The Ultimate Ad Placement Method: John’s Auto Buyer Journey
It is more crucial than ever to reach out to potential vehicle buyers where they are online in today’s technologically advanced environment.
Furthermore, it is no surprise that today’s sophisticated shoppers spend time on social media, just like their mothers, coworkers, and best friends.
In fact, the typical user of Facebook and Instagram looks through nearly 300 feet of mobile information each day. That is comparable to the Statue of Liberty’s size!
Dealers may therefore get their brand and promotional content on prime visual real estate with every swipe of their thumb.
Sure, Facebook has made it simpler than ever to run ads on social networks with its wealth of tools and handy “Boost” button. However, strategy is what sets the greatest converting ad campaigns apart from the others.
Particularly, strategically utilizing various ad formats with smart messages all along the auto-buying process.
The Auto Buyer’s Experience
According to Cox Automotive, buyers are only in the market for cars for slightly longer than 3 months.
This means that, in a constrained length of time, your dealership must carefully move an auto shopper from awareness to consideration to conversion, or else just hope you get fortunate.
The majority of advertisers simply interact with consumers through one to three messages, assuming the timing and content are appropriate.
Although this approach has a chance of success, there is a much more effective approach.
Introducing “The Auto Buyer’s Journey,” where dealers consistently nab the ideal customer, the ideal message, and the ideal moment.
We’re going to follow an example car consumer avatar, “John,” from his first vehicle research to his eventual conversion at your dealership.
Remember that John’s example journey is quite particular since it takes into account his particular interests, proclivities, and stage in the buyer journey. Consider different prospects who might fit into each stage as you go through John’s experience and consider the messages you would send to them. This is where the magic really happens… lead generation for the entire monthly ad budget.
John, a 36-year-old man, wants to buy an F-150. John belongs to your target audience, but he hasn’t used your dealership, isn’t in your CRM, and hasn’t browsed your website.
Just recently, he began conducting research on independent websites like Edmund’s and Autotrader. After doing some research, John decides he wants a brand-new, white or gray F-150 that costs between $40,000 and $50,000.
Spreading Knowledge About Your Dealership
We now know that John is an in-market shopper in your PMA who is looking at new F-150s thanks to Facebook and third-party data.
At this time, we might send John advertisements together with your F-150 inventory.
But if you start showing John “Sales-y” advertisements right away, before you’ve even had an opportunity to introduce your dealership, it’s similar to proposing marriage to someone before you even know their name. And that’s simply incorrect.
When John logs onto Facebook or Instagram the following time, you want to grab his attention right away by running interesting ads that introduce John to your dealership.
These advertisements ought to incorporate “Why Buy” message outlining the benefits that would persuade John to buy from you as opposed to your rivals.
receiving “Consideration” Stage
John has learned about your dealership and has been responding to your awareness advertisements by like, commenting, and watching videos.
You intend to accomplish the following three tasks in this phase: Encourage John’s interest in the F-150, tell him about current promotions for the F-150, and display your real-time inventory of F-150s.
John will click on these advertisements to go to your SRPs, which will cause a View Content event to be sent back to Facebook.
We’ll now start displaying to him all of your dealership’s available live inventory.
We will be certain that John is prepared to make a purchase after he interacts with your ads and either visits a video direct response (VDP) on your website or one on Facebook.
We must retarget John if he leaves your VDPs without converting, though, in order to keep your store at the forefront of his mind until he makes a choice.
Continue enforcing the qualities that set your store distinct from other dealerships. Bringing John Back With Retargeting 1.
At this point, “sales-y” advertisements should take precedence but don’t forget to keep telling John what makes your store unique.
Building John’s trust via references from customers, honors and recognition, and your community involvement are all surefire strategies to succeed.
2. Remain current and politely request a lead conversion.
You definitely don’t want to retarget John with a bright blue F-150 that is out of his price range if he is looking at neutral color F-150s between $40 and $50k.
Instead, use all of the comparable goods you have in stock to retarget John with the precise VIN he viewed.
Ask John to submit a lead straight on Facebook to apply for financing, schedule a test drive, or schedule a VIP appointment when his shopping adventure is at its most intense.
You can give John a seamless experience without long page loads, pop-ups, or other interruptions by using On-Facebook Lead Ads.
Did you realize? Many agencies and dealerships run lead ads either too soon or too long, wasting your advertising budget. You may get the most out of your money by just approaching John for a lead conversion three to seven days after he left your VDP, when his journey is at its peak.
Your team will see John’s information entered into the CRM as soon as he raises his hand and submits it, putting you one step closer to the sale.
Accounting for The Sale
Say John never filled out a Facebook lead form, but he still came in and purchased the new truck.
How can we link your Facebook campaigns to that unit sale?
Dealers don’t have to guess anymore thanks to Facebook’s Offline Conversion tool.
You can easily monitor the number of customers that viewed or clicked a Facebook ad before to making a purchase by uploading your sales report to Facebook (or using our fantastic new dashboard).
Click here to read more about Facebook Matchbacks.
This will enable you to stop speculating and start making better choices with your advertising budget by providing you with fast information about your return on ad spend and cost per unit sold.
John’s journey with your dealership, however, is not yet over.
Clients For Life
You can now conduct service and promotion campaigns to John and the rest of your existing customer base as John has been recorded in your CRM as a successful transaction.
We can keep your dealership on John’s timetable by driving fixed operations revenue and eventually starting to reengage him with trade-in incentives to lure him back into your store to make another purchase.
Now that John’s journey has come full circle and he is a die-hard supporter of your dealership, get a testimonial and use it as an advertisement for prospective customers that you run into while they are on their auto shopping excursion.
Nothing fosters trust like personal recommendations, which is why it’s crucial to maintain these connections even after a transaction has been completed. One individual can bring connections that you never know about!
The Adventure Never Ends…
You are now aware of every interaction that occurs along the auto buyer’s journey.
There are several chances to make each touch point more effective in order to convert a potential customer (and everyone they know!) into an enthusiastic fan.
Internet users spend an average of 144 minutes per day on social media, making Facebook and Instagram a haven for digital marketers. Furthermore, 86% of consumers prefer to interact with businesses after making a purchase, and 63% of automobile buyers find new models online.
These tactics can help your business increase local recognition, boost engagement, gather qualified leads, and make the most of your advertising budget—from prospecting and retargeting to nurturing the connection (and revenue) after the sale.
If your company isn’t utilizing digital marketing across the marketing funnel, your competitor could easily win the business of your local audience with just one click.
Ready to learn more using examples from the real world? View this video to witness the process of purchasing a car in action.
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