A key component of a dealership’s sales potential is the strength of its marketing. However, in our online marketplace, buyers engage with car dealers long before they walk into a showroom. Digital marketing has changed how dealerships attract customers, paving the way for new car lead generation strategies.
Automotive marketing in today’s world starts with finding your target market online. From there, it’s about building a buyer’s journey that reflects the experiences buyers value most. Let’s break down the best lead generation practices and why every car dealer should integrate them.
Valuable Content in Exchange for An Email Address
Car dealerships need to provide content that is useful, informative and up-to-date, to be considered valuable.
These are some examples:
- Sharing current in-store promotions
- Promoting new car model launches
- Incentivize buyers with deals
- Provide information on current trends in the market
- Post car reviews on different channels
Content marketing is the key to getting more traffic to a dealership’s website. It’s a proven, high–performing part of any automotive marketing strategy. Effective content marketing works by:
- Offering car buyers the exact value they’re looking for
- Positions your dealership as an expert resource
- Builds consumer trust
According to Deloitte’s Global Automotive Consumer Study, 50% of US car buyers spend more than 10 hours on vehicle research. Another 30% spend between 4-10 hours on research. In addition, most of these consumers trust online sources more than dealers.
Insightful content empowers customers and alleviates buyer anxiety. It builds trust through expertise. As a result, leads are more likely to volunteer email addresses to businesses they already trust and value.
Ads and Retargeting Ads
Targeted ads are a fairly common tactic in automotive marketing, and they work. With just location and demographic inputs, online ads can get your dealership in front of its target market. Beyond finding new customers with the initial campaign, retargeting ads can boost your lead generation efforts even further.
Retargeting works by advertising to people after they’ve been to your dealership’s website, turning visitors into leads. Online shopping is erratic by nature. Customers can move between sites with one click as they compare offerings.
Retargeting gives them a path back to your website. You’ll need to track website traffic before honing in on ideal customers. Retargeting begins by building those audiences inside Google Analytics and Facebook campaigns, and then crafting a message to re-engage those previous website visitors. A great message that always resonates is “See what your car is worth” or “value your trade-in.” TradePending’s integration with Google Analytics and Facebook campaigns is just one feature that makes it a lead conversion asset.
Sync New Customers with Your Lead Management Platform
While customers drive trends, every buyer’s journey is unique. A lead management platform is your hub for audience segmentation and lead qualification. For lead generation, this means grouping new customers together so that you can move along the sales funnel efficiently,
Lead management is mostly concerned with collecting, storing, and using customer data to maximize conversion. Your database can be CRM software, a mailing list, or a simple spreadsheet, but it needs to be central and easy to organize.
Most lead management platforms collect data through lead forms. Each field should only ask for relevant data. This can be as basic as names and contact info but go deeper too. Lifestyle info, demographics, and vehicle preferences are useful insights for market segmentation.
Run a Referral Campaign
A referral campaign leverages one of the most valuable marketing assets available — word of mouth. Satisfied customers can boost your dealership’s reputation through reviews and testimonials, but they have the most impact within their circle of influence.
Creating a referral campaign only works with customers who value your business enough to recommend it. Therefore, it’s best to focus on loyal customers who may return for value-added services like annual maintenance regularly.
This is why collecting contact details is key to lead management. Even when you have a way of reaching customers, you’ll still need to offer an incentive before asking for referrals. Incentives can be discounts, gifts, or free services.
Make life easier for your loyal customers by offering something to referred leads too. Motivating both groups helps customers drive your referral campaign without making them volunteer salespeople.
Effective Email Marketing
Email marketing can be a lucrative strategy for driving inbound leads and successful campaigns can encourage conversions, increasing ROI (Return-on-Investment) and CTR (Click-Through-Rates).
To improve your email marketing strategy, you need to assess your current one and redirect your efforts.
Successful Email Marketing Is Reliant on The Following;
- Personalized customer emails that create connection with content that engages and provides value to the reader
- Mobile responsive emails that can adapt to different device screen sizes
- Curated mailer list to avoid contacting spam/invalid addresses or non-interested customers
- Shared in-store promotions
- Provided value to existing customers with birthday offers and anniversary discounts
Practical Local SEO
Local SEO is a marketing tactic that boosts online visibility within a targeted location. It offers local businesses the same benefits as normal SEO but uses geography to ensure a higher ROI. Most car buyers prefer local dealerships because proximity adds flexibility and convenience to the service relationship.
These are the leads automotive marketing should invest in most. Local SEO is a simple, effective way to help your dealership website rank higher in local searches. Best practices for local SEO are easy to implement when you know which platforms to focus on.
To Improve Lead Generation Near Your Dealership, Start By:
- Creating a full contact page on your website
- Adding a physical address to social media profiles
- Making contact information clickable on mobile devices
- Adding a map to your website
- Filling out your Google My Business profile
To conclude, car dealerships should use innovative and interesting marketing tactics to optimize their lead generation. Although the end goal is conversion, quality leads are accelerated with engaging mediums, valuable content, and relevant contact. And so, your marketing strategy needs to evolve from simply promoting vehicles to creating meaningful connections with your audience base.
