I was talking to a dealer that I have worked with for many years who recently acquired a couple of new facilities in an area outside of his market. These new stores had been a gold mine waiting to happen. However, they were uncharted waters for him as an operator based on the geography.

As we were talking and reviewing our market research he voiced concerns about it being an unfamiliar area to him. I assured him that the very foundation of all automotive dealers’ marketing and advertising starts with geography.

This market was no different from any other place in the country. We had to analyze the natural traffic such as where it was coming from and why. We had the ability to generate traffic based on buyers who will travel to us.

Sure the Internet erases all distance barriers for car shoppers, but where you can pull the masses from is largely based on what traffic you can effectively grow based on your geography.

At the end of the day every advertising dollar is an investment in traffic and just like with financial investments you put your money on the areas that give you the greatest returns.