Talk to Sales: (401) 200-6026
Take a closer look into six auto dealer digital marketing techniques being used by your competitors.
The evidence available today is clear: digital marketing is essential to business survival and growth. Having a digital strategy is necessary for car dealerships, too. Many dealers have made the transition with varying degrees of success, mainly because of a failure to keep up with the ever-changing winds of the digital landscape. Plus, it’s difficult to keep your finger on the pulse when you have a business to run. A business, many like to point out, that can stand on its legs without all this new technology.
Granted, auto dealer digital marketing isn’t going to sell a car for you–but it will help you get more people through the door. The ways that people gather information today is drastically different than ten years ago. We can look up everything we need to know about purchasing a car on our mobile devices–who’s selling it, where it’s from, why should I buy it, etc. Breaking into that information source (more on mobile devices later) is smart. You’re adapting to how the customer wants to do business.
When a car dealership covers all the avenues of customer interaction online, they’ve opened up exponentially more opportunities to convert than their competitors. Before we continue, let us first say this: if you want a fully functioning digital marketing system, you need to hire at least one point person at your dealership. They will focus on the front-end (digital customer interaction) and the back-end (data measurement and analysis) of your marketing efforts. For the amount of business traffic they will bring into your dealership, the investment is worth it.
Below we’ve outlined the six most important ways to attract consumers with auto dealer digital marketing. These are not the “cutting edge” examples out there today. Instead, these are the next steps that will bring you up to date in today’s digital world, and will provide a strong foundation for your marketing efforts in the future.
Six auto dealer digital marketing secrets that convert visitors into buyers
- SEO-enriched content for online search
Content marketing: you’ve heard the term before. It’s the new marketing technique on the block and picking up considerable speed. It’s the process of analyzing web traffic data, writing original content enriched with SEO keywords, and testing the results. Where do you include all this new content? Hold your breath: a blog (gasp!).
Blogs serve as one of the most effective ways to drive website traffic. There are masses of people online (mobile, laptop, tablet, and desktop) that search for auto dealerships every day. These “keywords” typed into the Google search bar can by tracked, analyzed and targeted. You write a blog post surrounding the general idea of that targeted keyword, instill the keywords within the text, and watch your website ranking climb the charts. Of course, it’s much more complicated than that, but the results are crystal clear (if executed by an expert).
- Build a “Google friendly” website with interactive features
I hope we can both agree that having a clean, image-centric website with basic features and calls to action is a necessity. Having said that, it’s time to consider optimizing your company website with proper sitemap architecture. Google should be able to scan and scale every page of your website and also track your website visitors. Having a particular architecture that keeps visitors on the page, scrolling downward or clicking through links to others pages, will ensure a higher-priority ranking on the Google search engine.
If you don’t already, start implementing interactive features on your website, too. Many dealerships have success with the “build your own car” tools, inventory accessibility, and clearance specials sections.
- Actively engage over social media platforms
Social media has provided an entirely new way to interact with consumers. The new term being thrown around these days is “social care”, which is basically “customer care” over social platforms. Not only do sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn give you prime marketing information, they also provide opportunities to demonstrate special attention to customer satisfaction–in front of everyone.
Social care also includes directly responding to reviews and ratings online. If you get a mixed or bad review and respond to it with a solution, other readers will see the effort. Social media care can boost your credibility with website viewers while also giving a second chance at customer satisfaction.
- Analyze and measure website traffic
Hard data in any sales business is invaluable. Hire an analytics professional who can measure your website and social media traffic. If your website requires visitors to create an account, you can track what pages they visit and find patterns. Use this information to leverage your sales offers and target specific buyers with what they want. You can also view tangible, readable results on how customers are reacting to your auto dealer digital marketing.
- Improve mobile accessibility
Access to the internet over a mobile device has changed how consumers view information online. Having a website specifically tailored for mobile use is a smart and effective way to keep potential buyers engaged with your brand. To create a mobile site that is fully responsive–not just a copy of your regular website–you need to build it from the ground up.
It’s also smart to build a mobile app for your business. Apps can include inventory tools, sales specials, interactive features, etc. Hitting all the bases on how web visitors come to view your content ensures that there are no loopholes or missed opportunities to convert.
- Purchase a comprehensive CRM tool for employee use
With technology influencing nearly every aspect of the car business, it’s easy to end up with tech services through various providers. You don’t need or want seven architects building one house. Search for a CRM that can manage all (or at least most) of your digital tools. Lead organization, email marketing systems, customer data, sales measurements–all of these efforts should be housed under one, unified roof. A good CRM will streamline the sales process while also making daily task completion more efficient.
Embrace how your customers want to interact
If you hire the right person for the job, auto dealer digital marketing becomes easy to implement and can deliver quantifiable results. It provides you with several more platforms for interaction, which means several more opportunities to close deals. Do your best to cover all the platforms customers come to find you: website, mobile site, social media, etc. Make sure to track that information and use it to your advantage.
Are you looking for a comprehensive CRM system for you dealership? Our system hosts a wide array of employee tools, all built in with user-friendliness in mind.
Interested in an Affordable, Full-Featured Auto Dealer CRM?
Schedule an AutoRaptor Demo Now!
