Car dealerships today are faced with the strong need to adapt to new technological innovations and adjust to the disruption it creates in their marketing and operational strategies.
New technology is entering the market every day, and the pace at which they transfigure the marketing landscape is undoubtedly only going to gain pace in the coming months and years.
Technology definitely hands more control over to your consumers, and it reshapes their behavior and preferences as new technologies crop up. The dynamics between new car buyers and dealers have undergone tectonic shifts with the advent of smartphones and social media.
Potential new buyers can now access information anytime and at any place. They use technology to do this, and the same technology can tell dealers where their prospective buyers are, what they like, and what it takes to get their attention.
Dealers who use this information to come up with marketing messages that are specifically customized for their prospects are likely to win disproportionately more sales.
This type of marketing can also give your car dealer website several advantages and a huge amount of leverage over your potential customers even before they walk through your showroom doors. In essence, your auto dealership needs to be aware of how technology is altering the way people research and shop for cars, and plan for modifications in your marketing strategy accordingly.
The marketing landscape of today is decidedly centered around the consumer, and we also know that different people respond differently to marketing messages.
In other words, a one size fits all approach to marketing certainly won’t work anymore. Data is your best friend, as it provides insights about the customers visiting your showroom, and you can use analytics to quantify and analyze your customers’ wants, needs, and buying behavior.
Once your auto dealership marketing staff collates a sufficient amount of data pertaining to your prospective clients, you can segment these customers based on the parameters suitable for you.
The next step is to create a marketing mix that caters to your customers’ needs as closely as possible. This way, an element of trust is created between you and your prospective buyers, thereby ensuring that they’ll keep returning to your dealership.
Every year, there are hot new concepts being released into the market. Two of the biggest and most important from the standpoint of an auto dealer are data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). You may choose to take the plunge and implement these concepts in the operations of your dealership, but be sure that you use them in a way that aligns with your business goals and customer needs.
Plan your car dealer website’s marketing strategy in such a way that it accommodates for these disruptions when implementing new tech. As they say, change is the only constant and it really does pay to remain agile instead of rigid.
However, we must point out that your auto dealership doesn’t have to grab every new innovation that comes out, as spending much time and money on every emerging idea may be more distracting than beneficial.
By staying ahead of the latest trends, your marketing will closely fit consumer behavior, enabling your dealership to forge more robust bonds with them, and in turn, sell more cars.
It does take time and effort to become proficient in using new technology, but there is no doubt about how much your car dealership stands to gain by mastering and leveraging meaningful new technologies than by continuing to run with the older ones.
Replace obsolete technology with the newer and more innovative ones before they cause your bottom line to take a hit.