The Automotive Digital Marketing Playbook: What Your Dealership Needs Right Now

With over 268 million vehicles on the road, America has secured its place as the second largest car market on earth.

That love of vehicles coupled with ballooning consumer confidence means that car buying is up and if you own an auto dealership, that’s outstanding news for you.

Maybe you’re reaping the benefits of today’s economy in the way of increased sales. Maybe you’re seeing today’s economy and are wondering why your dealership isn’t getting more traction.

Whatever relationship your business has with consumers today, one thing is for certain… There’s no better time than right now to start investing in digital auto marketing.

A good digital auto marketing plan can not only help you get more customers tomorrow, but can also help solidify your momentum for years to come.

Below, our team has put together a list of marketing musts your dealership should be leveraging.

1. A Modern Website

The vast majority of consumers will look at a business’ website before ever stepping foot in it. The same is true for auto dealerships.

If when a consumer looks at your website they find it helpful and professional, the chances of them coming in to visit go up significantly. If your website feels antiquated or is non-existent, you’re losing money.

Because of that, having a website that’s built to meet today’s standards should be at the core of your digital auto marketing plan.

Your website should load quickly, be fully mobile compatible, and should provide topical information on your dealership’s inventory and promotions.

2. SEO

For the uninitiated, SEO stands for search engine optimization and it’s radically important to your dealership’s success online. In a nutshell, SEO is the practice of positioning the content on your website to better align with questions people are typing into search engines like Google.

The better aligned you are with what people are searching for, the higher chance you have of your website surfacing at the top of search engine results pages.

Given that Google fields 4.5 billion searches per day, ranking well on their pages means massive opportunities in the way of customer acquisition.

3. Content Marketing

A lot of people love cars but very few of them know a lot about them.

“What does a 5-star safety rating mean?” “How can I figure out my car’s fuel economy?” “How do I know how much pressure to put in my tires?”

These are all questions thousands of people are searching for answers to online every month. If you run an auto dealership, chances are you know the answers to those questions.

To take advantage of the fact that you have the answers people are looking for, many of the most successful auto dealerships start a blog on their website which tackles topics around car buying and car ownership. Others produce videos on YouTube which serve the same function as a blog but communicate information in a different way.

Sharing your expertise through the frequent publishing of content on the web can help you get more customers searching for knowledgeable and reputable dealerships in their area.

4. Get Social

Social media provides ample opportunities for car dealerships to get both free and paid customer leads.

On the free-front, creating social media profiles on platforms that are relevant to your target market and organically sharing valuable content on those platforms will help you slowly build a following.

On the paid front, platforms like Facebook offer sophisticated tools to help your dealership’s posts/ads appear in the feeds of highly targeted customers that are very likely to convert.

If we could share one tip with you when it comes to being successful on social media, it’s to be genuine. Social media users are very savvy when it comes to realizing they’re being marketed to.

Because of that, you have to be just as focused on providing value in the way of tips and other insights as you are on selling. Over time, you’ll find that if you build rapport with your social following by not being too salesy, they’ll naturally look to do business with you.

5. Pay Per Click

Rounding out our list of digital auto marketing musts is pay per click advertising. Pay per click (or PPC) is commonly used in reference to running ads on Google.

As we mentioned before, Google has an extraordinary amount of people leveraging its platform on a daily basis. With a good PPC campaign set up, you can hyper-target Google users in your dealership’s vicinity and get ads in front of them that have a very high chance of converting.

Setting up a successful PPC campaign can be a little daunting for people who are new to digital marketing. If you partner with an auto digital marketing expert, however, you can get up and running with PPC and start seeing incredible results almost immediately!

Wrapping Up Digital Auto Marketing Bible: What Your Dealership Needs Right Now

If you’re looking for all-in-one, straightforward guidance on how your dealership can maximize its digital presence, look no further than our tips above.

While there is an infinite amount of things your dealership could do online to improve its lead channels, the 5 musts we’ve listed are among the most effective places to invest your time right now.

Are you feeling overwhelmed by some of our suggestions? Do you like the idea of leveraging digital auto marketing but aren’t sure how to successfully implement strategies?

Our team at Dealer eOps can help.

At Dealer eOps, we’ve been helping auto dealerships move their inventories fast through the power of digital marketing for years.

If you’re looking to boost your revenue, provide more leads to your sales team and increase your brand awareness today, contact us for your free digital marketing demo!