While we don’t know how long the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will linger, we do know that dealerships’ immediate and long-term success hinges on their ability to adapt to a digital landscape. Consumers are searching the internet for units, parts and services at a much higher rate than last summer, and we don’t expect to see a return to pre-pandemic shopping habits. With that in mind, we offer the following digital marketing insights to help dealers gain online prominence now and sustain a successful marketing strategy.
Rapid Results
Search engine marketing (SEM) puts your dealership at the top of search engine results pages right away using paid ads, which leverage optimal keywords that match consumers’ online searches. For example, Google has seen a 60% increase in searches including “easy” and a 65% increase in “step by step” and “for beginners” video searches. Other popular modifiers include “contactless,” “at home,” “delivery” and “appointment.” Paid ads that reference these keywords are going to pull in a higher volume of website traffic, boosting your opportunities to close a deal.
If you currently are low on inventory or your supply chains have been disrupted by the pandemic, you can keep customers engaged with your dealership by running ads for parts and services. Dealer Spike’s dealers have experienced an average 7% click-through rate increase in July on parts and services ads, indicating a high interest among consumers to purchase these goods.
Long-Term Sustainability
Search engine optimization (SEO) provides long-term success for dealerships by adapting their websites to search engines’ algorithms so that they rank better in online searches. Google reported making more than 3,620 improvements to its search algorithm in 2019 alone—averaging almost 10 changes per day. An ongoing and vigilant SEO strategy allows your website to adapt to these constant changes so that you can continue to drive valuable prospects to your dealership.
Organic search is a major part of the user journey, especially when consumers are performing research on a unit or part. As consumers adjust to spending more time at home, they rely on the internet to browse future purchases. Now is a perfect time to update your website and begin building your dealership’s organic online presence. The content you create, optimize and publish today will drive more online traffic over time and can be updated as needed to reflect your evolving business goals throughout the upcoming economic recovery.
Stay Competitive
Many businesses are taking advantage of this time to make improvements to their online marketing efforts in anticipation of a highly digital consumer landscape. Not adapting your marketing strategy to match your customers’ shopping behavior can leave you lagging behind your competitors and losing out on valuable leads. If you choose to reduce your digital marketing budget or cut online efforts, you risk losing your current organic search rank and brand exposure—which will not be easy to recover post-pandemic and will cost you time, effort and money.
As more online searches are being performed, there is more opportunity than ever to connect with highly motivated potential customers. If you’re not advertising to these customers, it’s likely that your competitors are. If you are currently running paid ads and building your organic presence, consider increasing your digital marketing budget to capitalize on the year-over-year search increase and achieve a greater Return On Investment.