6 Car Dealer Digital Marketing Strategies That Are Crushing It Right Now

Marketing for the automotive industry isn’t what it used to be. Gone are the days of marketing catalogues and flyers advertising the latest cars that were delivered weekly to people’s mailboxes.

People interested in buying a new car used to have to go door-to-door to car dealerships to scope out the latest models and deals. But, now all of that has been replaced with the internet.

Customers can even build their cars to their custom liking without stepping foot outside of their homes thanks to the internet!

So, if you are a car dealership, here are some of the best digital marketing strategies to boost your business and help increase your sales.

1. Use SEO To Build An Online Presence

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to the process of increasing web traffic to your website from organic search results on search engines like Google. When car shoppers use search engines, you want them to be directed to your website and not your competitors.

Local SEO is especially important for car dealers because this involves search terms that include specific locations. Customers that are shopping for cars are likely to enter the location where they live or at least near to them, because who wants to drive across the country to purchase a vehicle that can be bought in your backyard?

A great way to jump-start your local SEO is to use Google My Business. This makes your business visible on the search engine and in Google Maps. Google My Business allows you to manage your pertinent business information in one easy spot. Google My Business includes photos, videos, business hours, reviews and any promotions or news and updates you’d like to share with potential customers.

2. Build Great Customer Reviews

3. Check Out Your Negative Keyword List In Your Google Ads Campaigns

You may not realize this but the ads you are running in your Google Ads campaigns can show up for searches that are not even relevant to your business. And, if somebody clicks on them, you still have to pay.

For example, what if you have bid on the keyword “affordable cars” and your ad pops up for the search “toy cars.”

So, a parent who is holding a baby and browsing the Internet clicks on it without realizing what it said. Now you have to pay and the parent has wasted their time.

This is why it is so important to manage your negative keyword list. If you continuously see your ads showing up in search terms that are unrelated to your business, add those to your negative keyword list as fast as you can.

Weeding those negative keywords out can seem like a tall, tedious task, but it is important if you want to stop losing money.

4. Optimize Your Website For Mobile Visitors

These days, more and more people are viewing websites with mobile phones and devices. So, it is extremely important that your website is able to be viewed properly on mobile as well as a computer.

Customers don’t have time for websites that load slowly or won’t load properly on their mobile devices, they will simply move on to the next website and you will lose their business if this is the case.

5. Adjust Your Ad Campaign Budgets Based On Car Buying Needs

When are people most likely to buy cars? Maybe Black Friday, July 1 and other unofficial car buying holidays.

As we mentioned, car shoppers do their research and will likely know when the best times are to buy a car. Do your own research or look back at your books and find out the busiest time for car shoppers.

Then, adjust your Facebook advertising budget or Google Ads budget accordingly. Luckily, it’s easy to adjust your budget on an ongoing basis using Google and other ad platforms.

Just don’t forget to adjust your budget back down when the business slows down so that you aren’t spending more than intended on the advertising.

6. Get Engaged On Social Media

You want to connect with as many new car buyers as possible. In order to do this in the easiest, less time-consuming way, get on social media.

This allows you to develop brand loyalty, improve the customer experience and interact and answer any questions that customers may have in order to persuade them to step foot into your dealership.

The more engaging and creative your content is, the likely people are to share it on their social media pages and you will be seen by more and more prospective customers.

Social media marketing is another channel where people can leave reviews about their experiences with your business. Make sure you respond to the reviews— both good and bad, on a regular basis. 

Though car-buying habits, researching and marketing have changed drastically in recent years thanks to technological advancements, with a few small adjustments you can tweak your marketing strategies so that you are playing into the new trends and continue to attract and grow a steady customer base. 

Need help getting the most out of your digital marketing strategies for your car dealership?

We can help. We are a full-service automotive marketing agency.

Contact us today and ask us about our free audit service and our money-back guarantee!

Tracking and Measuring Results:

After you design and implement the first stages of your campaign, how do you know it works?

Pay attention to the metrics. You can get information on website visits, new leads generated, customer clicks per ad, convert to sales, and more through Google Analytics and other similar tools.

Social media sites automatically collect information for you. You must compile all your data and determine the results, including your ROI on the campaign.

Adapting Your Campaign to Results and Market Changes:

You may be certain you picked the right keywords to place in your online ads, but your analytics tell you that some of your ads perform better than others.

What do you do?

Go back to the research. In any part of your plan, when you find that performance isn’t up to your expectations, find out why and adjust your campaign tactics.

It’s also true that sometimes the market changes, and you need to revisit your strategy.

Google algorithms change, so you may need to revisit your website, your content, and your keywords.

Digital marketing isn’t static.

Be vigilant and adapt.

It’s Time to Increase Your Sales through Digital Marketing

Now that you know how to increase sales with digital marketing, what are you waiting for? One problem a lot of local businesses face is that this all sounds great, but they don’t have the time to create and manage a digital marketing campaign.

Digital Envy can boost your sales and ROI with our proven methods and digital marketing expertise, making it easy for you. Contact us today to schedule a consultation.