A sum of $300,000 is required for the industry to create an Internet based campaign that could move the needle in consumer awareness, according to Steve Witt who helped lead the 12 Volt Initiative, the industry’s first try at a collective “Got Milk”-style awareness campaign years ago.
There are several efforts underway to help the industry raise awareness and we’ll mention a few here.
But first a little editorializing….
You could say the car audio industry needs a consumer awareness campaign even more than it did 7 years ago, when the industry launched the 12 Volt Initiative.
Low awareness is partly to blame for the shortage of installers, not just the shortage of new customers.
As retailer SoundFX in RI put it, “If you don’t know about it, you don’t like it. Why has skateboarding and X games become so popular…because ESPN puts it all over the place …There’s a show about custom doughnuts on the cooking channel. Someone looks at that and says, ‘hey, I can make donuts,’”said Mark D’Elia.
Awareness not only brings in new customers, but it creates a ready pool of enthusiasts who choose to enter the field as installers, and this ready pool has dwindled.
In our opinion, the recent success of the aftermarket in the roll out of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto before 99.9 percent of the car companies is something the industry should rally around and promote. We envision large banners that say “Apple CarPlay is Here” for storefronts and on billboards.
And yes, there are ongoing to efforts to create awareness in the industry, which some measure at below 50 percent (for awareness and/or bad experience).
The Mobile Electronics Group is looking into TV promotions in conjunction with KidsandCars.org. Last year, the group joined with KidsandCars to land a TV spot on Atlanta’s Channel 11 that was taped at local retailer Car Tunes of Atlanta. The piece generated 50 calls to the shop over the next few days. The Mobile Electronics Group is hoping to generate similar TV spots all over the country.
Demo Days hosted by The Consumer Electronics Association in conjunction with ME Group has been discontinued. Instead, the CEA is working on a new campaign here.
BusinessWorx (Avidworx) says a single supplier could achieve significant consumer awareness for its products with less than a $100,000 investment through email marketing to its retailer’s customer base. Additionally, by working with dealers’ Facebook and social media, the 250 rule also helps reach new customers. Every person knows on average 250 people on social media. So if one dealer has 1,000 Facebook likes, there’s a lot of potential to reach new customers.
“Every other world class business is doing this,” says BusinessWorx CEO Marcel Newell. Car audio is using less than 5 percent of this type of marketing available. If it moved to 30 percent usage of these now standard marketing tactics, awareness would dramatically increase, he said. Email marketing is said to deliver a $40 return on every $1 spent.
Photo via Mobile Electronics Group of Car Tunes Atlanta featured on Channel 11.
Source: CEoutlook
As a 20-year veteran of technology marketing with 15+ of those being online, this article excites me in that my offline passion is and has been car audio for over 30 years. http://micwat.com/experience/
The suggestion that the industry lacks awareness is dead on in that I continually hear comments like, “they still do that” or “where do you hear about this stuff” after I post up my published photo coverage of events like SBN. (links on my site http://micwat.com/experience/ ) The interesting thing is that the comments come from folks that are most likely to take the next step and head over to a 12-volt retailer to look into what’s possible these days…. if they knew the retailer was only 10 mins away.
The fundamental problem is that the industry does not do a great job of targeting the audience most likely to engage and take that next step. When I asked most of my retail friends who’s their target audience or their best customer, they have no problem describing them but when I ask how do they target these people they don’t know where to start. The opportunity at the retail level is huge!!!! My partner Don and I at http://www.Internetfellas.com have enjoyed working with some great shops to get things moving.
People are consuming media on multiple screens these days with the mobile devices taking over those eyeballs that used to be found on the PC and in front of the TV. The good news here is that these people can be targeted online at a granular level never realized before. We know everything from where they live, to what type of dog they own. Even more importantly for the 12volt industry, we have the ability to target these people by much more than general demographic information. We can target geography, income, vehicle preference, online behavior, proximity to a dealers store and, we have the ability to present specific messaging that’s most likely to evoke engagement.
There’s no one aspect of online marketing that represents a magic bullet. An understanding of what each brand/dealer needs determines whether or not their marketing dollars are best utilized buying search, building (or updating) an seo friendly site, buying online video, engaging in social media, digging into MOBILE, updating local directories, creating emails , and so on… The goal is the phone ringing, emails coming and ultimately, traffic through the front door that turns into $$ in the register. It usually take a combination of all of the above….
The most difficult thing to do online is brand and it takes a really big financial effort to do so in that you have to utilize high impact ad units, which have higher cpms/cost and eat away at the budget. Tracking brand lift would also have to come into consideration to ensure that there was some impact from the $ spent. (we increased awareness by a “fraction” of a percent – does not translate to sales)
TV spots have been the mainstay with regards to branding in general business categories (12V is not general) but the big question we have as online marketers is, what does the revenue look like following a TV spot. Simple ROI question… Also, is it track-able and how efficient is it? Online is the most efficient place to spend marketing dollars, hands down. Again, as long as it’s done with a goal in mind and it can be measured …. In real time!
I look forward to seeing where this conversation goes and to helping where I can. I can be reached at [email protected]
We are on the right track… kinda. We need to look at how car manufactures and dealerships advertise as an example. Even boat manufactures have figured out they need to have advertise where their target market is. Boat sales are on the rise. They went against the market trends about 5 years ago. I think everyone will agree that a large part of our target market is into sports. Why isn’t there at least a dozen audio manufactures commercials per game? Yes, I understand because of money. But at some point we are going to need to spend a little to turn this mess around. It starts with brand awareness. The general public has no idea what is inside the wonderful world of a mobile electronics store, not car audio stores, but mobile electronics stores. The general public thinks we only cater to kids wanting high school bass. We need to fix the image, create brand recognition and drive people back into stores. Chances are we might even be able to attract a few new bodies as installers.
This is something that can be addressed at the retailer level with support from forward thinking vendors. As we see more and more top retailers become proactive with their online presence, I would believe that smart vendors would see the value in participating in helping these dealers build their audiences in their respective markets. This is a direct WIN-WIN for everyone. I have a plan and the means to get the ball rolling. It is cost effective and extremely easy to administer. I would be happy to talk to any manufacturer or retailer who is serious about truly building awareness. [email protected]
I hope we don’t use the photo above with that “professional” looking shop with stuff littered everywhere.
too little, too late. this is as good as it gets.
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