Since the conception of GDL Automotive we have been marketing. The issue we had in start up and in the early days was we had no focus. We were trying any and every thing that was within our budget and expecting instant results.
In the first year we were doing letterbox drops, signage on THE WOO, running the Facebook page and when we could afford it running advertisements in the newspaper. The trouble was we were not getting the results to justify the expenditure.
We took advice from business owners wherever we could get it and discovered very quickly that most were having the same problems. So we set about to research what were we doing wrong. It was a long process but we discovered two things.
1. The results of marketing are never instant, it takes years of repeated exposure before people become familiar with your brand. This is why the newspaper ads did not work for us. Running one advertisement here and there when the funds allowed did not give the target audience repeated exposure.
2. Shotgun marketing never works. We were targeting some of our marketing at soccer mums, some at tradies, some at business folk and some of it at the modified and performance market. We had no consistency. We rectified both of these situations and focused on two markets with repeated and multiple sources of marketing.
Facebook, bumper stickers, flyer drops, true local, vehicle signage, postcards, SEO and even this blog were all committed to, for the long haul and over the next twelve months regardless of results we just stuck with it.
The result, a few short weeks after the move to Warriewood the phone rang hot, the cars poured in and we went from a lack of funds and the slow trickle of work to a serious staff shortage issue. Marketing does work.
In the first year we were doing letterbox drops, signage on THE WOO, running the Facebook page and when we could afford it running advertisements in the newspaper. The trouble was we were not getting the results to justify the expenditure.
We took advice from business owners wherever we could get it and discovered very quickly that most were having the same problems. So we set about to research what were we doing wrong. It was a long process but we discovered two things.
1. The results of marketing are never instant, it takes years of repeated exposure before people become familiar with your brand. This is why the newspaper ads did not work for us. Running one advertisement here and there when the funds allowed did not give the target audience repeated exposure.
2. Shotgun marketing never works. We were targeting some of our marketing at soccer mums, some at tradies, some at business folk and some of it at the modified and performance market. We had no consistency. We rectified both of these situations and focused on two markets with repeated and multiple sources of marketing.
The result, a few short weeks after the move to Warriewood the phone rang hot, the cars poured in and we went from a lack of funds and the slow trickle of work to a serious staff shortage issue. Marketing does work.
