Can you tell me the make and model of the car each of your clients have? What about the last time they were in for an oil change? The last time they bought new tires?
Unfortunately, as humans, we were not built to remember all these details about everyone we come in contact with. So, when it comes to marketing we often base our approach off of generic information because we lack the personalized information for each contact.
Not to worry; we’re only human.
Think back to the early days of TV advertisements. How many of them were relevant to you personally? Five percent? 15 percent? These advertisements were made without knowing the exact person that would be watching it so advertisers and marketers had to rely on generic mass marketing techniques like billboards and flyers.
Since then, however, technologies have been developed to help marketers actually learn about their individual audience members and know how to appeal to them personally.
“A tool like a customer relationship manager (CRM) is invaluable to marketers in the automotive industry because it allows you to store all the personal details about all of your clients easily and seamlessly.”
These technologies are specifically useful in the automotive industry because, in order to be successful, you need to be able to recall specifics about each client and their vehicle at a glance. A tool like a customer relationship manager (CRM) is invaluable to marketers in the automotive industry because it allows you to store all the personal details about all of your clients easily and seamlessly. Couple this with a marketing automation platform and you have a new effective way to find and communicate with your clients and potential clients by appealing to them based on the information you have stored about them in the CRM.
Essentially, how this process would work is that the CRM stores any and all information about your clients in individual personal profile pages. This information could range from their contact information, to their car model, to their last appointment, and so on. The system can automatically save this information based on web tracking software on your site, signup forms on your social media pages, or by manual input by members of your team.
Once the CRM has the information stored, the automation platform can begin to use it to personalize all of your communications. This can be something as simple as adding individual names to your newsletters or sending an appointment reminder the day before a scheduled oil change to something as advanced as a lead nurturing campaign for new customers, regular maintenance updates based on when the client’s last appointment was and so on. Better yet, you can perform these actions through any number of communication channels.
Depending on your clients’ individual communication preference, you can automatically connect with them the way that is most convenient for them. If some clients prefer SMS, some prefer email, and some prefer phone calls, an automation platform can automatically differentiate between these and send each client the communication that is best for them.
So, don’t rely on generic mass marketing to appeal to your clients. Get to know them on a personal level and offer them information that is relevant to their interests. Using a CRM to store information and a marketing automation platform to execute personalized campaigns will increase your client engagement, build trust with your company, and increase brand stickiness.