*This article previously appeared in the Reynolds and Reynolds FUEL monthly newsletter*

By Jessica Quattro

Most dealers know the service department, with its steady flow of jobs and reliable revenue streams, serves as the financial backbone of the dealership. Vehicle sales can sometimes resemble a rollercoaster month over month, but when the service department is humming along like a well-oiled machine, revenue outlooks typically don’t cause too much heartburn.

Yet, we’d never know this is the case by looking at the marketing the service department does compared to the sales floor.

There are a few reasons for this. One, regardless of financial realities, dealers and manufacturers still think the dealership is the place where they, first and foremost, sell cars.

Selling is romanticized, includes the human element of face-to-face interaction, and is where most dealers’ minds go when it comes to marketing to new and returning customers. The lack of focus in the service marketing area represents a huge – and ongoing – missed opportunity.

This brings us to another possible reason for the current status quo: dealers aren’t quite sure how to market their service departments effectively. This is a more legitimate concern, since beyond throwing out a discount on oil changes or a deal on tires, ideas for drawing people in can get foggy pretty fast.

However, what if dealers are simply focused on the wrong issue? What if the core issue is not the substance of your service marketing, but the inconsistent, impersonal, and unplanned haphazard way it’s traditionally been delivered?

Targeted and Customized Marketing

To clarify, it still benefits dealers to deliver marketing campaigns with more substance than a simple $10 off an oil change. But, it’s also true people need your service department no matter what. The issue isn’t dealers pitching the right product – it’s that service marketing is traditionally ineffective at driving traffic.

We’ve seen time and again customers respond at much higher rates to targeted, personal, and customized marketing. But, how do dealers execute this sort of approach?

It’s worth taking a step back to examine the systems governing your service department as a whole. I consider the ideal solution to be a web-based, comprehensive CRM tool that’s built as part of the DMS and serves as a single point of data entry and retrieval.

You may be wondering: “What does this have to do with marketing?” A single set of data shared across departments means you eliminate data duplication and reduce data entry errors. This provides a cleaner, more accurate database of customer information for your targeted marketing campaigns in both email and direct mail formats.

Targeted campaigns that can be customized to the individual level and delivered with consistency have proven to convert at higher rates than most other advertising forms. Too often, however, dealers look to their database only to find it disorganized, full of half-complete or duplicate entries.

Having a CRM that is the sole entry and access point for such information removes obstacles, providing your service department with a solid foundation on which to base highly effective, targeted campaigns.

With reliable customer information in place, you can equip your service department for the marketing campaigns it has always deserved. Are you ready to breathe new life into your service marketing?

About the Author

Jessica is product planning manager at Reynolds and Reynolds for sales based applications.

*This article previously appeared in the Reynolds and Reynolds FUEL monthly newsletter*

By Jay Harper

Does your dealership’s website suffer from TARCAC (Tumbleweeds Are Rolling and Crickets Are Chirping) syndrome? Have you tried every method out there, but no matter what you do, can’t get those website traffic numbers to budge?

Here are five easy ways to drive website traffic:

1. Email Marketing 

Do you even know anyone who doesn’t have an email address? There are 2.5 billion email users worldwide, and it’s predicted to increase to 2.8 billion in the next two years. It continues to rank #1 as the most effective way to reach people interested in your business because it’s the only method of communication you own.

With a clean database, effective messaging, good timing, and the ability to deliver emails to inboxes consistently, you’re able to take control of your dealership marketing with a 1:1 strategy that costs less, retains more customers, recaptures lost business, and drives traffic to your website.

2. Social Media

If you want to be successful in today’s technology-driven world, your social media presence is critical. The average person spends 2 hours and 15 minutes on social media each day. If you want people to see your dealership and your promotions, advertise where people spend their time! Reach beyond your own audience and grow new business by using social insights to target people with similar interests and behaviors. Drive action with lead generation ads. Use the power of influence to spread your brand recognition by letting users see when their friends interact with your dealership.

Want to dip your foot (or straight up cannonball) into Social Media advertising? Invest in yourself by investing in a marketing provider that knows how important your social media presence is.

3. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO is the foundation for digital marketing and must be a fundamental piece of your marketing strategy. There are two types of SEO – technical SEO and content SEO – and executing on both can mean the difference between driving visitors to your website and getting buried alive in Google search results.

If you lack the time and skill needed to produce the content or the knowledge needed to make it visible to search engines, hiring a skilled marketing company could be exactly what you need to rank above your competition.

4. Create a Dealership Blog

Blogs are a rich source of content that increase organic traffic opportunities by directing people searching for unique keywords to your website. Regularly updated blogs can dramatically improve your SEO ranking.

While car dealer websites perform well in a narrower keyword group (with keywords focused around inventory, service, and specials), for blogs the possibilities are endless. Upcoming events, service promotions, informational pieces, etc. can all be communicated through blog posts. It’s also a great way to engage with your customers, which leads us into:

5. Post. Engage. Respond.

Drive return traffic and increase customer retention by posting relevant, tailored content to your social media platforms and website. If a customer leaves a review about your dealership, try responding to their comment with more than just “thanks for the review.” We recommend using the 3 C’s method:

• Congratulate – customers want to know you care. Congratulate them on the purchase of their new vehicle!
• Connect – successful customer service, and what keeps them coming back, is creating an experience where excellent service is associated with your dealership. Connect with them!
• Communicate – tell your customers about future events, promotions, and offers. Invite them to come back in (and bring a friend or two).

You can’t afford to let your digital reputation fall to the wayside. If you don’t have the time to invest in your online reputation yourself, hire someone who does.

It’s time to dust off your website and get rid of those tumbleweeds. Doing these five simple things is an effective way to boost traffic, customer retention, and keep the crickets at bay for good.

About the Author

Jay’s successful career in the automotive industry led him to Reynolds and Reynolds in 2013 as the Manager of XtreamService. He is currently the Director of Product Planning for Naked Lime, the dealership marketing division of the company, building digital marketing services that deliver results for dealers.