• by Tanya Gazdik , November 9, 2007

Automotive marketers should look beyond the traditional vehicle information sites for driving lead generation from the online channel, according to a new study.

Based on multiple campaign studies, the paper, entitled "Cost-Effectively Reaching the In-Market Auto Buyer," proves that strong results from online automotive campaigns result from planning across a wide range of lifestyle sites and using optimization technology to identify optimal placement, rather than assuming what channels or individual sites are most likely to perform.

Westlake Village Calif.-based ValueClick Media division and interactive agency Goodway 2.0 of Plano, Tex. are behind the report, which looked at five separate campaigns from Chevrolet, Dodge, Honda, Lincoln Mercury and Hyundai that ran on the ValueClick Media network between March and September 2007. The campaigns had various performance objectives such as prompting the potential customer to print a test-drive certificate, view a video or click out to an individual dealer site.

Hyundai's campaign was national, and compared click-through performance of sites that were pre-targeted and considered likely to reach the intended target audience with a run-of-network media plan that was optimized based on real-time campaign data and analysis. The other automaker campaigns were regional and studied overall click-through and conversion rates, as well as performance of individual categories, to draw conclusions about the cost-effectiveness of using the network model to reach in-market auto buyers.

Auto marketers first think of third-party automotive information sites (also referred to as shopping sites, resource sites, or auto sites), as they offer attractive inventory often positioned directly in line with impartial reviews of their brands and models. These properties include sites like Autobytel.com, AutoTrader.com, Cars.com, CarsDirect.com, Edmunds.com, Kelley Blue Book and NADA.com as well as the auto channels of portals like AOL, MSN and Yahoo.

The study shows that campaigns run on a larger number of sites and optimized based on proven performance consistently outperformed those that were pre-targeted to network channels and individual sites commonly believed to be in-market auto buyer strongholds. By capitalizing on the extensive reach and optimization technology of an ad network, these auto marketers found campaign success without the third-party automotive information sites. Notably, the cost of the alternate sites was also 70 to 90% less on a CPM basis.

The overwhelming majority of auto site visitors are not in-market to buy a car, and those who are spend less than 1% of their online time on these sites. All five campaigns studied revealed that ad networks can be used to cost-effectively achieve the performance objectives of auto marketers by starting from a broad media plan and optimizing down to the specific sites that demonstrate proven performance. The channels and sites assumed to reach in-market auto buyers are not always the best-performing ones, and have proven to often be detrimental to campaign performance.

"As we thought, and what the research shows, is that every brand and model perform differently across different regions and local markets, and that using a broad-reach vehicle like a network and letting optimization technology predict what sites are most likely to perform, drove meaningful, cost-effective performance," says Jay Friedman, president of Goodway 2.0.

The report was authored by Friedman, ValueClick Meida vice president of marketing Tony Winders and ValueClick Media marketing specialist Joergen Aaboe.

Although advertising on automotive information sites is a logical choice for most marketers aiming to reach in-market auto buyers, this inventory is limited and therefore sold at a premium. Third-party research also shows that an overwhelming majority of auto site visitors are not in-market to buy a vehicle and the ones who are spend less than one percent of their online time on those sites.