CAR DEALERSHIP MARKETING STRATEGIES
Driving traffic and creating new conversions for your dealership.
Digital Marketing That Creates Conversions.
Naturally, car dealerships are always looking for an edge in marketing strategies and quality lead generation for their business. Therein lies the problem. There’s not just one edge. There are many.
To create and manage a successful marketing strategy or campaign, dealerships cannot simply rely on one singular focus. To put it another way, there is no room for tunnel vision here. It’s time for dealers to open up to a multi-channel approach to marketing, one in which the powers of social media, SEO, & PPC are combined and harnessed to help you identify in-market car shoppers and move metal.
Social Media for Dealers
Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram make it incredibly easy to reach all types of potential customers. The question is when you do reach them, where do you want to lead them? In order to truly engage with your dealership social media audience, you should be giving them a path to follow that allows a relevant story to unfold at their very fingertips.
You see, no matter how on point your content may be, or however perfect your ad targeting and spend, you must add more to the story. If a particular Instagram user hearts your fun lifestyle pic about a community event in your area but has nowhere else to go to learn more about it, you’ve won the like, but no more. Don’t let a killer Facebook ad or post, or a #instagood Instagram shot for that matter, go to waste by letting the story end there. Think of this as just a beginning. You have a golden opportunity to lead them in a direction that they already want to go, as well as to give them some valuable information about your dealership along the way. By the time they land on your inventory listing or submit a lead form, they will not only know what vehicle they want to see, but they’ll also know who you are, and why they want to do business with you.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Your Dealership Website
Just like social media, having a sound strategy that produces quality work is key; but also like social media, it is ultimately only part of the whole, complete story you could be providing your followers and website users.
The main goal in creating effective, organic onsite SEO is to generate website traffic solely in terms of search result rankings. Content and inventory pages are and should be optimized, and ideally, your SEO service provider is generating fresh new onsite pages, built to rank well and deliver expert-level content with appropriate links that will inevitably lead to your showroom doors. This, like the power of social media, is in itself a mighty tool when wielded correctly by the correct hands. But, it can be all the more powerful when combined with a cohesive social media and PPC strategy.
Let your SEO beacon of a website and perfect custom-content landing pages shine through with spot-on social media posts that perfectly set your followers up to be delivered an oasis of information and assistance in a desert of rubber-stamped dealer content. Again, it’s all about giving your potential customers more of what they want.
Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising for Car Sales
Now that we know the relevance, nay, the absolute necessity of an integrated digital marketing strategy, the last domino can now fall into place. The use of smartly researched pay-per-click campaigns, commonly run through services such as Google Ads and Ad Words, can quite literally put you ahead of the competition when it comes to search visibility.
Although this is effective when done well, it’s also only the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to the real possibilities. Here again, the question is, where you want to take them once you have them? Sure, you could pay to get clicks directly to your inventory pages, but then you’re just another nameless, generic car dealer that may, or may not have the vehicle a given shopper is in-market to buy. Instead, why not take this important opportunity to further set your dealership apart from not only the local competition but also from the endless Internet competition? It’s time to put it all together and start reaping the rewards.
Bringing It All Together with Octane by Dealer Authority
Social Media, SEO, and PPC: each is obviously very powerful and relevant on their own, but kind of like the Avengers, they too are far more mighty and effective when combined into one elite, multi-pronged effort. Think of it: the superpowers of Social, SEO, and PPC harnessed together to drive car shoppers to their perfect destination, your dealership. All along the way clearing a path for them with plenty of help, knowledge, useful info, and the perfect, seemingly hand-picked selection right in front of their eyes.
Some digital marketing firms prefer to operate with a walled-off approach, in which the three arms of online marketing never interact. It’s no surprise that too many good dealerships have fallen victim to such a limited strategy. For digital marketing done the right way, it really is time to seek out and employ a cohesive, cooperative strategy, such as Octane 360, from Dealer Authority. Octane 360 is one such package that utilizes the highest quality Social Media, SEO, and PPC strategies together. It’s a full-throttle, wide-open approach that uses the best of everything with a completely integrated marketing plan. We’re on the cutting edge of what’s possible when it comes to creativity and ingenuity, making the most out of some pretty useful tools.
Start your dealership’s custom digital marketing strategy today!
Start Your Octane Marketing Strategy Today
Clearly, there’s no time like the present to re-evaluate your current digital marketing plan and approach. Even if you’re doing well, you could be doing even better. It’s all about utilizing the available tools to your advantage. Too many dealers are missing the boat on this one. The good news is that it’s rarely ever too late to hop on board and start enjoying the ride.
Dealer Authority is an automotive digital marketing company focused on giving our dealerships a competitive advantage with custom Social Media, Search Engine Optimization, Google Business Profiles, and Pay Per Click.
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