It feels as if we’ve spent most of October in Las Vegas between the Digital Dealer Conference and Exhibition, Driving Sales Executive Summit and J.D. Power Automotive Marketing Roundtable. These industry events provide an excellent opportunity to see the latest and greatest technology and innovations in automotive digital marketing and exchange ideas with thought leaders in the automotive vertical.
Even though conference speakers at these types of events have been talking about changing consumer behavior, the rise of social media, online review sites, mobile usage and so forth for years, there is still a big opportunity for progressive dealers to distinguish themselves by adopting a consumer-directed approach to attracting and retaining customers. I become concerned when strategies and solutions are single-mindedly focused on forcing the dealership’s agenda on consumers regardless of where each person is in the vehicle lifecycle, how he or she wants to interact with the dealership or the signals being sent about interests and preferences.
Don’t get me wrong—I completely understand that our automobile dealer clients need to sell cars and service and it is our job as a digital marketing partner to help them do just that as effectively as possible. There will always be people who are in-market for a vehicle or who have another current automotive need, and any solid marketing strategy needs to attract and convert those people into leads for the dealership.
However, taking the same approach with all consumers may capture the ones that are right in front of your face, but it could also repel people who would have done business with you in the future if you had only communicated with them appropriately. The benefit to the business is that this creates an elongated sales funnel. The monthly sales cycle will always exist, but adopting a broader view that encompasses the diverse needs and interests of consumers instead of a one-size-fits-all approach means that you can begin to get off the hamster wheel because you won’t be starting each month back at square one or worse.
At the most basic level, effective marketing attracts people to your business because it recognizes that consumers want to be treated like people. They want their interests and needs recognized and responded to, and the dealerships that do will be rewarded with their business.
We touched on some of these issues in our presentations at Digital Dealer. If you weren’t able to attend our sessions, you can check out the 3 Birds presentations given by Gary Marcotte and me and by our own Megan Gardner, V.P. of Accounts, together with Doug Van Sach, V.P. of Analytics and Insight, in this issue (see below). If you’d like to learn more about our consumer-directed approach, we’d love to speak with you.
Click here to see what you missed at Digital Dealer.