Auto Brochure Printing – Do Buyers Care About Catalogs?

If you’re a dealership that has auto brochures or car catalogs in your showroom or if you’re a marketer for a car brand then it’s likely you’ve had or been asked the question, “Do Car Buyers Still Use Brochures?”. Interestingly there have been studies done to show if car buyers care about these brochures and if it’s worth the time to get them printed and promoted in dealership showrooms.

These studies showed that many dealerships actually believed the brochures did not impact the sales for any specific vehicle, but when surveyed directly 90% of automotive customers stated that the printed auto brochures were extremely helpful to them during their buying experience when searching for and deciding on which vehicle to purchase.

Another statistic that is important to this conversation is whether or not car buyers are still coming into the dealerships and showrooms to purchase vehicles. Studies are clear on this number showing that an overwhelmingly high percentage of auto buyers still come into the dealership to participate in the car buying experience when finalizing the decision and purchase of a new vehicle. 

With that being said these questions still remain, “Do car buyers still use auto brochures?”, should you as a car brand marketer have those car brochures printed and you as a dealership still place these catalogs in your dealership showrooms.

Should You Provide Car Buyers with a Physical Printed Catalog?

The great thing about car catalogs & auto brochures is that they are a physically printed manifestation of an aspirational experience the car buyer has, that they use to initiate a fantasy of riding proudly & confidently in this new vehicle. The looks they’ll get, the time they get to “Show Off” their new vehicle are all anticipated moments that car buyers envision and are triggered when the customer is flipping through the pages of these brochures.

Additionally these same buyers will hold on to these printed auto brochures and refer back to them if they don’t make an initial purchase that same day at the dealership. Plus during the decision making process many prospective customers will share that car catalog with a friend or family member to get their opinion, which extends the visibility of the car brand, make and model as well as the dealerships brand because it’s inevitable that it comes up in conversation.

So you tell us, “Should you print car catalogs and give them to potential buyers?”.

We think yes.

Automotive Brochures are Practical, Efficient, and Cost Effective

Promoting a brand takes both time and money. So a question that every automotive marketer, car brand manager and dealership should be asking themselves is where can I spend the time and money that I have to get the best results.

The marketing mix for dealerships and car brands will span across the full channel spectrum including events, digital marketing, partnerships, direct mail and other printed collateral.

If we focus on the major ways that car brands and dealerships are promoting themselves we see that it’s heaviest in digital marketing and tv commercials (although there is overlap in tv advertising and streaming being a part of the digital marketing ecosystem). The problem is that digital marketing has become extremely expensive and commercial advertising has always been expensive.

Marketers need affordable and effective ways of getting the message out to promote visibility and sales without killing their budget too quickly or ineffectively. This is where the printed auto brochures come in.

Car catalogs and brochures at first glance can seem to be a high cost, but when you look at the numbers you’ll see that this simply isn’t the case. Digital ads and commercials can generate hundreds of millions of impressions in a short period of time, but many of those impressions are wasted. When a buyer is inside the showroom the ads and commercials don’t matter any longer, they won’t help close the sale. Having a printed car brochure ready and waiting to help influence the customer and seal the deal is one of the most affordable methods of advertising the vehicle where it’s closest to the sale and can tip the buyer into making the vehicle purchase more expeditiously.

If you are in need of having car catalogs printed then talk to us today about how we can help you win the moment for your customers inside the dealership and on the showroom floor.