Car Sales Leads from iHeartRadio Advertising

Local radio stations, the streaming app and one of the largest podcast networks, from the broadcaster with a station in nearly every market.

iHeartMedia owns more radio stations than any company in the country, and its advertising reaches listeners three ways from one relationship: the broadcast stations in the store's market, the iHeartRadio streaming app where those stations and thousands of others are heard on phones and smart speakers, and the iHeartPodcast Network, one of the largest podcast publishers, with dynamic ad insertion by geography. Spots are sold by station and daypart on broadcast, by geography and audience on streaming, and by show and genre on podcasts.

For a dealership, iHeart is the modern form of the local radio buy the store has probably made for decades, with streaming and podcasts attached and with reporting on the digital half that broadcast never had. Local station personalities still carry weight in their markets, and a live read from a morning host about a truck event reaches a commuting audience that trusts the voice. The company sells directly through its local stations and through buying platforms for the streaming inventory.

Connecting your own iHeartRadio account to the CRM has its own page: iHeartMedia Integration for Dealerships. This page is about the channel and the leads.

A store spends with iHeart because local radio still reaches a large share of commuters in nearly every market, the personalities still carry endorsement weight, and the streaming and podcast halves extend the same buy to listeners who left the dial. For a franchise store with a co op radio budget, this is where it has always gone, now with better measurement.

The honest objection is that broadcast radio is bought on ratings estimates and cannot be attributed with digital precision, so the store relies on tracked numbers, promo codes and branded search lift to read it. Local station rates in large markets are high, and a live read depends on the host actually being good. The streaming and podcast halves read better; the broadcast half reads like radio always has.

For the broader case for this kind of channel, Streaming Audio Ads for Car Dealerships covers it without repeating what is here.

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iHeart fits franchise stores with radio budgets, truck stores in markets with a strong country or sports station, used car stores that want a payment message on the drive home, and dealer groups buying a station per rooftop. It fits less well for stores that need every dollar attributed and for luxury stores whose buyer no longer listens to broadcast. National sellers can run the streaming and podcast inventory nationally.

iHeartRadio sells its placements through its own advertising console, and that console is where our team works. There are two ways to get there. The first is the webXintel Ads Network, included with every LeadLocate plan: you make your selections in Leads Manager, the zone you sell in, the campaign type and the questions a shopper answers before a lead is created, and our team builds and runs the campaigns from those selections. The second is your own iHeartRadio account. Ask for it from the Advertising Networks page inside the CRM and our team sets it up, usually the same day, so campaigns run under an account your dealership owns, with the spend on your card and the history in your name. If you or your agency already hold an account, say so in the request and we start from there. Nothing about the choice is permanent. A store can begin on the managed network and move to its own account later, or keep both running.

An iHeart sourced lead reaches the CRM as a call to the tracked number read on air, a branded search, or a direct inquiry on a LeadLocate lead page named in the spot, usually within days. Broadcast leads come by phone more than any other channel's, and the CRM logs and transcribes the calls so the source is captured. Streaming and podcast placements add clicks the CRM attributes directly.

Whichever way the shopper arrives, the record is the same. The lead carries its source, the campaign, and the answers to the pre screening questions you set in Leads Manager, and it goes to the salesperson or the rotation you chose in lead distribution. The first response can be automatic: a text, an email, a task on the calendar or a call from the BDC. If your store works leads in another CRM, turn on Instant Push and the lead is forwarded there by ADF the moment it arrives, at no change in price. What no channel can do is decide who submits the form. Some shoppers arrive with a VIN and a trade, some with a monthly budget and a rough idea, and both are real; what to expect from car sales leads covers that plainly.

The point of running iHeartRadio through LeadLocate is not iHeartRadio. It is that iHeartRadio becomes one more line in a system that already holds everything else. Leads Manager is where the campaigns are planned, whatever the channel: the zone, the campaign type, the questions a shopper answers, the creative. The CRM is where the leads land, are distributed, are worked by text, email, call and voicemail drop, and are reported on in the activity, company and management reports. A store that adds iHeartRadio does not add a login, a report or a vendor to chase; it adds a source. The same is true of the dozens of other channels on the advertising channels page, which is the list the CRM itself shows a dealership under Advertising Networks.

That matters more than it sounds. Most stores do not fail at advertising because a channel was wrong; they fail because the leads from the third and fourth channels never got worked, since nobody was watching that inbox. One inbox, one set of distribution rules and one follow up process is what makes a fourth channel worth adding at all, and the same reporting is what lets a manager see, in one place, which channel is earning its budget this month and which one is not.

For an agency that already buys radio for dealership clients, iHeart's streaming and podcast inventory extends the buy it knows how to make, and connecting the whole thing to each store's LeadLocate CRM finally gives radio the lead report it never had: calls, searches and inquiries by week and by zone.

If an agency runs iHeartRadio for your store today, nothing about that has to change. The agency connects the account it already manages, or requests the placement through us, and the leads flow into your LeadLocate CRM where your salespeople work them and your managers can see the follow up. The agency sees the same reports you do. For the agency, the appeal is practical: one platform for every channel and every client instead of twenty consoles, a real CRM behind the campaigns without having to build or license one, and a lead flow from the webXintel Ads Network it can offer any dealership on day one. The referral program in the CRM pays agencies for stores they bring. More on the arrangement at dealer-marketing-attribution-softwareL.

Nobody drives across three states for a sedan, so the market iHeartRadio is bought in is the market you draw. Leads Manager's zone editor takes a radius, counties or a state and hands it to every channel you run, including this one, and the reporting comes back by that zone so you can see which part of your area actually answers, which is often not the part a store expected. Groups run separate zones per rooftop; brokers and national sellers open the map up. On financing campaigns the audience is not narrowed by protected characteristics, because fair lending rules do not allow it and the controls in Leads Manager are locked accordingly. Geography and vehicle targeting stay fully in your hands.

Starting is a request, not a project. Inside the CRM, open Leads Manager, then Advertising Networks, find iHeartRadio and click Request Connection; our team takes it from there, usually the same day. If you are not on LeadLocate yet, the platform is priced as a monthly subscription with no long term contract, and the plans on the pricing page include the webXintel Ads Network, so a store has leads coming in while iHeartRadio is being set up. Media you buy through your own iHeartRadio account is billed by iHeartRadio to you. A store that already works leads in another CRM keeps doing so; the leads are pushed there by ADF at no change in price.

What happens after the request is worth knowing too. A person from our team confirms the zone, the campaign type and the pre screening questions with you, tells you plainly what iHeartRadio does best for a store of your size and market, and sets a review date. Nothing about iHeartRadio is a commitment beyond the media itself: if the reporting says it is not earning its budget after a fair trial, it is switched off from the same page it was switched on, and the CRM keeps every lead it produced.

Does local radio still sell cars?

In most markets, yes, especially with a trusted morning host and a truck or payment message on the commute. It is read through tracked numbers, promo codes and branded search lift, since broadcast is read through tracked numbers rather than click by click.

Can a dealership buy iHeart streaming without the broadcast stations?

Yes; the streaming and podcast inventory is sold by geography and audience through iHeart and through buying platforms, independent of the local stations. Many stores run both from one relationship.

How does a store measure a radio campaign in the CRM?

By the calls to the tracked number read on air, which the CRM logs and transcribes, by branded search lift, and by direct inquiries on the lead page named in the spot, reported by zone and week.

Do I need my own iHeartRadio account to run it through LeadLocate?

No. The webXintel Ads Network is included with every plan and needs no account of yours. If you want campaigns under an account your dealership owns, request the connection from the Advertising Networks page and our team sets it up, or connects the iHeartRadio account you or your agency already hold.

Can iHeartRadio leads go into the CRM we already use?

Yes. Turn on Instant Push in the CRM settings and every lead is forwarded to your existing CRM by ADF the moment it arrives, with its source attached. The subscription price is the same whether you work leads in LeadLocate or forward them.

What does LeadLocate charge for iHeartRadio?

The platform is a monthly subscription, month to month with no long term contract; the plans are on the pricing page and each includes the webXintel Ads Network. Media you buy through your own iHeartRadio account is billed by iHeartRadio to you, not marked up by us. We do not tie the price to results, because no one can promise what a shopper will do.

Draw the market you sell in, request iHeartRadio from the Advertising Networks page, and watch the leads land in the same CRM as everything else. No long term contract.

Prefer to talk right now? Call or text 844-376-2274.

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