Today, automotive marketers do their best to create ads designed to drive traffic for dealers. Then they expect the prospect to do exactly what 98 percent of them do not want to do – call, email or visit the showroom.
Your growth is in the 98 percent who currently ignore your marketing efforts. That’s where your additional 20-30 sales per month are hiding.
But how can you reach this demographic?
Reach Them By Doing This…
The best marketers have always taught that you need to provide a compelling reason for car buyers to call, email, or drive down to the showroom (in every marketing communication) – especially when those buyers are mid to low funnel.
There are some very effective high impact marketing strategies that continue to drive showroom traffic right now but they rely on precise data analytics. And, ultimately, the only people who still respond to these more common marketing techniques and are willing to drive down and give you 1 to 3-hours of their time are the people who already narrowed down their decision or decided to buy what you sell – your marketing merely gives them the push to do so.
And, while these strategies should still be part of your yearly marketing plan if you want to get your share of this traffic, there is nothing more effective than digital marketing.
Digital is king.
It doesn’t get any more relevant than a results driven digital marketing strategy using paid search (PPC or SEM) because those buyers have a high level of intent.
More importantly for you, is the reporting. Many dealers express frustration that they can’t truly track digital sales, but that’s just not true. The level of reporting and transparency with digital marketing is second to none. You have the ability to track, test and measure the performance of every penny you invest in real time – 24/7. This allows marketers to adjust instantly to swings in market demand.
With the right digital marketing strategy, I’ve seen dealers grow well over 20 percent within 90 days. This happens consistently because if all you do is increase the amount of quality leads you get by 20 percent… your sales will increase by that amount as well. The numbers never lie.
Regardless of the channels in your marketing strategy – always provide a clear and easy path to the end goal – showroom traffic. Simply put, the higher the prospect’s intent to buy the more the marketing message can focus on a strong call to action asking the prospect to communicate with the dealer.
Start with low entry points of engagement and then give them much more value than all your competitors.
Don’t Do This…
Don’t assume everyone you market to cares about what you want them to care about. Most marketing, regardless of the prospect’s intent level, does not provide the prospect what they actually want most. Most marketing offers nothing more than some type of hook with a strong call to action asking the prospect to communicate with you (That is what 98 percent of most in-market prospects do not want to do).
What used to motivate the consumer, still does today. However, digital has changed the game and the buying process. Yet most marketing keeps yelling the same offer… “Come in for our big sale, save money!” This isn’t as appealing today because people can get that info without leaving their house, their car, or wherever they are at that moment.
What are you doing with the 98 percent of people who are not ready to communicate directly with you yet? What is your message or offer to the 98 percent of prospects who are in the market to buy, are actively researching, and are still open-minded to variety of purchase options and models? What is your strategy for them?
My educated guess is you are offering them what you’ve always offered and haven’t taken advantage of the new social and technological market forces in order to be more relevant with today’s car buyer.
Reaching the 98 Percent
Effective marketing gives consumers what they want. Your opportunity for growth is influencing the 98 percent of consumers who are still trying to decide what they want.
You must take everything that is complicated about marketing today – such as data, digital, email, content, social, etc., and make it simple. You must utilize campaigns that majority of marketers and dealers are not running. That’s how you wow yourself with results.
The automotive marketing community or so-called “experts” either intentionally or unintentionally make things so complicated that the average person can’t keep up. The reality is Deep Data + Marketing Strategy + Campaign Management = Sales.
Take advantage of the fact that almost all the automotive marketing focuses on the 2 percent and ignores the 98 percent.
Master This Marketing Strategy
The reason most marketers don’t have a significant increase in ROI is they can’t convert clicks to leads and they can’t convert leads into customers. The only way for marketing to move the needle is to drastically increase conversions.
How do you do this? First, you must make it easy and create the right experience. This has to start at the beginning of the buyers journey. The customer’s perception of their interaction with a dealership starts long before they ever call, email or drive down to your showroom. It starts online. Dealers are no longer judged or compared to other dealers. Consumers compare you to other online experiences like Amazon and Uber. They want to know quickly and easy you will make it for them to get what they want.
Professional marketers know with the right marketing strategy they will get the 2 percent and will begin to influence the other 98%. They create a strategy that stands out.
What is the difference between dealers who seem to have buyers flock to them – while others (who seem to do everything right) have to grind it out? These dealers understand “why” their customers buy and why they don’t.
Questions you need to ask to influence the 98 percent…
- Why do prospects prefer an OEM or 3rd-party site for research information?
- What information do they look for most?
Here’s Why This Matters
Time is everyone’s most valuable asset. That’s why they rely on the OEM and 3rd-party sites! The prospect has more trust that they will get the information they need there faster and easier than on your own site. Dealers who CONSISTENTLY save consumers time, effort, and money are winning the highest percentage of market share.
Dealers who do this, influence the 98 percent of in-market buyers instead of just the 2 percent who have already decided what to buy.
Imagine a steady stream of traffic and loving every minute of it! People do most of their research online and cutting-edge dealers embrace this market force and turn it into an advantage.
You must make an offer that 98 percent of in-market buyers actually want and make offers that are unique.
Dealerships that are more transparent, make the buying process easier and give consumers what they want, receive more Internet and showroom traffic. This separates you from everyone else by creating a better user experience and more persuasive offers.
If you want a to see a dynamic marketing system that allows you to make offers other dealers can’t make, produces a steady stream of leads all month long and completely differentiates you from everyone else… because it offers high perceived value in advance…
Just say… “Yes! I want more information.” and click here and schedule a quick call.
