Branding for Car Dealerships

This month's branding challenge topic is branding the car dealership. Right away I imagine a carnival atmosphere with flags waving in the breeze, free hot dogs and magic tricks for the kids, cars tilted at wild angles and inflatable creatures on the roof of the dealership. Does that really sell more cars?

Perhaps selling cars is just the entry to the relationship with the consumer, and it's the ongoing parts, maintenance and service - beyond oil changes - that allows for the real point of difference. To see the actual assignment, check out BrandingWire.

Let's get back to the marketing basis. What is the positioning and message? Should it be focused on:

• Inventory - Overstocks, inventory, selection, hard to find. One example is Mr. Big Volume -- the dealership who supposedly sells more cars than anyone in the area.


• Price - Low margins, Financing, Rebates, leasing rates, low monthly payments. Isn't that what all consumers are really looking for, the best deal?


• Service - friendly, knowledgeable, fair, honest, whacky, fun, fast.

Obviously too much focus on a large inventory becomes an incredible expense and too much focus on low price will also put you out of business. So my vote goes to service -- the people factor.

I think of my Saturn dealership where I bought a Saturn in '92. They sent me a package of coffee and a mug while my Saturn was on order because it was "perking" along. Everyone came out to me to sing when I went in to pick up my keys. It was a ceremony! There was a 15 minute training course showing me everything from where the oil stick was, to the jack for the tires and the way the child locks worked. It was only 15 years ago, but I still get a smile when I drive past that dealership!

I think of my trip to Mr. Big Volume 8 years later when I was in the market for a SUV and the sales person quoted the size of the back of Ford Explorer with the back seat down and then said something like, "perfect for hauling plywood home from Lowes." That lost the sale right there. Not because I am woman & not inclined to remodel. But because I know that a sheet of plywood is 4 x 8 and he just told me the bed was smaller than that. Simple thing like that and he lost my trust. So I went on line to Cars.com and found the SUV I wanted. Best of all, the used Blazer was sitting at my Saturn dealership about 16 miles away. So I went back to the Saturn dealer and bought the used Blazer from their parking lot.

In my opinion the branding has to focus on the service. Quality of the vehicles is not a differential. Pricing has to be sharp, but not the focus. Trust is the differential.

See what the other branding gurus suggest: Olivier Blanchard, Becky Carroll, Derrick Daye, Lewis Green, Ann Handley, Gavin Heaton, Martin Jelsema, Valeria Maltoni, Drew McLellan, Patrick Schaber, and Steve Woodruff.