This week I want to share with you a core element of our automotive marketing strategy, one that’s going to guarantee your conquest success if you learn about it, apply it and master it: The concept is called Pre-Framing!
The concept of pre-framing (or Frame or Framing) comes from a field of study called NLP and is based on the idea that the perception you have of any event, thing or person is based on how you framed it. If you change the frame, you change the meaning and with it, the way you respond.
I’m sure you heard the expression: “frame of mind.” That’s what we’re talking about here.
If you are introduced to a new restaurant by one of its raving fans, you are likely to have the desire to visit the establishment. But if you are introduced to the same restaurant by a food critic who hated is meal, you are more likely to avoid a visit. Two different pre-frames, same restaurant, two different behaviors.
Pre-Framing is Everywhere – Why Not in Your Automotive Marketing?
Framing is everywhere. You find it in humor when a skillful comedian frames your mind one way in the first half of a joke then shifts the ending in another frame for the punch line to catch you by surprise and make you burst into laughter! You find it in movies suspense movie where the frame of the story is so well crafted that you’re blind to the obvious until the last scene.
You probably use it yourself all the time with your spouse or your kids by giving them compliments or making them promises to help you frame in a better light your requests.
Framing is something that we use and experience every day without thinking. Surprisingly, it’s also something that is absent from most automotive advertising when dealers try to market to conquest vehicle shoppers.
Why would dealers and marketing team be so oblivious to such a powerful concept when it’s something so obvious in our everyday lives? Not sure. But here’s a quick technique that will help you harness framing in the context of automotive advertising?
Here’s Where to Start:
The first step is to figure out your traffic temperature. The temperature will dictate the pre-frame bridge you will need to build before pitching prices, payments, and incentives. Is your traffic Hot, Warm or Cold? Hot traffic is made of prospects who already know your brand, products and already trust you. Cold traffic is made of prospects who are not aware of your existence
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Cold traffic is completely unaware – unaware of your dealership, unaware of the automotive problem they have, unaware of the solution you provide, and unaware of the specific vehicles or service you have to solve their problem.
As prospects move from cold to warm on the traffic heat spectrum, they become problem aware, then solutions aware, then product aware, and finally they are looking for a place to buy.
A Few Examples of Framing For Your Automotive Marketing:
If the traffic you’re marketing to is completely unaware of their automotive problems, a great pre-frame bridge could expose hidden needs they might have overlooked like a need for more cargo space or more safety in the case of expecting parents.
If the traffic you’re marketing to is aware of a particular automotive problem like credit, a great pre-frame bridge could be to talk about your finance department and their ability to help credit challenged customers. Once pre-framed on your abilities to provide the special financing, they are much more likely to be receptive to your incentives and convert into a deal for your dealership. Same could go for trades and your ability to pay more for vehicles of all makes.
If the traffic is warm for another dealer and ready to buy a vehicle from your competitor (see our blog on Custom Affinity Audiences to remarket to your competitor's Website traffic), a great pre-frame bridge could be a YouTube video comparing the strengths of your model against the vehicle they are considering. Once the pre-frame bridge in place, it would be appropriate to pitch your model’s incentives.
Now it’s your turn. How Will You Use Framing?
Once your traffic’s temperature is well gauged, it becomes easy to build the perfect pre-frame bridge to allow prospects to move from their current frame of mind to one that is fertile for a sales conversation.
Pitching your incentives first is like having the cart before the horses.
If you would like to see a few examples of how we use video to “pre-frame” the mind of new prospects and non-intenders, make sure to watch the campaigns we have here. These campaigns are guaranteed to provide you with tons of ideas to build pre-frame bridges for all your automotive marketing needs!
Lucie Gauvreau is the CEO of Turbo Marketing Solutions. You can contact her by email here or reach her by phone every weekday at Turbo Marketing’s head office.