Auto Industry – Traditional and Digital Marketing Trends

ARA Marketing Into 2017 – Researching the shift in marketing trends is an online survey report conducted by Automotive Retailers Association (ARA) and Google partner agency Marwick Internet Marketing to study the marketing efforts of six automotive sectors including towing, licensed motor dealers, collision, mechanical, auto glass and auto recycling. Conducted from September 2016 to November 2016, this survey was directed among 100 businesses with a turnover ranging between $0 and $5 million+ in the automotive sector across British Columbia and Canada. And according to this survey report, almost two-thirds of the participants (61%) responded that their priority will be on traditional marketing over digital marketing during 2017- 2018.

While the major part of the respondents decided to spend around the same amount of marketing budget for magazines, newspaper, radio and TV channel advertising, the rest of the businesses think about cutting their traditional marketing budget. Website development, social media, organic search engine optimization and other online marketing techniques have been regaining wide popularity and acceptance in the recent years. Hence, the auto industry will be working with ad partners and increasing their digital marketing budget over the next few years. Even though, the auto sector still doesn’t plan to make the best use of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snap Chat. Moreover, majority of the participants feel disappointed in their online marketing efforts, while the rest believe in the importance of online reviews. 

 With the exploding popularity of internet and mobile applications, more and more people are turning towards the digital media for information regarding products and services. Hence, using traditional marketing methods in this increasingly digital world will result in loss of sales and money. According to the survey findings, many automotive businesses are failing to stay up-to-date with the latest trends in marketing result. But when it comes to spending their marketing budget, 50% of the respondents said they will be spending the same on magazine auto ads, 57% will be spending the same on TV advertising and 61% will spend the same on radio advertising.

If we look into the 13th Annual Pew Research State of the News Media Report, it points out newspapers lagged behind local TV news (46%), cable TV news (31%), network evening news (30%), news websites (28%) and radio (25%) in providing information to public. Added to that, the print readership has also witnessed a sharp fall of 25% in the last four years.

Responses to digital marketing efforts and online auto ads were mixed in the survey. Even though digital marketing techniques have become way too advanced, automotive companies are still lagging behind to keep up the pace. Most of the automotive business recognizes the significance of having an appealing online presence and the benefits it can reap. But they are still unsure about taking advantages of social media platforms in marketing their business. When it comes to using the social media networks for marketing purpose, respondents were generally on the fence. Almost half of the businesses think that Pinterest and Snap Chat were “not important at all”. In a nutshell, the overview of the survey depicted the hesitance of auto businesses towards social media marketing. Latest figures and statistics suggest that there are around 2.34 million users in social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Also, a report published by Pew Research Center stated that 90% of the young audience use social media now. When the automotive business overlooks social media platforms, they are definitely missing out a wonderful chance to drive targeted traffic to their website. Social media marketing not only increases the brand awareness, but it also opens a new channel to connect with the customers effectively.

If the businesses have to choose the top three aspects of a successful digital marketing, then 84% of respondents chose having a mobile responsive website, 81% chose organic search engine optimization and 58% selected Google AdWords campaign with SEM or pay-per-click advertising. Last year, the search engine giant Google announced an algorithm change which made website with mobile-friendly experience rank higher. Similarly, organic SEO and Google Adwords have great potential in reaching out to the targeted audience in the most effective manner. Hence hiring the services of an automotive ppc marketing agency is a wise move. 

Around 56% respondents think remarketing efforts are important to business, while almost 18% were unsure about it. Though digital marketing is crucial to the success and growth of their business, 12% of the participants admitted their marketing team was “terrible” in utilizing the digital channels and 70% didn’t hadhave any idea about their website conversion rate.

Personalization is another crucial component of automotive marketing as it is required to stand out in the competitive market and build awareness across all generations. Businesses that fail to stay abreast of the dynamic marketing trends will be falling behind the line and losing to competitors.

Why Your Automotive Facebook Ad Gets Rejected?

Choosing an effective digital advertising medium is a daunting task, especially when you are new to the automotive digital marketing landscape. Even though, there are a lot of advertising channels to consider, it is crucial to choose the one that ensures the best return on investment.

Facebook, one of the largest social media network in the world is offering a wonderful opportunity for the advertisers to connect with its billions of users across the globe. Ad revenues at Facebook isare expected to reach nearly $26 billion this year, states eMarketer. Allowing the businesses to get connected with a vast number of audiences, the popularity of this social networking website is soaring. Why you should ask your automotive digital agency to launch a Facebook advertising campaign? Facebook’s advertising platform is powerful yet cost-effective. You can even have a budget as little as $1 per day. Automobile businesses running on a shoe string budget may make the best out of Facebook adverts. Targeted marketing is another benefit which allows the automotive ppc agency to choose user’s demographics and interests. Moreover, you can easily keep track of your budgets, performance and return on investment. Facebook Adverts Manager provides a broad and huge range of performance metrics which can be used to track the performance and measure the returns.

Even though Facebook advertising offers a varied set of benefits, automobile businesses find it difficult to launch an effective Facebook ad. In most cases, the ad gets rejected by the social network. So, if you are planning to create an Facebook ad for your automotive digital advertising, then it is essential to arm yourself with some basic tips and techniques. Below listed are five of the most common reasons that lead to Facebook ad rejections.

Reason 1 – Use of poor grammar or punctuation: Advertisements written in bad grammar or poor punctuation will look bad which will leave a negative impact on the social networking platform. So, Facebook makes it a point to approve the best constructed ads. You need to use the right grammar, spelling and punctuation while creating an advertisement for Facebook.

Reason 2 – Reference of user’s personal traits: Advertisements that imply the personal characteristics of an user will be rejected. Race, ethnic origin, religion, beliefs, age, sexual orientation, practices, gender identity, disability, financial status, membership in a trade union, criminal record and name are some of the major attributes that are barred from mentioning. Rather than focusing on the personal attributes, advertisers need to promote the business’ services or products.

Reason 3 – Link to a bad landing page: If you want your Facebook ad to be approved, then it is essential to set up a professional landing page. It should be functional and relevant to the advertisement. Facebook prohibits the use of overly sensationalized headlines, low quality ad content and minimal original content in the landing page.

Reason 4 – Use of too much text in image: Pictures with too much text will be rejected by the Facebook as it states that users prefer ads with minimal image text. Even though the 20% rule has been changed, it should be noted that image ads with higher amounts of text will receive less or even no visibility at all. So, optimize the image and use only short yet appealing text to grab more attention.

Reason 5 – Use of inappropriate images: While creating a Facebook ad for your automotive business, make sure to use clean, appropriate and relevant images. Added to that, ensure that the images doesn’tdon’t portray nonexistent functionality.

You can hire an expert auto advertising agency to do the work for you. Not only it ensures optimum efficiency and profitable results, but also saves your time and money.

Top 5 Global Advertising Partners Of 2016

Advertising is a necessity for any business organization and automobile industry is no exception. Planning and implementing auto ads strategy is quintessential to drive sales, generate revenue and boost profits. More than just boosting up the sales, advertising plays a key role in building customer relationships and brand loyalty. When it is about designing a digital advertising strategy, businesses need to choose a professional ad partner. With a multitude of options available, choosing a right ad partner is going to be a tedious task. That is why it is recommended to have a better understanding about what to look for and what questions to ask. Arming yourself with all the right knowledge and right questions can prove beneficial in choosing a digital ad inc that can guide you in the best possible direction to attain your goals.

How to find the advertising partner best suited for your business needs? There are several factors to consider. Some of the major factors include adaptation, reputation, retention and more. Make it a point to examine the work profile of the prospective agencies to check whether they have worked with similar clients. Are they well aware of the challenges auto industry faces? How will they choose the right strategy for your business? Most of the advertising agencies offer wide range of services, but you need to find out their forte. Choose a partner with an in-house technical team and who can offer an end to end solution. It is important to be clear about your own digital strategy, needs and goals in order to take an informed decision. Below listed are the top five best digital ad partners.

Google AdWords: An online advertising platform launched by the Search engine giants Google, AdWords can be used by the advertisers to attract customers instantly. Considered as a valuable tool for business, this online ad platform is best for location targeting, mobile targeting, language targeting, time targeting and auto-tagging. Another prime advantage of Google AdWords is its cost-effectiveness which makes it an affordable choice for businesses operating on tight budget. Moreover, it gives you a complete control over your marketing costs. Google AdWords campaign is measurable which allows the marketers to keep track of the number of clicks, traffic, click through rate (CTR), number of conversions, conversion rate, cost per click (CPC), cost per acquisition and more.

AdColony: Video marketing is one of the most versatile and profitable digital marketing tools in the recent times. If it is about developing an innovative video marketing strategy, then you can’t go pass AdColony as an ad partner. It is a premium mobile video ad network and monetization platform that allows the marketers to post HD video ads using its proprietary Instant-Play™ technology. Reduced loading time of AdColony advertisements ensure a pleasant and optimal user experience thereby grabbing higher traffic and conversion rates.

AppLovin: It is mobile marketing platform that allows the businesses to reach out a large number of consumers. Leveraging real-time data time, AppLovin helps the marketers in taking informed decisions and expanding the business reach. More than just attracting new audience at scale, this platform’s ROI-based analytics environment provides measurability and maximum value on investment.  Being a leading mobile marketing platform, this digital ad partner allows the business to acquire new consumers on mobile and Apple TV apps.

Twitter: When it is about giving a boost to your social media campaign, Twitter is the best bet. This social networking site offers advertisers a wonderful opportunity to connect with the audiences and build a strong customer relationship. Short yet creative tweets and posts can reach a potential audience of more than 800 million people across the globe. Advertising with Twitter is a smart way to generate quick leads, increase website traffic and target directly the people you want to reach.

IronSource: It is the largest independent mobile marketing platform that helps the businesses to connect with targeted audiences. Scalable, creative and well-targeted ad campaigns can be used to drive engagement and impact. IronSource deploys a result-oriented approach to build brand awareness and loyalty.

Role of Creativity in Automotive Advertising

In this age of information and technology, competition is seen on a global scale. Capturing the attention of audience and retaining the loyalty of consumers is a challenging task that many companies face. And that calls for an effective management of advertising and marketing in order to meet the dynamic challenges of our global market. Advertising is a crucial component that plays a key role in creating brand awareness among consumers by giving out information and persuading them. When it comes to the automotive industry, the struggle and competition is fierce. Businesses, from small-scale auto parts shops to well-established dealerships, need to come up with innovative marketing campaigns to publicize and their products and services to the public. Luring consumers to patronize their businesses is not an easy task, especially when competition is seen on a global scale. Depending on the size and niche, businesses need to pick and choose the right advertising media to get the message across the masses.

When it comes to choosing automotive ads medium, brands are often torn between the choices of traditional and digital marketing. In today’s times, businesses are giving more weight to the digital advertising techniques. Even though, tried and tested traditional marketing methods are still in use. One of the popular and highly sought after traditional media is print. Newspaper and magazine advertisements used to be a number one way to reach targeted audience. But with the advent of new communication technologies and internet, the investments in print advertising are continuing to decline. Does that mean the era of print ad is dead? No, says the experts. Print circulations may be down, but is still a top-of-funnel medium to get your message across the intended audience. What makes print advertising a valuable choice is the undivided attention it grabs from the readers. Readers pay keen attention to the magazine and newspaper content, which is a desirable trait in advertising sector.

Designing and introducing creative print ads can work wonders to automotive businesses, especially since it targets specific set of audience. What does that mean? Rather than advertising on all the magazines and newspapers available in and around the country, it is better to stick to the automotive industry related publications. Only people who are interested in the automobile business and trends buy the auto magazines. So, when you are posting your ads on an auto magazine, it has higher chances to get noticed and it provokes the people to read it. There are mainly three types of automotive print ads – the first is to show your brand or used for brand building, the seconds is to launch a new product or service and the last one is for strengthening customer relationships

If you are planning to launch a print advertising campaign or hire an automotive advertising company for your business, then why not look for the most effective ad campaigns of all time? What is the one thing they all have in common? Creativity and innovation. Creativity is the primary key to print ad success as it imparts distinction and provides identity. Defined as the creation of something unique and valuable, creativity demands to be bold and innovative at the same time. Giving soul to brand and advertising, creative strategies can make your print ad stand out in the competitive market space.