Marketing is all about connecting with your audience in as many ways possible, in order to be there when they choose to engage. As shopper behaviors continue to migrate to digital first, here are ways to keep ahead of the game. https://amt.company/5-marketing-tips-for-dealerships/

Using photography to move from "that's a car" to "that's my next car!" Some tips from the pros...

In a world of automotive choices, how do you get your customers to choose you again and again?

​​​​​​​https://amt.company/4-tips-to-keep-dealership-customers-coming-back/

As consumers, every day we see the changes the Internet has brought into our lives. It has affected the way we live, work, shop, play, communicate and so much more. As marketers, and more importantly marketers for dealerships, the Internet has affected change in more areas than one. We’ve seen changes in how brands identify themselves online, market themselves, and maintain relationships with their audiences. In today’s electronic world, dealerships are finding it harder than ever stay connected to and market to their audience. So much of the car buying process takes place online early in the buyer’s journey.

The Internet has influenced the way car buyers research for cars based on their needs without contacting dealerships or salespeople first. As we move further into our “year of growth,” let’s talk about advertising for dealerships. Specifically, using banner ads and knowing the best ways to maximize them for lead conversions. Banner ads are always evolving and can be changed and enhanced to fit the approach of an auto dealership’s marketing strategy.

Why Banner Ads are Effective

Banner ads not only for specials and sales but also for inventory are efficient and effective when used correctly. Banner ads make it possible to reach a targeted audience no matter the social media outlet, online page, or device.

There are many reasons why dealerships should choose this style of display advertising. One reason is that banner ads are great for reaching an audience in a specific part of their buyer’s journey. For example, if someone is starting to research sporty cars, a banner or inventory ad relating to brands of sports cars at your dealership would make more impact than an ad offering a discount sale. Waiting to push an ad until buyers search for a specific keyword could force you to miss your window of opportunity. When you target to a specific stage in their journey based on likes, dislikes, search history and location, you can reap the benefits of more traffic and visibility for your business.

Banner ads also work because they are incredibly easy to track. One of the only ways dealership marketers can improve a digital marketing strategy is by tracking the success of different ad campaigns. Using banner ads, they can track which ads users are clicking on and responding to.

Why Banner Ads Get a Bad Rap

Though choosing display advertisements is a great decision for dealerships to obtain a higher conversion rate, there are some obstacles to overcome. Before dealerships can maximize their banner ads, it is important to know that three of the most common issues faced by banner ads are blindness, a competitive market, and blockers. 

Now, when we mention blindness, we don’t actually mean people who can’t physically see. Often, what happens when users spend a great deal of time surfing the web or scrolling through social media, they become accustomed to the environment. This is referred to as banner ad blindness. Think about your own experiences online. How often do you really pay attention to ads that pop up or work themselves into the natural scroll of whatever platform you’re on? You become so used to seeing ads in every area of your life, they start to blend in. It is also easy to miss an ad if it isn’t targeted to what you’re looking for. If someone is searching for new sneakers and an ad for a new car pops up, they likely aren’t going to notice it or care it is there.

Another reason dealership marketers are afraid of using banner ads is due to the highly competitive market. According to DealerOps, the average marketing expenditure is nearly $500,000 per dealership with digital marketing leading the way in advertising. More and more dealerships are spending larger portions of their marketing budget on display advertising. This is flooding the marketing with ads everywhere. And depending on different budgets, a competitor’s ads might be more visible. Regardless of budget, the key is measuring your ads’ effectiveness, and optimizing.

That being said, there are opportunities to target your audience directly that help when competing against bigger budgets. You can target ads based on demographics, geography, interests, and recent behaviors. By targeting ads this specifically, you increase the chance of reaching a designated audience more easily than a broad ad that has been paid for. Facebook and many online plugins offer you the ability to customize your target options to efficiently target specific groups of people. 

The final obstacle facing banner ads effects all dealerships equally no matter how much money is spent. We’re talking about ad blockers. There isn’t much one can do when users have an ad blocking extension installed on their browsers. The best option for dealerships is to locally target their audience and focus on optimizing their banner ad to be as successful as possible. Here is how you do it:

How to Maximize Banner Ads for Conversions

Not all banner ads are created equally. They must be meeting the right market at the right times with the right content in order to improve clicks and conversions. Below are some of the best ways dealerships can maximize their ads.

• Design - The first step in maximizing banner ads is to use relevant content, images, and colors where appropriate. Dealerships should strive for their ads to be eye-catching but not gaudy. Creating templates is a great way to test out different fonts, color, images and sizing for different ads. They are also extremely useful when figuring out the placement and sizing of the ad based on where it will be found on a page. 

  Using live images, video, and animation are also a great way to enhance the design outcomes of a dealership ad and combat ad blindness. If using these features, however, it is vital that appropriate calls-to-actions (CTAs) are listed at the correct times/sections. This is especially true when using video and animation. Be sure to watch all related content to the end and evaluate whether the CTA is appropriate and makes sense to the audience.

• Optimize for Mobile - According to Smart Insights, 80 percent of internet users own a smartphone. Nearly half of consumers also start any type of research on a mobile device using a search engine like Google. These users are spending nearly four hours a day searching the Internet. With this rapid increase of Internet users on mobile devices, it makes perfect sense to start optimizing ads for mobile. Use ads that offer immediate downloadable or linkable features. Mobile users appreciate clean transitions with just a few clicks - instant gratification is huge. It’s also wise to target the younger generation of car buyers. More millennials use platforms like Facebook and Twitter on mobile devices than other generations.

• Retarget Consumers with Inventory, Not Just Offers -  Stop retargeting everyone that comes to your site with general offers. Instead, offer inventory. When you only display special offers, you are treating every visitor the same. But everyone has different wants and needs. Offers are great when trying to pique new interest in someone, but very rarely do they end with the results dealerships are looking for. If a visitor researches a specific car like a Ford F-150, any ads targeted toward them should be related to Ford F-150s or similar vehicles. This is all part of the inbound marketing strategy to reach audiences during their buyer’s journey. Once their need has been specified, a relevant ad will increase the chance to close a sale.

• Provide Clear Direction -  Probably one of the best ways for a dealership to optimize their banner ads is to be as clear and concise as possible not only with the content of their ads, but what happens after an ad is clicked. Whether the main purpose of an ad is to sell a specific car, schedule an appointment, or target a lead, when a user clicks on that ad, they absolutely need to be taken to the corresponding landing page. An ad should never link directly to the homepage of a dealership’s website because it doesn’t take the visitor where he or she was initially asking to be taken. If they researched a Honda Civic and you provided a targeted Honda Civic ad, then when that ad is clicked it needs to take the user to a page with information about that car. All landing pages should be simple yet feature information with attention-grabbing headlines, images of corresponding vehicles, and clear calls-to-action. 

Analyzing for the Future

The only way to maximize results and continue constant growth is by learning from mistakes and moving forward. When looking at previous ad campaigns, weaknesses will be revealed. This provides you with the information to remedy those weaknesses. Look at the ad’s impressions. This will tell you how many people simply saw your ad. Click through rates (CTRs) and engagement rates will also tell you which types of banner ads are most successful. CTRs will tell you how many people clicked on your ad. Engagement rates are great for seeing who is scrolling through or sharing your ads but might not make it to your site. The most important number will be your conversion. Conversions are the whole reason you set out with an ad campaign. These will tell you how many people made it to your site and filled out a form with their contact information to either download a deliverable, schedule an appointment, or contact you directly.

Whether you are a marketing manager or the owner of a car dealership, knowing how to reach the right audience at the right time with your optimized banner ads is going to help land new leads and close sales with potential clients. Stay up-to-date on design trends for your industry. Take a look at successful competitor display advertisements. See how they organize and display their images and texts. Are they just displaying ads with special offers? Or are they including inventory advertisements? Pay attention to the younger generation using their mobile phones for everything. If there are young parents out there searching for safer, more fuel-efficient cars, target ads specifically to them. Make sure all the features in your ad and website are clear and functional. All of these tools together create the perfect storm for maximizing your banner ads. In no time, your dealership will be seeing a higher success rate with how their banner ads attract visitors, ultimately producing qualified leads.