As an automotive dealership, you have likely noticed that this fast paced and competitive market can be a race to become the highest selling dealership in your area. It is becoming more important than ever to embrace marketing and rise above your competition. If you’re new to the online marketing landscape, it might seem overwhelming to explore the many different types of digital marketing strategies that a company can explore. Don’t let that stop you, however. Keep reading to learn my opinions about online marketing for auto dealers and get the 5 digital marketing tactics that you can implement with your in-house marketing team, or digital marketing agency.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
If you have ever done a search on Google you have likely noticed that there are a number of different types of results on the page. At the top of the page you will see a number of paid results, notated by the word “AD” next to them. Below those ads are non-paid results, which can be a great place for a business to appear.
To gain visibility in this non-paid area, you will need to ensure that your site is set up to effectively boost your website within the Google Search Engine Results Page (SERPs). As a website rises within the Google rankings it will theoretically increase the number of impressions, giving your site more opportunities to sell more cars.
So just how do you go about doing this? Start by optimizing your website’s copy, site structure, load time, and fix any technical errors that are affecting your ability to rank. Some of these items you might be able to do yourself (depending on your comfort level), while others you might need to outsource to an SEO company.
- Conversion Rate Optimization
Once your website is optimized and you are getting traffic you might notice that you aren’t converting your visitors. This is where conversion rate optimization (CRO) helps. In a nutshell, the goal of CRO is to convert more of your visitors. This is sometimes accomplished by performing a number of A/B tests where you test out a new element against a current element.
For example, you might have a call to action that uses a yellow button. Your first test might test that element by creating a green button. In your A/B test, half of your traffic will see the yellow button where the other half gets the green button. Once your test is statistically significant, you can proceed with more confidence that the changes you make will help to improve conversions on your website.
If you need help finding the statically relevant number for your test you can use this nifty tool from Kissmetrics.
- Content Marketing
Content marketing has been a powerful marketing technique for a number of companies. A typical content marketing campaign might include answers to customer questions, vehicle reviews, and PR among others.
One of the great things about content marketing is that consumers benefit from the value you provide in these articles and a dealership benefits by positioning themselves as a thought leader and an authority in the space. This in turn can help establish trust and help to generate leads to your dealership.
- Paid Advertising
As you may have guessed, you can have the nicest site on the internet but if no one is seeing it you’re not creating any additional value by having it. For those who are looking to generate traffic to their site quickly, paid advertising could be a good option.
There are a number of paid adverting options that a dealership might explore. From social media advertising on Facebook, you can learn more about this on my post here, to banner ads, popups, and PPC ads on Bing or Google. Using one or all of these different advertising opportunities can help you target your audience at the right place and time to better position yourself for a sale.
- Lead Nurturing
As you develop your different sources of marketing you will likely have a number of leads who are not ready to convert immediately. If you were to leave it at that you might have lost a number of opportunities to convert them a little later down the road. Through lead nurturing, you can send automated emails and/or SMS messages to help re-engage old leads and have a better chance of converting them when they are ready to buy.