9 Automotive Marketing Strategies For 2019

The year has ended, sales are in and now you are counting the results. However, for the automotive industry there is no time to rest. Consumers are looking for new options to lease and buy, they want to find deals on last year’s models and more. You have to make sure that you are hitting the right consumers on the right platforms and encouraging them to visit your dealership to view your selection.

Your 2019 marketing campaign starts now, and you do not want to be the last one to get going. There are other dealerships in your area that are looking for the top automotive trends in 2019. If you want to compete or overtake the local competition you need to follow these strategies as you start your new year:

1. Reviewing your data: Over the years, you’ve built up a database of customers and people interested in your vehicles. Who is your audience? Are they primarily men or women? How old are they? Where do they live? How much do they make each year? What kind of recreational activities do they enjoy? The more you know about your customer, the better you can target them for future campaigns. It’s time to look at your existing data and get as much information from it as possible. That information influences every marketing campaign you will run this year and is extremely valuable.
2. Use it for email marketing: Now that you’ve got a better idea of why you should be targeting, the first thing you want to do is create an email marketing campaign. This campaign is going to focus on introducing your brand to a new audience, a list of consumers who match the criteria of your existing customers but have never done business with you in the past. An email campaign will introduce your brand and message to the recipient, even if they do not open the message. This is a great and cost-effective way to introduce your brand.
3. Use it for social media: You can target the same audience via sites like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and you can also upload an email list to these platforms to reach consumers you are already targeting with other campaigns. This is a powerful tool because it increases awareness and familiarity and people tend to give social media platforms more of their undivided attention than anything else.
4. Use it for display banner advertising: Again, targeting the right audience is key to the success of any campaign and having a better idea of your ideal customer base is a big help when it comes to display banner advertising. Your selected audience can see your ads as they browse the web, either on their computer, phone or tablet. They will also see the ads on millions of apps. You can even target the same email addresses and create a lookalike audience that will match the criteria of your ideal audience.
5. Incorporate geofencing: You own a dealership, so you are probably looking for people within an area who may be interested in visiting your lot. Why not target people who are in that area, especially if you have multiple competitors within a 10-mile radius? Imagine someone is at a different dealership and as they are scrolling on their phone, they see an ad from you that encourages them to come over to your site and check out what you have available.
6. Add retargeting: Every marketing campaign you do should include retargeting. You’ve spent your time and your money to generate traffic to your site. The next step is to make sure that whenever someone visits your site, your ad follows them around on the web, social media and other platforms. They’ve already seen your merchandise but maybe you can introduce them to a better offer or other vehicle that may get them to come back. The more times a person visits your site, the better your chances for a conversion.
7. Improve content: If you are constantly in a rush to get content together then 2019 needs to be the year where you start working ahead. Have a sale coming up? Your content should be ready to go a month in advance so that you can start sending it out sooner rather than later. Also, try changing things up and sending people updates on new merchandise in stock, a discount on oil changes at your service center or something else. Maybe they already own a vehicle but you’re giving them incentive to still stop by and check out new options or utilize other services you offer.
8. Contact earlier: Again, waiting costs you money. If you are having a sale at the end of the month should you wait a few weeks to start advertising it? Of course not, you need to send out your content early to inform the consumer that a big promotion is going. This accomplishes three things, it introduces them to your brand, it shows them the promotion and it also motivates them to wait to buy a new vehicle until they check out your sale. A consumer should ideally see your content 3-10 times at the least, on multiple platforms, beginning weeks before the promotion.
9. Gather more stats: A smart marketing strategy involves different campaigns, different audiences, different platforms and so forth. For example, if you run campaigns for Facebook, email, YouTube and banner, you should break the stats down for each campaign based on impressions, clicks, devices that were used to view the content, how long the viewer watched a video, if they asked for directions to the location or anything else. Obviously, available data will defer based on the platform used but the more stats you can collect, the more you can use it to refine future campaigns.

Marketing for the automotive industry is about identifying your consumer, creating high-quality content and keeping them informed on new merchandise and promotions that you are running. These tips are a great way to get started and will generate fast, affordable and reliable traffic throughout the year.