Is your dealership tapping into the power of video marketing? With video projected to account for over 80% of internet traffic by 2020, now’s the perfect time to get your sales and service content in front of more potential customers.
Here are some best practices to ensure your videos are relevant and impactful, plus a few topic ideas to help your store stand out from the competition. It doesn’t even require a lot of time or professional equipment to get views!
Video Marketing Best Practices
- Capture customer attention right at the start.
Viewers will click away from a video if it doesn’t pique their interest in the first 3 to 10 seconds. Engaging graphics and thought-provoking questions help tell your customers what they can gain from your video right away.
- Speak directly to your customer base.
You know who your customers are, whether they’re families focused on advanced safety, working individuals in need of a capable and efficient vehicle, or any other demographic unique to your brand, geographical location, etc. Nail the benefits and sell a solution to their challenges.
- Keep it simple.
Rather than telling your customers about the day’s topic along with all of your sales and service offerings in a single sitting, stick to one concise message for each video. Maintaining a clear, single message per video helps you keep customer interest—and helps ensure you have more content ideas to cover in the future.
- Ensure your video makes sense without sound.
92% of U.S. consumers view videos with the sound off on mobile—and 83% watch with sound off in general. To accommodate, add visual graphics, text, or even subtitles to help get your message across without audio. And, of course, adding these features makes your video more accessible to your deaf and hard-of-hearing customers.
- Include a clear call-to-action.
Once you’ve provided valuable information to your customers, let them know how you can help them put that information to use—invite them to complete an online form, call to make an appointment, or visit your store.
Drive visibility and views by adding relevant keywords to the video title and description. This will help search engines better rank your video in search results and will help your customers find your videos on platforms such as YouTube.
Video Topics to Try at Your Store
- Vehicle Walk-Arounds
Did you know that adding a video to your Vehicle Details Pages (VDPs) can boost engagement an average of 600%? That’s an incredible amount of potential business viewing your inventory! Spotlight new inventory that arrives or models you need to move with informative and feature-packed videos. And if your sales team is camera-shy, focus on the vehicle and add a voiceover track.
- Service Department Features
Give your service team an advertising boost—and inform your customers about the expert care you offer—with a series of service videos. Stay timely with seasonal maintenance tips, advice on maintenance intervals or issues, and answer commonly asked questions. These videos will help build your trustworthiness and authority.
- Staff Profiles
Humanize your sales and service teams by providing customers staff profile videos. These go beyond putting a face to a name—quick interviews, a bit of history, and fun facts can help customers feel more connected to your store. With the option to meet your team before visiting, your customers will have a familiar face to look for, enhancing their overall experience.
Attract more customers and drive more business by adding video to your marketing mix. With these best practices and a little creativity, your dealership can improve search engine rankings, provide customers the information they’re seeking, and stand out from the competition with video.
Dean Martin
Director of Marketing Communications
Affinitiv