Are you struggling with the transition to digital advertising activities due to lack of time, staff focus or obvious understanding of what to do? Do you spend money on traditional advertising month after month, without a clear idea of what’s working and what’s not?

There are many elements to building an effective digital advertising strategy. An impactful approach to transitioning from traditional to online advertising must contain elements to find consumers, bring them to your digital display ads and capture their information after they click on your ads. However, making the transition from traditional to digital advertising contains many challenges. With all of the choices available today, having a marketing expert as part of the solution can instantly bring better focus to your efforts.

There is a wide range of digital advertising strategies available to help your dealership maximize its online presence and uncover new opportunities for sales. As just a few examples, search engine optimization/search engine marketing strategies; banner ads, landing pages, microsites and quality Web content; behaviorally- and geographically-targeted ads; and appropriate online ad networks are all components of a results-driven, comprehensive digital advertising solution. The right marketing representative can make sense of all of these options.

Someone with basic marketing or online experience will not be enough. Successful marketing representatives also need know your business. An effective marketing representative will work with you to review your customer demographics and buying patterns, identify and evaluate advertising you have executed in the past, and pull together a digital advertising plan that makes sense for your market. The goal is to deliver the right message, the right placement, and the right marketing strategy, so your dealership can make every online ad initiative pay off with increased sales and profits.

A proper online marketing strategy should include:
• Market segmentation and prospect targeting
• Differentiation and positioning
• Marketing plan development and execution
• Measurement and metrics reporting

 Once you review and agree on a plan, the marketing representative can execute that plan, gather the ROI and metrics on all of the campaigns, and provide you a report on all marketing efforts. In the days of traditional marketing, when it came to budgets, we all have heard the adage: “I know that 50% of the money I spend on marketing and advertising works; I just don’t know which 50%!” This does not need to be the case with digital advertising.

The final step is to then make needed course-corrections in the marketing plan for the following months, so unsuccessful campaigns are not repeated and successful strategies are carried forward.

Every dealership must spend money to sell cars, and that’s why successful dealers are realizing that online marketing provides the best return on investment and are shifting budgets from traditional media to online initiatives, including digital advertising. The right marketing help can make a difference between maximizing your marketing spend and continuing to waste precious dealership dollars.

Vol 5, Issue 11