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Buying a car is, more than likely, the second biggest purchase a person makes in life. 

To better understand that statement, think about the first significant purchase. Consumers spend months researching and searching for the perfect fit for their lives and families. Incredible amounts of money are spent on homes in America. Countless television series is dedicated to home buying, improvement, and restoration. Home furnishing stores are everywhere. 

Is a car buying all that different?

While budgets span a tremendous range, a person is looking at spending thousands of dollars no matter how you slice it. Today, 92% of car buyers research online before they buy. So before a customer ever walks into your store, there’s been a time commitment on their part already. A car is a significant buy!

The turnover rate at dealerships has reached an unsustainable point. According to JMA Group, “the employee turnover rate in the automotive industry is 46%, an all-time high.” That staggering percentage is taking an overall snapshot of the dealership. When you examine individual departments, the situation is grimmer. As of 2019, pre-pandemic, annual turnover for service advisors came in at 49%, while yearly turnover for sales consultants was at 80%.

Who better to focus your efforts on than the prospect in your backyard? Local marketing is a form of both traditional and digital marketing that dealerships need to be heavily involved in, if they want to compete for the market share of the automotive industry, in 2021. 

As much as we’d like to, we can’t all approach 2021 with arms crossed, waiting patiently. We’ve got to be on our toes, arms wide open, to every possible lead. Despite the cold, it’s time to take off the mittens and embrace the metaphorical snowball of online car buying. (Unless you live in the North; then you should definitely keep the mittens—frostbite is no joke.) 

When it comes to using Vehicle Personalization to increase revenue, there is more than one way to skin this highly accessorized cat. Offering accessories at the point-of-sale is sure to add to your front end gross, so what about using accessories to get the customer in the door in the first place? Here are some ideas. 

Here's hoping 2021 won't throw us for quite the loop that 2020 did while we prepare for precisely that. Now is the time to get in the game with these evolving automotive marketing trends.

What can one of the most popular burger joints teach your dealership about Vehicle Personalization?

Simple: everybody wants it their way. Personalization is king, and customizing is always a good idea. Right now, dealerships everywhere need all the good ideas to adapt to the times—such as building packages that allow you to display your brand’s personality—while enticing customers. Custom packages can be fluid, seasonal, brand loyal, fun, quirky, and a host of other things. 

As COVID-19 shut down America as we knew it, extroverts all across America found themselves taking refuge in their cars. What started with just taking a drive, turned into eating take-out in the driveway. Before we knew what was happening, kids’ birthday parties morphed into drive-by parades. Campgrounds closed and truck beds became the go-to spot for a night under the stars.

YouTube offers tremendous opportunities for dealers. By observing a few Internet video best practices, you can promote vehicles, sell accessories, and build a fan base from this one platform. Here are two examples of auto dealers that promote vehicles and sell accessories with video that we can all learn from.

When it comes to marketing your accessories business online, content is king. Whether you have an off-road or performance shop looking to grow your local accessories business, or a dealership trying to increase new car buyer accessories sales, content is key to your marketing goals.

In this article, we want to share some successful content marketing strategies that are designed to boost visits to your website via organic search. However, the content described below will also help you market your business on social media, and give you some great info to share in an email newsletter.