Inbound and Outbound Marketing for Auto Dealerships

Automotive marketing methodologies change by the day, but marketing objectives remain more or less the same– which is to build top-of-the-mind dealer brand recall and drive sales by promoting vehicles, services, and packages. In the world we live in, the "how” of marketing is the deciding factor between a sales hit and a sales flop.

In this article, we’ll shed some light on the differences between inbound and outbound marketing and explain the benefits of the former for your car dealership.

What is Outbound Marketing?

Outbound marketing is also called traditional marketing, and this is what vehicle dealerships around the world have relied on for decades. It involves TV ads, radio ads, billboards and hoardings, cold calling, mass mail campaigns and so on.

Basically, outbound marketing works on the principle of interruption, meaning that it causes a break in the flow of what your customers were originally doing.

What is Inbound Marketing?

Instead of interruption, inbound marketing works on the principle of attraction.

This specifically means that you design the marketing campaigns of your auto dealership to appeal only to people who are actually interested or on the lookout for a new vehicle.

This makes it much more targeted than trying to ‘interrupt’ those who really aren’t interested in doing business with your car dealership, thereby maximizing the returns on your investment. It includes Google ads, SEO, Facebook ads, email marketing, blogs and so on.

Inbound marketing enables interested buyers to find your auto dealership the moment they begin searching. This is a big advantage for car dealers, since customers today demand instant gratification.

How Does Inbound Marketing Work?

Inbound marketing first aims to attract the right prospects and leads, then engage with them, and drives them into the sales funnel.

Your vehicle dealership’s marketing campaigns must first draw in those leads who have the highest likelihood of converting into paying customers, which can be done with relevant and interesting campaigns.

The next stage involves capturing lead information using site landing pages with online forms, and retargeting campaigns.

Your auto dealership also needs to utilize email campaigns, social media conversations and other marketing initiatives to continuously engage with prospects and customers. Inbound should form the bulk of your marketing, complimented by some amount of outbound marketing to maximize short-term returns.

For more information on inbound marketing and how izmocars can support your car dealership, Contact Us.