Since the rise of internet sales and online marketing, our industry has become more competitive than ever. In the modern world of cut-throat advertising, it’s crucial that car dealers be up to date on marketing trends, responsive to their customers, and committed to excellent service.

In the past, customers would often go to car dealerships looki ng for information about different car makes and models so they could decide which was best for them. Today, customers do their research before they buy. Because of the abundance of information available on the internet, car shoppers can easily do comparison shop online before seeing any vehicles in person.

Because many people who are in the market to purchase cars are turning to the internet for information, it’s imperative that car dealerships meet them there. If you are wondering how you can get more exposure for your business online, keep reading for the top six local advertising strategies you need to try:

1. Clean Up Your Website

The first step to increasing your business’ online exposure is to revamp your website. If you’re able to successfully get traffic onto your site, many prospective customers will decide whether or not they want to visit your dealership based on the look, feel, and functionality.

Ask yourself:

• Does our website load slowly? If so, can we compress our images or minify code, etc. to make our site faster?

• Is our website overwhelming? Is there too many images, navigation buttons, clashing colors, etc. and how can we tweak that?

• Is our site personable and friendly? Does it tell our story?

Nowadays, it’s important to view your website as if it were the front of your business. It must look clean, professional, and have consistent branding as much as possible.

2. Optimize Your Website

Once you have a well designed site that is easy to navigate, you must ensure that it is optimized. If necessary, hire an SEO firm to do keyword research and optimize each page. Remember to use terms that your customer will use when searching for location-specific car dealerships and information, not formal terms most commonly used by us in our industry.

For example, this ‘things to do with kids in SF’ page is focusing on a specific local audience: families with kids who are in San Francisco or plan to be there in the future. Using short terms like “kids activities” would not suit well, as the short terms are much too competitive. With this in mind, look for ways that you can be unique and stand out online.  

3. Use Social Media

In order to reach your audience you have to interact on the same platforms. By engaging in genuine conversation on social media sites like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, you will make connections within your customer market. Sign up for a monthly social media managing site such as Hootsuite or Hubspot so you can schedule your posts and dedicate your energy to engaging with other local businesses and residents.

A few helpful tips: When posting on social media, use broad hashtags to attract a wide audience as well as local hashtags to attract the eyes of those who live locally. Always have your address and phone number easily accessible in your profile and be sure to respond to messages within a reasonable amount of time. Remember that your presence online represents your brand so be sure to always keep your posts relevant and professional. Make sure your tone, content, and schedule are consistent.

4. Get Local Testimonials

People don’t just go online to get information about different car makes and models. They will also use the internet to get information about your business. Improve your chances of converting online researchers to real-life customers by making reviews available on your website.

While reviews from any of your customers are better than no reviews, be sure to spotlight those from local residents who are well known or work for prominent companies. Put reviews from accredited people at the front and center of your presence online and you will be able to more quickly gain the trust of anyone researching your business online. Claiming your business locations on Google My Business, Yelp, etc. are a must in 2018 and are an easy way to reach more prospective customers while showcasing your reviews.

5. Target Your Ads

In our industry, it’s essential that you properly target your ads. Not only do you have to target the people who live in your area, but you must also target the right age group, income bracket, etc. for specific make/models of cars. While TV commercials and placed newspaper ads used the be the extent of local marketing, successful businesses are now turning to the internet to reach their target market.

While there are many ways to advertise online, Facebook has a created a user-friendly platform that allows advertisers to target very niche markets. Businesses are able to narrow down their audience by their location, age, interests, level of education, and more. By A/B testing the messaging of the ads and different audiences, businesses have been able to fine-tune their marketing reach and serve ads to those who are the most likely to respond to them.

6. Target Local Publications

Another excellent way to get your business in front of new, local eyes is to appear on other popular online publications. In order to do this, you must first conduct research to find other websites and blogs that cater to your local target market. Why? Because these online publications have already done the hard work of attracting your audience.

To tap into another publication’s audience, you have a couple options:

1. The first is to purchase ad space. When designing your ad artwork, try to make a local connection. You can do this by creating an ad that mentions a local landmark, upcoming event, etc.

2. Another way to be featured on a local publication is to request a write-up about your business or pitch an article for publication that caters to their readership and gives mention to your business. This method is the most likely to be accepted if you offer some sort of incentive.

When you can figure out how to strategically position yourself to be in front of your ideal customer, you don’t have to sell nearly as hard.

Conclusion

While local advertising strategies have evolved dramatically over the last few decades, things have gotten a lot easier under the surface. We now can directly target the “perfect customer” and only pay for those interactions. We can test to see which version of a landing page performs better. We have access to all the data we could need, and now it’s our job to interpret it correctly. I hope you enjoyed my top 5 local advertising strategies!