When it comes to marketing to customers, the more effort your dealership puts in, the more likely you are to be successful.
Car dealers are busy people and it can often be difficult to find time to dedicate to well-thought-out marketing strategies but resorting to bombarding customers with template communications must be avoided at all costs. This is impersonal and annoying, not to mention, it is not very effective.
The most effective marketing is that which is done with care and offers genuine value. Where the method above is almost like shouting at customers to get their attention, the more successful approach involves talking and working with them.
It is unsurprising that car dealers often slip into the habit of bombarding customers with marketing when the job constantly imposes short-term pressure to attain a certain amount of business; however, if you stop to rationalise things, you will find that more business will be generated when you stick to a carefully-planned marketing strategy.
To create the bones of this strategy, consider just two questions:
Who is Your Target Audience?
If your answer to this is ‘everyone’, this is a sign of an uncareful marketing approach. You should rarely be sending the same communication to all of the contacts in your database. Instead, carefully consider when the message will be useful to each customer.
An example would be an MOT reminder. If your target audience is everyone, you will find yourself emailing every customer every month to cover your bases, even those who have only just bought their car! This will feel a lot like spam, and risks recipients ignoring the reminder at a time when it is actually relevant to them.
If instead you choose to target only consumers whose MOT is due soon, your click-through rate and enquiries are likely to increase. ClickDMS offers a feature which sends reminders when key marketing opportunities arise, for example, when a customer’s MOT is due, or their finance agreement is about to end.
Why Should They Choose Your Dealership?
On the face of it, car dealerships can all look very similar, but we know that they are each unique and this is what you need to make customers see. The story of who you are, and most importantly why you do what you do should be told through your marketing material.
If they had a good experience the first time around and your story resonates with them strongly enough, they may choose to return even if they have to make a small sacrifice, for example, paying a slightly higher price than competitors are offering, travelling a bit further or settling for a model that wasn’t exactly what they had in mind.
By taking just a little bit of time to figure out how to incorporate these considerations into your marketing, you could increase the effectiveness of your efforts significantly. So, avoid that ‘send to all’ button and let your originality and drive shine through!
For further information about Click Dealer’s Key Marketing Reminders, get in touch today by emailing us at [email protected], calling us on 01782 478220 or sending us a message via our contact page!
