Marketing Automation and the Future of Marketing for Automotive Dealers

As one of the bigger advertisers in local markets, automotive dealers are continuing to adopt more digital-centric advertising and marketing. We spoke with Amy Goudie from The Truuve Agency about what’s hot right now as well as what’s coming up for auto dealers.

Q: What are some Marketing Automation basics that every dealer out there should have?

A: At the bare minimum, correct attribution is a must. Most automotive dealers must track their incoming phone calls by source and campaign, as well as form submissions, online chat, and walk-ins. If the marketing agency knows which campaigns and campaign settings are creating the right results, they’re in a much better position to sell more vehicles for the dealership. Some automotive dealers also like tracking the Vehicle Description Page (VDP) views as an interim success metric.

Q: After you’ve got the basics taken care of, how do you take things up to an intermediate level of sophistication?

A: Tying marketing together with their CRM is a big step. It gets better data back to your agency to help with optimizing Google Ads and opens up new possibilities for marketing to previous, current, and potential customers based on sales feedback.

Q: How do your most sophisticated clients keep ahead of the competition?

A: Our most sophisticated clients really know their numbers and keep a firm grasp of what’s working. They invest in their back-end systems, which really opens things up for us. It makes it possible to do dynamic remarketing based on the models that we know the client is interested in.

Q: Where do you see the future of automotive marketing? What will things look like 10 years from now?

A: Automotive is a changing industry. The rise of electric, hybrid and autonomous vehicles plus ride-sharing will all impact dealerships. However, in the next 10 years, the biggest change is likely to arise in e-commerce. Customers will forgo dealerships altogether during purchasing, and move directly online. Service; however, will remain strong in dealerships. Once customers begin to move to sales online en-masse, vehicle sellers will become far more competitive online and will need to be at the forefront of digital marketing. Leaders in automotive can use a variety of strategies and tactics to stay ahead. Tactics can include paid marketing, CRO optimized creative and email marketing, not to mention optimizing their websites for the buyer’s journey to sale. Using marketing automation to maintain cost efficiency is one strategy and partnering with an agency focused on staying ahead of the automotive digital curve is another. Dealerships that stay ahead of the competition can see cost savings in development times and get better results in accounts like Google Ads.

Q: Do you think there is more opportunity out there for local dealerships? A: Absolutely. Over time, investment in marketing focuses, and open communication between dealerships and their agencies, combined with high-performing ad accounts, will win.

About Amy

Amy Goudie is Director of Strategy with The Truuve Agency, a full-service automotive marketing agency. She is passionate about researching and applying the ins & outs of online media in operation! Amy brings 8+ years of digital marketing experience with a specialization in search engine marketing. An avid reader and yoga practitioner, Amy is a student of learning & life.