Every year, as soon as the third quarter comes to an end, the floodgates seem to open with the customers being in generous moods. It seems almost like without any warning, there are now a number of businesses that rush to cash in on the spending frenzies. The end of the year is a busy time, filled with gatherings, travel, and holidays. Many business owners get caught up in the business side of things and neglect the marketing. The end of the year is one of the best times to finish strong, while also preparing for an even more profitable first quarter of the new year. It takes great marketing and advertising to establish brand authority and identity that cuts through all the noise that all consumers are exposed to. In order for you to make the most out of this season, you have to create a clear marketing plan to get your business to garner the most sales possible. If you feel like your current marketing strategies haven’t cut it, then don’t fret, because we’ve got a list of the best strategies to get you a successful lead generation. Here are 9 marketing strategies to lead you into 2019.
- Launch A Flash Marketing Strategy
Starting from Black Friday and Cyber Monday, there’s a plethora of deals and savings around every corner until New Years Day. It’s certain that your competitors are already doing it, so you need to get started as soon as possible to double or triple your sales. Most businesses at this point have almost run out of their marketing funds. Instead, you can try to create partnerships with other players in order to leverage your brand’s presence. You should consider using Google Advertising (Google AdWords) and Facebook Advertising to greatly increase brand awareness about all your year-end sales. Social advertising was in face one of the biggest marketing trends in the automotive industry for 2018. The effective use of Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, and other popular platforms goes further than simply posting up pictures of the new vehicles on the lot or sharing images of happy and satisfied customers. For example, Facebook ads in specific allow precise consumer targeting.
- Optimize Your Interest Targeting and Keywords
Are you aware of the online search behavior changes of your consumers at the end of the year? During the holiday period, keywords with mobile searches grow up to 70%. So, you can try to change your Google AdWords search campaign’s bidding strategy to work well for the end of the year.
- Boost The Number Of Prospecting Phone Calls
You should recheck all the potential leads and give them all a call. It’s one of the most straightforward ways to close the deal as both sides get answers from the conversations instantly. It can very well be that the phone call is the critical push needed for your customers to decide. So, remember to not miss up following up any leads from your lists.
- Get Smart About Discount Pricing Strategies
Everyone loves low prices. But, for businesses, it doesn’t mean that you need to seel at the lowest price possible in your niche market. In fact, as the buying sentiment is high during the holiday season, you should try to create new bundles of your products and/or services and avoid price wars. You can also choose to create various discount methods, contests, discount codes, and vouchers to close more sales. Don’t forget to give away pre-sales promotions.
- Create Special Holiday-Themed Giveaways
Just as people love low prices, they also love free things. Every dealer should try to create some giveaways for their loyal customers. Regardless of whether its a big discount on a new car purchase, free services (e.g. oil change), or cash prizes, giveaways are proven to bring a large number of potential leads to the lot. You can also offer promotional products, such as branded cups, carabiners, stickers, license plate frames, and similar items. Don’t be afraid to try out a few ideas to try and see what works for your customer base best.
- Host Some Events
If events are promoted right, any event can help your dealership to achieve a wide range of goals, while also establishing strong customer loyalty, increase car sales, attract people to the lot, and lay a strong foundation for all future and current consumers. They also increase your dealership visibility.
- Community Engagement
Interacting with your community can sow many rewards for your dealership. Whether you choose to partner up with a local non-competing business that is serving a similar demographic, advertising a town holiday parade, or supporting a local charity, your community has limitless opportunities for you to broaden awareness of your brand. So, you should always be on the lookout for engaging with people in your community as it can be great for your marketing and advertising goals.
- Customer Testimonials
Testimonials from your customers can be one of the best and most effective advertisements for your dealership. Even though they are not supposed to be ‘advertsiements’, that is what they end up being. For example, when it comes to picking a restaurant, hiring a plumber, or even choosing a dealership, reviews are one of the most important things that prospective customers look at. In addition to that, they also matter greatly on search engines as well. By building your consumer reviews on Google helps you to get a better rank in organic search results and local pack.
- Mobile Ads
With consumers nowadays spending more and more time researching on their phones and tablets, it’s important for your dealership to be visible to them on their smart devices. If you don’t, then you’re falling behind in today’s mobile-first shopping landscape. Chances are that you’ve already either created your strategy or chosen to follow the same strategy as the previous years holiday season. Though there isn’t anything wrong with that route, you might miss on some important and key strategies by continuing to do so. With the rapidly advancing technology now available to us at our fingertips, it would be remiss if we did not use it to its fullest potential. The marketing strategies that we’ve outlined above are compiled to offer you the best strategy possible to squeeze in a few additional sales before the year ends. If in doubt, tie everything up in your marketing strategy with holiday themes. Try to do something special for your current list of customers by using a variety of methods to engage with them. In the end, you should also aim to get social with your customers. It’s the holiday season that’s known for bringing people together in celebration.
References: Personal Branding Blog, Convince and Convert
