Marketing Strategies For Automotive Industry

These are the top marketing strategies for Automotive Industry

As digital marketing specialists in the automotive niche, we have compiled a report showing the top digital marketing strategies for automotive industry. This covers businesses ranging from car part retailers to MOT centres, repairs specialists and more.

In this article, we will show you where others in the automotive industry are currently focusing their marketing efforts and how you can better prioritise your own automotive marketing to increase your sales and return on investment (ROI).

In this article we will cover:

• Marketing Strategies for automotive industry
• Inbound Marketing
• Outbound Marketing
• Types of Marketing Strategies

Marketing Strategies for Automotive Industries

Anyone in the automotive industry knows how potentially overwhelming and daunting the process of deciding on the correct auto marketing strategies to implement for their business can be.

We reached out to businesses in the automotive industry and asked them what their main marketing strategies are.

We found the majority of automotive brands focused more on inbound marketing than outbound marketing. The results can be seen below;

As you can see from the data above, the majority of these companies marketing efforts are focusing on Inbound marketing. This is because it’s the area with the highest growth potential today.

What is Inbound Marketing and Outbound Marketing?

Inbound Marketing: Is any marketing tactic that’s focused on attracting customers to your website or store with helpful and informative content at every stage of your customer’s purchase cycle (also known as customer buying process). This generally targets those who are specifically looking for a service or product but are not aware of your brand.

As you can see from the inbound marketing path, the key goals of this process are to turn a searcher to a visitor to a customer to then becoming someone who is promoting your brand themselves.

Outbound Marketing: the majority of outbound marketing tactics are to place your brand’s information in traditional ads in newspapers, radio, TV and more. This style of marketing is interruptive and does have it’s drawbacks. For example, it does not always target those who are explicitly looking to purchase and therefore may be ignored.

Types of marketing strategies for automotive industry (Digital Marketing)

• SEO – To increase traffic from search engines through organic means
• PPC – Increase traffic from search engines through paid ads
• PR – Increase press exposure for your business
• Social Media Marketing – Create and build customer relationships
• Content Marketing – Increase traffic with various channels
• Affiliate Marketing – Increase sales & leads
• Influencer Marketing – Increase exposure from influencers in your niche

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) For Automotive Businesses

The main aim of automotive SEO is to drive more organic traffic to your website. In simple terms, this means getting your website to show up on Google and other search engines (preferably on page one) for keywords that your potential customers are searching for.

PPC (Pay Per Click) For Automotive Businesses

The aim of PPC is to drive more traffic to your website by having it show up in within the paid ads on search engines. These are often the very first results you see at the top of a Google search page – the listings with the little ‘Ad’ symbol next to the website. Being listed in these gives your website a prominent position in the search results and attracts more clicks.

PR (Press Release) For Automotive Businesses

PR is using the press and other media organisations – local, national, or international – to earn more exposure for your brand, and to get your name in front of relevant people. This is often done by capitalising on industry developments or company milestones.

Social Media Marketing For Automotive Industry

Social media marketing is reaching out to more of your potential customers by connecting and engaging with them via the social media websites that they are using. This may include having a presence on everything from Facebook, Twitter & Instagram to Pinterest, Snapchat, and even more niche social networking platforms.

Content Marketing For Automotive Industry

Content marketing is the process of increasing brand exposure and traffic numbers through the creation and marketing of high-quality content that your potential customers want or need. This could be through a series of blog posts, infographics or even videos.

Affiliate Marketing For Automotive Industry

Affiliate marketing is a great way to get others outside of your company to help you with your marketing and sales. This is done through having people sign up to your own affiliate program and paying a commission to those who help drive sales of your product or service.

Influencer Marketing For Automotive Industry

Influencer marketing is designed to help you increase brand exposure and get your products out in front of a relevant audience who may be looking to buy from you. This is done by forming relationships with the biggest digital influencers in your industry.

These are just some of the main digital marketing strategies used by a wide array of businesses in the Automotive industry.

Keep up to Date With The Latest Automotive Marketing Trends

Like any industry, digital marketing trends are fast-paced and the automotive industry is no different. If anything it’s faster. Car manufacturers are constantly releasing new models, and car part retailers have to keep up with demand for the owners of these cars.

However, the biggest shifts in trends are how people find you. People now go online to research at every stage of the buying process. Take a look at the image below, to see how this applies to car dealerships.

The biggest automotive trend we’ve seen for car dealerships over the last couple of years has no doubt been video. Hands up if you’ve enquired about a vehicle online, and the dealer has sent you a video of a walkthrough of the vehicle? This is something Audi is very good at. As a matter of fact, you can now have videos on Autotrader listings. Pretty cool, right?

The same applies to parts and repairs too, examples, guides and demonstrations are all huge right now.

Of course, there are more trends than just video changing the way people search for your products. That’s why it’s absolutely vital you get your brand on as many channels as possible.

Conclusion

Incorporating digital marketing strategies for the automotive industry isn’t just about driving more people to your online shop or car dealership, it also needs to increase conversion rates and increase your ROI, which is the key to any successful digital marketing strategy.

If you’d like to find out more about incorporating automotive digital marketing techniques, then please contact us to find out how we can help you find the right marketing strategies to help you reach your businesses goals.