Car dealerships are known for being stressful places. It can be very difficult to resist pressure from a skilled vehicle salesperson—and customers say yes, often with their hearts rather than their heads.

The best way to make sure your experience at the dealership goes in your favor is to prepare ahead of time. Know what you want and what you can afford. Do all your research ahead! Also just be prepared to feel some pressure from salespeople hoping to earn commission, but don’t let that take you away from the ultimate goal.

Here are a few things to know when at a car dealership:

Know What You Can Afford

You want to walk into an dealership knowing exactly what you can afford to pay each month. If you walk in with a general idea of “about” X dollars per month, you can bet the sales staff will treat that figure like a soft suggestion rather than a firm limit. The looser your budget, the more likely you are to agree to a deal that’s at or above the limit once the sales manager comes up with a number—especially once you factor in fees, taxes, add-ons, etc.

Sit down beforehand and break down your income. What percentage of your take-home pay can you afford to dedicate to car payments each month? Crunch the numbers on your own time. Otherwise it's just going to be a mess and your time will not be fun at all.

Don’t Budge on What Matters to You

Just like you are doing with your budget, write down what features really matter to you. Differentiate between what you want and what you need in a vehicle. This will help you avoid the shiny object syndrome and getting extras you don't really need.

As someone who works for a dealership; Here’s a common scenario car shoppers will go through at the dealership: They agree to test-drive a car that’s either at the top end of their price range or just a bit above it. The salesperson then reminds them about all the great features they’ll get—heated seats, a multimedia entertainment system, push-button start, etc.—by spending just a touch more. The buyer will suddenly feel like they need these things and agrees to a payment plan that’s a strain for them, destined to feel the pinch for months and months to come.

Set what you want and leave it at that with slight wiggle room depending on what else you like.

Don’t Increase your Loan Length to Lower Payments

A longer loan period means lower monthly payments—but you’ll pay more in interest over time, plus you’ll be on the hook for additional months or years. A shorter duration means you’ll pay more each month, but you’ll pay off what you owe faster and without accruing as much interest.

Most auto loans vary from 24 to 72 months—but longer loans of 84 months are becoming more prevalent. It’s generally unwise to go past 60 months because the your car will be worth significantly less when you go to trade it in. Yes it's possible to refinance your car through other companies but you should consider if this is something you want to deal with for a few more years.

Take Your Time and Be logical

It’s easy to get caught up in the persuasive part of the car dealership environment. The salesperson wants to say yes. You want to say yes. But you need to take a step back. After all, you’ll be living with the financial choice you make for years to come. If you need to, come back the next day after thinking it over more.

Knowing these few tips before you visit an auto dealership will help you keep your cool and make the smartest decision for your life.

*Disclaimer, I am in no way taking shots at the dealership, Just helping guide customers to making smarter decisions when making a big purchase :)*

The following is just my opinion based off of what I have researched. I unfortunately do not get to do this form of marketing with my stores. So here we go!

Location based marketing is a powerful tool and more marketers are investing in this tactic to meet their customer acquisition and retention strategies. In fact, eMarketer predicts that marketers will spend $26.5 billion on mobile-location marketing advertising in 2019. Today I will discuss geo-targeting which is one of the more popular location based marketing strategies.

How does geo-targeting work?

Google Ads (formerly known as AdWords) has a feature that allows search advertisers to specify a location, or a set of locations, as the only area(s) in which they want their ads to show. This is an essential tactic for businesses that depend on foot traffic and/or home deliveries, such as restaurants, brick-and-mortar stores, and e-commerce sites.

Geo targeting is basically about finding the physical location of website visitors, and then displaying content, ads, promotions, offers, and more that might be of relevance to them. Any good lead capturing strategy will take into account where the website visitors are, and then target each of them differently.

For a dealership, this is critical in order to create compelling, individualized offers or discounts that are likely to get customers much more inclined to visiting your auto dealership.

For instance, if you figure out that a customer lives not far from your car dealership, you could provide them a discount for a same-day pick-up of the vehicle for servicing. On the other hand, someone who lives further away will be more likely to respond to offers valid during the coming week or month because it gives them plenty of time to get to your dealership. This really helps when you have shoppers on your lot after business hours too. I find myself driving past the dealerships to see peoples cars parked in front walking the lot.

Driving More Foot Traffic

Geo targeting your clients this way will not only drive up foot traffic to your dealership, but also provide your sales team a good heads up to deal with the influx of customers.

Today’s websites and digital marketing tools are smart, and a smart system will also enable your auto dealership to run campaigns based on the behavioural characteristics of your customers and prospects. This allows your marketing staff to target and engage site visitors with unique offers every single time they return to your dealership website, thereby preventing your promotions from looking stale.

Having the ability to geo target means that no website engagement will be wasted or directed towards someone who has no inclination to follow through. This will help to optimize the dealership’s marketing budget and improved revenue generation from higher foot traffic as well. So if you're thinking of some creative ways to drive more traffic to your dealership, this is a good place to look.

What is DMS (dealership management systems) for car dealers?

A DMS provides inventory management for a car dealer with customized tools and resources. These inventory management systems support processes that lead to faster vehicle turnaround time and improved ROI.

Old automobile inventory management software that’s not up to today’s technical standards can be a huge hindrance on dealership processes. Time is money when you’re moving vehicles, and old technology can slow things down.

Auto inventory management software is becoming more integrated rather than being stand alone system. Tools that sync with websites and CRM systems provide more comprehensive technology that reduces the workload and makes management easier across the board. As car searches increase online integrated inventory management systems will become more beneficial for the dealer. We have to stay on top of the times!

Another thing dealerships should look for when upgrading their inventory management system is mobile compatibility. Mobile internet usage is surpassing desktop usage at an insane rate, and this trend isn’t changing. For the sake of time and efficiency, dealers and managers need to be able to access systems from anywhere not just when they’re in the office.

Drew Bettiol

Social media is gradually becoming one of the most important aspects of digital marketing that can account for incredible results for any business.

It is one of the most popular platforms which can be used to promote business branding. Furthermore, active communication via social media can be an effective means to engage customers and further take your brand to new heights.

Well put together social media marketing not only helps in user engagement but also helps build brand trust and brand authority. It is, therefore, an excellent digital marketing strategy. Managing it, however, can be quite difficult. Knowing about a few tricks can help you get an edge on your competition that is not doing the following.

Tips for efficient social media marketing :

1. 1. Optimizing social media profiles

Optimizing social profiles is one of the first things to ensure effective social media marketing. It increases the chances of attracting more users. Given below are some of the ways which can effectively help you do so.

          -Choosing a stand out profile picture to represent the brand

•           -Specifying location and hours

  •           -Being available through chat when prospects reach out

  •           -Writing a good description of the business can build a foundation

  •           -Being active

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2. Connecting the website to social media posts

It is one of the most critical points. Providing links to the site while posting is essential. Every platform has its procedure, which needs to be followed properly. The right bond between the two, social media and websites is critical.

3. Following influencers in the same niche

For efficient social media marketing, following the right people can help create a strong base gradually. It is necessary to follow influencers in the same category for the following reason.

•       -Social media platforms use this information for making any suggestions regarding who should be followed. It helps people be aware of the company.

•       -Also, a lot of useful information is shared online, which can be used as a chance to learn something new that you can use in your own personal message through posting content.

   

4. Maintaining a balance between the followers and following

Keeping a balance between the following and followers is mandatory, especially in case of certain websites like Pinterest and Twitter. Following are some reasons why.

•        -Having more followers account for trustworthiness, which is an essential component of social media marketing.

•        -Software applications are using the ratio (followers/following), which makes suggestions on who an individual needs to follow. Having a very low ratio minimizes the chances of getting new followers.

•        -A balanced profile is more suited for SEO purposes which is huge with Google. People with active social media profiles have better positions compared to those having weaker profiles. Post more content, receive more followers. Engage, Engage, ENGAGE!

5. Sharing exciting content, Engagement is everything

It is the foundation for a successful social media marketing campaign. Compelling content can come as appealing to the consumer and also result in more shares. It helps get more visitors to the website and sometimes even customers.

• -Articles/Pages/Stories which are related to the niche, Interesting statistics, Motivational quotes, Funny content, Research studies, Images and Videos, and finally #Hastags.

• As a dealer, do not avoid establishing a presence on social media. Digital is where the world has been moving in a retail space so this is crucial to the sustained success of any automotive dealer.