Auto Dealer Marketing 101

Leads, leads, leads... Like every business "nothing happens till a sale is made." Every sale starts with a lead and selling cars is no different.  More leads mean more sales, more sales mean chritmas may come early this year. 

Number one challage for auto dealers, pre-owned or franchise, is getting qualified leads or foot traffic to their dealership. In olden days when the west was still wild, print advertsing was the king. Dealers will put their ads in newspapers and auto sales magazines, buyers will read them and visit the dealership to buy the advertised vehicle.

Gone are those days. These are the days of online sales and marketing. Buyers now are researching about their next vehicle before stepping inside a dealership. Now they can go to national auto portals like Cars.com, AutoTrader.com, or use a regional portal like IowaMotors.com to find the best deals. According to one estimate, more then 80% of buyers are now using Internet to shop for their next vehicle.

While franchise dealers, being pushed by the manufacturers, are getting ahead with technology, used car dealers are still betting money on the old horse, print media. They use different excuses like:

1. I am not a computer whiz.

2. Print publication still works for me. (Though it cost more and the circulation is way down).

3. It cost so much, I cannot afford it. 

4. Do I really need a website?

This may be the most vital question as it can make or break a used car dealership in coming days. Lets review some of the reasons why a auto dealership MUST have its own website.

A. In print higer the circulation of a newspaper more one has to pay for advertising. On the other hand, the monthly cost of using a dealership website management  remains constant irrespective of how many 'eyes' go through the website.

B. Print publication can bought or picked, if it is a free publication, for many reasons beside the reading an ad. On the other hand visitors come to a dealer's website only because it is a dealer's website. They may visit the website to see what is on sale, what new vehicles are addes since their last visit or to see if you have the pictures of staff updated. In short, each visitor is a potential lead. Dealer can customize and test different things on the wevsite to convert the traffic to the site into sales leads. For example, dealer can offer a home page coupon that captures the visitors email or can have other coupons, like Oild Chage or Brake Special. Dealer can also offer to assist  the lead in financing the next car purchase. None of this is possible with print publication.

C. While print publication gives you their circulation figures, dealer has no idea how many people actually read his ad. While on the website, any dealer can track how may visitors visited the website. Dealer can even track how long, on average, a visitor is stayed on the website.

D. While it is cost prohibitive to showcase certain cars or trucks on print publication, a dealer can have Internet Specials on his website. This does not cost any extra and all dealer website management software puts no restriction on what a dealer can showcase as "Internet Special" or "Must See" vehicle.

E. "A picture worth a thousand words" and the cost of print ad goes higher with more picutres dealer adds. On the other hand, a dealer can have color pictures of his inventory items, all items, displayed on his website without any additional cost. It will bankrupt a small dealership if they try to put the same number of pictures on a print ad.

F. Print ads are mostly restricted by geography. But when a dealer puts his website on Internet, he showcases his services and inventory to the whole wide world, literally.

G. Last but not least, website is owned by a dealership. Dealership can change the layout, update pictures, offer incentives, display coupons, collect finance application, sell parts online, and showcase every single inventory on their website. All this is done at a very affordable price. No print publication can offer such flexibility, efficiancy, and effectiveness.

Dealers, go get your website now...