Month: March 2020

As a local car dealership, the success of your business relies heavily on how well you’re known throughout the community and what type of reputation you have. Running a legitimate, customer-friendly business isn’t enough by itself anymore. You must get the word out to compete in today’s capitalistic society.

But things have changed. There are new ways to get people’s attention and increase foot traffic to your dealership. Automotive marketing, in some ways, isn’t what it used to be.

Keep reading for our top automotive marketing strategies, from the tried and true ways of the past to the innovative techniques of the future.

Local TV and Radio Ads

Brand awareness and recognition are some of the most important factors when it comes to making it big in your community. Simply put, people have to feel familiar with your name before they’ll have enough faith to buy a car from you. One of the best ways to plant the seed and get your name out there is with local TV and radio ads.

While many people have converted to satellite radio or streaming services for music, there is a large number who still listen to the radio in their car, at work, or even at home. Buying ad space on popular radio channels is a great way to start planting a seed.

Similarly, despite services like Netflix and Hulu, there is still a wide range of people who watch local TV programming, such as the evening news. This would be a prime spot to place commercials for your dealership.

Host an Event With a Local Charity

There’s a negative stigma out there about car dealerships. People always seem wary about them, even when it’s completely unfounded. Hosting a charity event is an automotive marketing strategy that will raise awareness to an important cause, familiarize the community with your dealership, and shed any negative stigmas.

Work with a local charity of your choice and come up with a community event. Art galas, silent auctions, concerts, and 5K races are all popular. Bring in other local businesses to raise your budget for the event, find new affiliates, and bring in more interest.

Make sure you start advertising for the event well in advance and through multiple platforms (social media, newspapers, radio ads, and more). The goal is to get as many guests as possible to attend.

Buyer Incentive Programs

Next, when it comes to buying cars, people are always looking to get the best deal possible. If there’s a way for them to save, they’ll take it.

We recommend offering new buyer incentive programs once a month or once a quarter to keep things interesting. For example, you could offer cash or mail-in rebates on any new car sales, exclusive low financing APRs, major discounts, etc.

Get Popular on Social Media

Your business needs to have at least one social media account. Did you know that nearly 70 percent of American adults have a Facebook account? That means the majority of your target audience is in one convenient location.

Gain more followers by posting engaging and valuable content and encourage your current followers to like, comment, and share. You can also host fun competitions, raffles, and more that offer an exciting prize. This will get more people engaged, helping you extend your reach.

You can also use social media paid advertising, which comes with the ability to select your target audience based on age, gender, hobbies, location, and more. Additionally, this advertising comes with analytics that will track how each ad performs (likes, comments, shares, views, link clicks). It will also show you any trends or patterns of those who engaged with your ads, such as gender, age, time of day, etc.

Use Landing Page Ads

Landing page ads are a great way to grab a user’s attention with a compelling incentive and a powerful call to action. A lot of business owners offer large discounts, exclusive content, free eBooks, and more to get people to click through.

Where they click through to depends on your strategy. You can use it to drive traffic to your website, guide users to your inventory page to check out your newest vehicles in stock, or persuade them to subscribe to your email list.

You can set up landing pages through your website, affiliate websites, and through paid ads.

Make Sure Your Website SEO Is on Point

One of the most important organic automotive marketing strategies is learning how to use SEO. Search engine optimization is an algorithm used by search engines like Google to find the most relevant websites and information based on keyword searches.

For example, if someone searches for “car dealerships near me,” your website’s local SEO will determine whether or not your site comes up in the search results. You can boost your SEO by adding a blog to your website full of keywords and media embedded with metadata. If you’re not familiar with SEO, it may be beneficial to hire a company that can help.

Affiliate With Other Local Businesses

Running a small business of any kind isn’t easy, and you shouldn’t do it alone. However, we’re not talking about bringing on business partners. We’re talking about building affiliate relationships with other local businesses for your automotive marketing.

Networking with other businesses extends your reach to other client bases. Make sure the companies you approach aren’t competitors but are relevant to your dealership. Figure out a referral strategy that will benefit both businesses.

For example, if your dealership doesn’t offer its own financing, you could approach banks and other lenders. You could also contact local insurance agencies.

Looking for More Tips on Automotive Marketing?

If you’re looking to improve your automotive marketing, we can help. Take a look at some of our professional advertising services. We offer SEO help, email automation, audio production and more.

And for a little insight into what we can do for you, contact us today for a free SEO analysis.

74% of marketers say it’s important to have a cohesive omnichannel experience for customers. In fact, 73% of shoppers use more than one channel during their shopping journey. Let’s say a prospective client finds your car dealership on a search engine like Google. While they’re searching, they find other car dealerships on Google, in an email, on social media, and in YouTube video. Chances are, they’re more likely to remember the brands they see over and over again. A successful digital marketing strategy requires more than one tactic. With an integrated marketing strategy, you can attract more leads and boost your business.

Keep reading to discover the top benefits of developing an integrated marketing approach.

1. Build Brand Visibility and Trust

If people don’t know who you are, what reason do they have to choose your dealership over someone else’s? It can take five to seven impressions before you can develop even a little brand awareness. However, your brand has to appear consistent each time.

Otherwise, potential buyers might think you’re someone else.

An integrated marketing strategy will unite all of your efforts under the same umbrella. The more often customers see your brand, the more brand awareness you’ll develop. As you appear in front of more people, more often, they’ll begin recognizing your brand.

It’s important to make sure your brand appears the same across every marketing channel. Make sure your colors, fonts, imagery, tone, and voice are consistent. You should also use the same logo to boost brand recognition.

As brand visibility and recognition develop, you can also begin developing a relationship with customers. They’ll recognize your brand based on the message and values you communicate. Building this rapport will make it easier for customers to trust your business.

Without that trust, potential car buyers will turn toward another dealership instead.

2. Eliminate Confusion

Seeing a completely redesigned brand on each marketing channel could confuse your audience. For example, potential car buyers might see your brand on social media but fail to connect it with your website.

A well-thought-out digital marketing strategy can help you avoid causing confusion.

Creating a uniform message and brand image will help people connect your brand on every platform. However, you’ll need to make sure your overall message is uniform as well. Your newspaper ad, Facebook page, and email marketing might all convey different messages that fail to connect.

As a result, customers might fail to connect your brand across every marketing platform. Instead of engaging with your message, you’ll scare them off.

An integrated marketing strategy will unite your tactics within one cohesive campaign. By deciding on a clear message, you can focus customers on a single goal (buying a car). Then, your customers won’t feel confused about who you are or what you offer.

Focus your brand on a single vision. For example, your dealership might want to “provide customers with their absolute dream car.” You might make offering customers with energy-efficient options your goal instead.

Choose a message. Make sure it’s clear and concise. Then, communicate that message across your campaigns.

3. Remain Top-of-Mind

A cohesive message will also help you remain top-of-mind with potential buyers.

When you create a united brand, you’ll begin building brand awareness and recognition. The next time a prospective car buyer thinks about purchasing a new vehicle, they’ll remember your brand instead of someone else’s.

Posting your digital marketing content across different channels will give them the reminder they need.

For example, let’s say someone visited your website to read a blog post. After subscribing to receive your emails, they received a reminder about an upcoming sale weeks later. These strategic digital marketing strategies will help you remain top-of-mind when prospects are in the market for a new car.

4. Become a Thought Leader

Becoming a thought leader can help you gain a competitive edge. People want to buy from the best in the business. By creating high-quality, informative content, you can show prospective buyers you’re a knowledgeable resource in the industry.

Becoming a thought leader by posting regular blogs and digital marketing content is another way to boost your brand. At the same time, you’re creating content you need to remain top-of-mind with customers.

A search engine optimization (SEO) strategy is an effective way to become a thought leader. SEO involves researching what your customers are searching for. Then, you use your keyword research to make compelling, informative content.

Make sure your content is informative and well-researched.

As you rank higher on search engines like Google, you’ll position yourself ahead of competitors. This top-of-page position will make you appear credible and authoritative.

People are more likely to trust a brand with that top ranking. With an integrated marketing strategy, you can unite your SEO efforts, email marketing, website, and social media to boost your brand, ranking, and credibility.

5. Increase Media Coverage

One of the most effective ways to step out of the crowd is to use data-driven PR. People want stories they can connect with. Connecting with PR resources, including publications and reporters, can help you stand out from competitors.

Then, your brand will appear in more publications.

In order to improve your public relations, you need a strong, cohesive brand first. Your integrated marketing strategy will ensure your branding and SEO help you catch the attention of these publications.

6. Keep Your Message Consistent

In order to develop a multi-faceted marketing plan, you need to keep your message consistent. After all, you can’t plan where customers will see your first. You can develop a plan for each of your marketing channels, then unite them to achieve the same goals.

An integrated marketing plan will keep your message consistent. A cohesive message will make it easier for people to become familiar with your brand.

7. Improve Your ROI

All of your digital marketing content takes time and money to develop. That includes images, graphics, blog posts, videos, and more. In order to make the most of these assets, you can create a digital marketing strategy to ensure they achieve the same goals.

By making the most of your content under an integrated strategy, you can save money and boost your ROI.

Speed Up Sales: 7 Reasons You Need an Integrated Marketing Strategy

Attract more people to your dealership and speed up sales. Now that you’re equipped with these reasons to develop an integrated marketing strategy, get to it! By developing a strong digital marketing strategy, you can boost your brand and sell more cars!

Ready to get started? Get a quote from our team today!