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For vehicle manufacturers as well as the dealers that sell their products, branding is crucial to their continued success. Automotive manufacturers have some of the most powerful brands in the marketplace, but that is not true for dealerships. Many dealerships have difficulty creating a cohesive brand across all marketing channels and instead rely on the brand image associated with the vehicles they sell.
Dealerships must create a strong brand that is visible on both the online and offline platforms in order to be able to forge their own paths and stay relevant to customers. It will help you stand out from the rest and make you stand out in the market. Let’s take a look at some ways car dealerships can build a strong brand strategy.
How do I build a brand campaign?
Consistency is the key to a successful branding campaign. To begin, meet with all the top-ranking members of your company to discuss how you want your dealership to present itself. Do they always strive to get the best deal, or are they, honest salespeople? Do you put the customer’s experience first and make the car buying process as enjoyable as possible? This will form the basis of your brand campaign’s messaging.
Make sure you have the tools necessary to track your progress before you launch your marketing campaign. Dealerships must be able to capture data and measure the effectiveness of their branding campaigns across both online and offline channels. They then need to analyze the data to create branded campaigns that resonate with consumers. These tools should also provide recommendations as to which channels their target audience will be most likely to engage with. Your dealership will have a better chance of future success if your team markets on the correct channel with the right message.
Six Tips to a Successful Marketing Campaign for Car Dealerships
The ability to attract new customers is one of the biggest challenges facing car dealerships. While most car sales are made in-store, search, and social networks are often the first place people go when looking for a vehicle. Dealerships need to think about digital marketing strategies that they can use to reach potential customers, not wait for them to find them. These are six tips to help you build a successful car dealership marketing campaign.
1. Understand Your Target Audience
Car dealerships must consider the different needs and interests of their target customers. There will be many different interests, needs, concerns, and questions between a potential luxury car buyer and one who is looking for an affordable option. This must be taken into consideration by dealers when creating marketing strategies. For each segment, factors such as messaging, timing, and media channels need to be optimized.
2. Create the brand of your salespeople
The dealership experience is a big part of brand building. You’ll see many car dealership ads touting the knowledge and expertise of their staff. These commercials don’t feature the staff, so this claim is a bit hollow. Plus, the clichéd traits of “knowledgeable” or “friendly” make sales teams look like they were created from a template.
A lot of salespeople don’t have the opportunity to establish a brand within their dealership. This is a missed opportunity. Encourage your salespeople to let their personalities shine through and to share them with the rest of the world. Ask salespeople to create Instagram accounts for work that they are sponsored by their company. They can then upload photos of favorite cars or happy customers. Cross-post the photos using the dealership’s social account. It will not only strengthen customer relationships and give face to your brand, but it will also help salespeople feel more recognized.
3. Keep up-to-date your online presence
Customers are more likely to do some research about a dealership before they visit it. Potential customers will not be impressed by a dealership’s website that was built in 2007 and hasn’t been updated in six years. Dealerships should ensure that their websites and social media pages are updated regularly.
Your online presence should be professional and polite. It’s fine to post photos of your dog at the dealership from time to time, but you should keep the posts relevant to the business’s most interesting events or top products. What was the most shocking repair that your service center had to do? Can you share the story via Instagram or Facebook? A shipment of the new model arrived? You can share some photos on social media and update us when the car is adopted!
To see how social media and digital campaigns relate to your overall marketing strategy, make sure you use a market performance tool. The digital component should not be considered a separate part of a larger campaign strategy that incorporates offline and online touchpoints. Your team will be able to place their efforts where they are most important by creating an Omnichannel Approach that can link social media, digital advertising, and sales.
4. Media spending should be flexible enough to adapt to industry trends.
You should think about how various factors, such as seasonality and the release of a new model car, will affect overall ROI. It is important to understand the trends in the automotive industry so you can plan effectively for future changes.
Flexibility is key in many industries. Flexibility is key in many industries. Marketers in automotive should look into tools that will help them achieve this. Solutions that leverage intelligent frameworks, such as Bayesian learning and Forgetting, can be used to create a data-driven plan that can provide a deeper understanding of the marketing success of your team.
5. Watch Your Online Reviews
Customers will often check reviews and choose to avoid dealerships with low ratings when they are searching for a car. Your foot traffic may be already suffering if your dealership has only three stars in reviews. Do not try to tamper with low reviews by posting fake reviews or closing your account on review websites. Instead, adopt a constructive approach.
Write a thank you note if a customer leaves a 5-star review. To make the interaction more real, you can either recall talking to the customer or the salesperson. This will strengthen your relationship with the customer and project a positive image to potential customers.
Take a look at both your one-star review and two-star review. Although they might be difficult to read, as a business that is primarily focused on consumers, it is in your best interests to take all criticisms with grace. Negative reviews can make customers feel untrustworthy and will not be tolerated. Don’t dismiss their experiences. Instead, show empathy and a desire for change. Even if the customer doesn’t read your reply, there are thousands of people who will. They will see honesty and professionalism.
6. Assess the quality of customer interaction
Dealerships must be aware of how each customer interaction impacts branding. Imagine a customer walking into your dealership. Is the receptionist quick to ask customers if they have an appointment? Do they offer them coffee or tea to help them settle before they get down to business? The former may seem to drive customers to buy, but the latter is an attempt to improve the customer experience.
In the automotive industry, a sales- and volume-based approach will not work. Each customer should be treated as an asset, and all interactions with them must be considered. Automotive dealerships should use brand tracking software to gain these insights. This will allow you to determine the best way for your future marketing and branding strategies.
Last Thoughts
There are many great ways to promote your car dealership’s brand via offline and online channels. It can be difficult to find and understand brand-related insights. Customers are connecting with your dealership’s brand via social media and then later in person at the dealership. To build strong relationships, these touchpoints, online and offline, must be merged.
Remember that your brand reputation precedes. It is worth investing in a brand image that distinguishes you from your competitors. You’ll be able to create a unique brand experience for your dealership that will keep customers coming back.
