Marketing Objective

Where your marketing objective is specific, quantifiable and measurable, your marketing procedure is descriptive. The marketing procedure needs to describe how you will affect your target market’s buying decisions through the four P’s of marketing. The four P’s of marketing are as follows:

a) Product
b) Price
c) Promotion
d) place

a) Product – During the planning of your marketing procedure you will need to look at what you’re currently offering to your customers and rank them on their value to your service department. If you are currently offering a product or service that is not producing the revenue you need, a part of your marketing procedure might be to replace failing services with new ones.

b) Price – Each time you revisit your marketing plan you need to look at your pricing strategy and cost recovery for your products and services. You need to determine what pricing changes to make in order to reach your desired outcome.

Cost recovery is the method under which no gross profit is recognized until all the cost of the parts and services has been recovered. Once the cost has been recovered, the remaining collections are recognized as gross profit

c) Promotion – Encompasses all of the methods you will use you get the word out about your dealership is part of your promotional strategy. Advertising, direct marketing, events, public relations, and word of mouth are all types of marketing methods that can be used to get your dealership back on track.

d) Place – too many dealerships fail to understand the value of distribution channels. You should be seeking to have partners who will help you market, promote and sell your services. This alone can provide a valuable source of marketing. When you are expanding your services with partners, you bring value to your customers by offering them more comprehensive offerings or services. Examine your dealership, and you will most likely find the marketing voids. You need fill the marketing voids with other service participants that can help you develop new customers from the services or products they bring to your dealership. Such participants could range from your dent repair person, rim repair person, body-shop or oil supplier, you need to evaluate your service department and seek out new marketing alliances that benefit both parties.

Your marketing goals are definable steps or procedures that will lead you to your business goals within your dealership. Each goal should lead to profits otherwise you should refine it until it does. The word ample means extensive, therefore your goals need A.M.P.L.E planning, thought, research and specifics. In marketing AMPLE stands for:

Achievable – make sure your goals are achievable and realistic
Measurable – make sure your goals can be measured and quantified for tracking progress
Pertinent – Make sure your goals are pertinent to the target market you want to influence
Length of time – revisit your marketing quarterly
Exact – Your marketing needs to be exact in detail to achieve your goals

The purpose of your marketing objective is to focus all efforts in one direction within your service department, that objective is to facilitate new and repeat business and to always keep your dealerships name in front of your clients. The total overall objective is not giving your customers reasons to go anywhere else. Your marketing needs to make you stand out from your competition.

David