For years, word-of-mouth has been a go-to method for individuals looking for tips when buying certain products; but in our digital era, more and more people are relying on online searches. This is especially true when it comes to buying cars, where the majority of shoppers now head online to look for the information they need to help them make a car purchase decision.
What does this mean for you? This simply means that if you're a car dealership, you need to implement a digital strategy to capture these buyers!
Today, we're going to share with you some digital strategies you can implement to sell more cars:
1. Create A Website
This might sound obvious, but you’d be surprised at how many poorly created websites exist in retail automotive. If you want to sell cars online, you need to have a website to help you do so. Your website is what you have to showcase your business to the world. It's where you sell your product. If your website is bad, then chances are you won't attract or keep many visitors.
You need to have a website in place, even if you're just starting out. Yes, you might not have that much traffic at first, but you never know when those visitors will start pouring in, especially if you keep up with organic content, SEO, paid ads, and other digital marketing efforts.
Creating a website isn't necessarily hard, but the difficult part is making sure your website is optimized for conversion. Don’t worry, Flex has over 10 years of experience creating, hosting, and optimizing dealer websites, so we can certainly help.
2. Use Social Media
Social media is a great way to connect with your prospective customers, but you have to remember that social media tends to work differently in the car industry. With social media, you have to be more personal, particularly because buying a car is often a big-purchase decision. You have to communicate with your followers, respond to comments, and create a bond that would help you sell more cars.
Of course, this means you have to be on social media, but also importantly, you need to make sure that you're using the right hashtags to reach your audience and are generally creating inspiring, informative, and valuable content that people want to engage with.
3. Use Email Marketing
Email marketing works great for e-commerce businesses, and it works great for car dealerships!
If you have a lot of people on your email list, you can start sending them notifications about your sales, promotions, and new products. You can also create flows that target people during specific phases of the car-buying journey, such as at the 3 - 4 year mark when people start to consider trading in their current vehicle for something new, during the fall when people should be getting winter tires, or in the spring when folks need a summer maintenance tune up.
4. Manage Your Reviews
It's not a secret that a good review can help sell more cars - word of mouth, even online, is everything! But what you might not know is that a bad review can do the same. Ouch.
In today's digital age, people are relying more and more on reviews when they're buying a product. If your dealership is part of online searches, then people will be able to read these reviews. If you have a bad review, chances are, it can hinder the potential of your dealership. Make sure you work with your various teams to ensure they’re giving each and every customer impeccable service, and take the time to manage your reviews (even bad ones) to build a trustworthy digital presence.
5. Target People With Paid Ads
In this day and age, paid ads are pretty vital to helping you reach your target audience. For example, if you're targeting people who live in a certain location, you can use paid ads to reach them. The same goes for certain demographics, buyer habits, search terms, and so many other variables.
But a fun fact is that you can use a retargeting ad to show people who have visited your website. How does it work? Simply, people who previously visited your website will be shown your ad. This is important because if they’ve already been browsing around your site, they may be persuaded to return if they’re shown and ad for your website or even the exact same vehicle they were looking at. If you're getting adequate traffic with your website, you can use retargeting ads to show even more people about your business and cars.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many digital strategies that you can use to sell more cars. However, the most important thing about any of this is that you have them implemented in the first place. Without any online presence, you're going to fail to reach out to your possible buyers who are interested in what you have to offer. Don’t miss out - implement the above tips to succeed with your car dealership!
FlexDealer is a digital marketing agency that helps dealerships find success with their marketing efforts. Work with us today and make the most out of your online presence!
