Your Automotive Marketing Specialists

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Your Automotive Marketing Specialists

  • Call us toll free! 877-958-4524
Digital to Dealer Direct

Tag Archives: digital advertising

4 Tips to Perfect Your Call to Action

4 min read

The term “CTA” is nothing new to the marketing world. In fact, it’s probably one of the oldest marketing terms out there. The whole point of marketing is to get consumers to purchase your product or use your service — a strong call to action (CTA) will help do just that. According to ConstantContent.com, more than 90% of visitors who read your headline will also read your CTA, so you better make it a good one.

What exactly is a call to action?

So, there’s no point of automotive digital marketing if you aren’t going to make any sales, right? Your advertising – whether it’s an ad in the local paper or a Google display banner — should have a clear and concise direction for your viewer to take now that they’ve laid eyes on your ad. The rise of digital media has made it so simple for the consumer to take an action just with the click of a button. So, you want that button to be seen!

Let’s dive right in and take a look at four tips to perfect your Call To Action:

1. Establish your End Game

The #1 pain point we hear when entering a new dealership is “we’re not getting enough leads.” The dealer’s answer to this usually is to sign on with as many third-party lead generators that walk through their dealership door. While this can certainly help generate leads, it’s going to cost you. As a true Automotive Digital Advertising partner, we like to have you take a step back, evaluate what you currently have in place, and make recommendations based on your current efforts. Most of the time, small tweaks can be made to help generate leads, which in-turn, will help generate sales. Take a peak at your website to start, do your SRPs (Search Results Page) and VDPs (Vehicle Description Page) have clear CTAs for the customer to learn more about a specific vehicle? Do they have the option right on those pages to calculate a payment? As important a CTA is in an ad or an email, your website is your biggest advertisement. Customers came there for a reason, so it’s your job to give them what they came for.

Once you have your end game goal set, put yourself in your customer’s shoes and go through each ad as if you were in search of a new vehicle or service shop. The easier you make it for the customer to reach their goal, the easier it will be for you.

2. Keep it short

It’s not groundbreaking news that people don’t want to read through a paragraph of text to find what they’re looking for, and the same thing goes for your CTA. You want to make it as simple as possible for your customer to convert so you want your CTA to be short and sweet. “View Inventory, Learn More, Shop Now, Get Quote, Join Us” are all great examples of CTAs that say exactly what you want your customers to know in just seconds. You’ve already spent the time and money getting your ad in front of them, so let’s be sure they have no reason to leave without taking a deeper dive into what you have to offer.

3. Catch your customer’s eye

There’s no point of a CTA unless your customer can see it, right? Your ad might have the catchiest headline and most beautiful creative, but if your CTA is isn’t in the forefront your customer might not even know it exists. That means no conversion, and, in turn, no lead.

As digital marketers, it’s our job to take the consumer’s eye throughout the ad, bringing them to that CTA. You want it to be bright, and eye-catching, without being offensive. Moving from traditional to (mostly) digital advertising has been great for the CTA. We now have the ability to make the CTA an actual button. Not only can we make it look like a button (which we used to do a lot anyways) but now you can actually click on that button. If a customer sees something they like, they no longer need to rustle through the ad looking for your contact info, all they’re looking for can be found right at their fingertips – literally!

4. Create urgency

FOMO – we all know it, we all experience it: the “Fear of Missing Out.” We use this A TON in marketing. Thinking about those emails you get that lead with subject lines like “HURRY IN” or “LAST CHANCE TO SAVE.” Phrases that create urgency can tip someone over the purchasing edge. Automotive marketing isn’t any different, and in many cases, a dealership actually means it when they say it. As an owner or manager, you’re challenged with hitting (usually sky high) sales goals and will do what needs to be done to hit those numbers. You might as well make it known to the public. All advertising should relay the same urgent message to try and strike a cord with that customer who’s still up in the air.

Strong CTAs should be a part of your overall automotive marketing strategy. Keeping these four tips in mind when building your marketing campaigns will make your end goal a bit more attainable and a little less daunting. CTAs aren’t earth-shattering news to the marketing world but they’re one of the core fundamentals that will be the difference between you and your competition. For tips on incorporating CTAs into traditional marketing, download our guide on Bridging the Gap Between Traditional and Digital Advertising.

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Search Retargeting vs Site Retargeting

3 min read

Retargeting has become a mainstay in digital advertising, and for many a blanket term to refer to all digital display advertising. The premise of retargeting is simple: take a prospect who has engaged in a qualifying activity, and “retarget” them with advertisements as they browse the internet. Most commonly, retargeting is associated with website visitors. In this scenario, a visitor comes to your site, browses around, and when they leave, they’re followed by your advertisements to bring them back. But what about the people shopping your competitors? That’s where Search Retargeting comes in.

Search Retargeting is a distinct and crucial medium for reaching the customers who haven’t made it to your website yet and may be shopping your competitors. According to a Salesforce study, as of 2018, 87% of shoppers now start their product search online when considering a new purchase. That’s nearly 9 out of 10 purchase interactions starting out with a simple search. Unlike Site Retargeting, Search Retargeting taps into that research phase and draws people in the various stages of the purchase funnel into your website without them ever having to visit it before.

Search Retargeting works based on a variety of targeting strategies in Google Ads. What started as keyword or topic-based targeting has expanded to fully automated AI audience building and targeting. In the most recent updates, Google has fleshed out their Custom Affinity and Custom Intent Audience segments to home in on what prospective buyers are in the market for and allow advertisers to target buyers sooner and more effectively.

Both Custom Intent and Custom Affinity audiences play a crucial role in a Search Retargeting strategy and are applicable for different types of campaigns.

Custom Intent audiences focus on people who are moving to make a purchase soon. These prospective customers are actively researching a major purchase and are getting ready to commit. An example of a customer falling into a Custom Intent audience would be someone searching “Chevy Tahoe Lease”, reading Chevy Tahoe vs Ford Expedition comparisons, watching YouTube test drives and reviews of Tahoes, or calculating the cost of ownership for a Tahoe. If you’re a Chevy dealer, serving them advertisements for your latest Tahoe special is a great way to steer them towards your dealership when the moment of purchase arrives. Conversely, if you’re a Ford dealer, showing them advertisements comparing the new Expedition to the Tahoe could help draw them towards a Ford as their next vehicle, and away from Chevy.

Custom Affinity audiences don’t necessarily point to immediate future purchases but tap into the audience’s likes and interests to capture a glimpse of their personality. This could include people participating in forums for a specific vehicle they already own, searching and reading information about different hobbies they have, sports teams they follow, researching life changing events such as weddings or children, and so on. This can be tapped into by dealers and advertisers of all industries to tailor their ad content to specific demographics. For example, if someone is restoring an old Chevelle, you’d want to create a Custom Affinity audience based on vintage Chevy forums and car restoration to serve them ads for original parts to complete their project. If someone is into hiking, nature, environmentally conscious and participates in outdoor activities, an ad for your Subaru dealership touting Subaru’s off-road capabilities and environmentally friendly PZEV vehicles.

In addition to pulling in fresh prospects based on their search history and interests, Search Retargeting can also be used as a low-cost supplement to an SEM campaign. This is especially true for SEM campaigns with high costs associate with them. In a modern automotive marketplace, especially one around a major metropolitan area, desirable keywords are getting more expensive by the day. While it can’t completely replace an SEM campaign, Search Retargeting is an economical way to reach the same people searching for those desirable keywords, often for less than $1 per click.

Though they often get lumped together under “Retargeting”, Search Retargeting and Site Retargeting are two distinct facets to any well-rounded display advertising strategy and automotive digital marketing campaign. When analyzing Google Analytics goals, we see a high volume of on-site conversions for these campaigns. So, if you think display is strictly branding, think again! If you’d like to learn more about Search Retargeting and how it can bolster your advertising portfolio, reach out to us and set up a free consultative meeting with our digital experts.

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Automotive Database Marketing

4 min read

It seems as though auto dealers, as I’m sure many other retail segment managers and owners, are always looking for a magic pill to make their dealership more successful over their competitors. Whether that means leads, sales, web traffic, etc., the thought of “more” is the key component when choosing a new vendor or product. What if I were to tell you, one of your biggest marketing tools is right under your nose and there’s a good probability you aren’t utilizing it effectively?

A Customer Relationship Management system, aka “CRM,” helps you keep track of each of your customers and their shopping cycle. As automotive marketers, we find that getting the right message to our dealership’s current customers is just as important, if not more so, than getting a message in front of a conquest customer. You already have their information and are familiar with their buying habits, so why not use this to your advantage? There are four key items we like to keep in mind when guiding a client on effectively targeting their database: entering data, segmentation, messaging, and nurturing the lead.

 

1.     Data Entry

OK, I know what you’re thinking, “this is a given, right?” Wrong! This is where we see the most flaws when reviewing a dealership’s database marketing process. How can you effectively target customers if the information entered is inaccurate? It’s important to instill your GM or GSM with the habit of holding salespeople accountable for this process. This helps the sales team distinguish where each prospect is in the buying process. This also supports your marketing efforts when sending a targeted message to them down the line (I’ll get to that later on!). While the BDC follows the lead as it comes in, both your salespeople and BDC need to keep the system updated with the lead’s advancement. Outdated data can result in multiple people touching base with a prospect or sending them marketing materials that doesn’t apply to your customer – both in-turn will end up pissing them off, which could deter them from ever making it in your door. You want the data entered in a timely manner and to be extremely detailed.

2.     Segmentation

Now that your customer data is entered in an organized manner, you can start the segmentation process. Think about the messages you want to relay to your database and then break out buckets of people you’d like to target. For customers who purchased a car from you but have never been in for service, send them an email with service incentives – complimentary oil changes are always a hot ticket item to get people through the door. You can take all customers who purchased three or four years ago and send them an email with your lease specials since they’re already in the market or will be in the market soon for another vehicle. You can keep the messages higher level to send to a large list or segment them into smaller, more targeted lists with a more targeted message.

3.     Message

That brings me to the meat and potatoes of database marketing…the message. What’s the point of going through all the trouble to input your data and segment it appropriately if what you have to say isn’t worth it? Your message should be relevant to your audience with appropriate calls to action so your recipients do just that…take action. If it’s a sales email, include a CTA on each vehicle offer that will bring them right into your inventory so they can see all vehicles associated with that special. If it’s a service email, include a CTA on each coupon that links directly to your service appointment page so your customer has no reason not to take advantage of the offer that peaked their interest. Keeping your message relevant and fresh are going to keep your customers intrigued and engaged with your communications. 

4. Nurturing the Life of the Lead

At D2D, we know there is no “setting and forgetting” on campaigns and especially when it comes to automotive database marketing. We pride ourselves on being a constant watchdog on all campaigns we run for our clients, and the same mentality should be used at the dealership level. The dealership’s sales, service and BDC staff should be aware of the marketing campaign schedule and all offers being advertised. When a customer is triggered to take action on something that grabbed their attention, it’s important the staff member is familiar with the special offer. Gaining trust with consumers is a huge factor of the buying process and a consistent message in your marketing, as well as at the dealership level, will help solidify this trust. Nurturing the lead after the initial contact is crucial in the buying cycle. Ideal response time to a lead is just minutes so the longer that lead doesn’t hear from your dealership, you’re at risk for your competitors to swoop in and capture their attention, and most likely their business.

Automotive digital marketing isn’t just about capturing conquest customers. While, of course, conquest customers are important, your bread and butter is your current customer database. Automotive database marketing will help make sure these are the people who keep coming back, keep referring friends and family, and feel comfortable buying from you. Before signing up with the next vendor promising XX sales for XX dollars, take a look at what you have right in front of you. Are you really maximizing the potential of this database? Use these four points as a guide when taking a deeper dive into your database marketing.

If you don’t have the bandwidth at your dealership to take this one the right way, or want professional creative done to make the best impression on those in your list, we can help. For more information on service specific CRM campaigns, pop over to our blog “Getting the Most Our of Your Service Department’s CRM.”

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How to Optimize SEM Campaigns

4 min read

An SEM campaign is an essential part of all modern dealership marketing plans and has become a staple in any marketing conversation. Dealerships jockey for top position on all the hot queries daily and spend considerable amounts of money for each click.  SEM can be an extremely fertile ground for leads, but it can also be an inefficient use of funds if not optimized properly. As SEM budgets climb and competition gets fiercer, how can you be sure your campaign is working for you? This blog will examine 5 key aspects to consider when optimizing SEM campaigns.

1.     Geography and Understanding Your Market

Every dealership knows their PMA and which areas they serve, but have you ever plotted on a map where you’re selling cars? It seems simple, but a map of your sales will give you great perspective into your dealership’s reach and effectiveness.  Try plotting your new, used and service sales on a map at least once per year. You may be surprised where your sales come from and where you’re falling short.

After you have this plotted, try overlaying different metrics from your SEM campaigns by zip code. You can overlay spend, cost per click, click thru rate, impression share and more.  By understanding which regions yield the most fruitful returns, you can fine tune your campaign targeting and promote greater budget efficiency.  This can mean showing more often to the right people in the areas where you have the most success or picking up the slack and conquesting in areas where you’re short of your goals.

2.     Up to Date Copy

Ad copy plays a crucial role in your overall SEM campaign on multiple fronts. First, relevant and well written ad copy is a major component of your Quality Score. Quality Score is how Google ranks ads and decides on their placement in the search results.  Well written ad copy will boost your quality score, and consequently you’ll pay less for the same clicks your competition is competing for.

Aside from the Quality Score aspect of it, well written ad copy creates a seamless experience for prospective buyers when they click your ads.   The closer your ad copy lines up with your landing page content the more likely a conversion is to happen.  It is crucial that your site and SEM campaigns remain in lock step with each other and are telling the same story across the board.

If you’re like many other dealers out there, you update your advertised special prices throughout the month to stay ahead of the competition.  Having a procedure in place to communicate those changes through the chain of command and have them implemented as quickly as possible will keep you a step ahead of the competition and your customers informed.

3.     Enabling Ad Extensions

Ad Extensions have been around for a long time now, but many SEM campaigns don’t take full advantage of them. Extensions are a way to not only further increase your Quality Score and take up more real estate on the Google results page, but also enable your customers to interact with your ad and you.

One extension that is widely underused by auto dealers is the message extension. The Message Extension enables your customers to text a message to you directly from your advertisement. If you’ve already incorporated text messaging into your BDC plan, this is a great way to bring that full circle and keep your BDC representatives interacting with new customers. Before implementing this extension, make sure everyone is on the same page and able to adequately respond to customers’ messages in a timely manner. Dayparting this extension to show only during business hours is also highly recommended. For more information on how to set up this feature and other Google features, head over to our how to blog on Google Features.

 

4.     Conversion Tracking End to End.

In order to properly monitor your SEM campaign, you should have end to end conversion tracking set up and integrated with your Google Ads account. This can be done in a variety of ways, and is most often achieved through integrating Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager and Google Ads. 

The first step is working with your agency to identify which conversions mean the most to you. Once identified, work with your agency and web provider to get tracking pixels placed to trigger when the goal is completed. Some web providers are resistant to this but keep escalating your request and it should get fulfilled. A full picture of your campaign is absolutely worth the time spent on the phone with your website provider. As an automotive digital marketing agency, we report on conversions every month. Many dealerships do not have this set up, and we can’t emphasize enough just how important it is!

 

5.     Automated Bidding Strategies and Machine Learning

Having conversions implemented and properly firing enables your SEM provider to tap into Google’s automated bidding strategies more effectively. A good example of this is a Target Cost per Acquisition bidding strategy. 

Let’s say you crunch the numbers and conclude that for every $100 spent on SEM you generate 1 lead on average with a traditional Cost per Click based strategy. Google’s Cost Per Acquisition strategy can work to get that number lower. Let’s say we input $90 as our target CPA, and let the algorithm go to work. Google’s machine learning will identify which keywords and people are the most likely to convert based on past conversion data and show your ads as often as possible for those queries and to those people and work towards a $90 or lower CPA. 

Dropping your Cost per Acquisition can increase lead volume and quality, but as with any AI fueled bidding strategy, this needs to be closely monitored by your SEM provider.  Talk with your SEM provider to find out which bidding strategies they use for your campaigns and why.

 

Building and maintaining great SEM campaigns requires intense attention to detail, and near constant monitoring and updating. If you keep these facets and more in mind when formulating your own SEM strategy, you’ll consistently have more successful campaigns and get the most return on investment. The biggest key to SEM success is to be adaptable to the changing marketplace, and don’t be afraid to try new angles and approaches. Here at D2D, we take a very hands on approach to our automotive SEM campaigns.

If you would like some help dialing your own strategy in or have questions about a new campaign feel free to drop us a line here.

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Importance of Dealership Signage

4 min read

Window signs. Desk Signs. Posters. It is often an overlooked piece of advertising. They all have a purpose in your dealership and we’re here to give you some ideas of how they can help you!

Advertising In Your Dealership

Imagine you walk into a store with no posters. No signs. NO information at all. How would you feel? Lost? Confused? Would you feel comfortable making a purchase? When making a purchase as big as a car, customers want to be informed.

Posters throughout your dealership can help make them aware of what your dealership is offering. These signs can help provide clarity. The more a customer knows about the product, the more comfortable they feel about buying it.

According to ZenMerchandiser.com, point of sale signage can influence up to 85% of purchases. They liken store signage to an actual additional sales rep!

Would you rather watch the tips in the blog? Head over to the video for a quick visual explanation on dealership signage.

Consistency Is Key

If your dealership is spending money in advertising, chances are that you include incentives and special offers in your advertising, to really grab customers’ attention. Once you have their attention and they arrive to your dealership, you want them to have a sense of familiarity. Like they have seen that message before, came to your dealership because of it, and when they arrive they see it again and they know they are in the right place.

What Makes a Good Showroom Sign?

You may be asking, “what should I include in these signs?” and that’s a great question! Anytime our automotive design team creates a poster we find that following a similar format makes for a clean but easy to understand poster.

Beginning at the top we start with a headline, usually your campaign for the month, but can also include a sale or event you are having like “Holiday Cash Card” or an event “giveaway”. Including your campaign for the month, or a similar look, will help tie your poster in with the rest of your advertising.

The body section would include your main message. This is where you would include incentives, an offer or more details about your giveaway. Depending on how much information you need to include in this area you can also include a lineup of vehicles or a picture of what you will be giving away. Make it visual and interesting to get customer’s attention!

The bottom of your poster is left for disclaimers or information on where a customer can learn more information about what is included in this poster, along with a manufacturer or dealership logo. Although they are seeing this in your dealership, it’s always good to reinforce the brand.

If you or someone at your dealership does not have the ability to design a poster for you, you can ask your automotive advertising agency to provide you with creative, and even ask them to have it printed for you. We provide design, printing, and delivery to our clients.

Where Should the Signage be Placed?

Now that you’ve designed and ordered your poster another key factor is where to put them. Signs should be large enough that customers can read them. We often recommend a 24 x 36 inch poster. This is large enough that you can read from a distance but not too large that it will take away from your showroom. These can be placed on an easel or in a frame.

We recommend placing at least two signs (depending on your dealership size) in the showroom. The first should go near an entrance. This enforces the consistent messaging throughout your advertising and helps the customers feel at ease knowing they are in the right dealership. If your dealership is large enough that there are multiple entrances customers can use, place another one by the other entrance. If you only have one entrance, you can place the other one by one of the vehicles. For instance, if you are advertising a Chevy Equinox, place the sign by an Equinox. This way you know those who are looking at the Equinox will be interested in the incentive you have on that vehicle.

Another place we often put signs is in the service waiting room. Chances are you are communicating with service customers who are ready to trade up or who have equity in their current vehicle. This is a great way to plant the seed and let them know if you have a special going on or what incentives are available that month.

Each manufacturer has their dealerships set up a little differently, so you will know where the best places are for your signs. Just make sure they are in high traffic areas and are easy to be seen. It’s also important to note that some manufacturers do not let dealerships place signs in the showroom, so it’s best to check beforehand if you aren’t sure. Most do, so if you feel you want to add this to your overall strategy, you’re ready to get started!

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Social Media for your Dealership

6 min read

Social media seems to have crept into every aspect of our lives in 2019 and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. Over the course of their lifetime, the average American will spend 5 years and 4 months on Social Media, and that number has been growing every year. Social Media is now second only to watching TV (7 years, 8 months), and has surpassed eating and drinking (3 years, 5 months)!  

It’s no surprise that many dealers are already trying to get in on some of that screen time in any way they can.  A well planned, well executed social push can work wonders for dealership sales, service, and customer relations departments.  However, a poorly executed social strategy can be a waste of time and resources.

In this blog, we’ll outline seven things to keep in mind when starting a new social media push or analyzing and augmenting your existing social activities.  All of these are vitally important to the success of your social strategy going forward and can help push your social presence into success.

1.     Pick your Streams and Stick to Them

There are currently hundreds of social media platforms with daily active users, and many new ones are being added each day.  With only so many hours in the day, how could you possibly keep up with them all?  The answer is, you can’t.

When deciding on where you want your social presence to resonate, choose social streams which align with your customer base, and don’t spread yourself too thin.   For example, if your dealership specializes in fleet sales to commercial customers, it would be a better idea to build a presence and advertise on LinkedIn than on Snapchat.

Once you’ve nailed down where your customers are frequenting, establish your accounts on those social platforms with a master email address that can be accessed by senior management at the dealership.  Then commit to posting on them consistently from day one.

Unfortunately, as an automotive marketing agency, we’ve seen the same story play out over and over:  Management wants the dealership to get involved with social media. An employee is tasked with making social media channels and does so with their email attached to them.  If that employee moves on to another job, the social channels go dormant and there is no painless way to access them. 

Establishing a master email address for social media accounts avoids this and can help make the transition between social media managers seamless.

2.     Create Good Content

In order to keep your audience engaged, you must have compelling and varied content to offer them on a regular basis. Due to the cyclical nature of the car business, a simple sale announcement or lease deal won’t be able to consistently capture your audience’s interest.  In order to do that, you must think outside the box.

We recommend posting sales promotions and similar information no more than once per week.  Fill the other days with fun content about employees, community events the dealership is involved with, brand facts and history, vehicle-based media such as reviews and features, or spotlight positive reviews from customers and dealership awards and accolades.  The possibilities are endless.

The goal of your social channels should be to humanize the business and the people behind it, and to be social as the name would imply.  Pushing sales in front of people constantly will be a turn-off to many and work against your engagement.

3.     Make a Schedule and Stick to it

Contrary to popular belief, more doesn’t always equal better.  Growing an engaged social media following is a game of patience and consistency, and the best way to exhibit both characteristics is to make a posting schedule and stick to it.

In the beginning, your posts likely won’t get much engagement.  It will be tempting to post again and again throughout the day to see bigger numbers, but you’re hurting more than you’re helping by spamming your social feeds more than once or twice per day.  This is due to the algorithms that drive social media sites.

The social feed that people see when they log in is curated for them based on their past interests and engagements.  There are millions of posts generated every day, and only so many that can be seen by the end users, so the best are chosen for them.   If the social stream sees you posting very frequently and not getting any engagement on your posts, they’ll assume your posts are low quality and not bother to show future posts often.

We recommend posting no more than 1 time per day initially on most social streams. If your 1 post per day starts getting good engagement, try posting twice per day and see how engagement is affected. If engagement declines, revert to 1 per day. This will keep your content quality high, and your engagement to post ratio high as well.

4.     Designate a Social Media Monitor

Social media is a two-way street.  Just as you can post your interesting developments out to the world, the world can talk back to you.  When people engage with you, it is extremely important to read and respond to what they’re saying.

Assign the task of monitoring social streams to at least one employee in the dealership, and make sure they’re responding to every comment that comes in in a timely manner. This is especially important of reviews, both positive or negative. If you don’t have someone at the dealership who is comfortable doing this, it’s a good to hire a digital marketing agency to help with reputation management.

If a customer called to tell you that they had a bad customer service experience at your dealership, would you ignore their call?  What about if they were calling to tell you that one of your employees did an exceptional job, wouldn’t you want to congratulate that employee and recognize their efforts?  Online reviews are the same thing, but they’re even more important due to their public nature.  Be sure that your designated social media monitor or reputation management program has a plan to deal with both praise and backlash and is doing so in an effective and timely manner.

5.     Commit to a Budget

It is important to remember that social media sites are also businesses, and businesses must make money.  Their entire revenue model is designed around advertising from businesses just like yours. The reason businesses keep handing over billions to these companies every year is because it works.

A small budget added to boost your posts can help you reach a broader audience and boost engagement, especially in the earlier stages of your social endeavors.  Try it with a feel-good, news worthy bit of content, like a dealership award.  As little as $10 can go a long way towards spreading your message.

6.     Don’t worry about Facebook Page Likes, at least Initially

This may seem counterintuitive, but don’t worry too much about your neighboring dealership having 20,000 likes and you having a few hundred. A page like is only worth the engagement that person is willing to give you and can hurt you in the long run. 

It’s very easy to spend a few hundred dollars on a page like campaign and gather hundreds if not thousands of likes. But what if those people like your page, then rarely if ever like any of the content you post in the future?  This will cause your engagement to decrease over time.

Organically posting on Facebook works like this: as soon as you hit the post button, that post is queued up in a few of the feeds of people who like your page.  How many people initially engage with it combined with other historical factors and calculations tells Facebook just how good the content is.  If it gets good engagement on the initial round of distribution, it gets spread further and further, and vice versa with poor engagement.  You can see how people who like your page but aren’t inclined to engage with your content can drag down your organic reach and engagement.

That being said, there’s nothing wrong with running page like ads to get your page off the ground but take it very slowly and make sure the people you’re targeting are people who will be engaged with your content.  Otherwise, you may be left with 20,000 irrelevant users and forced to pay to reach the people you really want to reach!

7.     Consider Facebook Lead Ads      

You may be saying “This all sounds great, but how will it sell cars?” The answer to that question is Facebook Lead Ads.  D2D’s Facebook Lead Ads use swaths of automotive data to pin point people in market and searching for the vehicles you sell to serve them sales advertisements.  These ads collect leads directly from Facebook, and transfer their Name, Email, Phone Number and vehicle they’re interested in directly to your CRM.

Lead Ads are especially effective if you already have a solid Facebook and social media presence, because the trust, brand familiarity, and relationship with the consumer has been nurtured for some time before they even receive the ad.  This means more leads generated per dollar spent, and ultimately more sales for your dealership.

Social media advertising and branding is a vital part of any dealership’s advertising strategy in 2019. If you follow these tips, your social presence and following will flourish, and so will your relationship with your customers.

How to Choose the Right Marketing Agency

4 min read

So, you’re in the market for a new automotive digital marketing agency for your dealership!  With all the choices out there, it can be overwhelming to say the least. It seems like everyone has similar capabilities, but it’s important to be able to spot the differences.

How can you tell which agency is the best choice for your dealership?  Downloading our 2019 Comparison Checklist is a great place to start. In addition, here’s a list of questions to ask yourself and your prospective agency to make sure you’re getting the most out of your choice.

     1. What do you like and dislike about your current agency?

When venturing into unknown territory, its best to understand known territory first.  What does your current agency do well that you like?  Is it their style of reporting?  Do you like the creative department’s ability to capture your vision precisely?  Is it the relationship you’ve built with their Account Executive and Account Managers? 

What do they do that you dislike?  Are they late with projects?  Does it seem like they are always just missing the creative vision that you’ve laid out for them?  Are they a distant company that you wish you heard from more?

To answer these questions, come up with a concise list of pros and cons of your current agency, and compare it to the agencies you’re interviewing.  Sometimes the grass isn’t always greener on the other side but knowing exactly where you came from will help you escape to greener pastures. 

     2. Which certifications does the agency carry?

In the digital marketing world, there are tons of certifications and programs available to marketers to improve their skills and flaunt their knowledge.  Which ones are important to your dealership?

At a minimum, we recommend an automotive digital advertising agency to have Google Ads and Google Analytics certifications.   While this does not guarantee that the agency will be competent with either of these Google products, it shows that they put forth the effort to attain them and are interested in keeping their staff up to date with the latest information on these core advertising products.

     3. Do they have any case studies or samples of work for similar dealerships to yours?

Every dealership is in a unique position in the market and deserves a unique sales and marketing plan to help them maximize their monthly sales and market dominance.  What works for a Toyota dealer in Lincoln, Nebraska wouldn’t work for a Mercedes-Benz dealer in Manhattan, New York, and vice versa.

When looking at samples of work from prospective agencies, try to look for clues about where the dealership is located, what brand of vehicles they sell, what problems and issues they were facing, and what solutions the agency in question implemented to solve them.  The closer the case study matches your current situation, the better it can be used to evaluate the agency.

     4. Are they experienced with automotive co-op and advertising guidelines?

Co-op advertising is an exceptional benefit for dealers if it is used to its maximum potential, however, it can be difficult to navigate at times.  Each manufacturer has different sets of rules, regulations, and guidelines dealers have to adhere to if they are going to receive their advertising dollars.  If campaigns are run or submitted inappropriately, you could be on the hook for thousands of dollars in media that you thought was covered by your co-op funds.

How familiar are your prospective agencies with your manufacturer’s guidelines?  Do they offer co-op submission as a service?  If they do, it can take a fair bit of work off your plate, and free your time up to focus on what you should be focusing on: selling cars.

 5. What is the average age of their accounts?

Client turnover is something that happens in the advertising world, and there is nothing inherently wrong with it. All good things must come to an end because we don’t live and work in a static environment.   Times change, business objectives evolve, and turnover happens.  In fact, you’re part of that process right now!

Keeping that in mind, it’s a good idea to find out the average age of a prospective agency’s clients as a good indicator of their staying power and the quality of customer service they provide.  It also gives you a concrete metric to compare agencies with one another.

     6. What is their average turn around time for new campaigns and creative?

This is an important one if you like to operate your advertising strategy in an agile manner.  The automotive business moves very quickly, and to stay ahead of the curve, on the fly adjustments are a must.  Price changes to keep up with competitors require creative updates, and quick synchronization across all platforms.  How quickly and accurately an agency can turn this work around is a huge factor in how effective they can be.

     7. What kind of experience do they have in your shoes?

Nobody quite understands the car business like someone who’s worked in the car business.  While almost any digital agency can crunch data and manage campaigns by the numbers, sometimes it takes more than that to excel at advertising for car dealerships. 

When your agency understands the ups and downs of the day to day in the dealership, it can create a certain synergy that sets you up for success.

      8. What is your expected outcome of switching agencies?

This question is an important culmination of the questions above and brings everything full circle.  Just what do you expect to gain from switching agencies?  Are your expectations clearly defined and realistic?  Is it perhaps more leads?  Are you looking for more sales? Would you like greater flexibility and agility with campaigns?  Better quality traffic?  Do you want tasks like co-op submission and management taken off your hands?

If you clearly define your expectations for yourself and communicate them clearly to your new agency, you’ll set yourself up for success and avoid the disappointment of wasted time and money.

Sometimes, the grass really is greener on the other side, but it always pays to ask the right questions to make sure it is before hopping over the fence. If you feel like you’re ready to start checking out agencies, download our 2019 Comparison Checklist for a detailed list of what your agency should cover!

If you need some additional assistance choosing a digital marketing agency, or feel Digital to Dealer might be a good fit for you, reach out to Mike Byrne at MByrne@digital2dealer.com. We are happy to help you navigate the agency waters in any capacity.