It’s ok–you’re not the only auto dealer on the block that hates making cold calls and sending cold emails. Yes, calling everyone on your leads list and sending highly targeted emails to each potential customer can yield great results, but if your sales team is burned out and you are seeking an innovative way to bring in more customers, it may be time to consider some alternative options.
Believe it or not, there are other ways to drive new customers to your dealership, outside of the traditional “smile and dial” sales approach.
If your goal is to sell more vehicles and generate endless lists of high quality leads, then it’s time for you to check out the following marketing tips that will bring results without wasting precious time cold contacting your prospects.
Option #1: Retargeting
Your marketing and sales teams spend a lot of time and effort to drive people to your dealer website. So what happens if those customers browse a few listings on your site, but never submit a message or call for more information? Are those customers lost forever?
The short answer is, no.
If you want to follow up with customers that visited your website but never took action, then retargeting is the perfect marketing tactic for your business.
Retargeting involves placing a piece of code on various pages of your website. When a customer lands on a specific page of your website that contains the piece of code (a listing page for a 2005 Ford F-150 for example), you can send highly targeted ads to that customer for a period of time that you specify (usually 30-60 days).
If the page they land on is, in fact, a listing page for a Ford F-150 in your lot, that customer can begin seeing your dealership ads for Ford F-150’s on Facebook, YouTube and other places around the web.
Retargeting is effective at increasing auto sales because it allows you to market to people that have already expressed interest in purchasing a vehicle. Every time someone lands on a page of your website, they will be added to your retargeting list.
Once on your list, you can market to them with any ad you want. The chances of that customer buying is already significantly higher than usual, because they already came to your site.
Option #2: Pay Per Click Ads
If you want to attract customers that are ready to purchase a vehicle, it’s important to show up well on search engines (specifically Google), for the keywords that people are actively searching for.
Investing in search engine optimization (SEO) is one way to show up well on Google, but doing SEO the right way can take a lot of time and a lot of money. Fortunately, there are other ways to maintain a presence on Google without waiting 6-12 months to see results.
Enter: Pay Per Click Advertising
If you break down pay per click advertising into very simple terms, it’s this: you bid on popular keywords related to used and new vehicles and you pay Google a fee when one of your ads gets clicked. The amount you pay depends on the price for each keyword. It may cost you $20 per click to rank in the number one position on Google for the keyword “used Hyundai Sonata”, but it may only cost $10 per click to rank for “used Chevrolet Cruze”.
Running a series of pay per click ad campaigns is highly effective for auto dealers because it puts you in front of people that will buy a vehicle in the very near future. The one downside to pay per click advertising is the expense.
If you are trying to rank for a lot of popular keywords on Google and there is steep competition, you could end up forking out a lot of money. However, if you have a skilled marketer running your campaigns, it’s possible to end up with a great return on your investment.
Option #3: Use Quickpage
Even highly successful auto dealers are beginning to admit that cold calls and emails are becoming a thing of the past. It’s not that your sales and marketing teams aren’t as skilled as they used to be, it’s that customers have changed their preferred method of communication.
If you want your auto dealership to continue to thrive for years to come, you have to be willing to experiment with new technology and adjust with the times. That’s where Quickpage comes in handy.
Here’s how Quickpage helps you sell more vehicles without cold contacting:
- Send fully customized web pages to your sales leads via text or email
- Add images, text and other relevant info to a customer’s custom page
- Record and upload a personal video so your customer can connect with you as a human being, instead of them hearing a voice on the phone or reading words in a generic email
- Get notification when a lead is viewing the custom Quickpage you created
- Chat live with your lead via the Quickpage chat feature
- Make changes to a customer’s Quickpage in real time
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If you’re still not sold on the power of Quickpage, we encourage you to try it out for yourself. Click here to try Quickpage for free now! We can’t wait to show you how to increase your dealership sales and make your customers happy as well!