areas.

• Hitting the Gas:  In addition to the home page banner, web page, social media posts, and on-site flyers/posters, to get this in front of your non-captive audience, you will need to do some further promoting.  The most cost-effective option is an e-blast to your customers and prospects, informing them about the tax time opportunities at your dealership, and linking to your web page, which of course should be custom-designed to convert online shoppers into qualified sales leads.
• Full Speed Ahead:  Again, you can use all marketing and advertising solutions that make sense for your budget and advertising mix to promote your dealership's Tax Time Event, including:  Radio, TV, Newspaper, Online Advertising, PPC, Press Release, Emails, Web Pages, Banners, social media posts, etc.

Whether you have an in-house marketing department, a contracted agency, or may need our assistance with some or all of these items, take these ideas and customize to whatever makes sense for your dealership, your target audience, and your budget.  Click to Contact Us any time for some complimentary advice on what may work best for your dealership's unique situation, or call now at 407-900-5790.

Free Download Opportunity
As a way of saying "Thank you!" just for reading our post, click here to access a free Valentine's Day web banner for your dealership, compliments of Improve Your Drive.  Simply right-click on the graphic to "Save As", then open it in any image editing software to add your dealership's name, resize to fit your home page banner dimensions, and upload.  Please Contact us if you need assistance.

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