How the Right Automotive Marketing Strategy Wins Customers

Now is not the time to let go.

Your car dealership may be one of the best and most respected in the area, but your reputation may not be enough. Your automotive marketing strategy must constantly attract new customers.

However, finding car buyers isn't as easy as it used to be.

From understanding the nuances of digital channels to choosing the right automotive marketing software, there's a lot to learn. Let's look at 11 different marketing ideas that will help drive new and used car sales to your doorstep.

What is Automotive Marketing?

Car marketing involves using different strategies and tactics to attract and persuade potential car buyers. Car dealerships benefit the most from this type of marketing, but car manufacturers also use it to promote their vehicles.

Car marketing uses a combination of traditional and digital techniques and aims to engage two different customers:

In Market: Buyers planning to purchase a vehicle within the next three months Prospective: Buyers who are more than three to six months away from a purchase Why Automotive Marketing Matters

The retail world has become a digital world. But that's not surprising.

At the height of the pandemic, businesses had to adapt to an environment that prevented in-person shopping. Car dealerships were no different.

At some point early in the pandemic, two in three car shoppers were more likely to buy entirely online, according to a 2020 study by Cox Automotive. In that same study, franchise and independent dealerships rated digital literacy as the most desirable skill for hiring new employees.

The digital shift was already underway in retail. Social distancing has just accelerated this change a little more.

Meeting customers in the physical and digital world has become the norm for car dealerships. Many automotive companies need to explore new ways to adapt their automotive marketing strategy to attract potential customers.

11 Automotive Marketing Strategies

There are tactics you should experiment with to attract more customers. Let's dive straight into some winning strategies for you to sell more vehicles.

Take advantage of the power of customer reviews

Just browse Google or Amazon and you'll notice how reviews have become an essential aspect of the internet.

Consider that the web has put so much information at your fingertips that it's become far too easy to get overwhelmed with choice. Consumers need a reliable way to determine if certain brands or products are worth their hard-earned money.

For dealerships, customer reviews are just as critical to the success of their business as any other retailer. Here are some key areas to consider to maximize the value of customer reviews:

Build trust and authority: More customers are starting their sales journey online than ever before. This means that they are likely to research car models and dealerships for their purchase. If this is a customer's first point of contact with your brand, you want it to be positive. Perfect review ratings are less reliable: Say you have a perfect five-star rating on Google or Cars.com. Believe it or not, many customers are hesitant to get perfect review scores that they read online. One way to combat this is to collect lots of crits so your score doesn't tip too far in either direction. Multiple Platforms Require Extra Effort: Unlike e-commerce brands that host online reviews on their site, car dealerships often have to manage reviews across multiple platforms. Google and Facebook are some of the most common, but customers can leave reviews on other sites, such as DealerRater and the Better Business Bureau. If you don't pay the same attention to each site, it can burn you later. Bad reviews can lead to positive results: