By Jaden Miller, Content Strategist, 9 Clouds

As an auto dealer, you know that each OEM and third-party vendor claims to know the “best” way for you to spend your marketing dollars.

There’s always an angle; there’s always an incentive; and each tool — such as Facebook Ads Manager, Google Analytics, or a report from a third-party vendor or agency— may try to make its own data appear a bit more successful than it really is. 

As the customer journey becomes increasingly complex, with so many marketing touchpoints, all marketers must be comfortable with analyzing data from a source they can trust. This is crucial in perfecting your marketing goals and putting your dollars where you’ll see the most return on advertising spend.

This is why, as a dealer, you need to be able to evaluate data on your own. You must find a trustworthy way to compile data into one comprehensive, vendor-agnostic tool or report.  

Armed with a comfortable understanding of the data that feeds your automotive marketing strategy, your dealership can become dangerous — dangerously strategic, that is.

Why Should Marketing Data Matter to Dealers?

Good question. There are only so many hours in the day, after all, and you have a lot of metal to move.

There are two reasons that auto dealers should be invested in the numbers behind their marketing efforts. 

First, the data directs the dollars.  

Most dealers have a limited marketing budget, and it’s difficult to know how to spend it if you’re uncomfortable with analyzing data. But if you are willing to dig in — and if you are confident in your data sources — you can identify when and where your budget should be reallocated. 

For example, you may spend an equal amount of money on two different third-party auto listing sites. It seems easiest to split the budget evenly between the two, so your dealership can be visible on both. But what if, over the past year, vendor A assisted with 25% of sales, and vendor B assisted with only 4% of sales?

Of course, in this situation, it might be wise to reallocate the budget from vendor B to vendor A, but you could come to that conclusion only if you have compelling, trustworthy data to back it up.

Second, the data helps you know if you are reaching the right audience with your marketing efforts.

Dealerships are privy to something extremely valuable: customer information.  

Now, there are many strategic ways that you can responsibly use CRM data to put your marketing dollars toward the people who are most likely to become customers. You can use customer data for digital strategies such as:

• Custom Audiences for Facebook ads
• Special Ad Audiences (people with similar interests to those in a Custom Audience) for Facebook ads
• Custom audience lists for Google Ads
• Segmented lists for personalized email marketing

These many targeting options leave you with a lot of data to analyze: 

Do the Special Ad Audiences in Facebook perform better than interest targeting (or no targeting at all)? What if my Facebook metrics don’t align with my Google Analytics metrics? My marketing agency’s report says something even different. Which is correct? Does click-through rate matter? What do all these metrics mean? Did this even affect my sales? Was all this money a complete waste?

It’s easy to become overwhelmed.

Reliable Data Reporting Gives You a Competitive Edge 

Vendor-agnostic reporting tools are out there. A few of them are even worth the price tag.

Once you have a solution to evaluate the data that inundates from all directions, you are armed to discover which vendors, tools, and avenues are getting people to the lot — and which are a waste of resources. Now, you don’t have to blindly listen to vendors, OEMs, or even marketing firms who claim their strategies are the “best.” The data to make informed decisions is right there in front of you. 

You can optimize your budget, identify when an ad spend or tool has plateaued, and decide whether you should cut back or reallocate your marketing dollars. 

Ultimately, this data-backed decision making will elevate your dealership above the competition and allow you to spend your time doing what you do best — interacting with customers in the store and waving goodbye as they drive away in a new set of wheels.

About the Author

Jaden Miller is a content strategist for 9 Clouds, a leading automotive digital marketing agency based in South Dakota. As a data specialist, she builds performance-based campaigns for clients throughout North America using customer and behavioral data.