Why Intercepting the Customer Sooner is the Key to Market Share
This session, originally presented by C-4 Analytics on the Digital Dealer platform, argues that the hard part of digital retailing is not the act of digital retailing itself, but the second-order effects that will now wreak havoc on your existing digital marketing strategies.
The 100-year-old, face-to-face sales model was broken in a matter of weeks by necessity. Now that the digital retailing train is on the tracks, dealers are surrendering control of the user experience to third-party platforms. To succeed in this new world, you must shift your marketing immediately.
The New Challenge: Loss of Control
The history of automotive digital marketing shows a pattern: first, websites replaced brochures (Cobalt/CDK); now, digital retailing is replacing the negotiation process.
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Surrendering the Experience: Digital retailing platforms take prospects off your website. All the effort and energy invested in building out your site's conversion and content is bypassed by a simple click that funnels the customer into the digital retailer's cloud.
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The Problem: If you wait for the customer to click through from the manufacturer's site or a lower-funnel search, you are waiting to be a brief middle man. You have lost the ability to control the user experience when it matters most.
The Winning Strategy: Intercept and Frame the Conversation
You must outrun your competitors by getting there first. You have to create a relationship with the customer before they enter the digital retailing funnel.
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Go Up-Funnel, Immediately: Do not trust the manufacturer to carry the upper funnel for you. You must create the relationship first by targeting customers earlier in their 87-day research cycle. Meet them at the "Is it right for me?" and "Which car is best?" moments.
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Frame the Conversation: Intercepting the shopper sooner allows you to set the argument. If you know they are a safety buyer or a tech buyer (through available data), use targeted display ads to bring them to a relevant page on your site, creating a nascent sense of loyalty.
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Outrun the Competition: Because every competitor is adopting a digital retailing platform, your unique advantage is getting the customer to latch onto you first. You must convince them why they should buy from you before they enter the abyss where all dealer options look equal.
The Inevitable Catch: Vendor Conflict
This strategy will only work if your partners are fully committed to your success.
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Don't Trust Conflicted Vendors: Trusting a conflicted vendor who is also supporting your on-brand competitors is folly. They are unwilling to steal market share for you, even with the best campaign strategies.
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Hyper-Localize: You must go beyond templated campaigns. Your marketing has to be hyper-local and customized to your specific market, inventory, and competitive landscape to win the customers that matter.
The ultimate takeaway is that market share is there to gain. You must be agile, go up-funnel, and create relationships now, because once the customer is transacting online, they are not going back.
Watch the Full Webinar
For a deeper dive into these topics and to hear directly from Rob Stoesser, Vice President of OEM, watch the full webinar below.