We speak fluent
forecourt.
Marketing for main dealers and independent dealers, from a founder who spent four and a half years marketing seven franchises from inside a dealership, with one dealer per area.
Alex learned the motor trade from the inside. For four and a half years he and the marketing coordinator ran a multi-franchise dealer’s marketing day to day, across seven manufacturer brands and an approved used brand: the plan, the creative and the work itself.
Honda, Volvo, Renault, Dacia, MG, Isuzu and Kia. That is why Pollard Media already knows how a dealership month runs: manufacturer campaigns arriving with their own brand rules, the plate changes in March and September, finance offers that have to be worded properly, and used stock that changes every day.
Built around the dealer calendar.
Each month starts with a written plan built around what is happening on your forecourt: the franchise calendar, the stock you need to move, the launch event and the service offer. Every task has a name beside it and the commercial objective it serves.
You see the plan before the month begins and the report after it ends. Work that is not selling cars or filling the workshop is stopped, and the time goes where it will.
What we run for dealers.
Every service Pollard Media offers, run against your commercial objectives, from the showroom to the workshop. The plan sets out which parts your dealership needs, whether you hold a franchise or trade under your own name.
Main dealers
Local campaigns that sit inside the manufacturer’s brand guidelines and alongside its national activity, so your showroom gets the visits the campaign is built for.
Franchise marketing teams
We work with Dealer Marketing Centres and directly with franchise marketing teams, so manufacturer, group and local activity run as one.
Franchise marketing calendars
Each franchise’s marketing calendar sorted and arranged into one plan, with launches, national campaigns, plate changes and local events lined up and resourced.
Independent dealers
A brand of your own, from positioning to logo, so buyers choose you for more than the price on the windscreen.
Overage stock
Aged and overage units given their own campaigns across search, social and the website, so the stock that costs most to hold moves first.
Launches and sales events
New model launches arranged and sales events coordinated from the marketing side: invitations, ads, content on the day and follow-up with everyone who came.
Google Ads and paid social
Search, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok campaigns for stock, offers, launches and test drives, run to agreed targets and moved to wherever the enquiries come from.
Local SEO and the website
A Google Business Profile kept up for each site, reviews answered, and stock, offer and service pages built to be found for searches made nearby.
Content Visits
Photography, walkaround videos, social posts and drone footage from a half-day on site each month, edited and ready to publish.
Aftersales
Service, MOT and parts campaigns to your own customer list and to drivers nearby, reported on the bookings they bring in.
Tracking and reporting
Calls, forms, test drive requests and service bookings traced to the channel they came from, so every part of the budget is judged on what it brings in.
Finance ads, worded properly.
Car finance ads are regulated. Under the FCA’s consumer credit rules, an ad that shows a rate of interest or a cost of credit must include a representative example. We write finance promotions to those rules and send each one to you for sign-off before it runs.
- The representative exampleIncluded whenever an ad shows a rate, a monthly payment or another cost of credit.
- The representative APRShown where an ad gives an incentive to apply, makes a favourable comparison, or suggests credit for people who think their access to it is restricted.
- The manufacturer’s rulesFor franchised dealers, offer wording, logos and disclaimers checked against the manufacturer’s brand guidelines.
- Your sign-offNothing with a finance offer goes live until you or your compliance contact have approved it.
- The monthly reportEnquiries, test drives, sales and service bookings by channel, with what changes next month and why.
The first quarter.
How a dealership is taken on, and how the work runs once it is.
Tell us where you’re goingReview.
Weeks one to three.
We spend time at the dealership, review the marketing already in place and the numbers behind it, then write the plan around your calendar.
You receive the plan, with your commercial objectives on page one and a name against every part of it.
Handover.
Weeks four to six.
Ad accounts, listings, tools and suppliers move across in order of what matters most, so nothing stops while the rest follows.
Every account stays in your name.
Run.
Month two onwards.
Each month’s work is planned around your stock, offers and events, done by the specialists in each discipline and reviewed with your named lead.
The monthly report goes to the dealer principal.
Adjust.
Each quarter.
The plan is reviewed against your sales and aftersales targets. Work that is moving you towards them gets more time, and work that is not is stopped.
The scope and fee change only when you agree it in writing.
Marketing you can hold to account.
Dealers have good reason to be wary of marketing people. Alex spent four and a half years on the dealership side, so Pollard Media works to commitments written for the people who answer for the numbers. Every client gets them, set out in the client pack.
- Reported in cars, not clicksEnquiries, test drives, sales and service bookings, in a monthly report that lands by working day 10 and is talked through in a 45-minute review.
- You approve the workAds, posts and budgets come to you for approval, with a record of who approved what and when. If you are tied up, you choose whether we hold or go ahead.
- A wrong price is urgentIf a wrong price, offer or claim is live anywhere we manage, call us. Urgent issues get a response within 2 hours in working hours.
- Every message answeredEvery message acknowledged within 1 working day, and a second person briefed on your account so nothing waits on holidays.
- Your accounts, your dataAd accounts, analytics, Google Business Profiles and the website stay in your name. If you ever move on, all of it stays with you.
- Scope and fee in writingAgreed before any work begins, and changed only when you agree it in writing.
- Mistakes ownedWhen we get something wrong, we tell you first, fix it and explain what we have changed.
I initially contacted them for help with Google advertising, from the start it was super relaxed, no pressure to buy from them and genuine advice on which strategy would be best for my business.
Alex and his team are the best I have ever worked with and are the only company who is as attentive as we are for success, customer satisfaction and providing outstanding results always.
One dealer per area.
Our MissionOnce we act for your dealership, we will not take on your direct competitor nearby, even if they ask and even when that costs us the work.
Questions about marketing for dealers.
Do you work with main dealers and independents?
Yes. Main dealers get local marketing that works inside the manufacturer’s brand guidelines and alongside its national campaigns. Independents get a brand of their own and the marketing to build it. The plan is written for the kind of dealership you are.
Can you work within our manufacturer’s brand guidelines?
Yes. Alex spent four and a half years marketing seven franchises from inside a dealership, so working to a manufacturer’s guidelines is where he started. We work with Dealer Marketing Centres and directly with franchise marketing teams, so local activity sits alongside national campaigns, not against them.
Which brands has the team worked with?
Alex has marketed Honda, Volvo, Renault, Dacia, MG, Isuzu and Kia, as well as an approved used brand.
What does one dealer per area mean?
Pollard Media acts for one business per sector in each area. Once we act for your dealership, we will not take on your direct competitor nearby. We agree what that means for your dealership before the work begins, and write it down. It covers all ongoing marketing work; website builds are the one exception.
Can you help move overage stock?
Yes. Aged and overage units get their own campaigns across search, social and the website, and the plan changes as the stock list does. Google’s vehicle ads, which show a car’s photo, make, model, price and mileage, are in open beta in the UK, and we check whether your account can join.
Do you handle finance offers in ads?
Yes. We write finance promotions to the FCA’s consumer credit rules on representative examples and APRs, and nothing with a finance offer runs until you or your compliance contact have signed it off.
Do you cover aftersales as well as sales?
Yes. Service, MOT and parts campaigns run to the same plan as car sales, and are reported on the bookings they bring in.
Do we keep our accounts and data?
Yes. Ad accounts, analytics, Google Business Profiles, the website and every file are held in your name, and we are given access to run them. If you ever move on, all of it stays with you.
How is it priced?
Every engagement has a defined scope and a stated fee, agreed in writing before any work begins. Tell us where you’re going and we’ll tell you what it would involve.
Ready to talk about your next stage of growth?
Tell us where you’re going. We’ll tell you, candidly, whether we’re the right agency to take you there.
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