Are you having a hard time retaining customers? Do you spend lots of money advertising, but attract all the wrong people? These are signs that it may be time to reevaluate your marketing. But where do you start? How do you know what is broken in your marketing? Today we’ll share four tips to help you spring into effective marketing to reach your ideal customer.
Start by Identifying Your Ideal Customer
Seems pretty simple, right? Well, it’s actually a little more complicated than you might think. If you have no idea where to start, look to your OEM. In the auto industry, all OEMs have some kind of a target demographic and this provides your dealership a great place to start. From there, you’ll want to look at your in-market demographics and determine if they match your OEMs. If they do, great, your work is done! If not, well then you’ll have some more work to do. Look inside your DMS; what do you know about your buyers? Do they have a particular credit score, income level, gender, zip code, age range, etc.?
Create Your Unique Selling Proposition
The customers who come back to your dealership for their vehicle needs have a specific reason for doing so. They may like your staff, find you conveniently located, feel comfortable with the services you provide, or even think you are the most efficient for their pocket books. Whatever the reason is, you have to determine what your unique selling proposition is. What makes you different from your competition? Why do your customers come to you? If you don’t know, it may be time to start asking your loyal customers.
Determine the Best Channels for Marketing
Honestly, this step is pretty easy once you’ve identified your ideal customer. Most of the time, the demographics of your ideal customer will tell you how to best reach them. For example, if your ideal customers are women ages 19-49 who are middle income in a suburban community, you can actually find studies on Google that will tell you how this demographic responds to email, direct mail, or even how much time they spend on social media and to which social properties they subscribe.
Craft Your Marketing Message
The last step in evaluating your current marketing is ensuring your message speaks to your ideal customer. Creating relevant marketing for your audience is key to getting their attention and attracting them to your dealership. But, you also have to think about the communication channels you will use to reach this audience. Be sure that your message speaks to your ideal customers, includes your unique selling proposition, and is tailored to the chosen delivery channel.
If your current marketing is not working, then it may be time to make a switch. These four easy to implement ideas are a great way to spring into effective marketing to reach your ideal customers.