Driving Business to an Untapped Market: Automotive Enthusiasts

What makes each human different from one another is the composition of our individual DNA. The same goes for each automobile, SUV, truck, motorcycle and RV that we drive and see on our streets and highways. It's the VIN (vehicle identification number) number that differentiates each vehicle.

I'm both an automotive enthusiast and a direct marketing professional. My hobby and passion for cars has been a lifelong interest. I have been collecting model cars for over 53 years and currently have over 4,000 replicas in my collection. I subscribe to or read about 20 automotive titles a month and have retained each of these publications from the 1960's to the most current issues. I also have thousands of automotive brochures that date back from the 1950's to the most current offerings. Some call it an obsession (my wife)…I call it a collection. I have used this enthusiasm and knowledge base in my profession as both a list broker as well as a list manager when servicing clients in the automotive sector.

Enough about me. Let's talk about marketing to vehicle owners, and what makes them such a great audience for a wide range of consumer and business offers. There are a number of excellent automotive enthusiast mailing lists offered in the marketplace along with vehicle specific mailing lists.

Let's look at some of the marketing applications for this very exciting data:

Commercial or Small Business Fleets: There are millions of registered commercial van and pickup truck owners. Just think of the applications for this data when we merge and append a business file against the commercial vehicle owners.

We can then select the number of vehicles registered at the address as well as the SIC code (most likely in the commercial building trades, agriculture or services markets), the size of business identifiable by sales volume or number of employees and other key business attributes. These business owners are excellent prospects for commercial vehicle accessories such as shelving or rack systems, warranty programs, insurance, oil company credit cards, advertising specialties, publications, uniforms, logo wear as well as a wide range of consumer offers.

Road Warriors: The average U.S. driver drives an average of 12,000 miles annually. So how can we identify consumers that are "road warriors" driving 15,000, 18,000 or more annually? Some of the VIN specific databases currently offered in the marketplace are derived from "service centers" and other unique sources such as new car dealerships when consumers bring their vehicles in for service. The mileage is recorded each time the vehicle is brought in for service for both service interval record keeping and service reminders as well as for warranty coverage claims. Since the mileage information is being captured, with some extrapolation and minor computer programming identifying the mileage driven between service intervals, we can identify these "road warriors."

This makes them excellent prospects for such automotive services as insurance, extended warranties, possibly a new vehicle to purchase or lease, portable GPS, sales motivation programs, books on tape, oil company credit cards, laptop computers and mobile phone/data services.

Growing or Young Families: This is where the power of data can come into play. The minivan market has shrunk by over 15% this past year with many prospective consumers for minivans migrating to SUV's. Minivan sales are very profitable to the vehicle manufacturers and they certainly don't want to lose sales or profitability. Perhaps we, as direct marketing professionals can help to identify the "sweet spot" for minivan sales, growing or young families to be solicited to for the purchase of a minivan? We can easily take a list of families with multiple young children as well as parents with a newborn and append it against current vehicle owners. Then, where we don't see the current presence of a minivan or perhaps an older model minivan being registered in the household, we see a prospective new minivan owner! We can also profile or lifestyle enhance current minivan owners and build demographic models around this eager to buy segment of the population. With this information, we can promote all kinds of long-term products and services as well as CRM campaigns to the parents of children.

High-End, High-Performance Enthusiasts: A Ferrari, Porsche, Corvette Z06, "M" series BMW or AMG Mercedes vehicle owner is most likely to be a high-end performing consumer as well having disposable income to spend on a wide assortment of upscale goods and services.

This category of driver generally owns three or more vehicles. Wouldn't it be interesting to see what else is in their driveway? Possibly a luxury sedan and a luxury SUV? With some simple programming, we can identify the other vehicles in the household and market additional upscale products and services to them with great success, such as fashions, electronics, security systems, publications, investments, travel, insurance and the latest and greatest gadgets to come along. These consumers drive the fastest and best vehicles on the road…don't you think they will respond to the best direct mail solicitations we can send to them as well?

Cause Supporters: Bumper stickers that are displayed on their vehicles communicate the types of interests and causes that folks support. Besides political candidate stickers, there are numerous liberal, conservative, "stop this," "support that" issues that resonate through our vehicle bumpers to others on the road. Take a moment and look at the driver sitting behind the wheel and think whether they are the individuals you want to target in your next mail plan.

So the next time you are sitting in traffic (reading data cards) or driving down the highway (negotiating net terms) just take a moment and think about what types of direct mail offers fellow drivers would be interested in receiving. And remember, you are what you drive!

Leland R. Kroll [lee@krolldirect.com] is president of Kroll Direct Marketing, Plainsboro, NJ.

Like to submit an article to List Talk? Contact Jim Emerson at jim.emerson@penton.com