Wannabe British Singer Discovers Powerful Automotive Advertising Secret Dealers Will Use To Sell Cars & Get Rich

By now I'm sure you are familiar with Reality Television phenomenon Susan Boyle and her Brittan's Got Talent performance that captured 51,505,616 views and over 230,000 comments in just some months on YouTube.

If you haven't watched this video featuring the frumpy Forty something lady who literally hits it out the park her 1st time performing on the program, go online now and give it a look.

There are some influential lessons you'll learn from this viral success that can easily be put into action in your car dealership.
After all, we always encourage our readers and coaching students to look beyond huge successes in the media or in business and see how you'll be able to imitate those results in your own store.  
Victory leaves clues, whether it's a viral video, a quote or an off-handed comment about what's working for someone else in a utterly unrelated business. Asking better queries and digging for gold nuggets is the dirty work we do everyday… it's what we live for.

Thus back to our case study on Susan Boyle.

This YouTube Video heard round the world was originally posted on April 11th, 2009. Within four days, the video had over Nine MILLION views and had been commented on by over 50,000 people. In fact the numbers are still ridiculous and off the chart-but the big query is... why did this video get so much activity in such a brief amount of your time?

What makes one video, one plan or one message spread around like wildfire and other messages (like your dealership's marketing messages) go utterly ignored in the marketplace?

Well we've identified 2 fundamental reasons this….and for the rapid success of Susan Boyle's video.  Both that are easily duplicable and ready to use instantly when marketing your local store.

The Video Creates Burning Anticipation

If you've ever studied an exceptionally successful viral campaign similar to this one, you'd see a video's ability to create and uphold expectation is one of the key common denominators behind its success.

In this particular video, the anticipation builds deeply before Susan ever steps foot on stage.  We hear her back story as we're introduced to a frumpy and rather eccentric looking woman who clearly stands out from the other contestants in the race.

She's then brought before the judges and you're on the rim of your seat waiting to find out what's going to happen. Are the panel of judges going to laugh her off the stage? Will the spectators love it or hate it? Is she going to be awful? Could she presumably be any good? You'll find out after these messages.

There's a strong headline smart promoters have used for decades.  It goes something like, "They all laughed when I did ________ (i.e. stepped up on stage, sat down at the piano, got behind the wheel), until I _________ (insert the wonderful thing the person just did).   It's a headline that gets read each time… and it's the identical anticipatory force at work in this video.
Then again, it's important to keep in mind that expectation is a form of yearning. Yearning is something we all want our prospects and customers to have for our messages, our vehicles and our dealership. It's actually easier said than done, however expectation is a very genuine kind of desire you'll use to the gain of your store.

Unfortunately, most dealers think they're doing a nice job creating "yearning" and "anticipation" because every year the manufacturer sends them a new model and a few fresh banners to show off.  What might be a lot more thrilling…right?

Well friends, I hate to break it to you, but your new banners and poster boards showing off this year's hottest minivan isn't all that exciting to your clients.  And used car dealers- you don't even have the lavishness of receiving these marketing "tools'.

Therefore instead, a more dependable and successful method to form expectation would be to offer your audience one thing they actually look forward to. Though it sounds pathetically simple, it truely is.   The secret is to get within the head of your customers, figure out what they really, truely need and tie it to a powerful promotion that builds anticipation on what they'll get by shopping at your store.