You may have heard it time and again, but if you aren’t using digital in your marketing plans, you are losing out. Simply put, traditional marketing no longer works like it used to for auto dealerships. According to research by DealerSocket, traditional advertising such as radio spots, TV ads, and billboards bring in an average total profit of $1,702 per vehicle, while digital marketing brings in $2,514 per sale. Consumers research and shop across digital channels and dealers must go digital to target and acquire new auto customers.
Digital marketing includes channels such as websites, email, social media, and mobile. Not only does digital marketing bring in more revenue per car sold, it also costs much less. DealerSocket found that it costs $150 of digital marketing to sell one car compared to $1,581 in traditional media. This translates to paying 10 times more than necessary if you use traditional strategies.
This is not to say that traditional media should be left behind. It certainly has its place, but dealerships must move away from solely using traditional advertising channels and begin to implement more digital targeting options. As consumers become more digitally savvy, they expect to be catered to through digital channels. By not targeting these consumers in the ways they expect to be reached, dealerships are losing out on an entire target audience of online car consumers.
According to a study by SiriusDecisions, 67% of the buyer’s journey is now completed digitally. Consumers use digital channels to research and to decide which dealership to ultimately visit. During this important phase of research, you need to ensure that your dealership is one of the options being considered.
Here are 7 digital strategies to be considered at the very beginning of the search journey all the way through to the final purchase.
- Search
Research by G/O Digital revealed that 30% of consumers immediately go to search engines when starting the car-buying process. A dealership’s online presence is a huge factor in determining success at this initial point in the purchase journey. Strong Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies will ensure that car-buyers can find your dealership in search results. A comprehensive SEO strategy should include your website, keyword optimization, pay per click campaigns, link building, online reputation management and quality content.
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