Automotive marketing can run at different speeds. Take the slow route and you’ll reach your goals very slowly. If you want to take the fast route, even as a small business owner starting out, you’ll need to advance the way you approach your marketing strategy. If you aren’t doing any of these 10 things, you need to change that right away. You may not be able to do all at once but if you pick one, you’ll pick up speed immediately. Work your way through this checklist as quickly as you can so you can experience the benefits of marketing from the fast lane. Everything from a social media campaign to promote your company to a new email video strategy that will get more potential customers on the car lot, there are now many marketing tactics to promote business.
Pivot to Video
Content has been king in the digital space for a long time, but for many years, it was written content that ruled the kingdom. Now, it looks like there’s another ruler waiting in the wings: Video. If you don’t have any sort of video content strategy in place at this point, you’re missing out. Text-only search is on its way out and you don’t want to get left behind.
Look Beyond Views
While it’s important to produce the right kind of content, you can’t just throw anything out there and expect it to work. Content quality really matters. Just putting up a video isn’t enough, however. That video has to be worth watching and it has to send a positive message about your brand. Videos that are poorly produced, boring, unattractive, or incoherent will do more harm than good. You may get hundreds of views, but if those all leave the viewer feeling that they’d never do business with you—that’s not a good thing.
Go Where Your Competitors Aren’t
It’s hard to get ahead in a crowded field and that’s no secret. So, why do so many automotive manufacturing professionals jump right into the fray and go after the most competitive market segments? Save money and bring in new customers by focusing on the keywords people aren’t using, the customers they aren’t targeting, and the sales strategies they aren’t using.
Target Non-Intenders
Part of going where your competitors aren’t mean targeting non-intenders (people who aren’t necessarily looking to buy a car right now). That’s right: Don’t struggle to survive in a crowded field of marketers going after people who are currently car shopping. Focus on the people who aren’t actively shopping for a car and show them something that will change their minds.
Create Mobile-Specific Content
While tech predictions don’t always come true, there is hard data out there to suggest that car shoppers use a variety of different devices, particularly mobile devices while they shop. Even non-intenders are most likely to find you while they’re on a mobile device. This means you need to optimize your content for mobile. Consider formatting your video content to display vertically. Use responsive website design and other cross-device optimization techniques to make sure everything you put out there is going to look as good on a laptop as it does on a mobile phone.
Repackage Content
New content takes time to create and, as the old adage goes, time is money. You don’t need to inflate your marketing budget just to create some new content. Instead, repackage content you’ve already made. For example, in your video pivot, convert blog posts into video scripts, and have a designer create some attractive infographics to underscore the main points of the blog. There’s no need to create a whole new script for every video. You can mostly use what you already have.
Use Sales Tools
LinkedIn suggests that the top salespeople in business today are leaving old-school sales techniques behind. Some personal connection is still necessary, but you need to reorient what this means to suit the digital context. Don’t rely on old-school tools. Use technology wherever you can. That means sending documents to customers using collaboration tools like Google Docs or Dropbox, using CRM software rather than keeping analog files and boosting your productivity through apps.
Don’t be shy—try new approaches and new tools to see what works best.
Embrace Change
It’s human nature to dislike change. These days, however, that’s a big mistake. Don’t stay too comfortable with any one digital marketing technique. You have to stay on your toes and keep your finger on the pulse to remain competitive and use available tools better than anyone else. You may not be a tech industry guru, but if you act like one and stay excited about what new changes are on the horizon, you’ll be faster to adopt new techniques and be the first on the ground in new digital marketing frontiers.
Always Keep Learning
There was a time when you could reach a certain point in your career and be considered an expert with no need to learn anything else. That’s really not the case anymore, especially when it comes to marketing and sales. Part of embracing change is embracing the reality that the digital world requires us to be perpetual students. Approach this with enthusiasm and you’ll set yourself ahead of the pack. Make connections with marketers, read up on the latest marketing and sales trends, listen to podcasts and stay curious about what’s around the corner. It’s not enough to simply know what’s coming up. You have to learn how to use it to your advantage. Learning what is and isn’t working for you is also vital to digital marketing success.
Be Consistent
With all of this, it’s vital that you stay consistent. Consistency will give you maximum control over your branding and how you frame your business. Messaging, audience tone, content quality and approach should stay consistent. This doesn’t mean you can never change (we are suggesting a pivot to video, after all), but it does mean that your changes should be well considered and deliberate. If you’re going to shift your messaging approach, for example, shift it across all platforms.
Need more information about how to use high-speed marketing tactics to your advantage? Take our masterclass and learn more.
Sean Cassy is the automotive digital marketing specialist at Turbo Marketing Solutions. You can contact him here by email or by phone at Turbo Marketing every week day from 7am to 6pm EST.