You’re wasting your money.

And your time too.

Your marketing strategy is failing you, and I bet you’re at a loss to figure out why.

The answer is simple – it’s your website, and it’s broken. And you need help to fix it – that’s where I come in … with a little helpful advice and some ideas on how to make your website really engage customers and get you ahead of your competition.

The problem is this – your website is not in sync with your larger marketing efforts – it does not connect the dots, and the tools you have available to you make it almost impossible for you to fix this.

You spend 10’s of thousands of dollars every month to market your business – T.V., Radio, and Digital, and the goal is to get people looking at your website. In fact, 92% or more of the people will visit your website before they call or step foot on your showroom floor.

And what are you advertising out there? It’s your Specials, of course.

In a crowded market, your Specials are what differentiates you from other dealers, and your customers pay attention to what you’re offering.

So, mission accomplished – you’ve spent the money, people are listening, and visiting your website.

What brought them to your website was your Specials, and their first goal is to find out if your deal is right for them.

Your job is to make it easy for them to learn about that Special. Are you doing your job?

If you’re like most dealers, the answer, frankly, is no.

Most dealers completely miss out on posting their Specials, or bury the Specials page deep in the nav, or will build a few homepage slides with their offers, and link them off to inventory.

And linking to inventory is one of the worst things you can do. Let that sink in for a minute – everyone tells you to drive people to inventory, but it’s the wrong destination for customers interested in Specials – by taking people to inventory, where your Specials are nowhere to be found, you are making life harder for your customers and causing them to disengage from your website. Think about your website conversion rate for a moment – you are missing out on a ton business.

Your customers came to your website because of your Specials. They are on there right now, looking for your Specials, but you’re making it so they have to hunt and dig, or you simply take them to the wrong spot. It’s frustrating for your customers, and it’s a waste of your time and money. 

Simply put, you are not connecting the dots.

Here’s what you should be doing instead:

1) Every one of your Specials should have it’s own URL – landing pages for every single one of your offers is simply the way to go. There are ways to do this that’s easy, but you’ll need to look elsewhere besides your website provider.

2) Link all your digital ads and homepage slides to the landing page for each offer. These landing pages need to have all the details of your offer – this is what your customers demand, and if you give it to them, they’ll pick up the phone, fill our forms, start more chats, and engage with your inventory.

3) Make sure that your Specials are diverse – every customer that comes to your website is looking for something – make sure you have Specials there for every single customer.

That’s all it takes to connect the dots – give your customers what they want, and you’ll see the results in leads, calls and sales.

I'm a Managing Partner at RnD Interactive. I began my career working as a Salesman at Tyson Buick in 1985. I worked my way up to General Manager at Competition Chrysler Jeep. I then left retail for the vendor space in 2000, when I became a partner in CAR Research. I joined RnD Interactive in 2011.

Please contact me for details on how RnD can solve some of your marketing challenges. p. (903) 819-5253 or russell@rndinteractive.com.