2021 is going to be competitive year for dealers. Make sure your dealership marketing strategy is ready to capture customers and dominate your market.
It’s more than just search. Leveraging marketing channels like display and social provide cost-effective and efficient targeting options to grab customers from your competition.
Beat Your Local Competition
New buyers are in the market and vehicle incentives have made purchasing a vehicle even more affordable. There are now 21% more searches per vehicle sold post-COVID and with pent-up demand from life events that were put on hold from 2020 customers are ready to buy.
Search campaigns will pull shoppers searching for your local competitors send them directly to your website.
Local Competitor New Vehicle Keyword Examples
| Ad Groups | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Jeep | +competitordealer1 +jeep +evanston |
| Jeep | +competitordealer2 +jeep +niles |
| RAM | +competitordealer1 +ram +evanston +dealer |
| RAM | +competitordealer1 +ram +niles +dealer |
| Dodge | +competitordealer1 +dodge +evanston |
| Dodge | +competitordealer1 +jeep +niles |
| Chevrolet | +competitordealer1 +chevy +evanston |
| Chevrolet | +competitordealer1 +chevy +niles |
Pair paid search with display advertising to create custom intent audiences with the URLs of your local competitors to give you a cost-efficient channel to continue to draw customer interest to your dealership.
Conquest by Brand to Capture More Market Share
Trends show that new car buyers are not as loyal to specific brands as buyers were in the past.
These shoppers are looking at 4-5 brands up from 3-4 in 2017, and 31% more likely to cross-shop. If you are not conquesting against competing brands and models you are missing out on significant opportunities with shoppers. Share “why buys” in search advertising on key factors shoppers consider when purchasing, value and price.
Conquest Campaign Keyword Examples for a Mercedes-Benz Dealer
| Ad Groups | Keywords |
|---|---|
| BMW | +bmw +dealership |
| BMW | +bmw +dealer |
| BMW | +bmw +dealer +near me |
| Lexus | +lexus + dealer +near me |
| Lexus | +lexus +showroom |
| Lexus | +lexus +showroom +near me |
Display and Paid Social Provide Cost-Efficient Options to Conquest Against Brands
Target customers specific to model type witch custom intent audiences with display to follow shoppers across the web to drive them to your website.
Paid social reaches customers not searching for your dealership or brands in a cost-efficient way. Layer in Oracle data and/or IHS Market data to pinpoint customers on factors like purchase behaviors and expiring leases to serve ads to attract their interest your brand and model.
Pull Customers from Big Nationwide Auto Retail Chains
Used car inventory has been stabilizing since July 2020. Now is the time to conquest against national used auto chains to advertise not only with your certified pre-owned vehicles but your attractive incentives make it more enticing for customers to consider a new vehicle instead of used.
Use keyword targeted keywords to capture used vehicle shoppers.
Big Used Retail Chain Competitor Used Vehicle Keyword Examples
| Ad Groups | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Chain A | [Chain A] |
| Chain A | “Chain A” |
| Chain A | +used +Chain A +car |
| Chain A | [Chain A pre owned cars] |
| Chain B | [Chain B] |
| Chain B | “Chain B” |
| Chain B | +used +Chain B +car |
| Chain B | [Chain B pre owned cars] |
Display and paid social offer the ability to retarget to customers who have already been on your website and provide the opportunity to talk about the benefits of certified pre-owned vehicles. Including warranty and service agreements that are only available at a certified dealer.
Marketing for Strong a 2021
The auto industry is optimistic about the year ahead, and you should be too!
L2T wants to make sure dealers are in the best position to reach more customers and get more sales. We will help you find the right marketing channels and to dominate your market and win over your competition.
Schedule a demo today with an L2T sales rep to talk about how we can take your marketing to the next-level in 2021.
Sources: HumanTruths “From Rider to Driver, Meet the New New Car Buyer”, Cox Automotive “Used-Vehicle Supply Stabilizing; Prices Rise”, Google Internal Data 2020, Cox Automotive “With Inventory Levels Improving Incentive Volume Jumped in December”, Cox Automotive “Vehicle Affordability Improves in November”, Reuters “USA Auto Sales Increased New Car Demand During the Pandemic has US Industry Optimistic About 2021”