National Hyundai Dealer of the Year

A few years ago, Catalyst Automotive proved the power that strategic marketing can have on any business, no matter how big or small.

With the proper marketing strategy, even a relatively unknown outback Hyundai Dealer could make waves in a crowded and competitive industry.

Simply by creating a plan and executing it, we were able to help ‘Far West Hyundai’ beat out 169 competitors to win the ‘Hyundai National Dealer of the Year’.

Here’s what we did and how we did it.

What We Did

We’ve all heard the age old saying “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail …” Dealer principal, Mark Grundy, did not take the idea of being dubbed ‘second best’ lightly.

So, at the end of 2015, we sat down with Mark and his team and put together an effective marketing strategy that – if implemented properly, under our direction – would be enough to help Far West Hyundai win the Platinum Dealer in the Central Region, an accomplishment in its own right.

But, with a collaborate effort between our client’s clear goal-setting and our marketing plan, Far West Hyundai didn’t only win best in the region… they also won best Hyundai dealer in all of Australia, based against a range of KPIs and targets.

1200km from Sydney, the Far West Auto Group in Broken Hill in outback New South Wales was crowned Hyundai’s 2016 National Dealer of the Year. They comfortably out-performed all other dealerships across a national network of 169 retail outlets.
The Team at Far West Hyundai (FWH) were the standout winners in Hyundai’s points-based program, which assesses customer satisfaction, quality of facilities, servicing, parts, sales targets, and overall compliance with manufacturer standards for business and operations.

The Gala Awards night was overseen by Hyundai Motor Company President, JW Lee and Chief Operating Officer Scott Grant, amongst other high-profile members of the fast-growing car juggernaut.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s get into how exactly we did this.

How We Did It

The key here was to generate a steady flow of leads.

Week-in, week-out, we had high-quality leads coming in by using a wide variety of advertising methods.

Our ‘Plan of Attack’ involved continuous media scheduling – we planned and deployed a marketing campaign that used a wide range of media and traffic sources.

Remember, the car dealership industry is competitive.

With so much money involved, it can be way too easy to be ‘drowned out’ and get lost in a ‘sea of dealership noise’… the way to cut through the clutter of competition is with a tactical and strategic marketing plan.

All ads contained strong branding, logos, fonts, and more that all stayed consistent with every single advertisement across the campaign, no matter the medium.

This is crucial when selling vehicles – it is unlikely that consumers will see your ad once and buy a car from you. Constant, repeated advertising efforts are necessary – not only that, but the actual ads must be strong as well.

Some of the mediums & methods we used were:

TV advertising – consistent TV ads helped generate many leads
‘Retail’ advertising – hot offers that inspired action in customers – great deals trumps everything else
Newspaper advertising – yes, newspaper ads are still have a place if they are cost effective – especially when targeting the 45+ age demographic
Social media – particularly for younger car buyers, Facebook + Instagram + other platforms are very powerful when used correctly for advertising)
Email marketing – this is the best way to remarket to your past buyers, free of cost
Mobile marketing – another effective way to sell to past buyers and leads
Annual Sale Event – this was to provide a sales volume stimulus – very effective!

All of these methods were used under a single, planned marketing strategy intended to reach a clear goal.

Prospects would be offered the ability to test-drive a car at the dealership. Once this test drive occurred, rigorous follow-ups by sales staff led to increased car purchases.

Catalyst Automotive works with car dealerships across Australia to achieve marketing goals and increase sales.

We offer all of the above advertising services and more – take a look for yourself.

What Did the Client Have to Say?

“I knew I wanted to develop a comprehensive marketing campaign for the year but I wasn’t sure where to start. Kain and the team at Catalyst Automotive guided me through this process and helped plan our marketing strategy for Hyundai. We focused on generating action and product trial through test-drives of our Hyundai vehicles. The agency cared for our brand as if it was their own and I will continue to engage with Catalyst Automotive for our dealership’s marketing needs.”

– Mark Grundy, Dealer Principal

Would you like to work with the same advertising agency that helped Far West Hyundai win Hyundai’s 2016 National Dealer of the Year?