Car buyers go online now to research vehicles long before they ever step-foot in a store. We all know that. This has also changed the automotive digital marketing landscape too. Research shows that a majority of new car buyers start the shopping process not focusing on a single model and expand consideration set to 3-4 models through their shopping journey. How do you keep your eye on the digital marketing world when you need to focus on moving inventory, treating guests well and a million other things? We break it down.
Supporting Automotive Marketing Efforts
Automotive digital marketing support is a little different than just basic online marketing. A vehicle purchase is very long-winded and takes months since it is an expensive item. Here are the basic premises for streamlining your digital techniques:
Outsource the Technical
Doing everything by yourself will take time away from supporting customers and helping new ones. Coding websites and learning technical skills don't need to be as front and center to you as the GM or sales manager at your dealership. So trust a designer or the resident marketing expert at your dealership to at least keep your website current with the most recent OEM specials and any service specails that you are running. This is the bare minimum that you should do.
Use Customers Reviews to Drive New Visitors to Your Dealership
Offer incentives to customers to leave you Google reviews. This is impartial feedback and gives you a chance to showcase the good service you provide right on page 1 of any search results bearing your dealership's name.
Blog While You Can
The more original and unique insights you put about your vehicles and their performance the more trusted you'll appear to potential car buyers. People are already scared of car salespeople. Part of the reason why they go to the website is because they can do so without feeling like they are going to be pushed onto a vehicle. Use that opportunity to build trust. It gives you a chance to put a face to the anonymous website visitor at some point down the road. If you can't write then partner with an automotive digital marketing expert (lord knows there are plenty of them) and they can help you come up with stories about the vehicles to tell.
Partner with an Outsourced Web Development Team
Look. Even if you are a dealer group do you really want the burden of managing 4-6 other bodies? You really don't. Why manage 6 people when you can get an entire agency to be at your beck and call whenever needed that are masters of automotive digital marketing support already? If you're scared about them working with multiple dealerships than just sign a non-compete with them or make sure they don't work with other stores in your primary market area.
Leverage the resources you already have
You probably already have a dealer.com, eDealer or Glovebox website platform that’s smart enough to track individual shopper behavior across multiple stages. Learn from it (or have agency learn from it) and deliver customized content to your visitors based on their previous online actions. This technology helps your dealership create a uniquely personalized digital showroom that is proven to inspire deeper online engagement between prospective buyers and your inventory.
Generally speaking, dealerships need to take a closer look at how to effectively and efficiently market to their customers. If you want to boost car sales and repeat purchases through time, you need to make sure to make relevant marketing messages. Try to analyze and better understand the customer’s needs, wishes and behaviors. With this understanding, dealerships can determine the most effective and relevant communications for each individual over time.
These tips will help automotive marketers and general managers acquire new customers, streamline marketing processes, and build ongoing relationships with existing customers. So if your website platform is delivering the right content, the right message, and the right calls to action, you will have the right shoppers!
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