Search is the first place consumers go to start their vehicle-buying adventure, but did you know that 95% of auto sales nowadays take place at the dealership? The majority of car marketers are aware that attracting new customers to the dealership requires Internet advertising. However, there are a lot of expenses and difficulties associated with these automotive marketing strategies.
Gaining the confidence of their leads is one of the most difficult tasks facing automobile marketers. Ultimately, a marketer’s role is to help generate leads so that the sales team has customers to pitch to. However, automobile marketers are not exempt from competition in a highly competitive business where consumers are making significant financial decisions that impact their daily lives.
Top Automotive Marketing Strategies
1. Use Consumer Reviews To Establish Credibility
One of the most successful automotive marketing strategies is most likely reviews. As a car marketer, you must not only make sure that your reviews are positive, but you must also go above and beyond to make sure that these positive evaluations are as widespread as possible.
Make sure you are covering everything with Yelp, Google, social media, and your website! Creating customer success stories and films with your most valued clients is another way to go above and beyond. You can use them in a variety of contexts, such as your website, newsletter, or sponsored social media advertisements. Letting your consumers speak for you is the best approach to building trust in the automobile marketing industry!
2. Rank First On The Google Search Results Page
You must be at the top of Google, as it is the first line of defense! Particularly in light of the fact that consumers seldom browse to the bottom of the SERP. Making sure you’re in the top spots is essential to the effectiveness of your car marketing, as the first few listings are usually the ones that get the most hits.
Your Google Ads approach must be very successful in achieving this. How, therefore, can you reach the top of the page without going over budget? Google tends to encourage specific tactics that will help you advance in your career without having to spend additional money. To get started, use these pointers:
- Make sure your Google Ads account is set up correctly, with ad groups that are close to one another (try to have 15–20 keywords per ad group).
- Include two to three advertisements per ad group or keyword list, and keep your keywords closely tied to your ad copy.
- Make use of ad extensions. They will help you increase your ad real estate and lead interaction opportunities since Google likes them.
- To exclude pointless searches, use negative terms (and pay careful attention to your search query report).
- Make appropriate budgetary allocations between campaigns. Which are your best-selling items? Which search terms are most likely to be used by your target audience? Increase your bid on these things to take advantage of what your audience finds appealing.
Other search networks, such as Bing, should also not be overlooked. Although Bing may seem to be Google’s underappreciated relative, they do have a portion of the search industry that tends to draw older individuals, who are likely well off and can afford to buy pricey automobiles.
3. Advertise On Local Google Results Pages
Even if claiming your Google Business listing might help a lot, you might want to think about spending money on advertising as one of the best automotive marketing strategies. Ads that show up in local search results when certain keywords are included in the search query are the ones you should concentrate on. If your company provides services, you could find Google’s local service advertisements to be quite helpful.
Only one out of three potential automobile purchasers is certain of the specific kind of vehicle they want, in case you are unaware. By providing them with the appropriate material at the appropriate moment, your advertising may be effective in this situation. Additionally, the green “Google Guaranteed” emblem may demonstrate to prospective clients that you have completed the required actions to establish your credibility with Google.
You must go through a background check in order to get this badge on your Google ad. You may also have to fulfill certain conditions. Setting up local Google advertisements will ultimately pay off since it will assist in guaranteeing that the proper people are seeing the ads you are spending money on. If not, your money will be squandered on clicks that are unlikely to increase sales at your store or dealership.
4. Focus On Competitor Keywords
When it comes to search engine marketing, it’s crucial to bid on more than just the obvious phrases, such as “new Honda Accord.” To compete with your rivals, you also need to launch an automobile marketing campaign. Being able to appear whenever your competitors do with strong ad text is essential in the highly competitive and intense world of car marketing.
You should bid on your top competitors’ brand names and make really convincing advertising to attract leads to visit your website over your rivals, even if we wouldn’t advise mentioning your competitor’s name or saying anything unfavorable in your ad content (since Google could put you in time out for that).
5. Create A Social Media Profile And Participate In Groups
You are losing out on the opportunity to reach a large audience if you do not presently have a Facebook business page as one of the automotive marketing strategies. People searching for a comparable company can find you more readily if you have a Facebook business page. Customers will have even more opportunities to discover you if your Facebook business page appears on the search engine results page (SERPs).
Simply ensure that the “About” and “Description” sections include relevant keywords and are optimized for search engines. Additionally, you need to think about starting or joining Facebook groups devoted to certain automobiles, car components, or typical auto problems.
In addition to promoting yourself, this will enable you to share your knowledge on the topic. Because people will see your company name whenever you publish anything or leave a remark on someone else’s article, it will increase brand recognition.
6. Manage Your Negative Keyword List
Did you realize that searches unrelated to your company may result in your advertising appearing? And you’re still required to pay if someone clicks on them? You run the risk of appearing for irrelevant searches if you bid on wide or phrase-match keywords.
The process of selecting negative keywords is crucial to your car marketing plan since, while bidding on an exact match could seem like a lovely answer, this will significantly restrict your reach potential. Even though it may seem like a time-consuming activity, looking for your search query report is necessary, particularly in the automobile business.
Your company immediately loses trust if your advertising shows up for unrelated search queries. Because of this, being aware of the need to set up negatives to steer clear of pointless search inquiries can not only save you face but also money.
Consider the scenario when you are bidding on the phrase “affordable cars,” and your advertisement shows up for the search term “toy cars,” and a busy parent inadvertently clicks. This is a waste of money for you as well as a waste of time for the parents.
7. Adapt Your Marketing Spending To The Patterns In Automobile Purchases
Is Black Friday the most popular day to purchase a vehicle? How about the weekend of Memorial Day? Numerous unofficial “car-buying holidays” exist.
According to a study by U.S. News & World Report and TrueCar.com, if you’re smart about when you buy a car, you may get it for 7.5% to 8% less than MSRP. Your audience is aware of these car sale periods, assuming they have done their fair share of research. To learn more about the days of the week and seasons when bargain hunters are most likely to peruse their next car, check out the research here.
Determine when business is sluggish, steady, and busy, and then modify your internet advertising budget appropriately. Check to see whether your windows are too small. Although this sometimes requires preparation in advance, Google and other ad networks make it quite simple to modify your budget over time. Make sure you’re doing this, please!
Ad scheduling is an additional tool and one of the best automotive marketing strategies to use. What time of day do consumers usually visit the store? Weekends? After work on weekdays? Look at the statistics to identify this and design an ad schedule so your advertisements are only running at a larger budget immediately before these important moments, urging your potential consumers to come on by.
8. Introduce Unique Offers
You must explain the benefits of doing business with you to customers so they would buy a car from your dealership. You have to persuade them to purchase from you rather than the competitors, who could be closer to their house or provide a better deal.
You must develop special deals that you may provide to prospective clients if you don’t have the greatest evaluations or the lowest pricing, two essential marketing components. For example, new automobile owners could be eligible for free oil changes for a certain amount of time or a 5% discount on their purchases. People are more inclined to purchase from you before they miss the special deal if you make it a limited-time, time-sensitive offer.
How Content Marketing Helps Automotive Industry
Given the high level of interest in automotive subjects on the internet, as automotive marketing strategies, brands and dealers must participate in such discussions.
Good content attracts the proper kind of prospective customer: Audiences will be drawn in and the right consumers will be attracted by high-quality automobile content. In our sector, it is crucial. Sales teams might spend numerous hours attempting to establish contact with someone who is not likely to purchase what they are offering. It’s unlikely that a new mother is searching for a full-sized pickup. Additionally, she won’t be the main reader of material concerning one.
When producing content, marketers must consider the audience they want to reach. Saying that everyone wanting to purchase a vehicle is their target is insufficient. That’s too general. By focusing on the content’s topic, you may provide information that is pertinent to your product. Instead of wasting time, such data might result in conversions.
Content may assist consumers in making decisions: Choosing a vehicle model and whether to purchase one takes months. That decision-making process may be guided in a certain path by the appropriate material. Companies that write educational blogs assist in educating customers about the many models that are available, their features, and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Brand recognition is increased via automotive content marketing: When it comes to purchasing an automobile, brand awareness is crucial. Even when targeted, the industry is saturated. Purchasing an automobile may be done in a variety of ways. When a customer is unsure of whom to trust, content marketing helps automakers and dealerships position themselves as knowledgeable sources. With a compelling call-to-action (CTA), content may provide useful information and encourage readers to learn more.
By giving the consumer helpful information, you create trust. That could persuade buyers to give you their contact details so you can discuss their preferences for a new or used vehicle in further detail. Eventually, it may result in a sale.
Content marketing establishes an internet presence: We already know that when people want to purchase automobiles, they search online. Creating consistent content might be the difference between ranking at the top of organic searches.
You will show up in more focused searches if you employ focused content marketing. When someone searches for a full-sized vehicle online, a dealership that consistently posts about them is more likely to score well.
With content marketing, you may also use a variety of channels. That further boosts your online visibility. Every new blog, for instance, may have a lot of postings on social media. To promote the blog and have even more entries, you can also make a video.
FAQ
Q: What is a marketing strategy for cars?
A: The ideas and techniques a car company uses to advertise and sell its goods are known as its automotive marketing strategy. This covers both conventional techniques like radio and television advertisements as well as online techniques like email marketing, social media marketing, and SEO.
Q: What are the potential advantages of digital marketing for the automobile sector?
A: The car business may gain a lot from digital marketing. It assists in extending the audience reach, offering tailored marketing, and analyzing marketing success precisely. An effective automobile marketing plan relies heavily on tools like search engine optimization, email marketing, and social media platforms.
Q: What part does SEO play in promoting cars?
A: Because it increases a company’s exposure on search engine results, SEO is essential to automobile marketing. This implies that an SEO-optimized website has a higher chance of showing up in the top search results when prospective buyers look for keywords connected to cars or the automotive sector. This raises the likelihood that your website will draw in more visitors.
