What is the Best Automotive Marketing Strategy?

Illustrated couple being handed a set of keys to a vehicle by another figure with a large animated phone behind him
The automotive industry is one that is always moving, transforming, and innovating. A few years ago, electric vehicles were just a simple afterthought; Now, they have become a leading forefront in the industry. Knowing that more than 95% of car sales today are made at the dealership, the first step to get the customer on the lot is to begin their buyer’s journey through an effective marketing strategy. But what are the best automotive marketing tactics? We will explain how these strategies provide leverage for your marketing efforts and how automotive advertising will improve efficiency, operations, and the customer experience.

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There Should Be a Focus on Comprehensive Dealership Marketing Strategies

Illustrated image of a gray car with a "sale" sign on it. Behind the gray car is a glass building labeled "Car Dealership" with multiple vehicles inside

When trying to find the answer to a never-ending question, begin with a simple Google search. Sometimes, the best answer could be right in front of you at the top of the web page. If you were a customer looking to purchase a new vehicle, you would first go to google to find the nearest dealership. Second, you would look at their online business reviews and overall reputation. If everything seems promising, you will then schedule a time to visit the lot and test drive. On the other hand, another way would be to listen to or see an advertisement on the radio, TV, or in print advertising spots.

Having a comprehensive automotive marketing strategy is the best way to promote your products and services. Rather than focusing on quick-fix solutions for customers, implementing a slow and steady marketing strategy could show better benefits in the long run.

It’s important to remember that your focus cannot just be on one strategy, but on every component of your marketing plan. By covering all of your bases, it will allow your team to reach the maximum number of prospective customers. Having a strong auto marketing strategy is not just about having positive online reviews, but optimizing your dealership’s Google search ranking, online presence, brand exposure, and customer loyalty.

How To Improve Your Automotive Marketing Efforts

A comprehensive marketing plan is comprised of multiple components that are critical to a dealership’s success. Let’s take a look at each one and how it plays a role in having a successful automotive marketing strategy. The more moving parts your train has, the better it will perform.

SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a process that generates new traffic to your website from free, organic, editorial, or natural search results in search engines. When your dealership’s website is optimized properly with rank-worthy content, users will be able to easily navigate and see what you have to offer, making it compelling and unique from other dealership websites, which will be the key to winning.

Local SEO

Local SEO is a subset of Search Engine Optimization. However, it specifically affects the visibility and ranking of your dealership’s website or web pages in a local geographic area. If your dealership has a physical location or serves as a geographic area, it can benefit from local SEO.

Mostly blue illustration with two figures looking at a target and chart

SEM/PPC

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a digital marketing strategy that is used to increase the overall visibility of a website in search engine results pages (SERPs). Leveraging clever paid search campaigns will benefit your dealership’s brand and capitalize on inventory-specific campaigns for new, used, and certified pre-owned vehicles. Pay-per-Click (PPC) is a type of internet marketing strategy that makes advertisers pay a fee each time their ad is clicked on by a prospective customer. Tracking to see how many times an ad is clicked on will show how effective the advertisement is.

Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing is an essential tool to integrate into your auto marketing strategy because it allows your team to promote its brand, its products, and its services across multiple social channels (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Tik-Tok, etc.). Since each social outlet has its own unique audience, creating dynamic content will help capture more customers and generate leads.

Reputation Management

Reputation Management is a marketing and public relations effort that works on how your dealership influences what and how people think of your brand. For example, think of the difference between receiving a 5-star review and a 1-star review. Some customers may choose a different dealership due to seeing a 1-star review online. Maintaining a strong online reputation will help strengthen your customer loyalty and overall brand development.

Fixed Operations Marketing

Fixed Ops Marketing has been a long-time struggle for automotive dealerships. Paying close attention to this marketing strategy will allow you to take back control of the business and drive traffic into the service department. Steadier service traffic makes staffing needs easier, and an increase in volume always adds a boost in productivity! So even during slower months, the business will grow.

Suite of Automotive Products & Services Designed to Boost Your Sales

Illustration of a car dealership with multi-colored cars in front of the building in the parking lot

Based on what your automotive marketing strategy is focused on, our team has crafted customized product solutions that are created, updated, and monitored for each of our clients. Whether it is to sell more cars, increase your vehicle reservations, schedule more service bay visits, or increase automotive part sales, we have a solution for you.

  • Absorption Boost This cutting-edge product completely overhauls your dealer’s automotive specials, its service center, and parts center web pages to boost its fixed operations. By combining a stronger visualization with a custom design and QR code scan-to-wallet functionality, absorption boost targets surrounding local target areas and users in smart intervals. With an easy-to-navigate specials page, customers will have better functionality to digitally scan, download, and save your coupons on their phone, making the buying process so much easier.

  • Dealer VIP Advantage Have you ever wanted to watch your vehicles in production sell before they even arrive on your lot? Our digital web experts create custom codes for your VIP landing page that shows all vehicles in production ready for pre-order, making it easy for customers to purchase the vehicle they want at the click of a button. Best of all, our Dealer VIP Advantage solution is OEM and Dealership brand-centric.

Knowing All the Strategies Can Be Overwhelming

We’re Here to Make it Easy

As you can see, our professional team at Reach Marketing Pro has expert knowledge in both traditional and digital marketing strategies. Whether you are looking for a one-off service or a full-fledged ongoing campaign, we are here to help create, initiate, assist, and oversee your Automotive Marketing strategy!

Visit our products page to learn more.

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