Zimmer Radio Group, covering the middle of Missouri with stations in the Columbia area, is working on getting a bigger piece of the Automotive category. Teaming up with American Radio Strategies, Zimmer Digital Marketing Specialist Shelby Lyon gives Radio Ink a look at a new concept they’ve created called iNeedNewTires.com.
Radio Ink: What is “I Need New Tires”?
Lyon: We have tire dealers in about a 30-mile radius of Columbia who sponsor it. The consumer can go on the website, put in their make, model, and tire size and that generates a lead for our sponsors. They are notified by e-mail and text message. They can send back a quote on the tires the person is looking for. The offer also usually includes an additional incentive; something like a free oil change, tire rotation, or nitrogen fill. As it works out, if you are the first dealer to respond and have the best price, you usually get the sale.
Radio Ink: How do you market this to your advertisers?
Lyon: We reach out to the tire dealers and tell them we have a lead generator. We charge about $500/month for the service, but for dealers in smaller communities we adjust the price. They get 50 spots on all of our stations. We have nine radio stations in the market that covers the middle of Missouri. We cover a variety of formats: Top Country Hits, Top 40/CHR, Classic Rock, Mainstream Rock, News/Talk, and Sports Talk. We also promote their sponsorship and the service on Facebook.
Radio Ink: What type of feedback have you been getting from the tire dealers?
Lyon: They’re extremely pleased with it. Last month we generated more than 80 leads. The previous two months there was an average of 40 to 50 leads generated. Two of our dealers sold two sets of tires within the first week of being part of the service. We have a couple of dealers that sell more expensive tires and the response hasn’t been as good, but overall we are getting positive feedback from our dealers about the number of leads that are being generated per month.
Radio Ink: What type of spots are being run?
Lyon: They are the same for each radio station. We switch them out about every six-weeks. So far we have used two different spots. Both are about creating awareness about how driving on old, worn-out tires is dangerous. The other is basically that nobody likes to buy new tires, but when you do need tires go to the website for the best price on tires.
Radio Ink: You took advantage of this service for a recent contest promotion. Tell us about that.
Lyon: It was on our Top 40 Country station, KCLR. We wanted to build an e-mail database for our monthly iNeedNewTires.com newsletter. It was a simple sweepstakes contest where we invited listeners to sign-up on the KCLR website and then we held a drawing for two Kenny Chesney concert tickets. It was a great way, right off the bat, to develop a database to promote our new service.
Thanks to Shelby Lyon with Zimmer Radio and Marketing Group
Tie these tire dealer commercials to traffic reports, and you’ve got a Winner. And only with radio can you get current traffic reports (and of course news and weather.) Nowhere else. Certainly not TV, while you’re on the road.
Outstanding idea, Zimmer sales team.
What hometown radio (can) do best…a ‘win-win-win’ situation for everyone involved: the client, the listeners/consumers, and the station.
Well done.
There’s some brilliance here, and the core idea could work for other items as well. Thank you for sharing!