A One Page Car Dealership Marketing Plan You Will Actually Use
Most marketing plans are forty slides that nobody opens after January. A car dealership marketing plan that fits on one page gets read, gets followed and gets updated, which is the whole point of having one.
Why one page beats a binder
A plan is a tool for making decisions quickly. When a vendor calls with a new idea, when inventory shifts, or when the month starts slow, you should be able to glance at one sheet and know whether the idea fits, where the money would come from and what it would have to deliver. Long plans fail that test. The five boxes below fit on a single page and can be filled out in one working session with your GSM and whoever handles marketing.
Box one: the goal in units and gross
Write the monthly target for new units, used units and total gross. Under it, write how many of those sales you expect from repeat and referral business without advertising. The difference is what marketing must produce. One sentence is enough: “Marketing is responsible for this many sales this month.” Everything else on the page serves that sentence.
Box two: who you are selling to and where they live
Describe your three most important buyer groups in plain words. For example, truck buyers in the surrounding counties, families moving up to a three row SUV, and shoppers rebuilding credit who need a dependable used vehicle. Beside each, note the zip codes where your sold data says they come from. This box keeps your advertising pointed at real people in real places instead of at everyone within an arbitrary circle.
Box three: the channel mix and what each one owes you
List every place you spend marketing money. Keep it to a simple table with four columns.
- Channel. Search, social campaigns, sales events, listings, email and text to your database, traditional media.
- Job. Capture active shoppers, create new demand, or bring back past customers.
- Monthly spend. The full cost including fees.
- Expected result. Set appointments, shown appointments and sold units.
If a channel has no expected result you can write down, it does not belong in the plan yet. If two channels have the same job and one clearly outperforms the other, the plan has just shown you where to move money.
Box four: the calendar
Sketch the month in four weeks. Mark the dates of any sales event, the days your database outreach goes out, creative refresh dates and any manufacturer program deadlines. Then mark the slow stretches from last year’s traffic and plan a push ahead of each one. A calendar turns marketing from a reaction into a schedule. It also shows the sales floor what is coming, so appointments from a campaign never arrive as a surprise.
Box five: the scorecard and the meeting
At the bottom of the page, list the numbers you will review and when.
- Weekly: leads, appointments set, appointments shown and sold units by source.
- Monthly: spend and cost per car sold by source, plus a sold match against each source’s list.
- Quarterly: which channels earned more budget, which lost it and what you tested.
Name the person who brings the numbers and the day of the meeting. A plan without a meeting attached is a wish. Twenty minutes every Monday with this page on the table is enough to keep it alive.
Keeping the plan current
Print a fresh copy at the start of each month and update the five boxes by hand if you need to. Change the goal, adjust the mix based on last month’s scorecard and redraw the calendar. Keep the old copies in a folder. After six months you will have a record of what you tried and what worked in your own market, which is more valuable than any outside benchmark. When you evaluate partners, bring the page with you and ask which box they improve and what they commit to. A partner who commits to a set appointment minimum, for example, gives you a firm number to write in box three.
Frequently asked questions
How far ahead should a dealership plan its marketing?
Plan in detail one month at a time, with a rough outline for the quarter so events and budget shifts do not catch you off guard.
Who should write the plan?
The GM or GSM should own it, with input from whoever manages marketing and the BDC. The people accountable for sales need to own the page.
What is the most common thing missing from dealership marketing plans?
An expected result beside each expense. Without it, nothing can be judged and nothing gets cut.
See what an event would look like for your store
Willowood Ventures runs Facebook Sales Events for 600+ dealer partners and manages $4 million per month in social advertising. Dealers see approximately 800% average ROI, and 90% of them rebook. Book a demo and we will walk through your market, your inventory and your set appointment target.
