Today, almost everything can be purchased online. In fact, 51 percent of people do a Google search before purchasing a product, with the number significantly higher for car buyers – over 95 percent. As such, the need for an attractive car dealership website has skyrocketed in current times.
Merely having your dealers websites running and keeping them like some showpiece on the internet isn’t enough. Making buyers aware of your existence is what you need. That is possible only by having an effective online promotion strategy at your fingertips. Also, a great website should be an extension of your physical store, essentially serving as your digital car dealership.
A great car dealer website can serve as bait to hook more buyers and log more conversions. This blog will walk you through some magic tricks you should use to promote your digital dealership/auto website.
1. Building a great car dealership website
Having the perfect car dealership site is the main ingredient for successful online car dealerships. Marketing strategies or promotional plans mean nothing if you don’t have a car dealer website that’s:
- Device-agnostic
- Blazing fast to load
- Easy to navigate
Further, the websites should have finely tuned information on all vehicle detail pages (VDP) and offer a seamless checkout.
ALSO READ: 7 Tips To Make Awe-Inspiring Car Dealership Websites
2. Boost your local reach
Have you ever tried the ‘Find near me’ keyword on a Google search? (Try it sometime if you haven’t.) Consumers use it all the time to search for shops, restaurants, and other services near them. Google can do wonders by helping you increase your local reach. You can also use Google Vehicle Ads to increase both online and in-store sales.
When a buyer clicks on the vehicle ad, it will take them to the vehicle’s product detail page on car dealers websites and allow them to take further buying actions. This way, you can kill two birds with one stone: prove your omnichannel experience to the buyers while running automated targeting and enjoying qualified leads.
Pro-tip:
Images and visuals play a major role in drawing customers’ attention to your vehicle listings. Make sure you offer the best ones: images with the right brightness, clarity and attractive backgrounds. Interestingly, you don’t need a fancy studio or million gadgets to shoot high-impact car images.
Try Spyne’s AI-led photoshoot and image editing platform, which improves the quality of your images by replacing the original car background with an attractive studio-style or custom backdrop. Not just that, it also removes reflections from windows, generate real-like shadows and much more. The editing is 100 percent automatic, quick and extremely affordable.
ALSO READ: Become Your Own Photographer With Spyne’s Image Validation Technology
If you are still naive at clicking professional images, the on-screen guide will help you navigate the entire photoshoot process and let you know of the picture quality and standards. You can even create 360-degree car videos through our smartphone application with minimal effort!
Find out more about Spyne’s AI-powered cataloging solutions by booking a free demo.
3. Invest in personal branding
What is the first thing you do when you stumble upon a problem? You go to an expert, right? Likewise, when car buyers explore the different platforms for purchase, they want to be guided by someone who knows the ins and outs of cars. That’s why it is so critical that you build your personal brand besides boosting your car dealer website.
- Keep posting thought leadership content on social media (infographics, podcasts, videos, etc.)
- Ask your employees to create social media profiles and share their thoughts on the auto industry trends
- Your employees (sales team especially) can talk about their various experiences and encounters with customers on your online channels
All these steps will help gain acknowledgement and validity for your expertise.
4. Bolster your presence on YouTube and social media
YouTube videos have great potential to influence buyers. More than 70 percent of buyers say that videos help them make a buying decision. Moreover, the view counts of test drive videos on YouTube went up by 65 percent in the last couple of years. So, try gaining more traction by re-sharing it on other platforms.
- If the video length is more than 10 minutes, break them into short marketable clips and post them as Reels on Instagram.
- You can also flesh out two-minute videos and post them on Twitter and Facebook.
It will help you gain car buyers’ attention. You can use videos to further direct buyers to car dealers sites.
5. Partner with auto vloggers and influencers
Influencer marketing is at an all-time high right now. In fact, 60 percent of millennials trust YouTube influencers over conventional media personas when gaining info about something.
Prepare a list of auto vloggers with a good number of followers and partner up with them. You can leverage their reach by asking them to create test drive videos using your cars, or you can ask them to talk about your car dealership services and capabilities on their channels.
ALSO READ: 8 Auto Marketing Practices For A Successful Digital Car Dealership
6. Offer seasonal online deals and incentives
Earlier, purchasing sprees were only limited to the holidays. But for the last couple of years, offers and discounts on Cyber Monday and Black Friday sales have been breaking all records across industries.
Through effective advertising or social media outreach, you can leverage these opportunities and try to gain as much traction as possible online. Along with this, you can also initiate membership discounts and special incentives, along the same lines as Amazon Prime benefits.
7. Leverage reviews and testimonials
Customer reviews and testimonials are the best way to boost websites for car dealerships. Always ask your customers to leave a review after purchasing, preferably in video format.
You can create engaging posts for social media and highlight these reviews on your websites for car dealerships. On social media, you can also tag your customers and let the word spread on the internet.
Final Word
In the auto industry, just like everywhere else, change is the only constant. Cars are changing, buyers’ preferences and habits are changing and so on. If you want to stay ahead in the game, you have to be on par with all these changes. For starters, you have to focus heavily on creating awareness of your car dealer’s website. Integrate the above-mentioned tricks into your strategy and ace the online game.
