For Auto Dealers, What’s Old is New Again

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. - Oct. 28, 2015 - PRLog -- San Clemente, Calif. (October 29, 2015) – It’s become a lost art: Handwriting a note to a prospective customer, then placing a business card inside a hand-addressed envelope with a first class postage stamp. But in the highly competitive automotive sales industry, those small efforts can make a big difference to prospective customers.

“People expect direct mail from car dealers to be all digital, with no personalization whatsoever,” says James Kennedy, president of Kennedy Marketing Group. “So when they go through their mail and they see something from an auto dealer that was hand addressed by a real person, they take notice. In fact, it will probably be the only piece of mail that doesn’t go in the trash that day.”

Kennedy’s company, which produces direct mail campaigns for automotive dealers, has provided this “retro” marketing service for more than 500 auto dealer franchises in the United States. “It really increases their bottom line,” he says. “Dealers have told me that new customers are walking in and telling them how impressed they were by the mailer. Sometimes, that personal touch is all people need to make a buying decision.”

That personal touch is extensive; for all his clients’ mailers, Kennedy makes sure that the handwriting on the note inside matches the handwriting on the envelope outside. “Consumers are savvy nowadays,” he says. “They know the difference between a handwritten note and a digitally printed one.” He observes that while other marketing companies claim to provide the same service, many actually emulate handwriting with digital printing. “They’re just using a handwriting font on a computer,” he says, “while we do all our writing by hand. The technology gets incorporated later, when we follow up with an email blast.”

In an age where communication trends are always changing, Kennedy believes this approach is here to stay. “The written word will never completely go out of style,” he says. “It might be old-fashioned, but old is new again and people are loving it.”

About Kennedy Marketing Group

Kennedy Marketing Group (KMG) is a full service direct marketing company dedicated to provide cutting edge, state of the art sales and marketing campaigns. KMG creates and produces customized marketing pieces for the auto industry from start to finish. Learn more at www.KennedyMG.com.