Are You Selling Cars at a Boat Show?

Measuring your success online by counting the number of visitors to your website is old thinking. Volume traffic does not equal success anymore, if it ever did. In fact, let’s just say that traffic goals suck.

Let’s look at a real-world example of how quantity traffic can lull you into a false sense of success.

Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show

Every year, one of Andrew’s friends buys booth space for his company at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. The event is one of the largest of its kind, covering more than 3 million square feet of space on land and water.

Here’s how our businessman fared at a recent boat show:

• Total traffic: 200,000+ people.
• Leads generated: 11,000
• Cost for attendance: $80,000
• Cost per lead: $7.27

On the surface, this sounds like a smart investment. That’s a remarkably low cost per lead acquired.

But wait, here’s the rub

Despite the leads, despite the heavy foot traffic, this dealer didn’t convert one single sale at the show. And it most certainly wasn’t because of a problem with his product. His product comes from a brand known around the world for quality, durability, and luxury. He’s a Mercedes-Benz dealer.

Or, to be a little clearer, he sells cars.

This vendor didn’t convert sales, because he was selling cars at a boat show.

Quality leads become quantity sales

Classic Car Show

Fortunately for our associate, the boat show isn’t his only exhibition of the year. Another event he attends is the Lake Mirror Classic Auto Festival, with a much more modest and much more suitable audience for car dealers. Here’s how he fared at this event:

• Total traffic: 30,000 people
• Leads generated: 800
• Cost for attendance: $7,000
• Cost per lead: $8.75

Hitting the bottom line

Attendance was much lower, but so was the barrier to entry. The cost per lead is marginally greater than the big boat show. However, if the ultimate goal is to drive revenue, targeting his audience seems like a much better bet. At the Lake Mirror Classic, our Mercedes dealer sold 12 cars. Twelve conversions based on a $7,000 investment versus zero conversions on an $80,000 investment.

I’m an English major. You do the math.

Takeaway

Think carefully about the sandboxes you play in online. Simply going for the volume channels or attracting volume traffic based on irrelevant promotions may produce pretty, upward trending lines in Google Analytics, but what does it mean?

Set goals of attracting quality traffic from relevant channels, and make the real goal of your online strategy to drive revenue from your interactions, not to drive an arbitrary number of visitors.

About the author

Brad Schwarzenbach -

As an analyst on the Tippingpoint Strategy team, Brad explores new opportunities for clients to build relationships with their customers. He’s always testing new social media channels, poring over analytic data, and identifying emerging trends. He also speaks at conferences & events about uncovering powerful messages hidden within brands' unique values.

Brad’s research has contributed to the development of content & contributor strategies for such clients as Breville, Rodale, Long’s Jewelers, and Fusionapps, as well as being a frequent contributor to the Tippingpoint blog. He’s been “listening” to the way we communicate online since the old AOL People Connection days and watched the way that digital communication has evolved.

An English and Creative Writing major at the University of Connecticut, Brad’s spent most of his career creating web content and becoming intimately familiar with web theory for Bayard, Inc. and TomTom Inc., giving Brad keen ears and eyes to what, exactly, makes web content valuable.

Outside the office, Brad feels most at home with his beautiful wife-to-be Kristina, or on the golf course. “There’s a distinct pace and rhythm to the way people communicate online.  Understanding and taking part in them yields amazing opportunities for my clients to not only grow but to improve their business. I’m constantly looking for those opportunities.”