Here’s Your Automotive Digital Marketing Guide to Stay Ahead of Competitors in 2018

The digital marketing realm is constantly evolving hence, naturally making it difficult to keep pace with all recent developments. Also, simply keeping up with the trends isn’t enough, auto dealers have to make the best use of the new technology to stay ahead in the game. 

This guide will help auto dealers and digital marketers utilize their time and effort in automotive digital marketing services that reap results. From SEO and web design to social media and content marketing, this extensive guide touches upon all these important factors.

SEO

The way people research about cars is changing and voice search is the new big thing in 2018. With technology like Google voice search, Amazon Echo and Siri, talking to gadgets is becoming a part of daily life.  According to studies, nearly 20% searches are done through voice recognition. Hence, car advertising agencies need to leverage this new trend in their campaigns.

Keywords here continue to hold prominent position. Instead of short keywords, people are asking real questions and conversing with their gadgets, hence, conversational and natural keywords need to have a place in your keyword strategy.

The second major trend is mobile indexing. Mobile first indexing basically means that desktop versions of a website will no longer be indexed, instead search engines (Google) will give preference to mobile versions of the website instead. This means making mobile search friendly websites is more important today than ever.

Social Media

Micro influencers are playing an active and valuable part in social media marketing. A micro influencer is the one who has a relatively smaller follower base, yet high engagement and genuine followers. These influencers post genuine content which their followers appreciate, hence, marketing through them allow a more targeted approach and cost effectiveness.

Content

This year, car advertising agencies must mostly focus on video and mobile content. Studies reveal that people are four times more likely to watch a video over text content regarding the same subject. And, live video streaming is such a trend these days, its importance has heightened in 2018. Live streaming is also very affordable; hence, small auto dealers can take advantage of this in creative ways. Rather than writing a blog describing a service or features of a car, auto dealers can host a live stream and give out details while also answering questions along with it.

Hence, automotive digital marketing services in 2018 should focus on real time marketing and relation building. Text content here plays the role of supporting videos. Video captions, social media posts and introductions to vlogs still require appealing text content to make users hit play on your video. In a way, content, whether video or text content, continue to remain the top influencer.

Lastly, personalized auto advertisements need attention in 2018.  Ad technology has helped publishers in targeting potential customers, what is needed now is leveraging personalized content and the data on which personalization depends on, for better and more relevant auto ads.

Automotive Marketing Strategies for 2017

In the recent years, the automotive retail industry has witnessed a shift in its perspective, as it moves from a product-driven approach to customer-centric approach. Thanks to changing technology and the digital revolution, both the automakers and automotive retailers are looking for the best ways to build a better relationship with customer and deliver a rich brand experience. And according to the reports, the automotive industry is the second largest when it comes to spending on digital advertising. Dealerships and automobile stores were among the first to embrace the benefits of digital technology. Today’s consumers have all the information they could possibly want right at their finger tips. Automotive websites and review portals witness huge traffic everyday as potential buyers prefer gathering as much information as possible before making a purchase. 

When it is about choosing the best marketing strategy for the automotive business, the digital platform offers a wide array of choices. Some of the highly sought after methods include search engine optimization, content marketing, social media marketing, pay per click advertising, email marketing and more. Rather than planning to do it yourself, it is always recommended to hire the services of an expert team to look after your marketing efforts. 

Be it is about creating an eye-catching print auto advertisement or unique Facebook advert, it is wise to seek professional assistance. There are a lot of reputed automotive ad that can offer you a diverse range of marketing services at affordable costs. From planning the advertising campaign to devising, developing and implementing it, an experienced team of marketing strategists can help you improve your business image and boost your sales. In this post, we will check out the auto marketing strategies and priorities for 2017.

According to the latest survey reports, automotive dealers and marketers consider improving conversions as the first marketing priority this year. It is followed by other significant goals such as improving volume of leads, increasing revenue from leads, reducing cost of acquisition and more. If you have hired an automotive PPC agency or digital ad agency for your business, then it is essential to define your needs and your marketing priorities. During the survey, the automotive dealers and marketers were interviewed about their marketing strategies. The survey intended to find out whether the marketers preferred inbound marketing or outbound marketing.

As the name implies, inbound marketing mainly focuses on garnering attention from the targeted audience and pull them towards the business and product. It mainly includes publishing content that aligns with the customer’s interests and grab their attention, which will later convert and lead to sales. Some inbound marketing techniques include blogging, social media marketing and more. On other hand, outbound marketing is all about getting the message across the largest reach of people. Also known as interruption marketing, this method involves pushing the message out far and hoping it gets noticed. Some of the common outbound marketing methods include traditional automotive ads in newspapers, radio, television and other media channels. And according to the survey, inbound marketing is preferred over outbound strategy by a major share of dealerships and marketers.

In the recent years, most of the traditional auto advertisement techniques have been losing their appeal. In fact, over 60% of the surveyed dealerships and marketers listed print ads as the most over rated marketing technique followed by blogging, search ads, social media and more. Another interesting finding of this survey report is about measuring the ROI of ad campaigns. Compared to the previous year, the dealerships that check and keep track of their marketing ROI has increased four times.

Choosing the Right Ad Partner for Your Automotive Business

We live in a digital age where everything is digitized. As the technology advances exponentially, new digital platforms and devices are emerging. Businesses must adopt the latest technologies in order to keep up with the pace of change or lose relevance. But automotive industry doesn’t have the luxury of sitting out the digital transformation. In order to expand the market reach and build a bigger market share, automotive businesses need to navigate through the changes and stay tuned with the latest technologies. Shift in the consumer demands, expanded regulatory requirements and increasing availability of data and information are some of the key factors behind the transformation of auto industry.

According to the recent reports and statistics, digital advertising spending has been witnessing a steep rise globally. At the same time, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the automotive businesses to find the right ad partners agency to achieve collaborative and cross-channel engagement with their customers. Below listed are a few practical cues that every automotive marketer may consider before choosing auto advertisement service partner for their next campaign.

Be clear About Your own Digital Strategy and Goals: In order to devise and implement effective auto advertisements service strategy, it is essential to have a sound understanding about your business goals and marketing strengths. Know your audience so that you can let your advertising partner take account of the situation and craft the strategies for connecting with them. Also, estimate and allocate adequate budgets for annual ad spends.

Their Forte: You can find a lot of media agencies and dealer advertising companies offering a diverse range of marketing services to clients. But you need to find out what they specialize in. Do they specialize in automotive ad services? Do they have experience in working with the automotive businesses? Check whether they have an in-house team of marketing, technology and creative writing professionals. You need to choose a partner capable of delivering end to end services.

Work Profile: Take a close look at their work profile. Do they have any experience in working with automotive businesses? Have they crafted any innovative automotive ad strategies for their previous clients? Are they well-informed about the challenges that automotive industry faces? Evaluate their previous campaign strategies and technology expertise, as it would help in gaining a better insight about their skills.

Service Level: Business partnership is for long-term. Even a minor mistake can ruin your brand reputation and customer loyalty. So it is important to define the level of service with the potential ad partner agency. Make sure your business trusts the agency and it is comfortable to work with their team.

Last but not the least make it a point to do a trial run for a specified period of time before finalizing the partnership. You need to have a reputed advertising partner for promoting your business and service. Test the water and choose the right to enjoy a smooth sailing.

Evidence Based Advertising for Your Automotive Dealership

Exponential growth in technology advances has been opening huge opportunities as well as challenges to the auto industry. Automobile businesses need to compete in the digital world to gain an edge over the competition. Over the past years, the auto industry has gone through remarkable innovations in response to the dynamic consumer taste and expectation. However, producing great vehicles and offering amazing services won’t be enough. You need the best advertising strategy to grab the attention of potential buyers and up your sales. As the marketing calendars are revamped for the New Year, it is good to plan wisely for the automotive advertising in 2017. Both automotive businesses and automotive advertising companies should consider using Evidence Based Advertising as the foundation for their market planning. As the name implies, Evidence Based Advertising relies on verifiable data which allows the companies to take informed decisions about their marketing budget allocations.

Automotive dealerships are spending money on auto advertisements across the channels. But it is important to check whether your ad spend is delivering the results you want. If you want to reach your desired goal, then businesses and ad agencies alike should understand each advertising campaign on a deeper level. Choosing the right advertising channel is the primary yet crucial step and that is why it is best to reply on Evidence Based Advertising for analysing and reviewing your options.

Evidence Based Advertising comprises of three major components namely, efficacy, efficiency and evidence. Measurable and redundant data across the channels are used to assess the value of each advertising medium. Let us explore these components in detail.

Efficacy: Does the strategy have potential to produce intended result? Does it yield any returns? Take a close look at the results of the method. Check whether it was effective enough to meet the goals and objectives. Make sure that the ROI claims are backed up with measurable and accruable data.

Efficiency: Do you think the chosen advertising strategy delivered quantifiable and measurable results? In order to check the efficiency, it is good to check whether the technique was able to achieve the goal within the deadline. Attaining goals ahead of deadline ensures the efficiency of a marketing method. Assess the reach and frequency of the advertising method in accordance to the target audience and budget.

Evidence: Collect all the verified information to back up your results. You may check the accountability and accuracy of data with the help of multiple online and offline channels. But make sure that they are transparent and reliable. Some of the measures include checking the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), web analytics and data insights.

Devising a Plan for Automotive Ads

Planning the marketing strategies and taking sound decisions for your dealership is crucial. An Evidence Based Advertising is the perfect way to gain insights and make detailed planning. Direct mail marketing, behavioural marketing, lead capture strategies and many more ad channels have the base characteristics of Evidence Based Advertising. However, assessing voluminous amount of data and metrics would lead to information overload. Hence, make it a point to compile all the necessary data systematically and assess its overall ROI in simple format.

More and more dealerships and agencies are recognising the benefits of Evidence Based Advertising. Not only these methods help businesses reap profits and sales, but also weed out the time-consuming programs from the strategy. If you wish to invest in a marketing strategy that ensures immediate and long term ROI, then it is wise to try out Evidence based strategies for your 2017 budget.

Basics of Digital Marketing for Automotive Business

The automotive business have been making a strong resurgence in the recent times, thanks to the advanced technologies and increasing vehicle demand. But when it comes to automotive purchases, the consumer behaviour have gone digital. Nowadays, automobile shopping is increasingly taking place online. Changing consumer behaviour and advancement in the communication channels have brought a shift in the marketing landscape of automotive industry. Findings from a recent study pointed out that potential buyer spend 75% of their time for online research before making a car purchase. At the same time, another report suggests that the modern consumers take an average of 2.7 months to decide on purchase. Automotive businesses need to take advantage of these pre-showroom stages by placing their focus on digital channels. Even though the creative auto advertisements on television, radio and print mediums can increase the brand reputation, you should not forget the fact that the modern consumers are having conversations through social media websites and online review sites. Embracing the digital trends provides an impeccable opportunity for the businesses to engage consumers and create deeper, more profitable relationships.

If you are planning to launch a digital marketing campaign for your creative auto advertisements business, then it is wise to partner with a reputed agency offering digital marketing services. Tapping the web and mobile technology won’t be an easy task, especially if you are new to the digital marketing landscape. A reputed advertising agency can offer you bespoke strategies to boost your business sales across traditional and digital platforms. Here are our top tips for reaping success with your automotive digital marketing campaign.

Know your audience: Having a clear insight about your intended audience is a crucial factor. Regardless of whether you are running a dealership or auto repair service centre, it is important to know the consumer behaviour. Interpreting the online behaviour of the consumers can help the marketers in choosing the right marketing channels and techniques. Ad agencies that offer digital marketing services for automotive businesses can collect and analyse data for understanding consumer behaviour.

Have an innovative content marketing strategy: When we are talking about digital advertising methods, it would be impossible to skip the content part. Creating relevant, informative and quality content is essential to market your business across diverse digital channels. For instance, if you are running a dealership, then you may post blogs related to the brand new car models, shopping tips and more. Make it a point to offer expert advice and tips to the readers.

Be present on social media: Craft an appealing presence on the social media platforms. Customer engagement and interaction is a key factor to the digital marketing success. And that is why you need to establish a good presence on the social networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram and more.

Always keep in mind that you can’t attain success with digital marketing overnight. It takes time, planning and continuous efforts to reap benefits. Rather than following a few digital strategies, it is recommended to opt for a holistic approach combining web, mobile, traditional and social media to leverage the full potential of digital platforms.

Hire digital marketing services for automotive business from the top-most advertising agency in USA.