With luxury brands overseas and car dealership not always nearby or stocking the desired vehicles, many car buyers have turned to the internet to find their dream car. While car websites do offer the ability to buy cars online, the digital realm is more a means of research, to gather information on an assortment of cars and decide which one you want to purchase. This gives the customer more control and confidence with their purchase, instead of relying on a dealership to provide them information. With almost every car company now offering a website to view their vehicles, we can see that the auto sales industry is now relying on digital marketing for a large portion of their sales. If you plan to attend an auto sales college, read on to discover how digital marketing is used today to sell vehicles.
Car Brand Websites
It is hard to find a car brand that doesn’t have a beautifully designed website these days. A website is probably one of the most crucial digital marketing trends for car sales, simply because so much information can be accessed by the customer. Often employing the visually appealing design of parallax scrolling, a car website offers detailed photography of the vehicle and showcases its many functions. On the website for the upcoming Tesla X there are photographs displaying the innovative touchscreen dash and gull-wing doors. Automobile websites will also often have a video on the front page so customers can see the vehicle in action. For luxury car brands and special car models, companies will sometimes develop microsites which only show information for that vehicle and are usually heavy on graphics. A great example of a website with parallax scrolling is the Lexus LS, whereas some websites with great clean and minimal designs are Rolls Royce and McLaren.
Online Communities
Car buyers are relying more and more on forums and blogs to get a second opinion on a vehicle before they make a purchase. Forums are an excellent way for an automotive service technician to offer some personal knowledge on the common mechanical issues of a car, or to give a customer help deciding on such things like if the engine on a certain car will work well through a winter. It’s not only mechanics who have something to offer on a forum or blog, but also car enthusiasts who can share their sense of taste, or current owners of a vehicle who can share maintenance tips.
Power in Mobile
With mobile device sales now outnumbering laptop sales, automobile companies have been working on suiting their marketing strategies to a mobile interface. This for the large part means creating mobile-friendly websites. Another capability of mobile is for potential buyers to have a “chat” option with dealerships to get more information on a car before visiting their business. Some speculation has suggested automobile marketers may try to use SMS texting as a means to reach out to potential leads.
Social Media Marketing
Social marketing is (in most cases) free and popular, and thus a great way to extend the voice of your company. How many times have we seen a car commercial before watching a video on YouTube? This is the work of digital social marketing. Having a Facebook page is a good means to provide customers with updates about the company and new vehicles, whereas a social media platform like Twitter is a way to add personality to your brand. The tone of a Maserati is much different than the tone of a Mini Cooper, and customers will expect and react to a Twitter website that reflects a vehicle’s corresponding personality.
In 2012 alone, 90% of auto advertising dollars went to digital marketing—a testament to the increasing power of the digital world. So, if you are in auto sales training and looking for methods to improve sales, expanding your digital marketing strategy is increasingly the most popular and effective way to do so.
