By Erica Danford, AVP of Managed Services, Dealer.com
Great marketing is never accidental. Think back to what campaigns have stuck with you over the years. What do you remember about them? In all likelihood, it was the content, presented in a compelling way through messaging, imagery, and sounds that grabbed your attention. Successful campaigns are more than a few ads. They need to engage the consumer in an impactful way to truly make a difference.
Creating captivating custom content is crucial in the auto industry these days. Digital marketing is the fastest way to separate your business from your competition. So, what is holding dealerships back from deploying digital marketing and advertising solutions?
First, digital marketing and advertising campaigns are extremely complex. Often times, businesses run multiple digital marketing campaigns to highlight OEM incentives, monthly sales events, and unique offers to reach their goals. While these campaigns shouldn’t include the same exact content, they need to maintain a similar style throughout with consistent messaging across all platforms. Consistency across all platforms ensures consumers who click on ads and land on the site aren’t confused by what they’re seeing.
Second, dealership staff have limited time and capacity to dedicate to campaigns. Worrying about the content that goes into ad campaigns isn’t the best use of their time. Their focus and energy should be on moving vehicle inventory and selling fixed operations to their clients.
The previous two challenges lead into the third. Given the staff’s lack of time and the need to run multiple campaigns, dealers can’t run effective and efficient campaigns on their own, nor do they have the staff or in-house expertise to do so. To properly execute campaigns, it’s crucial they find a digital marketing and advertising partner that develops creative content that is consistent and aligns to their overall business objectives.
To create the ideal campaign, dealers and their partners need to think holistically about content strategy. This means creating a cohesive and synchronized digital strategy that emphasizes SEO and the overall website user experience.
According to a recent study, SEO investment is crucial, since over 91 percent of shoppers click on the first page of search engine results. It should be seen less as a potential component and, instead, as an essential key to drive success in digital marketing.
Likewise, consistent messaging – content that goes beyond the price of the vehicle – is crucial to build trust and confidence in the consumer. When trust is established between a dealer and consumer, the more likely they are to return to a dealership for all of their automotive needs, including vehicle service and the purchase of their next vehicle.
There are a few other ways dealers can ensure the success of digital campaigns, some of which include:
- Monitoring performance data and organic traffic on a monthly basis
- Ensuring the digital storefront is optimized for consistent messaging and creative
- Optimizing the user experience to drive lasting success
If leveraged in the correct manner, dealers can utilize digital marketing and advertising to make a superior first impression on customers, close more sales and create long-term relationships that drive increased revenue for years to come.
Learn how to optimize your digital marketing and advertising campaigns by attending Erica Danford’s session at Digital Dealer 27 . Conference& Expo (Aug. 19-21, 2019 in Las Vegas).
About the Author
Erica Danford is the AVP of Managed Services for Dealer.com. She oversees the company’s SEO, Content & Creative, and Managed Social teams where she partners closely with dealers, groups and OEM’s on digital marketing strategy. Prior to joining the automotive industry, she served as the CMO of JDK design where she managed account services, brand strategy, and business development and played an integral role in strategic leadership for culture changing brands.
