- Collect & Analyze the right DATA
- Spend money on the right WEBSITE
- Expand your brand properly with SOCIAL MEDIA
- Review your PPC/Google Ad spend
- Collect customer information
It’s about both NOW and the FUTURE.
Collect/Analyze Data
Step one of number one is to collect data. Even if you don’t know what data is the most relevant and valuable, simply collecting something is better than sitting there and doing nothing. Remember though, it isn’t about how many sales you made. The best data helps you figure out how, where and why customers bought from you so that you can leverage that information to bolster your marketing strategy through (the other half of this point) proper analysis.
Get the Right Website
No, a website built by your local ‘guy’, or your brother’s best friend’s neighbour’s uncle’s dog-walker isn’t the same as a quality website like Dealer Spike, ARI, Trader (Tadvantage) or others. The right website should be a conduit for an improved Google presence, simply your day to day website interactions and improve engagement with current and prospective customers.
The problem is, dealers have been led to believe that they need to spend $3500-$6500 per year to do this. WRONG. There are CANADIAN options out there for well below this threshold and do everything the big boys do.
Social Media
Social Media, at least in your industry, is NOT the smoking gun that leads to exponential growth in sales. It can, but it is more about being where your prospective customers are and where your current customers can readily engage with you. A lot of the time it is about educating and entertaining all with an eye towards building a stronger brand.
Doing something consistently is the key. Once a month or every 6 months isn’t going to work. Spamming with something 5 times a day isn’t going to work either. There is a right way to do social media but doing nothing (or inconsistently) isn’t going to help your business at all.
PPC Spend
I’ve seen a lot of PPC dealer stats… and they generally look TERRIBLE. Here is one I looked at recently:
94% Bounce rate… ouch. That means that of the 301 visits to this dealer’s website, 284 of them went to the website and immediately left again. Most businesses are at least somewhat concerned about R.O.I., and this isn’t it. Be aware if your PPC campaigns are actually doing anything for your dealership. Everyone pushes you to do paid Google ads but when you get results like this, that is a lot of money going to waste.
Collect Customer Information
It’s almost 2020 people… collect information on your customers. Even if you don’t know what to do with it, collect it. Collect at least basic info on the sale (amount, sale category) and contact info (phone/cell, email, city/postal code). Without this basic info, you have no way of knowing what to talk to your customers about or how valuable they are to your business. Simply collecting and hanging onto this information, even if you don’t do anything with it, can increase the value of your business and make subsequent years more successful.
Smarter Business Solutions can help guide your efforts with any of these items. For a limited time, I have a special both on the Social Media and Website initiatives noted above. Contact me for further detail or just to talk shop!