How are you getting your car dealership ahead of the competition in a crowded, diminishing marketplace? You must be ahead when making leads and converting them into sales. Who would not want their business to be the most visited and profitable in the local area? Many dealerships fail to capitalize on the many opportunities available. However, your business does not have to be one of them. Below, we give 11 tactics to create business opportunity leads for car dealerships.
1. Get More Website Traffic
The first place to start is with a look at your website, and how it gets traffic. Traffic mainly comes from search engine optimization (SEO) and social media. Social media is a large project to itself, so you should start with SEO.
A great way to get more SEO traffic is to create a blog of informative content. You can write these articles yourself or pay someone else to do them. If you include searchable terms known as keywords related to your business, you will gradually see traffic increase as people read your articles.
2. Improve Your Website Conversion Rate
Once you have more people visiting your website, you need to convert traffic into leads. This is known as a conversion rate. You may aim to turn quality leads into sales, or you may have a marketing goal such as getting visitors to sign up for a mailing list.
Conversation rates can be improved in a number of ways. Simplifying your message and look of your website can help, as can including special deals and offers.
3. Business Opportunity Leads With Local Brands
Partnering with local brands is a great way to get your company in front of those that matter. You may wish to put on an offer or cooperate in ways to do this, and many have dedicated marketing departments to help you achieve your goals. Malls and centers will also have staff that arranges the same type of thing.
4. Create Referrals
Customers love free gifts and offers. In fact, they are still one of the most effective methods of getting quality leads despite being around for years. That offer of 10% off in a newspaper can bring in a lot of custom.
Make sure new customers benefit from bonuses and discounts. Bring old clients back by enticing them with the allure of upgrades that have favorable terms and conditions, or even more money off.
5. Social Media
Social media is the big one. It can generate leads, be the face of your company, and also direct people to your website. In essence, you are missing out on a huge area of the market if you do not take part.
Social media does not have to be complicated. Choose one or two platforms, and update engaging content at the start and end of the business day. Use it to showcase news and new arrivals to the showroom.
Make sure you put your business details in, such as your services and locations. That way you will show up in search results, increasing your reach and influence.
6. Use PPC Campaigns
PPC is short for pay per click. This is an online advertising method in which you only pay when people click on your advertisement, either sending them to your website or to another conversion page. It is very effective, as you can target customers that have already displayed a specific interest in the products you sell, namely automotive.
Facebook has a very easy PPC interface to get you started. You can set a daily budget, and focus on people who have stated interests in cars and buying them in your local area.
7. Encourage Reviews
Once customers complete a sale with you, encourage them to leave reviews on your website or social media pages. This encourages others to use your service and increases your reputation as a reliable dealer. Even bad reviews, if replied to correctly, professionally, and with an offer to correct the problem, can make you look very good in the eyes of potential customers.
8. Become a Part of Community Events
Every day, there are numerous events taking part in and around your local area. From festivals to community events and charity fairs, people will be gathering and making connections. These connections are leads, and being seen as part of the local community will encourage people to support you.
Contact event organizers and ask if you can sponsor the event, or set up a marketing stall or tent. Treat the event as a way to speak to the local community as opposed to a way to sell cars, and people will soon come back when they are ready for a new vehicle.
9. Adjust Your Ad Budget Based on Trends
You will naturally have times of the year when car buying ebbs and flows. Perhaps Black Friday is the time when most people start flocking into the showroom, or maybe you seem to sell more RV vehicles in the run-up to summer. All of these annual periods can be used to increase sales.
Advertise discounts and deals to snatch customers away from the competition at these times. You may wish to scale back when the low period comes, or even increase to make up the shortfall.
10. Target the Right Customers
Even in a wide-ranging field like car sales, you still need to consider certain demographics. If you are selling pick up trucks, why would you try selling to office workers when you could be aiming at laborers who need to transport goods and haulage? If you deal in low price, second-hand cars, why would you target your efforts at rich retirees who are more likely to be in the market for sensible, high-end automobiles?
11. Use Remarketing
When you visit a website and agree to the use of cookies, they are used to tell advertising platforms what and where you have been online. This is used for remarketing campaigns, which show you adverts for websites you have already visited.
Remarketing campaigns have a very high rate of success. They are essentially a digital reminder for visitors, calling them back to your products.
Starting Over
Some of these business opportunity leads may just take a little implementation. Some may require you to completely overhaul your marketing strategy. However, with just a few in place you can rest assured that your footfall in-store and online will increase.
If you need more assistance generating leads, contact us at Next Generation Payroll. More than just a payroll company, we can help scale up your online marketing strategy and increase conversions. Contact us today so we can get started immediately by increasing your leads.