While beating the social media drum raises a lot of good points about the finer details of marketing that way, there are other online marketing methods that will prove effective as well. From general web presence to direct communication with customers, these methods are other things to look into in conjunction with social media. To auto dealers, this kind of online marketing is an important piece of a seemingly complex marketing puzzle.
1. SEO and Web Presence Boosting
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a highly effective way to boost your web presence and therefore the awareness of people who might otherwise not have known that your business exists. By using keywords on your webpages and including the right amount of content, you can boost your ratings. This will cause you to appear closer to the top of the list when people search for specific terms. The more potential terms you cover, the more likely you'll be at the top of the first page when someone searches for something that relates to your business.
2. Blogging is Actually Important
Blogging performs a number of tasks. One, it boosts your customers' confidence and gives them a way to pick your brain for frequently asked questions, advice and tips related to your product. Two, customers can also read about success stories, and figure out what services are best attributed to what kind of vehicle and make an informed choice. Three, it allows you to cover more subjects than just your website ever would. This will boost your SEO, and make your website more visible, generating more through traffic. Your blog can also be linked to social media marketing and mentioned in your advertising.
3. Pay-per-click (PPC) Advertising
Another way to generate traffic when you have a lower volume is PPC advertising. PPC advertising has the same general effect as SEO, but it is a paid ad usually posted above all other results and you pay the publisher per click on that ad. Obviously it's more expensive, but it's a good way to raise initial awareness and traffic just the same.
4. Email Marketing
While it might seem a little old school compared to some of the things mentioned earlier, I can assure you that with the tracking and automation technology behind email marketing, it is still a force to be reckoned with. From alerts and reminders to newsletters and promotions, email marketing is a versatile method of reaching out to customers to deliver a variety of messages. As such, this is a key dealer tool in your auto marketing arsenal.
5. SMS Marketing
While not necessarily as versatile as Email is a powerful auto marketing tool. Able to send short, targeted messages to clients means that you can get specific messages and offers to very specific groups and the message is almost guaranteed to be read because of the nature of it. Your messages might not be able to cover the same breadth as emails, but an auto marketer firing off a text campaign is the fastest way for that marketing data to reach the customer.
6. Surveys and Landing Pages
Having surveys available to gather customer data will allow you to tailor landing pages for specific customer groups, as well as gathering data that serves a double purpose. Your customers feel listened to, and you have accurate data that represents different chunks of your customer base which you can use to look at established strategies and campaigns, as well as develop new ones.
These are all very effective techniques, and there are still more not covered here. Auto dealer marketing has a great deal of resources available online. Dealership staff only need to reach out and use them, taking the time to learn how each applies to their individual case. Used properly, even one of these has the potential to give the auto industry a marketing boost and a correlating sales boost.
Request an interactive demo of the SimplyCast 360 Customer Flow Communication platform to see what automation can do for your dealership.
