Every business needs to keep their existing customers interested, but to ensure long-term success new customers are essential. The automotive sector is a fast-paced, ever-changing industry, so the challenge can feel even more brutal for marketers at car dealerships. As many as 89% of consumers look for vehicle information online,1 requiring companies to translate searches into sales calls and visits to dealerships. Today, we explain top tips to reach new customers in this competitive sector.
Standing out online can be difficult, especially as an average car buyer has 900 digital interactions in the three months leading up to the purchase or lease of a car. But driving traffic in the direction you want can be tackled with a well-planned SEO strategy. First, it’s essential to understand what potential clients are looking for when they turn to the web – something analytics can make clear for you.
Once the target audience’s search behaviours are identified, your content can answer their questions, making you relevant to them. Optimising content with SEO techniques will always help to attract viewers, so if it’s new clients you’re looking for, it should be top of the list.
Identifying key performance indicators helps every business understand what works best for them. Analytics and call tracking are great ways to distinguish which campaigns and strategies have and are generating the most responses.
For example, Mindshare recently won Best Local Campaign at the European Search Awards for their work in unifying a national campaign with Mazda's network of local dealerships. The campaign achieved a 250% increase in phone leads for Mazda's dealerships and resulted in a significant drop in Mazda’s national UK marketing costs.2 By paying close attention to the conversion metrics, Mindshare were able to fully understand the value of the online activity and optimise it.
In an age of content marketing, pay-per-click advertising has established itself as a top model used to drive traffic to websites. With almost 97% of car buyers researching potential vehicles online before even visiting a dealership; making your online presence prominent is key to ensure it's you they call up for a test drive. PPC allows control over an advert’s placement, meaning you chose it to appear on a page the target audience visits, therefore increasing the likeliness of attracting new customers.
Also, results are trackable and measurable - including the amount of traffic driven, number of clicks, and conversions - bringing more valuable information to light. Of course, you can also link the calls made to a dealership directly back to the PPC keyword that a new customer first clicked on during the research phase of their buyer journey.
Explore the different call tracking options available to automotive marketers in our short eBook specifically looking at the topic here.
With online marketing continually evolving, remaining up to date with market trends keeps companies relevant and connected to their customers. Without this, reaching new customers would be tough.
For example, Infinity’s newly released automotive best practices eBook states that global mobile usage is expected to pass 4.5 billion people by the end of 2018.3 Is mobile usage the next best revenue channel for automotive marketers to tap into. Without adapting to this trend, mobile customers wouldn’t be reached effectively; demonstrating that staying up to date is vital.
Call intelligence allows an unparalleled insight into the online and offline process a customer takes to reach you. All of which can be optimised through advertising and marketing campaigns. If you are interested, take a look at some of the solutions we offer to the automotive industry, or simply start a conversation with us today.
Additionally, if you’d like to see a few ideas for top-notch automotive marketing campaigns, download our automotive marketing best practices eBook.
This piece is a guest blog written by Kerrie Schofield.
References: