ier two automotive advertising is only one of the many options available to dealerships. While some dealers may still choose to pick a few vendors of their own, opting for one vendor to create comprehensive campaigns for several dealers in the region has its advantages. One of the most challenging aspects of digital marketing for the car industry is finding the best vendors. Working as a group is an opportunity to sift through the chaff to find the best vendors. Whether you run a franchise store or run an independent, teaming up can make a profound difference for your bottom line. The best way to do that is to invest in a vendor that doesn’t sell competing traffic and leads.
Opting for tier 2 advertising requires a plan to ensure that your group isn’t fighting for the same leads. There’s no point in asking a vendor to generate leads and traffic if your CRMs look identical. Plenty of vendors provide that type of service without GMs signing up for group online marketing. Those vendors are commonly known as third-party lead providers. Not only are their ad techniques basic and generic, but they already sell their leads to any store willing to purchase them. Instead, what you need is a vendor that generates first-generation leads and high-quality traffic.
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Besides ensuring that your CRMs get filled with relevant leads, working with a vendor that generates first-generation leads provides the added benefit of learning a better way to keep track of vendors. The majority of vendors come with a program that provides weekly or monthly reports of progress. As we all know, those are problematic. These programs typically rely on self-reporting (which makes them inherently untrustworthy), and the metrics aren’t comparable across the board. There is no way to measure ROI if all of your vendors use different metrics to do that. Plus, you’re, understandably, far too busy to learn how to use these programs.
This is why so many managers resort to counting leads. Yet, counting leads tells you nothing about the quality of contacts in your CRM or the traffic arriving at your store’s website. All it tells you is that someone filled out a contact form with information that may or may not even be complete. Counting leads is not the same as holding vendors accountable for the services they provide. In recent years, a significant shift has taken place within the digital marketing world, and the auto industry needs to catch up to these changes. All-inclusive analytics programs are the missing component of many dealers’ marketing plans. Vendors that focus on first-generation leads provide the support you need to switch to a better monitoring solution.
Several of these programs exist, and Google Analytics is one of the most well-known. Not only does this program provide unbiased metrics of all your vendors on one screen, but it’s also free and easy to use. Vendors that focus on first-generation leads rely on such programs to give GMs an alternative to counting leads and to hold their services accountable. Making the switch may seem intimidating, but if you’re ready to increase your conversion rate and profits, there is no better way to do so. The next time you have a meeting with your group, ask them about vendors who work with Google Analytics or similar programs and generate first-generation leads. Doing so is the key to ensuring your store’s success.
