The Challenge:
When the pandemic hit in March 2020, the automotive industry (and the world) came to a screeching halt. People weren’t buying cars, much less buying and selling car dealerships. For one Single Throw client—one of the country’s leading Automotive M&A firms—the question became, “How do we now lay the groundwork for future marketing success?”
The answer was to stop chasing customers and start building an audience. Enter Podcasting.
The Plan:
We created the Dealer News Today Podcast, a vehicle for our client to build authority and industry connections that they could later leverage (post lockdown) to elevate their business beyond pre-pandemic levels. With skillful strategic planning, topic selection, marketing and rapid syndication, it would become one of the most successful podcasts in the automotive industry.
Together, we designed the show to be uniquely valuable for dealership owners and executives. This M&A firm then invited high-profile guests with pull and clout in the automotive industry. These automotive heavy hitters were thrilled to lend their expertise in turbulent times, and for some, they became aware of the M&A firm for the first time, and later connected for services. In the process, the Dealer News Today Podcast cultivated a following among their ideal audience, to drive further business post-shutdown.
The result? The podcast grew continuously. And when business returned, business boomed. Q3 and Q4 were some of the most successful quarters ever for this M&A firm, and they entered 2021 with more deals pending than they had completed in all of 2020. Today, their upward trajectory remains strong, as they continue the successful podcast with Single Throw Marketing.
Target Market:
Target market is “Dealership executives and the professionals who support them”
Describe Objectives:
The front facing objective is to engage dealership leaders with insights that will help them run and grow their businesses. The marketing objective (originally for DCG and now also for Cox) is to build a listener base among decision makers at dealerships, so that when they need services to acquire, sell, or finance dealership they’ll go to DCG, and when they need innovative digital sales tools, they’ll look to Cox Automotive.
The entire first season of DNT was focused on this objective in the context of the first 4-5 months of the pandemic — lockdown, the first wave, and businesses starting to reopen — and helping dealerships through uncharted territory / uncertain times.
The objective for audience engagement is to provide dealership leaders with insights that will help them run and grow their businesses.
The Goals:
Develop a highly targeted and engaged audience in a noisy market at a time of unprecedented turbulence. Develop a fertile source of leads post-shutdown.
Engage top automotive professionals as guests. Target dealership owners and executives (i.e. prospects) as listeners.
Build industry respect and authority, allowing this M&A Firm to strengthen its value proposition to new clients and to distinguish itself over competition.
The Stats:
Top 3 most downloaded Podcast in the entire automotive industry.
Total episodes recorded in 2020: 71
Total episodes listened in 2020: 15,204
Strong Results:
27 — Number of M&A deals pending at the turn of 2020-2021, due in part to success and authority from the DNT podcast.
Listened to in every Continent in the world, 50+ countries and over 2000 cities globally.
