Advertising on SmartNews for Car Sales Leads

Self serve placements in the news aggregator app with local editions, targeted by the cities and ZIP codes your store sells to.

SmartNews is a news aggregator app with a large American audience, delivering stories from thousands of publishers in channels that include local editions for cities across the country, and SmartNews Ads is its self serve advertising platform, selling native placements in the feed by geography down to the ZIP code, by channel and by audience, with reporting by campaign. The audience is broad, adult and suburban, with a large share reading the local channel for their city.

For a dealership that means a large local news audience in its zone, reachable by ZIP code through a self serve platform at a modest budget, with a native placement that sits among the stories a reader chose. It is similar in shape to NewsBreak, with a different audience and a different mix of publishers, and many stores that run one run both.

A store spends on SmartNews for local news reach by ZIP code at a low cost per thousand, self serve, with a native format that reads like content. It reaches the suburban adult who reads a news app rather than a social feed.

The honest objection is that news readers are not shopping for a vehicle, so conversion from click to lead is lower than search and the lead page has to do the work, and that the zone audience varies by city. It is a reach and click channel, judged over weeks.

For the broader case for this kind of channel, Automotive Media Buying Services covers it without repeating what is here.

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SmartNews fits franchise and used stores in cities with an active local edition, stores with a local offer, and dealer groups running a placement per rooftop by ZIP. It fits less well for luxury stores and for stores expecting search level conversion. National sellers have little use for it.

SmartNews 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 SmartNews 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.

A SmartNews sourced lead reaches the CRM as a click from a native placement to a LeadLocate lead page, a vehicle page or a tracked number, attributed directly, with the ZIP or city the campaign ran in on the record. The reader was reading news, so the lead page has to be plain and the follow up patient.

From that point the lead behaves like every other lead in LeadLocate. It is stamped with the channel and the campaign, it lands with the salesperson or the round robin you set in lead distribution, and the first touch can fire on its own, a text, an email or a task, before anyone opens it. Stores that keep working leads in a different CRM switch on Instant Push, and the lead is forwarded by ADF as it arrives; the price does not change for that. One thing worth saying on every channel page: the shopper decides what to submit. A person with a VIN picked out and a person with a payment in mind are both leads, and what to expect from car sales leads explains why that mix is normal.

Every channel LeadLocate runs shares one workflow. Campaigns are set up in Leads Manager from a zone, a campaign type and a set of pre screening questions. Leads arrive in one inbox, route by one set of distribution rules, and are worked with the CRM's own texting, calling, call transcription, email and voicemail drop. Reporting is one place, with activity, company and management views. SmartNews slots into that as a source, nothing more, and that is the reason a store can afford to try it: the cost of adding a channel is the media, not another system. The advertising channels page lists every channel the CRM can run this way.

It also means a channel can be judged fairly. When every lead carries its source and every call, text and appointment is logged against it, the management report can show cost per lead and cost per appointment by channel over a quarter, which is the only honest way to compare a search campaign with a streaming flight or a mailing. A store that keeps its channels in separate systems never gets that comparison, and usually keeps paying for the one with the loudest sales rep.

For an agency, SmartNews is a self serve local news placement to run beside NewsBreak for suburban dealership clients, and connecting the store's LeadLocate CRM shows the leads attributed by ZIP code.

Most dealerships hand their advertising to a small local agency that already has their trust, and that agency is who usually ends up managing SmartNews. LeadLocate is built to sit underneath that relationship rather than compete with it. The agency keeps its accounts and its client, connects those accounts to the store's LeadLocate CRM or buys leads through the webXintel Ads Network, and manages every channel it runs for that store from one Leads Manager with one set of reports. For an agency serving several stores, that replaces a stack of platform logins per client with one system, and it gives the agency something it would otherwise have to build itself: a CRM the dealership actually works its leads in, with the follow up visible. Agencies that refer stores to LeadLocate can also enroll in the referral program inside the CRM. automotive-media-buying-servicesL goes into the agency arrangement in more detail.

Nobody drives across three states for a sedan, so the market SmartNews 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.

The setup cost of SmartNews, in your time, is a click. The Advertising Networks page in the CRM lists it beside every other channel; Request Connection opens a support request our team works, usually the same day. Stores that are new to LeadLocate choose a plan on the pricing page, month to month with no long term contract, and start with the webXintel Ads Network the same week. Media bought through a SmartNews account in your name is billed by SmartNews directly to you. Your existing CRM, if you have one, keeps receiving leads through Instant Push by ADF, and the price does not change for that.

From there it is a conversation, not a contract. Our team confirms the zone and the selections, says plainly what SmartNews is likely to do for a store of your size, and agrees a review date. If the reporting shows SmartNews earning its budget, it stays; if it does not, it is switched off from the same page, the store keeps every lead and record it produced, and the budget moves to a channel that did better in the same report.

How is SmartNews different from NewsBreak?

Both are news apps with local audiences and self serve ads; they have different audiences and publisher mixes, and many stores run both and let the CRM's reporting show which produced leads in their market.

Can a store target its own ZIP codes?

Yes, by city, ZIP code or radius through the self serve platform, which a group can use to give each rooftop its own placement.

How is the campaign measured?

By clicks from native placements to the lead page, vehicle pages and the tracked number, attributed by ZIP and reported in the CRM by week.

Do I need my own SmartNews 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 SmartNews account you or your agency already hold.

Can SmartNews 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 SmartNews?

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 SmartNews account is billed by SmartNews 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 SmartNews 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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