Holiday marketing campaigns for dealerships are critical to maximizing market share during peak shopping days from November through early January. With the holidays fast approaching, dealers should begin planning their seasonal service and sales marketing strategies immediately. 

However, not all dealers are equipped to handle the holiday rush – be it a lack of technology or poor preparation. This article, the first half of a two-part holiday marketing campaign series, outlines five tips that dealerships might consider to better plan for what should prove a busy shopping season. 

Holiday Marketing Campaigns for Dealerships: Tips 1-5 

1. Plan Ahead 

First, dealers must start designing their marketing plans for holiday deals now. While this may be obvious to some, no one can overstate the importance of getting a head start on planning. 

The chosen holiday campaign should use an omnichannel approach where dealers leverage as many platforms as possible. These might include the following (as discussed in more detail in the following sections):  

• Direct mail 
• Email campaigns 
• Landing page links 
• Social media advertisements 

The more channels, the more exposure dealers have to customers who spend their time on different online platforms. 

2. Have Fun with Holiday-Themed Direct Mail 

The holidays are when dealers should be creative with direct mail—it is not a time to send out generic postcards. Festive advertising can make dealerships more cheerful and compel consumers to visit the showroom. 

Dealers might consider cards that: 

• Take on the shape of actual presents 
• Come complete with a bow 
• Include various holiday icons 
• Promote friendly gatherings for celebrations 

While the endgame is selling more cars, many consumers react positively to advertisements that spread holiday cheer. 

3. Create Email Campaigns  

Dealers might encourage customers to sign up for an email list to receive news on upcoming holiday promotions before announcing them to the public. 

While this can be an excellent way to drive early interest, dealers should remember never to add customers to such a list without their permission. If a dealer emails a customer without their consent, the server may mark such emails as spam, preventing the dealer from emailing that customer again. 

When done correctly and with customer consent, dealers can use email campaigns to: 

• Disseminate blogs or other forms of content marketing from the website 
• Announce special service-related holiday promos (discussed further in the next installment) 
• Introduce themselves to new clients 
  
  

4. Link to the Holiday Campaign Landing Page 

Linking to the primary landing page for holiday advertising is crucial. Dealers should review existing website pages and use all opportunities to link to that holiday landing page from those sites.  

They should then direct links from authoritative sites and local portals where possible to improve:  

• Dealership visibility 
• Website traffic 
• Lead generation 
• Lead conversion 
• Final sales  

Dealers might also consider revamping the existing website to provide more effective search engine optimization (SEO), which increases online visibility and a dealership’s likelihood of showing up on the first pages of Google, Bing, and other search engines. 

5. Build a Stronger Social Media Presence 

Social media has become a vital communication channel in today’s digital environment, and nearly all consumers use its platforms in some capacity. Dealerships not expanding their digital visibility in this space will lag behind local competitors. 

As such, all dealers should produce online material that appeals to and engages the target market in this forum. However, the chosen communication strategies will differ depending on the platform. 

More specifically: 

• Instagram is great for snappy captions, fascinating images, and quick video clips. 

• YouTube may help a dealership show itself as an expert in the area market through thoughtful and educational videos, including “how-to” tutorials, Q&As, and “behind-the-scenes” footage. 

• Facebook posts have the potential to be extended. Dealers might think about supplying more in-depth information or presenting brief stories. 

• Twitter’s 280-character limit, on the other hand, requires shorter, more concise messages. 
  
  

Combine These Tips with the Right Technology  

Holiday preparations have already started, and it is time to start thinking about holiday marketing campaigns for dealerships. Make the most of the opportunities this holiday season presents by implementing the abovementioned steps in conjunction with the industry’s premier digital marketing tools. 

If you are looking for ideas to keep the momentum going after the planning stage and as Thanksgiving draws closer, keep an eye out for the second half of this series, which will cover tips 6-10.  

Contact us today and learn how Affinitiv’s innovative marketing solutions can help your dealership design a holiday marketing campaign that brings more leads into your showroom this winter.