3 Easy Ways to Attract Automotive Consumers Right Now

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Level-up Your Automotive Marketing & Consumer Experience

Throughout the many changes the industry has seen, walk-ins remain a major source of dealership traffic. This is great for dealerships because it means less time chasing down qualified leads when customers are simply showing up at your door. However, this also means that when walk-ins dry up, so does a major portion of revenue. How can you drive foot traffic that is better prepped and ready to go?

In the article below, we will discuss how to generate auto sales leads despite the chip shortage, and how to ensure you’re making the most out of your automotive advertising, including automotive direct-mail advertising and automotive digital advertising. In the end, a strong automotive marketing strategy is more important now than ever.

1) Start with Remarkable Marketing

The average person receives about 121 emails daily. Bundle that with everything from social media advertisements to personal emails, work emails, and, of course, marketing outreach, and you can imagine how inundated consumers currently are. As you can imagine, most people don’t read through all this mail. To cut through the noise and get that crucial opening click, you must consistently deliver highly relevant messages that help you get a leg up on the competition. 

When you consider the fact that nearly 105 billion marketing emails are sent each day, this approach becomes an absolute necessity. Moving forward, keep in mind your marketing should give customers more than the latest features in your vehicle lineup—it should also offer access to specifications, comparisons, video walkarounds, and reviews. Give them a glimpse of the vehicles you have to offer in real-time and focus more on what differentiates your store from the rest. 

This information can include your amenities, expertly trained staff, and top sales offers. This is what marketing is for. Consumers are looking to be educated on why they should visit your store, and when they do, you are well on your way to influencing their buying decision. A good opportunity to showcase these amenities spans beyond digital and into tried-and-true automotive direct mail advertising.

Below are some stats regarding the number of social media visits among consumers daily to help you understand how to move forward with advertisements amid the chip shortage:

  • 69% of adults in America use Facebook, visiting 8 times daily on average
  • 78% of American consumers say they have discovered products on Facebook
  • The average Facebook user clicks on 11 ads monthly

Taking this one step further, Millennials and Gen Z’ers make up 37% of all automotive sales. In turn, automotive industry dealers must embrace opportunities for enhancing their digital experience. 

2) Close the Expectation Gap

Today, there’s still an existing gap between what dealerships think matters to customers and what customers care about. Consumers are no longer captivated by just how many vehicles your dealership sells or how loudly you boast in commercials. The benefit that customers are seeking when purchasing a vehicle is quite simple. They want a hassle-free experience. 

You can make it clear to your customers that that’s exactly the experience they’ll get when they purchase from you. Advertise up-front values for trade-ins, competitive pricing, fast and paperless processes, and above all, a no-pressure experience. Focus on keeping pricing transparent, as it’s the most important aspect for many customers. Ensuring your dealership maintains promotional accuracy is imperative in times like these. 

In the case of automotive digital advertising, by refreshing vehicle inventory on digital properties, one can line up inventory expectations in front of consumers. With today’s automotive technology, it’s easy to refresh this daily.

3) Prioritize Speed of Response

It takes more than sending the right message at the right time to resonate with your car sales leads. Another aspect of remarkable marketing is clear intent. If you’re serious about selling vehicles, express that, and be ready to act with real-time responsiveness.

In order to provoke consumer response, you’ll have to deliver more than owners’ specials on a specific selection in your inventory. Make it easy for them to reach you, be it over live chat or through a direct line to your cell phone, so you don’t miss the opportunity to connect.

It may go without saying, but your marketing is only as targeted as your platform makes it. It’s important to utilize real-time reports, predictive customer scoring, and more to ensure you’re kept up to date on the status of customers visiting your showroom.

What happens if your customers aren’t responding? Segmented marketing is proven to have a much larger impact than mass marketing. If you intend to help your customers into a new or used vehicle, behavioral segmentation is key to follow up with curated reminders and matching offers. Until they take action, continue this cadence with better offers for all non-responders.

You can also deliver other relevant messages to keep them engaged or strike up new conversations. Once they do respond or walk in, give them the prompt attention you’d look for if you were shopping for a new car. You can create real-time pivots for delivery on the latest new and used inventory.

Don’t Wait to Seek Expert Support

Fortunately, there are companies that can help you create really strong automotive advertising. It’s their job to stay on top of the rapidly changing marketing industry in light of the chip shortage, working to ensure your messaging is clean, professional, and hard-hitting. Make no mistake, what works for email isn’t necessarily what works for mail or social media. And limiting yourself to a single mode of even the best automotive advertising isn’t doing your business any favors. 

AI-driven marketing is a major up-and-coming element, and it can help you target highly engaged customers and keep costs low to achieve a powerful lead generation plan. Some marketing companies even focus on different avenues; make sure the one you work with understands the differences and when to use each for maximum effect. That way you can drive more walk-ins—and more vehicles sold.


Don’t Wait to Level-up Your Marketing Plan. Affinitiv’s data-driven approach ensures maximum results. Contact us today.

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