Are you paying for Promises or Performance?
Auto Dealers should flip the script on their marketing partners by paying for performance, not promises.
It’s not 2019 anymore and a lot has changed for automotive retailers: responses to COVID have turned the industry on its head; the rapid evolution of Digital Retail tools and online shopping has made car browsing from home a breeze; Pure-play eCommerce platforms such as Carvana have entered the arena, and, Historically low inventory levels. And, finally, healthy gross profit per unit is being achieved.
Auto Dealers should never go back to the pre-2020 volume-over-profit playbook.
We know that inventory levels will normalize, competition will heat up, and with this, a new digital marketing strategy is a must.
The 2022 playbook is different.
First, go back to the basics. Build sustainable organic traffic and build pages that convert. Increase your ability to be found by shoppers at all points of the funnel by leveraging search engine optimization or SEO. SEO matters now more than ever. Is it sexy? Not really. Is it easy? No. Are there shortcuts or fancy tech alternatives to good SEO? No. Do Agencies want to do the work like tagging, coding, error fixing, load speed improvements, linking, visitor analysis, and more? No. Do these same Agencies still charge for the work? Yes.
Imagine a marathon runner given a choice to run with the wind at their back versus running into the wind. Which would you choose? When considering investing in digital marketing to increase traffic and conversions, make sure you will be running with the wind at your back. This is the only long-term digital strategy that matters. Then, supplement your organic results by adding innovative tactical paid-media strategies to drive short-term outcomes. Like good SEO, your paid tactics need to be expert high-touch first and data and tech-enabled second. No short-cuts. No monkey-business.
Dealers need to maintain a disciplined digital marketing strategy to maximize profit throughout and beyond this period of market normalization.
Lastly, dealers need to pay marketing vendors for performance and not promises.
For example, auto dealers who work with GreenBananaSEO only pay when they rank on page-1 of Google organic search results for the keywords and phrases which matter most to them.
This is flipping the script on your marketing partners. This is crushing the 2022 playbook.
