Positioning your dealership on Search and Social Media

When speaking recently with a dealer friend, we got on the subject of brand awareness. His auto group consists of nearly a dozen stores concentrated in one metropolitan area. They have been around for some time now and naturally they are a well-known brand in their physical geo market. However when we got on the subject of brand awareness in Search, my friend did not seem to correlate a difference between his online brand awareness versus off line.

Take note of the use of the word “naturally”. This auto group naturally is well known in the physical geo market because they have been around for many years persistently advertising on television, radio, and print. Through the years this dealer has poured probably millions of dollars into off line or geo physical market advertising without blinking an eye. He [they, really] know people are physically out there and they know that their advertising and exposure will gain them increasing awareness through the years. Advertising their name to these markets is a no-briner.

So how do we translate this concept into Search? You can’t see people in Search unless you look at search statistics. You don’t know where people in Search are like you know where people on a highway are every day, unless you perform extensive research. Dealers are comfortable with getting leads from known brands such as AutoTrader.com and Cars.com because they know that people go there to find cars and that if their autos are not up there then those people will not find them. What dealers do not seem to consider is that this only gets their name in front of people actively engaged in a cars search, i.e. in-market.

Lead generation advertising does not give car dealers exposure to out-of-market (future) buyers AND it does not build directly on their own brand. So basically dealers are paying thousands of dollars to have at chance at appearing in front of a limited market in hopes to obtain a quality lead that is typically arriving because someone is interested in the advertised price and/or vehicle information and equipment.

Leads have little to do with the buyer’s interest or concern in the actual business of the dealership.

What all this boils down to is that if your name is not well-positioned in Search or Social Media then you are not gaining valuable exposure to in-market and out-of-market buyers. You also are not building a lasting online reputation. Search Engine Brand Marketing helps to accomplish these things. It is a viable compliment to your other forms of online advertising such as lead generation and pay-per-click advertising.

[tags]automotive marketing, internet marketing, search engine marketing, online brand awareness, car dealer marketing, generating leads, car buyers, auto shoppers, social media, organic search[/tags]