This is not a discount. It can be in the form of an article, graphic, or other educational material for your customers to download. The content should answer common questions and objections of your customers. Here are some ideas:
- The Ultimate Used Car Buying Guide
- 5 Questions to Ask your Used Car Dealer Before you Buy
- Demystifying Dealer Financing
- Used Car Shopping Checklist
Next, you’re going to put that offer front and center on your website. When people click on that offer, you ask them for their email address so that you can send them the free offer. This works on the age old principle of reciprocity – you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. When they give you their email address, this should be hooked up to your internet lead management software to help turn that lead into a customer.
Email is one of the most effective free ways to promote the offer.
In fact, an average of 20% of emails you send to prospects will be clicked as opposed to just 1% of pay-per-click advertisements. First, you want to setup an email campaign in your CRM. Schedule an email to go out every week until the lead closes or un-enrolls. The emails should be informative and helpful just like your offer. After the first few, you’ve got them warmed up and it’s safe to start using “buyer ready” offers like financing deals, discounts, etc.
Related Blog Post: 5 Email Marketing Tips for Dealers
3.5 billion searches each day.
You want your offer to get picked up in the search engines by potential buyers (Google alone has over 3.5 billion searches per day). Create a blog to write about the topics covered in your offer and make sure to link to a webpage with your offer at the end of the blog post. The best place to do this is on your website, but if you don’t have one Google Blogger is a good place to start.
Share your offer with the world.
Most dealerships that use social media never show a return. But that’s because they are treating it as yet another outbound method – a platform to advertise about your sales and inventory. The most effective way to use social, is to create one-on-one conversations with prospects. For example, do a quick search on Twitter for “need help buying a car” or “what is the safest car”. Essentially, you are looking for a question that your offer will answer. Then, tweet at the person with the offer. This is not the time to sell them, rather the time to help them. If you succeed in helping them, the sale will follow. If you struggle with social media, hire a college intern or put a greenhorn on it – it’s like second nature to them.
Summary
As outbound marketing becomes more difficult and expensive, auto dealerships are finding success by adopting the secret concepts of inbound marketing for automotive lead generation.
Frequently asked questions
Questions About This Topic
What is inbound marketing, and how does it differ from outbound tactics like cold calls and direct mail?
Inbound marketing brings leads to the dealership without paying for advertising, by offering something of genuine value that attracts interested buyers on its own, unlike outbound "interruption" marketing such as cold calls, direct mail, or unsolicited online posts.
What kind of free "offer" can a dealership create to generate inbound leads?
Educational content such as an article, checklist, or guide that answers customers' common questions and objections. Examples given include an ultimate used car buying guide, a list of questions to ask a dealer before buying, or a used car shopping checklist, offered in exchange for an email address.
How effective is email compared to pay-per-click advertising for promoting an offer, according to the post?
An average of 20 percent of emails sent to prospects get clicked, compared with just 1 percent for pay-per-click ads, making email one of the most effective free ways to promote an offer once a weekly nurture campaign is set up through a CRM.
What's the most effective way to use social media for lead generation, according to the post?
Create one-on-one conversations rather than treating social media as another outbound advertising channel. For example, searching for people asking questions like "need help buying a car" and replying with a genuinely helpful offer rather than a sales pitch.
