The advent of the Internet has completely changed the way we communicate and how we research and purchase products; has made shopping easy. Instead of going to different physical stores to shop (often from limited options), one can browse through many websites quickly, right on their computer or cell phone. When it comes to buying cars, the first place potential buyers go is the Internet, and then they visit their local dealership.
To better understand the latest trends in online car buyer behavior, consider the following statistics:
• According to PEW Research, almost three out of four American adults use the Internet. It is an amazing resource for many people to research and purchase products as it is a hassle-free shopping approach.
• More and more people use the Internet to search for vehicles. Nearly 90 percent of consumers use the Internet to search for vehicles: Capgemini Online Car Study 2009/2010.
• According to JD Power and Associates, 68 percent of used car buyers and 77 percent of new car buyers use the Internet in their buying process.
• According to the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), nearly 90 percent of car buyers today use the Internet to help make purchasing decisions.
• Investments have increased steadily over the last few years in Internet marketing. According to an Autobytel survey, 93% of dealerships have increased their online marketing budgets in the last five years; over half (56%) have increased their online marketing budgets by 50% or more.
These numbers clearly show that it is more important than ever for car dealers to have an online presence. Despite this, some car dealers still spend only a fraction of their advertising budgets on online marketing.
Advantages of internet marketing over traditional marketing
A dealership that doesn’t use internet marketing is more likely to miss out on all these important potential buyers. If you are one of them, consider the following reasons why you should choose web marketing over traditional marketing.
One-on-one approach
Using Internet marketing, a distributor can personally send marketing messages to the target user. When a potential buyer browses the Internet, he or she usually visits online sites and refers to the products and services offered. This allows you to personally communicate with the dealer. In this way, a distributor can maintain direct contact with potential buyers.
Appeal to specific interests
Unlike traditional marketing, which reaches a broad demographic, web marketing appeals to a specific target audience or interests of individuals. Distributors can post ads and boost their websites with full knowledge of what the audience is interested in.
Better return on investment (ROI)
Car dealers spend hundreds (sometimes even thousands of dollars) on traditional advertising methods like television, radio, and print media. They still don’t have an accurate way to measure whether or not their target audience is paying attention. When it comes to internet marketing, a marketer can precisely target an audience and measure visitors without spending much. This means that a distributor can get an improved ROI by marketing online. An Autobytel survey shows that the Internet has provided the highest return on investment (ROI) for car dealers in the last 5 years. Almost 8 in 10 (79.5%) of those surveyed reported that the Internet has been their highest ROI. In contrast, only 7.5% (TV), 6.5% (newspapers), and 2.5% (radio) of respondents ranked traditional media first.
Effective cost
One of the great things about internet marketing is that you don’t need a huge investment to get started. It is a very cheap and fast way to promote a dealership. This is not the case with traditional marketing, which is very expensive and takes more time to show results. When compared to the ratio of cost to target audience reach, web marketing is much cheaper than traditional marketing. With a small fraction of the traditional marketing budget, a dealership can reach a wide audience.
advertising 24/7
A dealership can promote a vehicle or service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year through Internet marketing, which is not possible with traditional marketing. The moment a distributor implements an online marketing campaign, the distributor’s products or services will be on the air 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This medium allows consumers to research and purchase products and services at their convenience and comfort. This advantage of attracting consumers can quickly generate quality results.
makes you globalize
The main advantage of internet marketing is its ability to make your dealership global. By advertising on the Internet, a dealership can capture the attention of people from all over the world. At no additional cost, a dealer can promote their products or services globally. Traditional marketing is time consuming and a very expensive way to go global.
geolocation
Car dealers can effectively take advantage of the internet marketing medium as it allows ads to be very precisely targeted to the search location; helps target a specific geographic location. A distributor can target a specific city, state, or country. Although not geographically limited, a reseller can restrict services to certain locations.
Given the latest trends in car buyer behavior and the advantages over traditional media, it is critical that car dealers re-evaluate their advertising strategies and focus more on internet marketing.