By Peter Gary, Founder/CEO, Pinnacle Advertising

According to American statesman, Fredrick Wilcox, “Progress always involves risk. You can’t steal second base while keeping your foot on first.” This adage applies to so many aspects of life, but I think it serves best to illustrate advances in communication, particularly, digital communication.

Think for a moment about progress or, more specifically, how the world would look today without advancements. That might have meant flying on wooden planes instead of commercial airliners, central home heating from whatever we could get out of a fireplace, horsepower provided by actual horses and not performance engines; and, most of all, communications might have stalled if the less-efficient telegraph or smoke signals never progressed to the digital messaging power we have today.

Today’s auto dealer needs to understand that it is progress driving the shift from traditional advertising to digital communication. What worked yesterday, does not necessarily work today, and what works today, may not work tomorrow. Digital advertisers have been able to confuse smart individuals at the dealership-level simply because some of the technology used in digital media is brand new. Dealers already have everything in place for cost-effective digital efforts, but they need to learn how to use their digital tools effectively.

There are so many ways to track, engage, and reach consumers. Dealers need to decide the right platform for capturing their new and existing customer base and then continue the conversation with them.

The road to digital messaging is pretty easy to get to, but you have to know where to start:

• Understand your audience: That is, how to use data and analytics to hone in on your target market. Many forms of digital advertising rely on intent-based targeting, but how is this information captured/audited? Typically, it doesn’t get reviewed by humans and, as such, bots read and analyze a user’s web activity, and try to place it into specific audience groups. These audience groups typically consist of many users with no intentions of purchasing vehicles. All of the users would get identified as “in-market,” and as a result, get targeted by many forms of digital advertising. Understanding and using strategies to combat this will improve dealership ROIs.

• Understand your media: Do you understand how your digital advertising works? What about your website functions? Digital advertisers have been able to confuse smart individuals at the dealership-level simply because some of the technology media is brand new. Dealers must identify the key metrics that they need to focus on to maximize their returns. Cost Per Click (CPC), Impressions, Frequency, and Reach are all metrics that allow advertisers to refine campaigns and make necessary changes. If you want to avoid the acronym wormhole, these metrics really matter.

What is needed is a focus on the objective and the objective only. Is the user clicking your ad the same user who is buying a vehicle? Maybe. But a user clicking your ad message, contacting the dealership, and arranging a test drive is a much better indicator. Identify your key objectives (contacts, phone calls, etc.) and hold advertisers to those KPIs.

• Hold everyone/everything accountable: Coming from a marketing perspective, I can tell you that sometimes the media isn’t the issue. Embracing digital transformation means tracking and recording every call so you can see if the leads are quality and if your sales team is handling these calls properly. If you are directing traffic to your website, monitor this traffic closely. How quickly does your website load? A high bounce rate might indicate a poorly optimized website. Look at how users flow through your website. High page drop-off rates could also indicate areas of weakness.

There is more to it than this, but when it comes to digital communications, it is a question of how efficient you want to get. Traditional advertising is down, and digital platforms are coming up. You have new platforms and new ways to continue customer engagement and convert leads into sales. However, to grab this ring, you need to move towards it. In the end, there are only two options; make progress or make excuses.

Learn more about how to maximize your use of digital platforms to capture the consumer and continue the conversations with them by attending Peter Gary’s session at Digital Dealer 27 Conference & Expo (Aug. 19-21, 2019 in Las Vegas).

About the Author

After serving in the Marine Corps for eight years, Peter Gary began in the auto industry, serving as GM for many top dealerships. He then joined Autobase, a top CRM provider, helping it grow from 167 dealers to well over 3,000. In 2010, Peter founded Pinnacle Advertising, one of South Florida’s most successful advertising firms, ranked in the top 10 South Florida Advertising Agencies every year.