By Ilana Shabtay, Director of Marketing, AutoLeadStar
As the coronavirus continues to impact our daily lives, we’re all questioning the long-term effects of this crisis and how it will impact business. And while this is an uncertain time, to say the least, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel. By taking the right precautions and using smart solutions, when this does pass and people return to your dealership for the in-store showroom experience, you’ll have the momentum to keep going.
The Tool That Remains Essential
Through all the adversity, we’ve quickly learned one thing that remains essential – technology. It connects us through video, shared work plans, and messaging platforms. I’ve done workout classes through FaceTime and even had a doctor checkup for my son via Zoom. Zoom’s stock rose by more than 8% and is up 85% already this year. Companies realized overnight just how necessary this tool would become for their livelihood.
It’s crazy, but it works when there is no alternative. Automated digital marketing has this same power because it turns your marketing machine into a technology-based engine. Automation works around the clock, no matter the crisis. It streamlines and processes complex data to take the place of human busywork at scale.
So, just like we’ve shifted to home vehicle deliveries, concierge service pick up and drop off, and working from home, we can shift to marketing automation as well to stay resilient.
3 Ways Automated Digital Marketing Can Help Your Dealership
Marketing automation is software that removes the manual actions involved in marketing social posts, ad creation, and email campaigns. When powered by machine learning, automation adjusts its course of actions based on what it learns from results for highest performance. You can use marketing automation to:
- Maximize Your Budget: Optimizing your efforts for the highest leads and sales is essential for dealers during these upcoming months. If your budget isn’t strategic, you may leave money on the table and miss an opportunity. When you allocate your budget manually, you often miss the pivotal point when a campaign started thriving, and you don’t shift your budget fast enough. But if the budget is automated, you’re constantly putting money where it matters and in what’s performing best, regardless of the time of day. You’re truly taking advantage of your marketing dollars and never miss a beat with automated budget allocation.
- Capitalize on Customer Engagement: As social distancing increases, so too will the shift in consumer behavior. Even during crisis-mode, shoppers will likely continue having the same expectations of customer support as before, if not more. With limited staff, your BDC might be overwhelmed as they take on any online sales support and follow-up. Or, perhaps you won’t be able to rely on a hefty BDC at all. But with automation, a robot, like a chatbot, for example, can manage all your shoppers’ conversations – meaning zero wait time, swift engagement, and 24/7 support.
With automation, you can also turn on new messaging across all channels and platforms very quickly. Being able to respond to the dynamic market and give customers what they want is a critical piece of the funnel. Rely on automation to do this for you– create simple templates and then release the new messaging without any manual legwork. During this rise of online browsing, now is the time to capitalize on automated tools so you never miss an opportunity.
- Save Time: 74% of marketers say that saving time is one of the biggest benefits of automation. As dealerships face this time of crisis, your resources will inevitably be limited, and staff will be sparse. With automation, you can give your business the flexibility it needs to stay afloat. You won’t need someone to physically update OEM offers or price changes – this will happen automatically and in sync with your data sources instantly. As a result, you will have more time to focus on connecting with shoppers and reaching your goals with minimal busywork getting in the way.
As we navigate through these trying times, we look at what connects us most – technology. Start finding the right solutions for your dealership so you can stay resilient and maintain momentum, re-emerging stronger than ever before. Let’s find that light at the end of the tunnel together.
ARTICLE BY Ilana Shabtay
Ilana Shabtay, Director of Marketing at AutoLeadStar, is an expert in sales, digital marketing, and business development. She is constantly thinking about how to perfect conversion funnels to build brand awareness. As director of marketing, Ilana works to engage audiences and expand market share. She contributes thought leadership for a variety of tech companies in and out of the automotive industry.