Digital marketing and advertising in the US is projected to hit a staggering $239 billion in 2022. This goes to show businesses are doing everything in their power to come up top. Every business has become cutthroat with extremely fierce competition.
The thing is, in the automotive business, marketing is key to your success. But what are the best ways to market your business?
In this article, we will discuss top tips for creating an automotive marketing campaign. A campaign that’ll help you reach your target audience and generate more leads and sales. Let’s get started.
Target the Right Audience
When it comes to automotive marketing, you have to be very specific when targeting your audience. You can’t just target people who live in your town or state—you need to get even more granular than that. If you’re a dealership specializing in luxury cars, you would want to target people living in affluent neighborhoods.
You can target your audience by their interests, as well. You may be a repair shop that does work on high-end cars. In this case, target people who have shown an interest in luxury brands or even automotive mechanics.
The more specific you can target your audience, the better results you’ll see from your automotive marketing campaigns.
Use the Right Keywords to Rank Higher on SERPs
When people look for automotive services and products, they use keywords related to the type of service or product they’re seeking. For example, someone might search for “auto detailing near me” if they need their car cleaned and polished. Now, it’s relatively easy for you to show up in those searches.
Your automotive business needs to use those same keywords on your website, in your blog posts, and in your marketing content. One way to find the right keywords for your automotive business is to use Google AdWords Keyword Planner.
This free tool allows you to research keyword ideas. You get information about average monthly search volume and competition level. You can also use Google Trends to see how often particular keywords are being searched for.
If you’re targeting people in a specific location, use the “Local Areas” tab on Keyword Planner to find keywords people in your area might be using. You can also use the “Autocomplete” feature on Google to get ideas for keywords that people are commonly searching for. Use those keywords throughout your website, blog posts, and marketing content so you can rank higher in SERPs.
Optimize Your Brand Online Presence
One of the best automotive marketing investments you can make is to optimize your website for search engines. Make sure your site’s title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags are well written and keyword-rich. When people search for automotive terms online, your website will appear as one of the top results.
In addition to on-page optimization, you’ll also want to make sure your website is linked to other automotive websites online. The more links that exist pointing back to your site, the better your site will rank in search engine results pages (SERPs). Submit articles featuring your automotive business to automotive-related blogs and article directories.
Apart from driving traffic back to your website, this will also help improve your site’s search engine ranking. Ensure that your automotive website is designed in a way that’s user-friendly and visually appealing on mobile devices. You see, more and more people are conducting online searches via their smartphones and tablets.
Make sure you have high-quality automotive images on your website as well. Visuals are one of the most important factors that influence a person’s decision to visit an automotive business website.
Optimize for Local Google Searches
The goal here is to reach people who are searching for automotive businesses in their area. Optimizing your website and local listings for Google searches is a great way to do it. According to Google, 50% of mobile users conducting a local search on their phone visit a business within one day.
Furthermore, about 78% of consumers who conduct local searches on their smartphones visit a business within five miles. To optimize your website for Google searches, include your city and state in your website title, meta descriptions, and header tags. You can also use Schema markup to help Google understand your automotive business location and what services you offer.
Ensure your automotive business is listed in Google My Business and other local directories like Yelp. These include Bing Places for Business and Yahoo Local. Claim your automotive business listing and verify it so that the information is accurate.
Include as much detail about your automotive business as possible. When people search for automotive businesses in their area, you want your automotive business to be one of the first results they see. By optimizing your website and local listings for Google searches, you can make sure that happens.
Get More Positive Customer Reviews
Online reviews are becoming increasingly important to automotive shoppers. The thing is, about 93% of buyers say they consult online reviews before making a purchase. Better, 91% of consumers say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
Aim to get as many positive reviews as possible on review sites like Google My Business, Yelp, and Facebook. One way to do this is by incentivizing customers to leave a review, such as a discount or free service. You can also ask happy customers to leave reviews for you on their own accord.
That said, it’s imperative that you respond to all reviews, both positive and negative. If you have negative reviews, be sure to address the issue and try to rectify it. This will show other potential customers that you care about their satisfaction and are willing to work hard to make things right.
Attract Your Target Market on Social Media Platforms
Automotive businesses should definitely have a strong social media presence. Social media platforms offer opportunities to share photos and videos of your business. Not only will this help you attract potential customers to these platforms, but it can also help you rank higher in search engine results pages.
When creating branded accounts, ensure your profile picture is professional. It should also be consistent with your business brand. Be sure to use high-quality images and videos in your posts. This will help make a good impression on potential customers who may be scrolling through their social media feeds.
You may also want to consider using paid advertising on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Paid advertising allows you to specifically target people who are more likely to be interested in your business. Better yet, consider using social media advertising to create remarketing campaigns.
A remarketing campaign is when you target people who have already visited your website or interacted with your brand. With Facebook, for example, you can create a custom audience of people who have visited your website or engaged with your brand on Facebook. Then, you can target this audience with ads that are relevant to them.
Alternatively, you can use social media advertising to create look-alike audiences. A look-alike audience is a group of people who have similar interests and demographics as your current customers. With LinkedIn, for example, you can use its Audience Builder tool to create a look-alike audience.
Hire a Professional Automotive Digital Marketing Agency
Hiring a professional agency is one of the best ways to ensure your campaigns are successful. A competent agency such as Autoshopdigital.com will have extensive experience in creating and managing ad campaigns. Think of things like search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC), social media, and remarketing.
They’ll also be up-to-date on all of the latest changes that occur in the automotive market. This is important because automotive marketing solutions are always evolving. What worked a year ago may not work today.
An automotive digital marketing agency will also have access to a wide variety of software and tools. These will help you track the progress and success of your campaigns. For example, an automotive SEO tool like Moz’s Pro Tools or Ahrefs can help you see how your website performs in organic search traffic and ranking.
Additionally, an automotive PPC tool like Google AdWords Editor can help you make changes to your ad campaigns faster. A professional agency will have a team of experienced experts. They’ll help you with every step of the automotive marketing process, from strategy to execution and analysis.
Take Advantage of Online Video and VR
Online video is one of the most popular automotive marketing trends right now. One study found that 68% of people would rather watch a video than reading text, with over one billion hours of videos viewed daily on YouTube alone.
What’s more, viewers retain 95% of the information after watching a video compared to only retaining about 19% when reading text. So, if you want to get your automotive marketing information across to potential buyers, video is the way to go. There are a number of ways to use online video for automotive marketing:
Upload videos of your cars or services on YouTube and other social media platforms
- Produce short car reviews or test drives
- Showcase your dealership or garage
- Host a live video Q&A session about automotive topics
- Create a video series on automotive maintenance or repairs
VR is also becoming more popular, with estimates that it’ll be a $94 billion industry by 2023. You can use VR to create an immersive experience for potential buyers, giving them the opportunity to get up close and personal with the vehicles.
VR does require a high-cost investment, but it’s well worth it for automotive businesses that want to stand out from the crowd. Now, you may need help designing and implementing a video or VR marketing strategy. Consider working with an automotive marketing agency.
Grow Your Marketing Email List
A marketing email list is a great way to stay in touch with your automotive customers and prospects. It’s also an effective way to keep your brand top of mind. When someone signs up for your automotive marketing content, they’re indicating they’re interested.
To grow your email list, start by offering something of value to your website visitors in exchange for their email addresses. This could be a free report, an e-book, or a subscription to your automotive marketing content. Keep your subscribers interested by sending out interesting and valuable automotive content regularly.
Make sure the tone of your emails is consistent with the tone of your automotive marketing content. Most importantly, always ensure your emails are relevant to your subscribers’ interests.
If you don’t have the time or resources to manage an email list yourself, consider hiring a marketing automation company. They’ll help you grow and nurture your automotive email list.
Use Call Features on Your Website
When automotive customers take interest in a certain car or service, they’ll often call the dealership to make an inquiry. You can make it easier for them by adding call features to your website. For example, on many websites, there is a “Contact Us” page that has a form for visitors to fill out.
However, this takes the customer away from your website and to another page where they have to enter all their contact information again. An easier way to handle website calls is by using a live chat feature or an automated chatbot. With this method, customers can click on a button on your website and start chatting with a customer representative right away.
This live chat feature can also answer common automotive questions that customers may have. You can also use a phone number as a click-to-call button on your website. This will allow customers to call you from the page they are on without having to search for your contact information.
How to Create a Killer Automotive Marketing Campaign
Automotive marketing is important for automotive businesses. It helps boost sales and increase brand awareness by a long shot. By following these automotive marketing tips, you can help grow your automotive business even more than before.
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