When it comes to your car dealership marketing strategy and social media, we've talked about how important it is before. We also believe that online marketing is often missed out on in car dealer circles, but don't get the wrong idea. We're not telling car dealer owners they shouldn't be using traditional marketing as well, just that they need to broaden their marketing scopes. Else they risk falling behind other dealers who are willing to take the risk and learn about this new online strategy that's exploding onto the marketing scene.
So, if online marketing is the way of the future, how do you do it effectively? Internet marketing requires ingenuity and innovation. This is especially true for car dealers. Online marketing sparks new ideas and engages your customers more directly than TV and radio. We're saying you should really commit to internet marketing alongside the other pieces of your car dealership marketing strategy because it will give you a larger audience and opportunities for customer involvement, and therefore loyalty. It will also allow you to explore new ideas. Your car dealer marketing team will change, and here's how.
1. They will have a more direct line to the customer, to take in suggestions or requests.
When the customer can get what they need from the experience, they are more likely to make a purchase. There is often a disconnect between customers and marketers. This is also true of many businesses within the car dealership industry. With your marketers interacting with your customer base via social media and being able to effectively gauge their responses to different ads on social media, they will learn to change and grow along with their strategies. This will encourage staff to think up new ways to connect to a previously hard-to-reach customer base. It allows them to collect new ideas. New ideas will, in turn, breathe new life into car dealerships and take them in new marketing directions.
2. Custom loyalty programs, educational campaigns and other things make the customer feel valued, and give your marketers creative freedom.
Getting your marketers to create email campaigns designed to educate and greet customers, or to create an engaging loyalty program will challenge them. It will mean research, constant maintenance, and dedication to the success of their project. However, the return is monumental. With these features, car dealers can prove that they value the customers' business as well as recognize their importance. Your marketers will have to find a way to communicate with those customers in a way that's conversational, yet not unprofessional. They'll have to keep tabs on many subjects and adjust their dealership marketing strategy accordingly. With the right software, car dealers will have access to templates and other features that can make their emails as interactive and as engaging as possible.
3. Take chances with your marketing.
Car dealers are brilliant salespeople. They have a very specific formula and many are unwilling to take risks. But the truth is that the marketing world is changing and no risks means no great reward. Car dealers have to step up and encourage their marketing staff come to them with ideas with potential to be the next big thing. Connecting to customers, especially millennials, is getting harder. So take some marketing leaps of faith. Let people see you're the car dealer for them because you're willing to try new things.
Millennials and their children are more tech-savvy than their predecessors, and so marketing approaches have to be different. That group will account for more than 40 percent of your market soon, so taking chances with your marketing now might just pay off in the long run. That's not to say that car dealers should rush into marketing gambles without weighing the good and the bad. There's nothing wrong with playing it safe. But marketing isn't something you can do well by standing still. In the words of Sir Ken Robinson, an English education expert, "If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original." So get ready to try new things. And don't be afraid to try new dealership marketing strategy ideas. Just know that not every one of them will be a hit.
Get Creative With Your Car Dealership Marketing Strategy
Ready to get creative and make your car dealership marketing strategy stand out from the pack? Try a free 14-day trial of the SimplyCast platform today! Contact us to learn more about how your dealership marketing strategy can be enhanced with the power of marketing automation.
