According to Think with Google research, “Twice as many car buyers start their research online versus at a dealer.” In this current hyper-technological age, it’s vital to ensure that your digital footprint is optimized and attracting the best leads who are ready to buy from your dealership.
The Right Elements for Your Digital Marketing Strategy
First, it’s important to understand the right elements that should be included in your digital marketing strategy:
- Search engine optimization for your website and blog
- Optimized Paid Search Ad Strategy
- Creating landing pages with relevant keywords
- Social media campaign following the 80/20 Rule
- Email marketing including A/B Testing
- Utilizing an Optimized CRM Software
- Creating engaging videos for your YouTube Channel
- Blog and website content following Google’s E-A-T
- Writing downloadable whitepapers and eBooks
Work with your marketing team or digital marketing strategist to create the right action plan to integrate the above elements into your digital marketing strategy for 2020.
Mistakes to Avoid in Your Digital Marketing Strategy
Your marketing budget is a precious asset, and if you are making mistakes in your digital marketing strategy, you are wasting money. Get a better return on your investment by marketing smarter.
Not Creating a Google My Business Page
It’s a mistake not to create a Google My Business Page since this is a free promotional online platform opportunity that enables you to share current information about your dealership. Consider the following benefits of creating a page:
- Budget-Friendly — Creating a page doesn’t strain your marketing budget since it is a free business listing that can enhance your digital strategy.
- Local Search — You need your dealership to display for relevant “near me” searches, and this can happen when you create a page.
- Engagement — Changes to the platform in 2017 and 2019 enabled enhanced communication with people through messaging and posts on your page.
- Updates — People can follow your page and get updates when you post information about special deals, service offers, and events at your dealership.
- Videos — You can upload short 30-second videos that can increase engagement with people and improve customer conversion rates.
- Data Insights — You can identify geographic locations of the people who are searching for directions to your dealership to expand lead targeting.
Signing up for a Google My Business Page is simple and you can follow the step-by-step guide from Google to get started today.
Only Focusing on Paid Search Ads
Paid search ads should be an integral part of your digital marketing strategy.
However, it’s a mistake to focus all your attention on these ads and not concentrate on any of the other eight crucial elements mentioned earlier that need to be part of your digital marketing strategy for 2020.
Of course, there are great benefits to integrating paid search ads into your strategy, like the following:
- Results Driven — Paid search campaigns reap faster results than SEO for websites/blogs since relevant keywords display to a highly targeted audience.
- Low Cost — Your budget won’t be wasted since your cost is directly related to ad clicks. With Google Ads, there is no minimum spending requirement.
- Meeting KPI’s — You can link your Google Ad campaign to your Google Analytics account for detailed data to measure Key Performance Indicators.
- Targeted Audience — Your ads can reach a highly targeted audience to increase conversion rates because you can research and bid on keywords.
Getting started is simple with Google Ads. If you need assistance, Google Ads specialists are available, or you can work with a Digital Marketing Strategist.
Not Having Mobile-Friendly Websites
Mobile search queries totaled 141.9 billion in 2019 compared to desktop searches, which totaled 62.3 billion. If you want your dealership to excel in your digital marketing strategy, you need to avoid the mistake of having any sites that are not mobile-friendly.
Consider the following reasons why your website and blogs must be mobile-friendly if you want to stay relevant to today’s tech-savvy consumer:
- Enhanced User Experience — Ensure a superior user experience (UX) to draw people to your sites, keep them there to view your vehicle stock, and decide to contact you via phone, email, or chat, or visit your showroom.
- Decreased Bounce Rate — Faster loading sites with larger fonts for mobile viewing will keep people on the site longer and decrease bounce rates.
- Augmented SEO/Rank — Sites with fast load times and mobile responsiveness are rewarded with increased ranking on search engine results pages (SERP).
Regarding online ranking for websites, Google has focused on mobile page loading speed over desktop page loading speed as its crucial metric for evaluation since July 2018.
That means if your website or blog is not mobile-friendly, your ranking could be penalized. That will negatively impact how your sites are displayed on SERP for organic search.
Failing to Optimize CRM Correctly
Customer relationship management (CRM) is an important factor in interacting with leads and customers. Investing in the right CRM software can significantly impact lead conversion rates and enhance and lengthen customer lifecycles.
Don’t make the mistake of failing at customer relationship management by not integrating CRM software into your digital marketing strategy.
The following benefits can help your dealership boost sales when using CRM software correctly:
- Communication — You can communicate with customers and leads through email and text campaigns and share information on deals and service offers.
- Data Analytics — With analytics, you can improve decision making for your digital marketing strategy when you see what is working and what’s not.
- Enhanced Sales — Give your sales and marketing teams a better way to connect with potential buyers and boost sales for your dealership in 2020.
Most dealers use a CRM but the key is optimizing it. Consider discussing this with your digital marketing strategist.
Thinking Blogging Doesn’t Work
The first blog was published by Justin Hall, a student at Pennsylvania’s Swarthmore University in January 1994 on Links.net. Blogging became more popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
People still blog today. However, you may be under the impression that blogging is a thing of the past — especially with people posting video blogs, or vlogs, and the popularity of videos on YouTube.
Your digital marketing strategy should include creating engaging videos for your YouTube Channel since their app reached 87.7% usage for music and video apps as of the end of 2019.
Delivering high-quality video content will meet the consumer demand for reliable information and improve conversion rates while driving traffic to your website, blog, and showroom.
According to Think with Google data, the top three reasons consumers watch videos after completing online searches are as follows:
- To view the product (or in your case, get views of the vehicle and features) prior to buying it — and to see others’ experiences with the product.
- To get more information about the product before making a purchase.
- To find “credible” or “authentic” consumer reviews.
However, do not neglect your content creation strategy for your blog. You can combine both mediums and write blog content that includes engaging photos and videos to increase user time on the site.
When creating content, make sure that you are constantly focused on what the Google algorithm is looking for in relation to users’ online searches, and deliver consistent, high-quality content.
The Google Search algorithm searches online content for relevance to keyword searches for display on search engine results pages. The algorithm uses the following factors when identifying which content to display:
- User’s keyword search query
- Content’s relevance to keyword search
- Viability of page content for the user
- Reliability and expertise of the sources
- Content geared for local “near me” searches
According to Google Search, “The weight applied to each factor varies depending on the nature of the user’s query. The freshness of the content plays a bigger role in answering queries.”
Post often and make sure the content is relevant and educational. Google will reward such content with a higher online ranking and availability for display in organic searches.
Focus on creating content that follows the Google E-A-T guidelines:
- Expertise — The content needs to be written by a site owner that has expert knowledge in the subject matter or demonstrates a skillset in the field.
- Authoritativeness — All content must be well-sourced and educational and provide reliable information that is relevant to the keyword search.
- Trustworthiness — Site content must be truthful and add to the user experience by giving high-quality information that answers search needs.
There are constant changes to the Google algorithm, and you need to stay up to date. This Search Engine Land article provides a fact sheet on the “8 Major Google Algorithm Updates” and what you need to know about them.
Consider following Google’s Blog to stay informed about all things Google. You can learn more about any future algorithm changes and other invaluable information that can help you when you’re planning your digital marketing strategy for your dealership.
Avoid Making Mistakes in Your Digital Marketing Strategy
Get better ROI and stop wasting money by implementing a smarter digital marketing strategy this year. In addition to following the nine important elements mentioned at the beginning of this article, don’t forget to avoid making these five marketing mistakes.
Create and effectively manage your free Google My Business Page. Focus on more than simply paid search ads on Google.
Make sure your sites are mobile-friendly and that you blog regularly with relevant information. Use the right CRM software to communicate with leads and customers effectively.
