Top 5 Automotive Dealership Marketing Tips for Car Dealers

While most people still head to the car dealership to purchase their new car, the first place they begin the process is online. Most automotive dealership marketing has shifted to the online platform. That doesn’t mean you can neglect traditional auto dealer marketing techniques. Let’s look at the top five ways your dealership can acquire new customers in this digital era.

1. Rock the Customer Reviews

When a customer wants to find out if a dealership is reliable and fair, they turn to online reviews. Maintaining a good reputation is the first step to getting new customers through the door. As an automotive marketer, you must go above and beyond to ensure satisfaction. Offer reviews on your website and monitor other sites such as Google, Yelp and your social networks. Go beyond the competition and promote your success with customer stories and videos on your website and social media pages.

2. Stay Connected to the Community

Of course, you want to focus heavily on digital automotive marketing strategies. It’s the only way to compete these days. In the process, you don’t want to neglect the traditional ways to connect with your customer base. You need to get out in the community. After all, that’s where your prospective buyers are.

Partner up with some local businesses that work with the same demographic. You can support a local charity or sponsor a parade. There are no limits to the ways you can benefit from your neighborhood and get to know new people. As you expand awareness of the dealership, you also feel good about the efforts.

3. Target the Right Demographic

Whatever type of automotive dealership marketing strategy you plan to employ, you need to make sure it is targeted correctly. After all, the potential customer for a BMW SUV is quite different from a Toyota hatchback. These customers are going to have different priorities, needs,  and concerns.

You must implement automotive marketing solutions that target each group separately. Brainstorm the main things this audience cares about. This allows you to prepare the right message that reaches them. Are they concerned about leather seats or fuel economy? Do they want room for the kids or a high-performance engine? When you address their concerns directly, you connect on a deeper level.

With the right tools helping you target new customers, you can define the audiences you need to reach. Then, just sit back and watch the ROI grow – one person at a time.

4. Create Unique Offers

If you want car buyers to visit your dealership, your offers must stand out. Otherwise, why would they purchase a car from you over the other guy down the road? A big part of your dealer marketing strategy has to be telling your customers why they want to deal with you over the competitor.

Don’t just offer the generic promotions. You need to sit with your team and brainstorm some unique options that will cause the prospects to stop for a moment. Why not something like free oil changes for new car buyers or a gas card? It might be all that’s needed to convince that person on the fence that it is time to buy.

5. Don’t Neglect Video Advertising

When it comes to online advertising, 60% of marketers say video tends to drive more engagement than photos alone. There’s no question that video commercials catch the eye of prospects. You must include video marketing into your advertising budget if you want to succeed.

By creating something different, such as OEM Style Video Ads or Cinemagraphic Ads, you stay on top of the competition.

Automotive Dealership Marketing Done Right

Most importantly, you don’t want to implement automotive marketing strategies alone. Most dealers don’t have the staff dedicated to coming up with unique advertising ideas. You need a team that works solely on these techniques.

When you hire an expert to handle your marketing requirements, you see greater amounts of success. At AimLogic, we focus solely on staying on top of the latest trends. Then, we create a marketing plan that works for your dealership. All you have to do is prepare to see all the qualified leads coming your way.

Dealership marketing can be tricky. With the right partner, you receive the new customers you have been hoping for.