Have you ever attempted to organize a meal for a family gathering? I’ve never seen anarchy spread so quickly as it does when I observe the many viewpoints on where and what everyone should eat flying around the room.

Strangely enough, I’ve witnessed the same kind of mayhem when marketing teams attempt to devise a plan that wins over all stakeholders. There is a method to prevent pandemonium in both scenarios, from confrontational pointing and opinionated discussions to rising voices and hands on hips:

Direction (and a lot more of it).

More dealership executives need to be active in marketing so they can communicate, set expectations for the intended result, and establish the standards for how everyone should do their task. Otherwise, things become crazy.

Having said that, there are a few crucial elements to make sure marketing teams and dealership executives develop the best strategy possible.

Refrain from firing from the hip!

Do you recall the moment from “Alice in Wonderland” where the Cheshire Cat greets Alice as she comes at a fork in the road?

Alice: Could you kindly advise me on the best course of action from here?

Cat: Well, that really depends on your destination!

Alice: It really doesn’t matter where

Cat: Then, it makes no difference either direction you turn.

As long as I get anywhere, Alice

Cat: Well, if you walk for long enough, you’ll definitely accomplish it.

What am I trying to say?

Too frequently, marketing departments and agencies put tactics into practice without knowing what their goals are. Leaders don’t usually communicate anything more than “sell more cars,” which, regrettably, doesn’t give teams enough of a foundation to thrive.

Conversely, the majority of agencies implement generic outputs that infrequently take into account the distinctive qualities of their dealership partners.

Dealers discover, after months of “work,” that the adage “shooting from the hip” has left them at a crossroads—a place they got to, but not where they truly meant to go.

This brings up the following point…

2. Record the desired result.

Success is defined by Merriam-Webster as a “favorable or desired outcome…”

Determining what your dealership considers “favorable and desired” is the only way to succeed in marketing in a fast-paced business like automotives.

Recall that it needs to go beyond simply “selling more cars.” It has to be made more explicit and the processes needed to get there need to be laid out.

By doing this, we will be able to break free from the 30-day cycles that currently confine us to subpar productivity and results.

Throughout my more than two decades in the automobile industry, one thing I’ve learned is how important it is to define objectives and create quantifiable, time-based goals.

3. Organizing and Putting into Practice

Success in marketing demands people who can take the plan and put it into action, even in situations where the leader sets the tone.

Few people take the time to carefully lay out their road map for success, which frequently results in expensive detours and future repairs.

Teams should map out the resources, personnel, and phase lines that should be used along the way throughout this stage of a marketing strategy, as well as any potential obstacles and how to overcome them.

4. Speak Up As If Your Life Depended On It!

I’ll say it again here, as I’ve stated a million times already: If you think you are overcommunicating in the context of today’s communication standards (with all the texting, snapping, and direct messaging), I assure you that you are actually barely communicating at all!

An effective marketing strategy’s foundation is communication. Long, drawn-out meetings are not necessary. Regular standups can help keep the team cohesive, everyone going in the same direction, and unneeded arguments over dinner avoided.

Find Out More About Putting a Winning Marketing Strategy Into Practice

‘Breaking The Status Quo As A Car Dealer with Ed Roberts’ is the audio episode that delves deeper into this topic and offers additional insightful analysis. We explore the topic of Putting a Winning Marketing Strategy into Practice in more detail.

5. Accept Optimization of Conversion Rate (CRO)

It takes more than just your tools and resources to succeed in marketing. It all depends on how you employ those resources and tools. In the retail vehicle sector, shiny object syndrome is true, but conversion rate optimization is like polishing that old pair of sneakers and falling in love all over again.

To put it simply, CRO is the process of finding parts of a website that have room to improve or convert more, making the necessary adjustments, and then waiting the necessary length of time to see if the changes have produced the desired outcomes.

Making drastic modifications to advertisements or websites is standard practice in our sector, and this has a negative long-term impact on marketing performance.

Instead, it would be better for marketing teams (as well as cool-headed CEOs) to make assumptions about what small, incremental improvements could be made and then track the results of those changes.

Send us a message for a free consultation if this seems like too much work; we can assist!

The good news is that SimpSocial can provide the finest marketing strategy to help your dealership shine online.