3 marketing strategies car dealers should prioritize in 2021 – Mark Sokal

We’re pleased to welcome back Mark Sokal, a 20-year automotive veteran who founded Sokal Media Group and Webstreak. Now merged into one company under the name Sokal, this marketing agency has over 100 employees and well over 350 clients around the nation.

In his 18 years of automotive retail marketing, Sokal says that 2020 has been his best year yet. In fact, it has been the best year many of his clients have had as well. Like almost all car dealers, Sokal has a sales-first mentality. At the end of the day, that is what Sokal puts its primary focus on.

When the COVID-19 virus first hit U.S. markets, many people out there were nervous and worried about paying their bills. One of the first household expenditures to get the ax, was cable television, which meant that Sokal encouraged his clients to switch their traditional television marketing spend to connected TV apps and pre-rolls on services like Amazon Video, Hulu, and others. Once dealers made this shift, it really turned the tides for their businesses. Sokal makes it incredibly easy for clients to create promotional materials for CTV with their in-house production, and graphics services.

Sokal says that the increase in social media advertising is likely here to stay as well. With screen times rising, platforms like Facebook will continue to be an integral part of marketing success. The third marketing strategy that Sokal believes dealers should prioritize in 2021, is creating consumer engagement with the dealership website. In fact, one of Sokal’s high volume dealer clients found that 96% of the cars that they sold, came from customers who visited their website in the last 45 days.

To hear more from Mark Sokal, be sure to watch our entire interview above.

Did you enjoy this interview with Mark Sokal? Please share your thoughts, comments, or questions regarding this topic with host Jim Fitzpatrick at jfitzpatrick@cbtnews.com.