According to a 2016 survey of retail executives, 82 percent of consumers research products online before buying them. Your customers will eventually need to visit your auto dealership to buy vehicles – but they will most likely spend a great deal of time reading about your dealership before even setting foot on the lot. The problem with digital marketing for automotive dealerships, though, is that every moment you spend managing your online presence is time that you could have better spent engaging that customer when they arrive.
If your dealership is like most others in your local market, you probably compromise by spreading your digital marketing money around to cast a wide net, which may result in spending more on advertising your auto dealership online than you necessary.
Learn how to maximize the ROI from your online marketing budget by mastering the fundamentals below.
Google shows advertisements on the results pages for all searches with commercial intent and gives companies the ability to bid for those ad placements. You only pay when a potential customer clicks your ad – and in the auto industry, you certainly pay a lot. The costs of search engine marketing can quickly spiral out of control, if you are not monitoring and making adjustments on a daily basis.
To minimize your costs, we suggest creating an AdWords campaign that utilizes geo-targeting. That way, people will only see your advertisement if they live close enough to visit your dealership to make it worthwhile targeting them as a prospective customer. When researching keywords, try to find keyword phrases with low competition to keep your cost per click down.
Just as billboards can be used to generate brand awareness among drivers, display advertising exposes your brand in a similar fashion to potential customers on the web. A display ad is an image that may appear on any popular website such as a news website, social media website or online forum. You can target specific websites and customer demographics with display advertising. You can even target people who have visited your website before, keeping your dealership fresh in their minds and inviting them back to continue browsing.
When people research local businesses online, they often look for reviews from previous customers. Positive reviews on business directories such as Yelp and Google -- and even testimonials on your own website -- can greatly increase consumer confidence in your auto dealership. Unfortunately, happy customers are often the least likely to leave online reviews. That's why we recommend our clients employ tools and processes that actively seek out happy customers and encourage them to write about their experiences.
Auto sales is an extremely competitive industry. The best way to turn casual online shoppers into viable leads is to expose these potential buyers to your dealership at every stage of the customer journey. We believe that the three-tiered approach of search engine marketing, display marketing and capturing customer reviews, additionally one tailored to a mobile shopping experience, will provide the best possible return on your advertising investment. Online marketing is a full-time job, though, which is why we recommend leaving it in the hands of experts who will act as your dedicated and outsourced digital marketing team. Get in touch today for help with your auto dealership's online marketing needs!
