Contributed by Christian Coomer, Manager for Customer Success, L2TMedia

Electrified Vehicles in the Emerging Market

As we have already covered in our first post, EVs are hot right now and you need a strategy in place to capture these shoppers regardless of your current sales volume. EVs have become a part of the buying process, and EV shoppers have a larger consideration set than the average new car buyer. Take advantage of the ample opportunities to shape the customer’s journey.  

Gas Prices Are Spiking Interest 

EV and Hybrid consideration has picked up even more as gas prices rise and stay at all-time highs. Consumers are looking at electrified and fuel-efficient vehicles which provides you with a unique opportunity to position your dealership ahead of your competition and be an invaluable source for shoppers in your market. 

Understanding The Funnel & Objectives 

Before diving into strategies, let’s look at the funnel and our objective for each level. 

In an emerging EV market you are going to be spending more of your time and resources in the first 2 phases: awareness and consideration since there isn’t a lot of demand yet. Let’s review how to set up your marketing strategy. 

Emerging Market: Marketing Plan 

When putting a digital marketing plan in place you want to work from the bottom up so your strategy should look something like: 

Drive Action

Capture the demand that already exists. If consumers are searching for EVs, you should be there. If you’re in an emerging EV market, then a modest investment is likely all you need here.  

• Action Targets:
  • Your brand and model terms
    • Example: Hyundai Hybrids, Hyundai Ioniq, etc.
  • Segment terms – Most customers only know Tesla and one or two other brands. Get in front of customers with your name and EV inventory.
    • Example: Hybrid SUVs, Electric Cars, etc.
  • Enable Vehicle Ads to take up real estate at the top of the page with your inventory.

Expert Tip: Perform sample searches to understand the digital landscape for your terms.

Ask yourself the following questions: 

• Is anyone bidding on these terms? If yes who?
• Who is showing up on organic listings?
• How would a consumer find your dealership in an organic search?
• Are Vehicle Ads present at the top of the page?

Influence Shoppers & Win Them Over

Consumer behavior is shifting. Is your messaging keeping up? Hybrid demand is expected to increase by 22% in 2022, and gas efficient vehicle searches are up 151% since March 2021. 

Ensure shoppers find your dealership across platforms.

• Google Search: Update ad copy and extensions to callout EV inventory and your high MPG offerings.
• Display/Paid Social: Create enticing creative that informs consumers about your EV and fuel-efficient inventory.
  • Highlight inventory amounts, MPG info, other messaging to attract consumers to your website.
• Video: Electric cars are flashy and new to consumers. Cath their eye and showcase your EVs inside and out.
  • No need for high production value, get the cars in front of customers.

Educate. Educate. Educate.

This is the most important and time-consuming, so it should be an ongoing project for your dealership. 

In an emerging EV market, shoppers have a lot of questions that need to be answered. This makes EV ripe for content. Your investment in EV will grow over time so you want to ensure you have all the information a customer needs to decide readily available on your site.  

Web Content to Start With

• Should I buy a hybrid or fully electric car? 
• How much does it cost to charge an electric car?  
• How many charging stations are near me? 

These are just a few questions that go through a consumer’s mind when researching EVs. Start working on content to address these questions and build out your website to make it easy for consumers to find what they are looking for. 

Add visibility by creating a separate tab at the top of your website for Hybrids & EVs and place your inventory and top content pages here for easy shopping.

Organic Posts

Take advantage of free resources like your Facebook page and Google Business Profile to showcase your inventory, educate consumers, and stand out from the crowd. 

• Google Posts: You should be posting at least once a week on your Google Business Profile, start mixing in 1-2 posts a month on EVs and fuel-efficient vehicles. 
• Organic Social Postings: Give your followers information on your offerings, educate them on owning an EV, and provide information they likely aren’t getting anywhere else 

EV shoppers spend more time, consider more brands, and have more touchpoints than the average shopper. This provides you with an opportunity to stand out from the crowd and win a consumer over regardless of their purchase decision. 51% of EV shoppers still buy gas cars. That means EV shoppers are your shoppers regardless of inventory and market.

Get in front of them today!