Custom Trucks is one of my favorite Ad4! clients.
They have everything a boy could want: trucks, truck stuff, big dogs, and The Pickup Truck Girls. What’s not to like?
But why does Custom Trucks like Ad4!?
Turns out there are several reasons: time, expertise, and trust.
Ad4! Does several different activities for Custom Trucks. We buy media, we manage their website (which is currently under a rebuild for mobile friendliness), and run a content marketing program for them that includes managing their social media. For Burns Smith, the owner of Custom Trucks, “It’s more complicated than we’re prepared to handle.” That is, the social media part of what we do not only takes time to create and post, which they don’t have, but knowing what to post and when is also a decision they’d rather leave to us. “You start talking about keywords and hits, and we kind of gloss over” Smith continued.
“Plus, we’re busy.” In fact, Smith runs a lean operation at Custom Trucks. They don’t have people or person with a bunch of time on their hands. Their employees work hard. “Actually, you’re like another employee when you come in once a week and do your thing.”
That’s exactly the kind of relationship we love.
Our relationship with Custom Trucks is based on trust, just like his relationship with his customers. He depends on their trust and his employee’s hard work to service customers. Without the convenience of great service from a company they trust, his customers could just buy their accessories off the internet. But they don’t.
They buy from Smith and his team because they know they will get a fair price and expert installation and a warranty. It’s hard to get a good warranty from the Internet.
On the media buying side, Smith gives us a budget to work with and trusts us to make the right buys. That’s not to say that he doesn’t pay attention, because he does. But with Ad4!, media buying is more science and art. If you do your research and understand the target customer, the buys almost make themselves. We get great information from our tools and media partners, so that once we’ve defined the problem and target, it’s just a matter of finding them in the options. Certainly, having a whole lot of experience helps.
Ad Hoc Research conducted a study of 74 respondents all having decision making power over their organization’s advertising budget. The survey took place during the fourth quarter of 2015. The survey was primarily studying digital advertising trends but had some interesting side notes. When asked about why a respondent used a media agency to buy media the top answers were:
Advantages of Managing Media Buying through an Agency:
77% Media Agencies have better expertise (better perspective and knowledge)
29% Media Agencies have better tools (technologically superior)
24% Cost Effectiveness (bulk buying and better scalability)
24% Media Agencies are more efficient (access to a better inventory)
21% Simplifies the Process (time/workload saving)
Another even more interesting footnote to the survey is the percentage of respondents who use media agencies and are dissatisfied with them (38%). The average satisfaction score given by respondents who deal with media agencies is only 6.9 out of 10.
Unfortunately for our industry, this is not surprising. In fact, this is why Ad4! exists in the first place. We understood that charging big prices and providing little value is not a scenario that works for most businesses. You not only have to provide value, but be nimble enough to respond to changing conditions.
I asked Smith why he used Ad4! for buying media. He said that having someone to hold him accountable was one of the biggest reasons. Unlike many Ad4! clients, Custom Trucks write their own copy. That is, Smith writes the words for their spots which are usually read and recorded by Diane, Shannon, and Karen, the Pickup Truck Girls.
From time-to-time, we’ll have Burns record a spot, or a ‘celebrity’ endorser like Rick Burges from The Rick & Bubba Show. Burns is good at writing a fun spot that’s not too silly. Keeping the commercial fun while staying within their brand promise. Most people have a hard time keeping those lines separated. But Smith has been in this business for a long time. He understand his brand promise and how his words spoken by the Pickup Truck Girls affect their image. He understands that his real unique selling proposition is trust.
We understand that trust too. “We trust you.” Those were Smith’s words when I pressed him for an answer. From my perspective, it doesn’t get any better than that.
If you’d like some expert assistance with your media buys, give Ad4! a call today at 256-705-3544.
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Originally posted on Jan 26, 2016