Marketing techniques continue to evolve as innovative digital trends enter the market. You may be asking yourself, what’s the best way to maintain effective messaging? On today’s show, we’re pleased to be joined by JJ Quest, Chief Strategist at Conquest Strategic Marketing, who discusses this further.
It’s hard to believe that we’re almost a year into the pandemic, and safety is still at the top of everyone’s mind. Customers are taking notice and they are preferential toward dealerships that have COVID precautions in place. While Quest believes that messaging is still important, he recommends that car dealers should increase positive and forward-thinking messaging for their marketing campaigns. For example, dealerships can use video to talk about what they’ve learned over the past year.
Additionally, every market has a successful competitor with a robust advertising budget. For smaller scale dealers with limited marketing budgets, Quest says to focus on owning your backyard. Every dealer should know what their market share is and who is competing against them. There are many geotargeting options out there that can reach localized markets from radio advertising on Pandora to pre-rolls, email campaigns, and TV ads.
Online retailers like Vroom and Carvana have recently used TV commercials to capitalized on the stigma surrounding the customer experience at dealerships. This is a stigma that car dealers have historically created themselves. However, the industry has gone through a tremendous period of change. In order to spread messaging that reflects these positive changes, Quest recommends utilizing video testimonials to change consumer perception.
It’s also important to make sure that there is not a disconnect between your dealership’s virtual showroom and the online purchasing process A typical dealership’s website receives 15,000 or more visitors a month. While many dealers spend lots of money to bring customers to their website, they’re not quite sure what will happen from that point on. In order to convert those visitors into customers, Quest says dealers should audit their website’s user experience, and find out what opportunities they might be missing.
JJ Quest brings over 20 years of marketing, media, sales, and on-air experience to the automotive retail industry. Prior to his role at Conquest Strategic Marketing, he served as a marketing and business development executive for Comcast, Force Marketing, and Agency 720. For even more great marketing insight and advice from JJ Quest, be sure to watch our full interview above.
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