Are you getting the best results with your OEM-approved vendor?

As a dealership, you often have limited options for what digital advertising vendors you can work with if you want to get those precious automotive co-op dollars. 

We get it. Your budget is only so large, and you might not be able to do a lot of the advertising without those reimbursements from OEMs. And you would think the approved vendors chosen by those OEMs should be the best and get the results you want (namely, vehicles sold).

Unfortunately, in our experience, that’s not necessarily the case. 

To put it mildly, we’re often unimpressed with the results we’ve seen by those approved vendors. The goal of having these approved vendors was to streamline your marketing efforts — but often this only leads to cookie-cutter campaigns from companies that don’t understand your individual dealership’s needs, your market competition, and your local or regional customer base. 

Why ‘Approved’ Automotive Marketing Agencies Sometimes Suck — and What to Do Instead

Here are some common reasons why approved vendors might not meet expectations:

One-Size-Fits-All Approach

Some approved vendors treat all dealerships the same, regardless of size, location, or target audience. This can lead to ineffective strategies that don’t align with your dealership’s specific goals and needs.

What to do instead: 

Choose advertising vendors who offer a customized approach based on your dealership’s individual needs and goals. They should be willing to adapt their strategies based on your feedback and results.

Overpromising and Underdelivering 

Some approved vendors promise significant results but fail to deliver. This could be due to unrealistic expectations or a lack of transparency in their strategy.

What to do instead: 

Prioritize vendors who are transparent about their strategies, provide realistic projections based on data and benchmarks, and offer clear metrics for success. Make sure they provide regular reports so you can track progress.

Lack of Personalization

Approved vendors often provide cookie-cutter solutions that may not be tailored to your dealership’s specific target audience or market conditions. They may use generic templates or strategies that don’t resonate with your local customers.

What to do instead: 

Look for vendors who offer customized solutions. They should take the time to understand your dealership, your customer demographics, and your local market dynamics. Customized campaigns are more likely to yield better results. (We show you the numbers below!)

Limited Innovation

Approved vendors may stick to traditional advertising methods without embracing newer, more effective digital marketing strategies. This can result in missed opportunities to reach a broader audience or engage customers more effectively.

What to do instead: 

Seek vendors who stay updated with the latest trends — like TikTok and Snapchat advertising for automotive dealers — and other technologies in automotive advertising. They should be willing to innovate and test new approaches to see what works best for your dealership.

Poor Communication and Support

Effective communication is crucial for successful advertising campaigns. Approved vendors that lack responsiveness to edits or concerns provide inadequate support, which can hinder your marketing efforts.

What to do instead: 

Choose vendors who prioritize clear communication and provide dedicated support. They should be accessible for questions, updates, and troubleshooting throughout the campaign.

Insufficient (or Nonexistent) ROI Measurement

Many approved vendors may focus solely on metrics like impressions or clicks without noting how these turn into actual sales or leads for your dealership.

What to do instead: 

Look for vendors who can tie their efforts directly to ROI metrics that matter to your dealership, such as lead generation, test drives booked, or actual vehicle sales attributed to their campaigns.

Beyond Co-op: Why You Should Build a Custom Marketing Strategy for Your Dealership

So You Have To Work With An Approved Vendor…

If you have to work with an approved vendor for your marketing, hold the vendor accountable. 

One thing we do for several of our clients is be the middleman between the dealership and their approved automotive advertising vendor. Sometimes it’s a specific consulting package, and sometimes it’s simply us noticing subpar results in the client’s Google Analytics and pointing it out to them as we work on another part of their marketing. 

We take our role of being an ally for our clients very seriously, and we want to make sure you get the best results from your marketing. We always start with reliable benchmark sources, like Wordstream, to gauge how effective campaigns are currently. 

We’ve also done extensive research both with outside sources and our own analytics, reflecting on historical data over several years, to grasp a better understanding of automotive digital advertising benchmarks. 

Start with those benchmarks and compare the results you’re getting from your vendor. If you’re not seeing the results you want, ask them why they’re not meeting the industry benchmarks. 

We know it takes time and energy to push back and get the vendor to pivot to a custom digital strategy, but it’s worth it. Every time, we’ve seen an improvement in key performance indicators (KPIs). 

9 Clouds Clients Rank Above National Industry Benchmarks for Google Ads

Comparing Cookie-Cutter Meta Campaigns to Custom Meta Strategies

The proof is always in the numbers.

We looked at analytics from two dealerships in the same city, owned by the same automotive group. One runs their Meta (Facebook and Instagram) campaigns through us, and the other uses an OEM co-op approved vendor for their Meta campaigns. 

Over six months, you could definitely see that the custom campaign strategies showed better results for the client. 

Let’s just look at two standard metrics. 

• The click-through rate (CTR) for the vendor-run campaigns (0.78%) didn’t even meet the industry benchmark (1.18%), though our campaigns far outpaced them at 4.67%. That means their campaigns did not manage to attract as many visitors to their site as they should have. 
• The cost per click (CPC) for the vendor campaigns ($1.53) averaged more than double the industry benchmark ($0.70), while ours was well below. That means for the people who did click on their ads, it cost the dealership more than double what it should have for each click. 

While some of the differences in metrics can be attributed to the different vehicle brands at these two dealerships, the industry benchmark from Wordstream is based on all different makes and models across the U.S. 

No two dealerships will ever completely match when it comes to their metrics, and no two campaigns will, either. However, our tracked benchmarks consistently beat industry averages — and OEM-approved vendors averages, too. 

Automotive Marketing

Let Us Help You Get Better Digital Results

We’ve learned that when it comes to approved automotive marketing vendors, you need to stick up for yourself and express why you should see better results. Set the bar high and hold them accountable. 

Don’t have the time or energy to manage your vendors? We have a lot of experience guiding approved vendors by recommending customized targeting and ad optimizations to get you better metrics and more vehicle sales. 

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