To the outside world automotive advertising might seem simple: We are cheaper and better, so buy a car here! However, those of us in the automotive industry know it is much more complicated than that. If you’ve been pitched by advertising companies or have been to an automotive conference, you know that there are at least 21 touch points before someone makes the decision to purchase a car and step foot into a dealership. That means you have be on your game when it comes to marketing. Below are some common automotive marketing mistakes you’ll want to be sure to avoid.

1. LOW LOW PRICE!

While it might be tempting to just push the absolute lowest price out there and put it all over your ads whether online, in broadcast, or even in print. However, this can be a big mistake. Don’t get me wrong, you definitely want to be aggressive with your pricing, but it should be realistic. The prices you advertise should be numbers your sales team can actually match and include specials from the manufacturer like 0.9% APR and conquest cash as well as a manageable amount due at signing. Believe it or not, most customers can spot those “fake” payments from a mile away!

2. All Your Eggs in One Basket

Many dealerships find something that works and then rely solely on that piece of advertising. Whether that’s a credit mailer, a lease return campaign, a 3^rd party provider, or paid search, it’s never a good idea to rely on one thing. For starters, the market right now is in a very strange place. People aren’t reacting in the same way they once were to advertising methods. That means if you’re relying on one or two things that typically always worked, now you have to start from scratch. You should also consider those good ole’ touch points. If you’re focusing everything toward one or two things, how are you hitting those other 20, or 19 touchpoints for a potential customer? It’s a good idea to have a healthy marketing mix.

3. Marching to Your Own Beat

You’ll definitely never hear me say this in any other capacity but marching too much to your own beat in this scenario can be a mistake. If you or your automotive marketing agency are trying to come up with outlandish ideas for headlines and creative, you might be putting in more work than is needed. It’s always a good idea to stand out from your competitors but think back again to those touch points. Utilizing the same headline and look as the manufacturer when they offer something is a good way to get the first 5, 8, 10 touchpoints done for you! Get a little further with your advertising by playing off the factory. You can still put a local feel on your ads and of course, you want to have a solid marketing mix to make sure you get in front of that customer in a more effective and faster way than your competitors.

These common mistakes are just that – common! So, if you’re making them now, don’t feel bad! Just sit down with whomever is in charge of marketing for your dealership or your automotive digital agency and restrategize. One or two changes could go a long way. If you feel like you’re making some of these mistakes and more or aren’t quite sure how to course correct we are here for you. Contact us today online or by calling 877-958-4524 to get it right. D2D is here to help!

Have you ever found yourself asking: How can I keep up with the everchanging website technology? If you have, then Website Watchdog may be right for you! In this blog, we’re going to dive deeper into what our product, “Website Watchdog”, offers, and what it means to have someone actually watching your website for you.

Being aware of the moving parts of your website takes time, energy, and knowledge. We are trained and proficient in finding the constant changes on your website that may come from your OEM dealer, different hands that have a part in uploading and editing your monthly and daily fluctuations, or errors that may just be a technical glitch. Questions such as: “Have I checked the mobile website this month?” “Are my phone numbers routing correctly?” and “Did I lose co-op dollars because of a bad landing page?” can now evaporate as you acquire the peace of mind that comes with having a Website Watchdog. Those broken links and out of date specials will be fixed in no time!

For customers, consistency is key. And for you, compliance is. Avoiding violations and fines that come from not having the correct creative will benefit you with time and money. Having an automotive website management tool like Website Watchdog will ensure all the traffic generated to your site sees updated information, the best pricing, easy to navigate pages, and can submit a lead with ease. Having a fresh pair of eyes on the same website that you probably look at day after day can spot errors that your brain is already trained to overlook! We have a dedicated, rotating team that picks up these errors in record time. Sites monitored by D2D Website Watchdog hit below average bounce rates, have 100% coverage and the highest level of consistency for monthly campaigns.

With Website Watchdog, both functionality and website design are top priorities – keeping the user (your customer) in mind. Not only do we check to make sure what you have is already working, we also make suggestions on how your website could operate better. We advise changes based on our experience of working with high performing websites and our marketing solutions that have a proven track record. Now more than ever, people are utilizing the power of online shopping- and this makes it crucial for you to have an online presence that will make an impression, for your website to answer the questions that car buyers have, and for you to have clear calls to action that gets you results.

Your website is the first impression for many of your potential customers. Capture more customers faster with a website that is straightforward, consistent, and eye-catching. A great visual design matters: it only takes a matter of seconds for a customer to decide if they’ll stay on your website or not! The more time they spend shopping around on your website, the more information we have that we can pair with some of our other marketing solutions, to track your customer and capture them (see: Advanced Retargeting). Let us help you create a reputation that you’ll be proud of! If you’re questioning whether or not Website Watchdog is right for you, then it probably is! Let us take away your website worries and contact us today at 877-958-4524.

Earth is our home and collectively we need to protect, preserve, and restore it. April 22^nd is Earth Day, a day to celebrate the anniversary of initiating environmental change. Earth Day is a reminder that caring for our planet needs to be ongoing because change does not happen in a day. For over 50 years, people have been fighting for different aspects of environmental change, with the focus of this year’s Earth Day being Restore our Earth. Restoring our Earth focuses on innovative technologies and processes to repair our planet. There are a variety of creative ways to make environmentally friendly decisions, regardless of their size; the impact is what counts. Together we can take steps to reduce waste, go green, and allow our planet to flourish for generations to come. This effort of course includes the automotive industry.

As we know, the transportation industry is a major player in releasing CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere causing increased air pollutants. Fortunately, standard gas guzzling cars are not the only option on the automotive market. The world’s brightest minds have been creating and discovering new technologies for sustainable electric and hybrid automotive solutions for years and continue to modify and improve the process. Electric (EV) and hybrid cars reduce pollutants and allow for a cleaner form of transportation, moving us in the right direction to preserve our planet. When making your next car purchase, consider the greener alternative and drive electric.

Electric cars are just one way that we can reduce the carbon footprint of the automotive industry. Another method of preserving our planet is buying a used car to save on production materials and reduce the release of toxins into the air. It is important to note that older cars may need more maintenance if they have prior issues, so considering the past and future life of the car can make it a viable option to consider when determining what car to buy.

Our world has forever changed due to COVID-19 and has resulted in many working from home temporarily or permanently. The decrease of automobiles on the road allowed our planet time to recover and breathe. As more and more people are getting vaccinated, and states and businesses are opening back up to the public, we are beginning to resume to a state of normalcy. With that normalcy comes an increase of cars on the road, but we can minimize it. As we get back out, take the opportunity to reconnect with friends, family, and coworkers by carpooling to work and events after quarantining for over a year. Socializing and bonding is good for the mind and carpooling is good for the planet.

Now is the perfect time to start advertising your EV and hybrid inventory. Earth Day might only be celebrated on one day of the year, but it certainly sparks the conversation for the weeks to come. If you have electric and hybrid inventory, now is a great time to sit down with your automotive digital marketing agency and strategize your advertising efforts for these vehicles.

Of course, in addition to the methods listed above, there are multiple other ways to make a difference when trying to get from point A to point B. If the situation is COVID safe, consider taking public transportation like a bus, train, or subway to decrease the number of cars on the road, BUT for the sake of your dealership sales, we will focus on those EV and hybrid vehicles!

As a dealership manager, this Earth Day you can also take time to reflect on your current choices and consider if there are any new environmentally friendly opportunities you can add into your daily routine. Whether it is skipping on a plastic straw or purchasing an electric vehicle, every decision has a lasting impact and collectively we can make a difference. As we recover from separation during a pandemic, we need to come together to restore our earth because there is no Planet B!

To learn more and get involved in your local community, visit the official Earth Day website! For help on strategizing the advertising for your EV and hybrid vehicles, contact us today.

As a 21st century car dealer, you’re undoubtedly familiar with Google’s core advertising products and offerings. You pour thousands of dollars per month into SEM campaigns to capture audiences searching for your products and display banner ads to capture the in-market audience traffic after they’ve moved on to another web page. These tried and true mediums are part of the recipe for advertising success, but Google is cooking up something new that just might become a staple in your balanced advertising plan. They’re called Discovery Ads.  They’re a little different from your traditional Google Ads mediums, and they’re slated to play a bigger role in the future of Google Ads.

Discovery ads are built from the ground up with the mobile user in mind. They feature compelling images, informative headlines and mobile interactivity similar to Facebook’s carousel ads. With their emphasis on image quality and interactivity, Discovery Ads enable advertisers to tell a story with their advertisements and meaningfully reach higher funnel customers to kick start their purchase journey.

Mobile advertising’s rapid ascent over the last decade is no secret. It seems like every marketing seminar is full of mobile buzz words and advertisers are always looking to capture more of the mobile traffic boom.  Google Discovery Ads are geared specifically towards mobile with their placements and design.  They appear on three of the top mobile destinations in the world: Google Discover, YouTube and Gmail.

Google Discover is Google’s news feed app, and with 800 Million monthly users and growing, it is an extremely popular place to get news about all of your interests. In prior blog posts we’ve discussed the sheer scale of YouTube’s influence on the modern internet. It’s currently the second largest search engine behind Google itself, and every single day over 1 Billion hours of YouTube videos are consumed, and in the average month 80% of 18-49 year-olds watch a video on YouTube at least once. And finally, Gmail is by far the most popular browser email client and Google’s Gmail app is the second most popular email app with 38% of the market share, coming just behind Apple Mail’s 40%. With the immense size of their market share, you can see how gaining exclusive access to ad placements on these extremely popular mobile platforms is a huge advantage for any modern car dealership.

So, what is the focus and intent of Discovery Ads? Discovery ads are an excellent way to reach higher funnel customers and kick start their car buying journey.  While SEM ads and traditional display ads are a great way to get your best prices in front of lower funnel buyers, they’re a bit limited in their ability to convey information beyond that.  The synergy of multiple images and text snippets in Discovery Ads allows dealers to tell a visual story and generate interest in higher funnel customers, while the seamless integration of Discovery Ads into their favorite mobile sites and streams means more engagement.

For example, let’s say your OEM is launching a new model, which will be available in 6 months. Creating Discovery Ads for that model now and hi-lighting the features is a great way to build awareness and interest in the community while filling your upper funnel with demand for the release. If all goes well, when it comes time for those high funnel customers to transition to lower funnel customers, they’ll associate your dealership with the new model and seek to purchase from you.  A continuously re-filled upper funnel is the key to keeping your lower funnels full of potential customers, and the best way to do that is get in front of potential customers early and stay in front of them for the whole buying journey.

As an Automotive Digital Marketing company, this is something we’ve been watching closely, and with the introduction of Discovery Ads, Google has not only given advertisers medium to display their offerings, but a new dimension to their advertising strategies.  Discovery Ads allow advertisers to tell a visual story, unobtrusively tap into an enormous mobile market, and touch and guide higher funnel shoppers on the beginning stages of their purchase journey. The end result is a better ad experience for the customer and an extremely valuable high funnel touch point for the advertiser; both of which lead to a more painless buying journey and sales process. If you’d like to learn more about adding Discovery Ads to your advertising plan, reach out to our digital team today here or call 877-958-4524 and we’ll be happy to help you!