7 Dealership Marketing Tips and Strategies

When COVID-19 hit, it forced many businesses to cease or slow down operations.

In fact, sales in the automotive industry had dropped to 47% in the United States and 80% in Europe.

With things returning to normalcy, the industry is picking up its pace, and the manufacturers are rapidly increasing production.

This means dealership companies need to be well-positioned to attract customers and boost their sales.

This is where dealership marketing comes in.

In this post, I’ll share with you how smart dealership marketing is done. Take a look at these seven proven strategies that can boost your sales revenue in no time.

Table of Contents

What is Dealership Marketing and Why Do You Need It?

Automotive Service and Sales Department Marketing Strategies | TVI MarketPro3 — Source

Dealership marketing refers to a set of strategies explicitly designed to help attract customers and promote automobile products and services related to the automobile industry.

Today, customers are better informed about the model and price they are interested in, even before they talk to the salesperson. The majority of car shoppers use their mobile phones to compare different models and prices before they make a visit to the showrooms.

Clearly, there are many new ways to promote your business than there used to be. However, most rental establishments aren’t making the most of this opportunity.

Here’s why you should make the most of smart and proven dealership marketing strategies:

Brand positioning: It allows you to position your brand in the market in a certain way and raise awareness beyond your physical borders.
Increase in revenue: With strategic marketing in place, you can generate more qualified leads and increase your chance of conversions.
Optimal use of resources: Dealership marketing prompts you to use the right technology that allows for optimal distribution of resources and streamlines the entire operations. For example, you can use a lease management software to manage your workshop rent expenses and ensure it doesn’t affect your budget for other crucial marketing plans that you have checklisted.

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7 Dealership Marketing Tips and Strategies That Work

Now that you understand why your car rental business needs dealership marketing, we will look at some of the most effective strategies that need to be implemented right away.

And it starts with building a website.

1. Build a website

Having a website helps establish some credibility. Consumers today like to research the sellers online before making any visits to the physical store.

So if you don’t have a website yet, it’s time to create one.

And if you already do, here are a few tips on how you can optimize your website further.

Add a sign-up form

Every time a visitor lands on your website, allow them to fill up a form for any queries or particular assistance they are looking for.

It’s a great way to collect your prospects’ information and assist them in their buying journey.

Embed a live chatbot

A live chatbot on your website lets you solve visitors’ queries in real-time. This can leave quite an impression on your prospects’ minds.

Draw a clean interface

It’s crucial to have a website with a neat and clean design. You do not want to overstuff with text, and at the same time, it’s good to have a minimal design that captures the essence of your business.

2. Create a video commercial

Auto dealerships have been making TV commercials for as long as we can remember.

From Volkswagen to Audi, they all have made some cool car ads that are still imprinted in consumers’ minds.

Check out this YouTube video that has done a compilation of the ten best car ads:

Making a video commercial allows you to deliver your brand positioning. It allows your audience to understand what your business is like – in terms of both products and services.

Optimize your videos for various social media channels, embed them on your website, and run ads on them.

3. Monitor your reputation

Online reviews can make or break a business. In other words, it can hurt your marketing reputation.

One negative customer experience and the news of it can spread like wildfire.

Even if a customer had a bad experience in your store, they are likely to share their story online for others to know.

That’s why use an online management reputation tool that lets you keep track of every conversation around your brand.

Whether good or bad, take time to respond to all your reviews.

Thank them for taking the time to appreciate your service, and if there’s any negative review, try to address your customers’ concerns immediately.

These reviews also give you a glimpse of how your team is performing and whether you need to summon a sales meeting.

4. Use Referral marketing

Customer satisfaction helps you reduce the churn rate and attract new deals.

An auto dealership establishment can conquer its competition by providing excellent customer service that leaves its customers happy.

And having a satisfactory experience is enough for customers to share their opinions with their friends and family members,

Thus, it’s crucial to introduce a referral program where you invite people to recommend your dealership business in exchange for a reward or bonus. These incentives could be discounts on purchases, free repair service, gift cards, or even cash.

Having a referral program increases the number of referrals.

5. Build trust with customer reviews

You saved up to buy your first car, and you aren’t sure which one to buy. What do you do then?

You spend months doing research – calling local dealerships and reading out customer reviews online to ensure that you are buying the right model for yourself.

Reviews are a great dealership marketing strategy as they can help build trust amongst your audience. Encourage your existing customers to review your website.

In fact, you can even collect video testimonials to create a much greater impact. Video testimonials lend more credibility than text as consumers see a real face on the video and have no reason to believe that it can be false or that a bot is writing it.

You can then share these reviews on your social media, newsletters, or flyers.

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6. Master the art of SEO

SEO, or search engine optimization, refers to the process of optimizing your website to appear on the first page of Google’s search result page for specific keywords.

The pages that appear on the first page of the SERP automatically get good website traffic and also help build the authenticity of the website.

The key here is to target keywords with a large search volume and low competition so that you can start ranking faster on the search engine result page.

Choose longtail keywords, as they will help you get targeted leads.

For instance, ‘best car showroom in {city name},’ ‘buy a second car,’ and more.

Longtail keywords have another advantage, i.e., it’s easy to rank for them as the competition is generally low compared to direct keywords.

7. Network and build a community

Building a community online and offline is a great dealership marketing idea. Partner with influencers and brands on social media and collaborate with local businesses.

Automotive influencers have a dedicated community that aids their followers in their car-buying journey. They can, in fact, persuade their community to make the right choices for buying cars and accessories.

Besides, if you do not offer repair services, you can collaborate with a local repair shop that you can recommend to your customers. Similarly, you can partner with several local shops to provide extra services to your customers, like cash washing, polishing, and more.

You can even host events, like tutorial sessions on how to take care of your vehicle or choose the right car, and stream them on social media too. Organize car rallies and invite drivers and bikers to participate. This will help generate leads and help in brand awareness.

Wrap Up

As a dealership owner, your ultimate goal should be to focus on how you can improve your customer experience.

The use of technology like CRM can help you maintain a contact database and allow you to segment your audience to run targeted marketing campaigns.

Moreover, you can keep track of your store performance – see how your audiences react to your campaigns, monitor reviews online, keep an eye on your sales reps’ performance, and so much more.

If you are just getting started and have no clue which CRM to implement, EngageBay makes for an affordable option.

It is robust and ensures active and reliable support whenever you feel stuck.

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7 Secret Dealership Marketing Tactics By The Top Guys