I’m Kayla Sox. I handle ads for our family used car lot on the edge of town. We move around 55 to 70 cars a month when things go well. I’ve tried a lot. Some stuff sang. Some ate cash. I’ll be honest about both.
If you want an even deeper dive into the 12-month play-by-play, here’s the full case study on everything that worked (and what didn’t) over on HuntMads.
If you’re hunting for a broader playbook on modern tactics, this guide to car dealership advertising lines up with a lot of what I saw in the trenches.
We’re midwest. Trucks move. SUVs move. Minivans surprise me every spring. Budget swings between $7k and $15k a month. When tax returns hit, we push harder. When snow hits, I drink more coffee.
The setup I started with
- Goal: more calls, more form leads, more “Can I test drive the white Tahoe?” texts
- Tools we used: Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram Ads, YouTube, Waze, Cars.com, CarGurus, radio, postcards, email, and SMS
- Tracking: CallRail phone numbers, UTM tags, and the BDC typing notes in VinSolutions
I know, that sounds like a lot. It is. But car buyers scroll, search, and then they stalk a bit. So we met them in more than one spot.
Facebook and Instagram: cheap reach, quick wins
This was our workhorse. I ran carousel ads with real photos. Not stock. Mud on the tires works in our town.
Example ad that crushed:
- Headline: “Bad credit? We say yes. Drive today.”
- Text: “27 trucks under $399/mo. First oil change on us. Ask for Kayla.”
- Photo set: red F-150, black Silverado, white Ram, and my dog in the back seat of a Tacoma (yep)
Numbers from May:
- Spend: $2,100
- Clicks: 3,420
- CTR: 2.7%
- Leads (forms + messages): 62
- Cost per lead: $33.87
- Sold units tied to these leads: 14
What I liked:
- Fast volume, cheap.
- People used Messenger to send pay stubs. Wild, but helpful.
What bugged me:
- Tire kickers. Lots of “Still available?” at 1 a.m.
- If photos were weak, results fell off a cliff.
That late-night scroll behavior made me curious about how other verticals handle impulse traffic after dark. Industries like adult webcam streaming thrive on midnight curiosity and have refined clever engagement loops. The candid case study on trying webcam sex breaks down those tactics—covering retention hooks, payment flows, and compliance tips that might translate into smarter follow-up sequences for any product, even pickup trucks.
Local intent matters in adult niches too. Escort review boards routinely dominate “city + service” searches because they obsess over geo-specific pages. If you peek at this Birmingham listing on Erotic Monkey, you’ll notice tight keyword placement, a flood of user reviews, and clear CTAs—useful conversion lessons that translate straight to any local business site, even a used-car VDP.
Tip that felt silly but worked: I added three words to the first line—“No pressure test drives.” It lowered angry messages. It raised show-ups.
Google Search and Performance Max: buyers with keys in hand
Search caught folks ready to buy. PMax helped, but I watched it close.
Winning search lines we used:
- “Used Trucks Under $25k Near Me”
- “Buy Here Pay Here With Warranty”
- “Same Day Approval | [Dealership Name]”
Extensions that helped:
- Call extension (our CallRail number)
- Price extensions (from our feed)
- Location and hours (closed Sundays; we’re old school)
June numbers:
- Spend: $3,400
- Clicks: 1,210
- Calls and forms: 78
- Cost per lead: $43.58
- Sales tied in CRM: 21
- Cost per sale: $161.90
What I liked:
- Fewer flakes. These folks knew what they wanted.
- Calls during lunch. We staffed up 11–2.
What I didn’t:
- PMax would spend on “car wallpaper” traffic if I let it.
- Broad terms pulled “toy cars.” I excluded a lot.
Side note: the same negative-keyword hygiene and bid tweaks have bailed me out in other niches, too—here’s how I trimmed fat while advertising supplements on Google and kept ROAS healthy.
Tiny thing that saved money: I paused Tuesdays 2–5 p.m. Our calls were dead then. Spend shifted to Friday and Saturday. Sales rose. Simple. I also grabbed fresh negative-keyword ideas from the playbooks over at HuntMads, which tightened up our spend even more.
YouTube and CTV: good for town buzz, not a silver bullet
We cut a 15-second spot. Quick walk-and-talk. I’m on screen. My voice shook at first. It got better.
Script:
“Hey, it’s Kayla at [Dealership]. Clean trucks. Clear prices. Most under $399/mo. We say yes, even with bumps. Come by before 6. I’ll get you a test drive fast.”
August run on YouTube and Hulu:
- Spend: $1,200
- Views: 41,000
- View rate: 28%
- Direct leads: 9 forms, 12 calls
- People said, “I saw your ad with the dog,” which is funny, since the dog wasn’t in that one. Memory is weird.
After that test, I even tinkered with the Peacock Ad Manager—spoiler: CPMs were lower, but creative fatigue hit faster. You can see the full rundown of wins and misses in my “I ran ads on Peacock, here’s what happened” diary.
Worth it for us? Yes, but only before big weekends. It warmed the town. Alone, it didn’t move units.
Waze and Google Maps pins: sneaky good
We ran a promoted pin on Waze during tax season.
- Spend: $480 over 3 weeks
- Navigations: 117
- Store visits we could tie to it: 19
- Sales: 5
I used a Waze coupon: “Free wash with test drive.” People showed me their screen. Cute. Also useful. It gave us a count.
CarGurus and Cars.com: pricey, but strong intent
Listings matter. Good photos, full options, price line clear. When I messed up the trim, leads dropped. Folks notice.
March blend:
- CarGurus: $1,150 package
- Cars.com: $980 package
Results:
- VDP views: 6,300
- Leads: 71
- Sales tied: 16
- Cost per sale: about $133
If you need more ideas on how to squeeze extra juice out of these marketplaces, this rundown of effective used car marketing strategies echoes the tweaks that moved our numbers.
What I liked:
- Lead quality. People sent VINs of their trade. Serious vibes.
- Price badges helped our click rate.
What I didn’t:
- The “Hi, is this still available?” bot messages. I filtered fast.
- If we were $500 high, we got ghosted. Harsh but fair.
Local radio: better than I thought, but timing is key
I wrote a simple 30-second spot. No shouting. No fake “sale of the century.”
Script clip:
“Need a truck that just works? I’m Kayla at [Dealership]. We service what we sell. Most payments under $399 a month. Saturday test drives are quick. Bring your trade. I’ll have keys ready.”
Two-week flight before Memorial Day:
- Spend: $2,100 on the country station and the oldies station
- Calls using the radio number: 64
- Sales tied: 9
It stalled when we ran weekdays mid-morning. Weekend heavy worked. Also, the DJ read my name. People asked for me. Small thing. It helped trust.
Postcards: I laughed first. Then they hit.
We mailed 5,000 postcards to carrier routes within 7 miles. Big photo of a Silverado. Big price. QR to a landing page. Scratch-off “free detail” on the card.
- Cost: $2,350 all-in
- Landing page visits: 412
- Calls: 37
- Walk-ins who brought the card: 28
- Sales: 7
Not bad. And our service bay got busy with the free details. That kept folks close to us.
TikTok and Reels: short clips, big vibes
Quick vertical videos did work. One 12-second clip of me lowering the tailgate of a beat-up F-150 with the line,