Process

To handle the complexity of each client project, We Think Advertising utilizes a proven system to carry us through each phase of a campaign. Our initial understanding of dealers needs points to the following structure.

Analysis	Process	Production	Unified Brand
PHASE 1	PHASE II	PHASE III (to include at least some of the following)	SUCCESS
Project launch	Findings report and presentation of campaign concepts	Branding and identity development	Recognizable brand presence in the marketplace
Review existing materials	Create advertising and marketing plan	TV & radio commercial production	Enhance Company image and perception
Conduct employee interviews / discussions (if needed)	Establish schedule and additional budget parameters	Website and web video	Advertising and marketing are aligned with operating strategy
Audit online and offline assets	Build internal marketing team	4 walls advertising (improve existing messaging within the facilities)	Evaluate campaign components against established benchmarks
		Outdoor messaging
		POS materials and collateral
		Magazine for high-end customers
		Graphics Standards Manual

Phase I & II: DISCOVERY & ANALYSIS

During the first phases of our advertising/branding campaign we will work our way from the top of the company to the bottom to understand how your business works. Every industry is complex. What we are looking to discover is how operating procedure effects customer decision-making and perception.

Phase III: Production

Branding & Identity

Early in our analysis we will outline a comprehensive list of potential identity changes and a general estimate of costs associated with their production. However, we believe that the most important change is not redefinition of the brand but consistency within the message that we establish. We might create additional elements and improve existing elements as we phase out those things which no longer fit the position of the company. We also recognize that within many businesses there are literally thousands of branded components. Our plan to restructure the elements will be prioritized within a realistic framework.

The breadth of existing media and materials will be aggregated during the initial discovery phase. All information on pricing, orders, vendors, etc. will be added to the your marketing database so that over time a clear picture of costs and direction will come into view. We can then evaluate everything, to determine whether elements are complements to the your brand and which elements must be omitted to retain brand consistency.

Commercials: Introduction

TV and radio commercials will be an ongoing component to the campaign. Both will include a rollout of branded spots, and ongoing call to action spots to run simultaneously. The benchmark quantity of commercials will be determined during our first few weeks but anticipate producing two high end spots per quarter, and monthly tv and radio call-to-action spots, perhaps averaging a total of four to six spots per month in total. Television continues to be the very best way to communicate an important ad message. Call to action spots are obviously going to benefit businesses today, but with a comprehensive creative campaign, many more non price-driven “products” will attract customers as well.
Television spots will begin immediately as we will need to continue to drive sales through year’s end. These commercials will be transitional in that the current marketing platform will remain while we rebuild.

The Internet and you: Social Media Platforms

Everyone is getting on the social media bandwagon. We are adopting social media for businesses because these sites (flickr, youtube, vimeo, netvibes, delicio.us, facebook, twitter, blogger, etc. ) help grow our web presence and increase our ability to tell our story as we want it told. But social media as a tool for selling anything is limited on its own because the online world has quickly become cluttered with an impossible and unprecedented amount information and messaging. Only if a social media campaign is built around informing customers and potential customers of the finer details of our marketing tactics will it become an invaluable tool for customers perception of businesses in the community.

4 Walls Advertising: Introduction

A customer’s experience at the location of a retail operation is the most important factor in whether the customer buys or buys again. One extra long line at a checkout or run-in with a testy waitress can result in one less customer for life no matter how well that person responds to the ad messaging. Auto dealerships might be the best example that exists for how much impressions make or break a relationship or transaction, and yet dealerships are often most culpable for egregious lapses in quality customer service and company presentation. Customer service falls into the Operations category, yet so many of the details of customer service are opportunities to bridge the gap to marketing and advertising.

4 Walls Advertising: Branded Materials

Now look around your business. Look at the key fobs, the “uniforms” of employees, etc. Just having and maintaining these things is a full-time job yet the business of running your business takes every second of the day from every single employee. No marketing director is capable of policing the finite details of every item that becomes representative of the company. To do so would be to overlook the bigger picture of the position and so she must delegate. But the individual tastes of those selected to make purchases and the  capabilities and differences between vendors make it nearly impossible to maintain a constant identity.

How a business looks and how it presents are both as important as any component of the company’s marketing strategy. Therefore, we have developed a system for collecting data, evaluating its effectiveness or importance, and moving all purchasing and design or creation of branded materials through a funnel that will ultimately make the process as simple as the click of a button. Moreover, we will leave behind a very clear blueprint for any future brand changes so that the organizational component (which is by far the hardest part of the process) comes with instructions.

4 Walls Advertising: Business 360°

As previously mentioned, your business will become the premier brand of convenience your world. This will be achieved through measurable changes like the introduction of time-saving initiatives. So many procedures that are already in place in organizations like yours are designed to move product and people through quickly to increase revenues. These things must only be identified during discovery, and then shared with shoppers and customers through an advertising campaign that emphasizes the characteristics that appeal to customers. Goals will also be achieved through difficult-to-measure tactics like the addition of slogans and images that emphasize speed, consistency and other convenience qualifiers.

While there are always wide-ranging opportunities to let customers know about some of the benefits they already experience doing business with your dealership, we expect that we must add to the current marketing strategy a concerted effort to reach out to new and existing customers using varied methods. Our big idea will be is clear, concise, and effective. But in reaching out to customers your business should be able to meet them any way within reason. That way is business 360°.

Business 360° is a commitment to complete customer satisfaction, from the moment they call or visit your store online or set foot in a location to the purchase of a product or service. And at the center of business 360° is the 360° Team. The 360° Team is not a sales team in the traditional sense but rather a group of tech-savvy, attractive, young men and women who act as a sales support staff. They are educated, fast learners who are capable of talking intelligently to any kind of customer about a broad range of topics — from all of  the various models that you sell to financing options, to current research on crash test results in five passenger hatches to current and ongoing dealer incentives. Unlike a traditional salesperson the certified 360° staff member is a neutral representative of your brand and all of its individual Models. She is a living, breathing, marketing and messaging vehicle. And because she is not being paid to sell cars by commission but to talk up your dealership, she is more likely to win the hearts and minds of wary customers.

In short, the 360° Team is a group that does everything related to marketing that you wish your sales staff would follow through with, or that you wish you had time or resources to do but can’t.

Outdoor, Web, and Non-Traditional Advertising

Some forms of traditional media placement are a given. With good media planning and placement and a solid advertising platform with consistent creative messaging using billboards, online ads, and more non-traditional media forms can greatly benefit an automotive business. Some of these mediums are an obvious and known quantity. But there are innumerable other opportunities that are very difficult to quantify when a barrage of possibility is presented every single day. With an agency’s system for data collection, all of these forms can be understood and evaluated to ensure better ROI and less waste.

During our work together, we will build into our overall strategy a complete budget for non-traditional advertising.

Point-of-Sale Collateral

More often than not, Point-of-Sale materials are underutilized because businesses have difficulty telling their story in a way that emphasizes their distinction over their competitors. For this reason, dealers are often hoodwinked into buying template-based brochures and other POS collateral because defining their difference is too difficult to imagine. At best a brochure becomes a reminder to a customer of the dealership attached to the car whose price they scrawled onto its back page.

But a good brochure is almost like Cliff Notes for a business. It outlines the individual strong points that embody the business, strengths that the customer has been shown or has experienced from his or her very first interaction with the brand. It’s not lip-service to  customer service or to commitment to low prices and inventory. Those things are obvious if they’re true. It’s a document that highlights one example after another of why a customer should consider no other business.

Pricing and Deliverables

Comparing We Think Advertising to any other business in advertising will get you apples to oranges every time. This company is unique in every way because our model is built around operating differently from the rest.