Running a car dealership is easy if you’re the only business like it in town. Everyone who needs a new car will automatically go to your dealership if they want to shop around, which means you won’t even have to allot resources for marketing. But sadly, it’s not that easy to monopolize a market demand like that today.
There’s a big chance that you’ll have at least two to three competitors in your town alone and more in neighboring cities. Customers can also shop around for vehicles online, which means they aren’t limited to what’s near their homes. This just means that the competition can get even fiercer for your dealership.
Understandably, it would be impossible to score all the car sales in your town, but you have to do everything that you can to get your customers’ attention and show them that you’re an option. However, that means changing your approach to attract their attention. Here are three marketing methods that you can use instead:
Diversify Your Marketing Channels
Traditional marketing strategies such as putting up promotional posters on lampposts or hanging banners outside your dealership are so old-school. This is not to say that they no longer do their job in piquing the interest of customers, but there are far better and more practical methods to market your business nowadays.
Thanks to the Internet age, people of all ages rely on social media platforms for almost everything. This includes reading the local and international news, their main source of entertainment, or simply catching up with their friends. That just means they’re spending all their time on the Internet and not out on the streets.
Your posters, banners, and billboards could attract the occasional passersby. Still, if you want to attract a larger market demographic, you need to meet the people where they are—on the Internet. Utilize the power of social media platforms to let people know about your business and products or services.
It’s not enough to just have an official website that hasn’t been changed since the first time you made it. The digital age is all about staying active on social media platforms and repeatedly showing your brand to the people, which can both help your business be on the top of their minds when it comes to car dealerships.
Launch Campaigns for Promos and Events
If you want to reach a wider audience for a promo or event that you’re holding at the dealership, consider making a social media campaign about it. The campaign doesn’t always have to be all or nothing; the scale of your campaign will depend greatly on how many people you want to reach.
For instance, if you want to let your customers know that you have for sale new auto Ram models on hand, maybe you can do a week-long campaign with online posts and teasers counting down to the day of the release. This way, you can encourage both new and existing customers to look forward to the event that you’re holding.
Another example of this is by sending promotional texts and emails to everyone in your marketing directory. This could be people that have bought cars from your dealership before or ones that have subscribed to your mailing list to score good deals and promos. The point is that you have to let the public know what you’re doing, or else your promos and events will fail to serve their purpose.
Work on Community Engagement
Building a strong online persona isn’t all about posting updates about your business and letting your customers that you haven’t shut down. It’s also about engaging with the people in the communities—people who are interested in what you’re selling and people who already know what they want to buy.
This means that you need to interact with your audience either by following the discussions involving your business and industry or eagerly seeking their honest feedback regarding your services. By letting your customers and prospects know that you value what they have to say, you’re showing them that you’re an adaptable businessperson.
Not all social interactions online need to be profit-generating. This is because the public interactions you have on social media can show your audience that you’re not just in it for the money; instead, you’re showing them that you’re actually determined to share your insights, improve your service, and grow with their help.
Managing a dealership business in the digital age isn’t all that different from the previous decades. However, the main difference is that now, you have all these resources and platforms that you can use to communicate with your customers. And if you know how to use them properly, it can do wonders for your business’s growth.
So, don’t worry if you’re not confident about the ins and outs of digital channels like social media yet. Even tech-savvy users can have difficulties navigating the fast-changing online world. The important thing is that you don’t give up, especially since it can benefit your dealership business in the long run.
