Top 5 Trends for Canadian Automotive Marketing in 2011

Let me preface my blog post to say that if you’re going to read this looking for large scale global predictions for the OEMS you’ve come to the wrong place. No matter what sort of brand messaging and retail programs the corporate offices place into the market at the end of the day it’s the dealerships and their associations who have to move the metal, and service the vehicles. These trend predictions are for the folks in the trenches, Canadian dealers and their associations.

1. Digital marketing budgets will continue to grow – slowly but surely marketing budgets are steadily increasing for auto dealers and associations alike. Many dealers are starting to become more educated on how to measure their media spends which reveals larger waste rates against the impressions – digital marketers are being more transparent about ROI and reach – it still takes some convincing to dealers who have always relied on paper and radio but slowly but surely they are engaging in Paid Search and digital marketing. I should also add that as social media ROI evolves and Canadian dealers become more educated we may see that the spend shift accelerate faster than anticipated.
2. Dealers will pay more attention to their websites – I think there were dealers out there used to turn on a website and let it run like a beer fridge. It had good stuff in it but no one really paid much attention to it unless it broke (and even then they might not have noticed right away) and only stocked it with one item (inventory). Dealers are learning that by providing fresh content relevant to their industry not only helps their overall SEO, improving return rates, time on site but most customers will begin to view them as insightful, educated and trusted sources to engage when they’re ready to pick the right dealer to work through their next purchase with.
3. Reputation Management will be major focus in dealer’s social media strategies – reviews are all over the web now and the major search engines are indexing these reviews quite high, creating unique destinations to house the reviews (Google Places, Yahoo Local) and keeping them top of mind to a consumer. Therefore they need to be top of mind to dealers. New social tools are evolving as well; interesting products like Spreadable will also become a useful component to assist dealers increase word of mouth referrals.
4. Fixed Ops becomes more of a player in the dealership’s digital strategy – it’s becoming more and more apparent that Direct Mail is not working as hard as everyone had hoped for the parts & service departments. Dealerships are also taking into account that they are facing heavier doses of aggressive marketing from after-market and local mechanics/services. Smart Fixed Operations managers will begin to use a mix of Video SEO, social media tactics (such as Foursquare check-in offers) and smart email marketing to stay better connected to their customers, strengthen (or improve) their overall online/offline reputation and get better campaign measurements allowing them to be more agile in their marketing.
5. Mobile – As SmartPhones and Tablet computers grow in use consumers are even more connected to retail offers. QR code technology is allowing consumer to pick up quick relevant information on products to compare against other offers.

JD Rucker, a social, search, and marketing strategist recently wrote, “In the automotive industry, on the spot price and inventory comparisons are becoming more commonplace. Dealers in particular are faced with comparison shopping that happens on the lot. Having a mobile presence is quickly shifting from a nice option to a must have.

Compared to social media, mobile marketing adoption has grown much more slowly. However, as dealers see an increase in the number of people comparing deals live from the dealership, new ways to address the innovation are popping up.”

I think JD is spot on.

Although I labelled these 5 areas as “trends” they shouldn’t be confused with “fads”. The consumer controls the environment; these “trends” will be around a long time. If you’re dealership or dealer association isn’t dedicating more time to engaging the right people or agencies to help them develop (or fine tune) their digital strategies the only trend that will continue is your competition disappearing over the horizon.