One thing is always true: You can never do enough marketing for your small business. Every dollar counts in the automotive industry, so you should work to get the most out of it. Even if you have consistent foot traffic, you should still focus on expanding your marketing efforts. Marketing strategies like paid advertising, automotive social media marketing, and enhancing your website’s SEO are all great ways to help your business.
With so many different options, it is not easy to determine what marketing strategy is right for your business. We have selected a list of ten potential ways to skyrocket your automotive marketing.
Digital Media has many tools that truly benefit businesses. Businesses that participate in social media marketing and advertising have a much easier time finding potential customers. The objective is to entice consumers to act on the promotion or deal that you have at the shop.
Platforms like Facebook, Google, and Yelp have made it significantly easier for small businesses to market their services to their target audience. Let us look at all three platforms and how they can help your business.
On Facebook, ads can be created and shown to current followers, as well as people who do not follow you. You can choose the area in which you want to advertise and choose the radius. Video or photos can be added to the ad, with a place to add text and a call to action.
Google’s advertising platform allows businesses to run Google Search Ads. These Google ads show up on search engine results pages (SERPs) when users are searching for specific services or products. These are cost-per-click ads that only charge you when an online user clicks directly on your ad.
Yelp has a similar approach to Google when it comes to ads. The ad will show up above the search results within Yelp and under the “you might also consider” section on a competitor’s Yelp listing.
Yelp also has what is called “Yelp Ad Syndication.” Yelp Ad Syndication is a process of displaying Yelp Ads on third-party websites and apps.
Claiming your business’ online listings is the first step when it comes to setting up your social channels. It is common for business listings to be auto-created due to search inquiries from consumers on those respective platforms.
Duplicate listings on a platform can have a negative impact because it takes traffic away from your actual listing. Not only that, but consumers may not be able to tell the difference between the two listings.
By claiming your listings, you will have full control over the future of the page. You will be able to delete the duplicate altogether, giving your actual listing the best chance to garner traffic.
Consumers absolutely love it when companies small and large are personal and relatable. We encourage participation in face-to-face marketing to help develop relationships with customers. This concept involves having your business participate in local events like blood drives, clothing drives, customer appreciation events, and more.
The purpose of participating in events like this is to build relationships with local customers. You have a duty to inform your customers about the services you provide. By doing so, you are giving your business the best chance to connect with the community you serve.
Video is the best type of content to post on social media. Sixty percent of marketers noticed that videos garner more engagement than photo content within ads on Facebook, according to Databox.
Cell phone cameras are so advanced that you do not need a DSLR camera to get high-quality photos and video. We recommend taking photos of the interior and exterior of the shop, employees, and current projects within the shop.
This one is not as difficult as you think. Social media is free to use and post to.
Take advantage of the free aspect of social media! Gathering followers can be as simple as posting regular, relevant content about your business.
When a person buys a car, they will expect to perform maintenance services, repairs themselves, or have professionals do it. Most opt for the latter, so you should expect someone to bring their vehicle to your shop. Use it to your advantage.
Take photos of cars and share the stories of how your technicians repaired or serviced it with your audiences. A lot of vehicles may have that same problem, which will resonate with consumers.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a critical part of being found online. It shows search engines like Google what the website is about and the information that it contains.
Since you have full control of your on-page SEO, it is essential to make sure everything stands up to Google’s requirements. A website’s SEO is determined by keywords, relevant business information, and website performance.
Once Google crawls the website, it will use its algorithm to grade and then rank the website. If it meets Google’s criteria, the chance of being ranked high on a SERP (Search Engine Results Page) will increase.
Also, there are a few other things that you should focus on. The page speed, URLs, domain name, and mobile friendliness are the other key factors that you should consider.
Now that we have established the importance of SEO, we should dive deeper to discuss how a mobile-friendly site will impact your business. For one, most people use their phones to search for and visit websites.
The value that a mobile-friendly site brings is that consumers will stay on the website for longer. Long load times, irrelevant content, and the aesthetic nature of the site will scare customers off due to most sites being high-quality.
If the performance is low, you will not give consumers a good impression of your business. First impressions are everything, so you need to make it count.
While most people get their news on social media or mobile news sites, there is a way that you can inform your customers about your business. New promotions, employee spotlights, and business changes are items to include in an email newsletter.
Emailing company newsletters are a wonderful way to share information monthly. A newsletter gives consumers insight into the day-to-day operations of your business.
Consumers are curious about what is happening in the community, and that includes local automotive companies. Sharing information about your business builds trust.
Sharing what you believe in will shed light on the person you are and the company you run. Brand loyalty works this way as well. Finding ways to help your customers will only benefit your shop.
You would be hard-pressed to find a company that does not run a promotion. Consumers look for discounts for everything, including auto repair and maintenance. What makes promotions valuable is that you can have multiple or a single promotion in print or digital form.
Showing promotions in-store and online will remind consumers that maintaining their vehicles can be done cheaply.
If you have ever thought about hiring a marketing agency, what did you search for? Maybe it was a company that only focused on your website.
Maybe it was one that solely focused on social media. Perhaps they were not industry specific. These are all things to consider when searching for a digital marketing company that can implement automotive marketing strategies.
Fit matters. It can be the difference between reaching your financial goals and not being able to find enough customers to visit your shop. We recommend that you find a marketing company that is mostly industry specific.
They can dabble in a few industries, but their bread and butter should be one specific industry. That allows for more expertise in driving engagement on social media, driving traffic to your website, and driving action through ads.
Industry-specific digital marketing companies should be able to take the marketing load off your plate, so you have more time to focus on what is happening in the shop. Not only that, but they should be able to help you reach your marketing goals.
Finding an automotive digital marketing agency is easy if you look in the right places, and Optimize Digital Marketing has solutions to all your automotive marketing problems. Call to learn more about how we can best serve you.
We handle your online presence, so you can focus on what you do best—growing your business.