Cloud marketing has become a normal but crucial facet of modern digital retail, but the automotive industry has yet to truly grasp its utility. To achieve long-term success, dealers and car manufacturers must quickly increase their understanding of customer data and the principles behind proper multi-channel marketing.
In this first episode of a three-part series on Driving Solutions, host Jim Fitzpatrick is joined by Steve Schmith, director of industry strategy for automotive practice at Acxiom, and Vicki Poponi, vice president and automotive industry advisor at Salesforce. Acxiom is an industry leader in customer data management and digital marketing and has helped businesses in many industries deliver personalized experiences to their customers, driving both revenue and brand awareness. With roughly 150,000 business clients worldwide, Salesforce is a top provider of customer relationship management software, helping companies gain indispensable insights into their consumer base. Now, Schmith and Poponi discuss the importance of cloud marketing and the first steps toward adopting it at the dealership.
Key Takeaways
1. Cloud marketing is a way to identify website users and automate marketing campaigns, allowing companies to deliver personalized shopping experiences at scale.
2. Customers frequently cite the inability to seamlessly transition between online and in-store shopping as a key frustration in the dealership experience.
3. Cloud marketing improves retention by helping dealers identify where consumers are in their car shopping journey so that when they come to the dealership, the purchase process can be completed as quickly as possible.
4. A customer data platform is an essential part of any cloud-based marketing strategy, as it can make decisions on how to guide car buyers based on their information and shopping tendencies.
5. To implement cloud marketing into their operations, dealers should rely on those employees who display interest in and familiarity with modern technology.
"I think it's the time now for dealers to really differentiate themselves by this relationship [with customers], using marketing cloud technology." — Vicki Poponi, Salesforce
