Another 5 Automotive Marketing Strategies

Automotive marketers  waste a lot of time and money testing out all of the so-called newest & greatest advertising  opportunities.    In this video, I want to share 5 marketing strategies that your dealership should be implementing now.

(Prefer to read?  Just scroll past this video).

Strategy #1:  Start Saying Thank You.   As simple as this sounds, I’m baffled by the number of dealers who never say thanks for choosing us.  Automotive marketers spend buckets of cash trying to win a customer.  And they can’t wait to then pound that customer with the “how’d we do – please rate us” messages.  Whatever happened to saying thanks for choosing us. One of the greatest marketing strategies you can use is to do something that your competition isn’t.  And since hardly anyone says thank you for choosing us, this strategy will make a really big impression.

Strategy #2:  take better photos and lead with the “money-shot”.    I look at a lot of automotive websites and it’s pretty sad how many post really bad photos.  Along with a lot of photos no one wants to see.   We all live in a visual age with customers deciding who they’ll visit based on first impressions.  And if you’re photos aren’t up to par – you just lost the sale before even getting up to bat.  I’m not advocating hiring a professional photographer, but I am encouraging you to create a system and train your people to take better photos.   

Which leads me to Strategy #3:  whenever possible – use video to showcase your products.  A picture might say a thousand words.  But a video tells a story.  Consumers have been begging for years “give us video”.  But very few automotive marketers are answering that call.    And just like pictures, this does not have to be a huge production.  If you have a good smart phone or go pro with a tri pod , you’re in business.  And i guarantee this – the more you do it, the better you’ll get. 

Strategy #4  –  Paid social media.  And this tip is not what your meta sales rep will tell you to do.   My suggestion?  Stop buying impression based ads and switch to qualified lead forms.  Consumers have gotten used to forms.  And they can submit a form to you without ever leaving the social media platform they are on.  If the goal is to generate leads, stop buying the ads that generate the highest bounce rate of any marketing platform on the planet.

And the final tip for this video:  start using landing pages on your website.   If you’re running a particular campaign or promotion, take the time to have your web provider set up a special page welcoming potential consumers to your site and inviting them to take advantage of your special offer.  You could even have a lead form tied to this page.   This strategy will give you far more transparency with your campaigns and will help you determine what offers are working and which ones aren’t.  

So there you have it – 5 tips that can help you improve the results you’re getting from your automotive marketing campaign.