Automotive advertising agencies are challenged to offer more for less to serve a consolidating automotive industry and today’s Internet has provided them with the means and methods to do so. Budget-conscious consumers are firmly in the driver’s seat on the Internet Super Highway and car dealers have directed their marketing messages to their online showrooms rather than their showrooms. your brick and mortar fixtures to catch your eye. More accurately, they follow their customers on the World Wide Web and expect their previous and pending customers to find them there.
The days of hard-selling retail messages in mainstream media like radio, television, and newspapers, as well as dealer-focused banner ads and websites promoting daily dealer specials, are numbered. Search engines have empowered today’s car buyers to filter dealership messages in favor of information on exactly the new or used vehicle they’re looking for. In addition, social networking communities of online friends have pooled their support and opinions to help car buyers decide what to buy and which dealer to buy it from. After all, what are friends for?
The Internet’s new source of consumer information to assist them in their car buying process has not replaced the need for automotive advertising agencies in the automotive retail industry, but it has certainly changed their role in it and the methods they must use. they use to earn their agency fees. The first adjustment an automotive advertising agency must make to its business model is to recognize that the internal profits it used to make in its radio, television and print production departments can no longer be supported by its car dealership customers. Low sales volume and profit margins on the car dealership side of the table demand a better return on investment for every dollar, and while these departments have yet to produce digital marketing collateral for online campaigns, Production costs must be a fraction of previous prices to remain competitive. with the newly developed online resources that a car dealer has access to.
The agency must still provide creative that is relevant to the market and must define the target audience that would be most receptive to it, but once again the World Wide Web has changed the rules and automotive advertising agencies must learn what they are and follow them. . . Awareness of mind remains the number one job for automotive advertising agencies who understand that they cannot time the buying cycle for everyone on the Internet Super Highway and therefore must maintain a consistent message across multiple channels to be on the short list when the customer is ready to buy a vehicle. Diversifying across multiple mediums and frequency of messaging to qualified buyers is not a new practice, but the methods, media, and skill sets required to get the job done have changed.
Networking and related referrals and the sales derived from them have been an integral component of internal sales processes for car dealers since the first car was sold, but have had little to do with conventional advertising, until now. Social networks and the related internet media channels that have grown to support them are now a primary target audience for automotive advertising agencies. Word of mouth advertising has grown exponentially as viral messages travel through social media channels with the views of like-minded car buyers using these online communities of friends to share their car-buying experiences. automobiles before, during and after their purchase cycle.
Initial attempts by automotive advertising agencies to market these social networks from the outside by using banner ads or like wolves in sheep’s clothing trying to invade a network of friends were roundly rejected. Members valued each other’s opinions and shared experiences about a self-service car dealership or their automotive advertising agency.
Monetizing social media has been a challenge, but new technologies that integrate established marketing channels with social media from the inside out have provided the solution. ronsmap, for example, is a revolutionary consumer-focused online inventory marketing platform that embeds a social media engine into its community site, as well as all vehicles listed on it by participating car dealers. Their app, vBack, provides an Ask-a-Friend/Tell-a-Friend feature that solicits feedback from friends on the various social networks trusted by an online car buyer. These influencers then act as agents for the car dealer, unbeknownst to them, under the direction of a friend, allowing the automotive advertising agency to market inside out vs. from outside to inside. C2C marketing vs. B2C marketing is the key to monetize social media and ronsmap is a new technology-based outlet on the internet Super Highway that has opened up this new channel to car dealers.
Additionally, ronsmap enhances the value of leads generated from social media by aggregating the information collected through its SellersVantage app. In addition to anticipated name, IP address, and vehicle information requests, your new Intelli-Leads include the initiating car buyer’s online shopping selection and vehicle preferences and feedback amassed by your network of online friends. . These enhanced leads allow the car dealer to anticipate the needs of their potential customers before entering into negotiations with them. As a result, the consumer receives a more relevant and transparent selection of vehicles in response to their initial inquiry and the car dealer has a competitive advantage in quoting the best price on the best vehicle for the consumer. This is a win-win scenario that increases closing rates and profits for the car dealer while giving the consumer the advantage of information and referrals gained from their online car-buying experience.
The Internet is far superior to conventional media on many levels, and social media is just one of the more recent reasons. Automotive advertising agencies must be prepared to direct their clients beyond marketing through social networks. They should also provide more than advice on search engine optimization, SEO, search engine marketing, SEM, and transparent and relevant banner ad placements or website designs. Search engines hold the key to the Internet, and understanding the algorithms that determine the rules of the road on the Internet superhighway they control is the responsibility of the automotive advertising agency.
Google, for example, has clearly stated the weight they give to video vs. copy or other means of online digital marketing. Today’s Internet consumer grew up watching television, and the explosive growth of YouTube demonstrates that their preference for video has survived on the World Wide Web. One provider that has listened to Google and its YouTube subsidiary is SiSTeR Technologies with its Video CarLot platform. SiSTer can take existing images and vehicle information posted on a car dealer’s website and turn them into professionally produced videos.
More importantly, their videos are fully indexable with multiple schema layers making them interactive and more transparent to the online car buyer. These videos are placed on the car dealer’s website as well as on third-party advertising sites to which the car dealer links. In addition, they are powered through a dedicated YouTube API with individual URLs that extend the reach and frequency of the dealer’s inventory and marketing messages, a proven formula for success in conventional automotive advertising that also applies to advertising. In Internet.
Automotive ad agencies aren’t reinventing the wheel by extending their reach and frequency with consistent messaging across multiple channels, leveraging access to social media, or manipulating search engine algorithms. They are simply applying tried and established advertising wisdom and best practices to an automotive industry that has only one constant: change!