Here’s a situation for you.

You’re sitting in your brand-new car, which you just drove off the dealership lot. You pull into your driveway and begin to set up all your new vehicle’s technology features, like the driver information center, Bluetooth hookup, Pandora Radio, and more.

You try to figure out the setup process by fumbling through it yourself. When that proves unsuccessful, you turn to the owner’s manual.

Unfortunately, the manual has vague instructions with few images — or worse, no setup instructions at all.

This situation is all too familiar for car buyers today. As technology and safety features develop in new vehicle models, the need has never been greater for helpful and relevant user instructions.

This need for better user instructions is the perfect opportunity for auto dealerships to engage with car shoppers in a personalized way using dealership video marketing.  

Engaging your customers with dealership walk-around videos about topics they are interested in is a core aspect of inbound marketing for auto dealerships.

Not sure where to begin? We have five tips to making successful and educational walk-around videos that will add value to your dealership’s digital marketing plan.

What Is a Dealership Walk-Around Video?

Let’s start with the basics. What exactly is a dealership walk-around video?

While this form of automotive video marketing may be called a “walk-around dealership video,” you don’t need to physically shoot the video while walking around your entire dealership.

The topic of your walk-around video can be basically anything relating to your dealership — inventory, employees, special events, and more!

You don’t need to spend 15 minutes showing off your entire dealership. All you need is three to four minutes and a topic that will educate and engage your current and potential customers.

5 Tips for Creating a Successful Walk-Around Video

So what does it take to create a good great walk-around video?

Here are five tips to keep in mind while creating marketing videos for your auto dealership.

1. Figure Out Logistics First

Before you shoot your entire video, it’s important to address a few logistical items.

Sound and lighting are easy things to test before shooting your entire video. Take a 30-second test video, and watch it to see if the sound and lighting are what you want. Beware of shooting outside, as wind, sun, and shadows can all affect the quality of a video.

If you’re shooting your auto dealership video with your iPhone or Android and are worried about picking up quality sound, try investing in some type of lav mic. These inexpensive microphones can be attached to iPhones and Androids to can help pick up sound and improve the quality of your dealership’s video.

Another logistical tip is to shoot the video in landscape mode. Always.

The human eye is designed to see the world in widescreen. Although holding your phone in vertical mode may be easier, think about how you would want to watch a video. Landscape mode, right?

2. Use Humans

If you want to create a more personalized car-buying experience, you’ll need to use humans in your dealership videos. This means featuring someone’s face instead of using an off-camera narrator.  

For example, if your dealership is making a how-to video on connecting Bluetooth to a vehicle, have someone from your dealership introduce themselves at the beginning of the video.

Your audience will be able to put a face with a name, making the video automatically more engaging and credible.

3. Make It Easy for Viewers to Follow Along

If you’re making a how-to video that lays out instructions, keep in mind that many people will try to perform the setup process while watching the video.

Try to pause for approximately five seconds after each step you explain in the video. This gives your audience time to perform the task themselves.

Without effective pauses, a customer may be need to re-watch the video multiple times in order to complete the setup, potentially causing frustration.

To give your video an extra boost, try incorporating textual overlays. You don’t need to insert subtitles throughout the entire video, but adding text for important steps can make your video even more helpful for viewers.

4. Brand Your Dealership

Making great videos that educate and inform your audience is awesome, but these videos won’t benefit your dealership if you don’t brand yourself effectively.

It’s important for people viewing your dealership marketing videos to know that your auto dealership is the one providing this helpful and educational content.

Begin your video with a shot of your store from the outside. This is a good way to set the stage and gives the audience a visual idea of your location.

The person from your dealership who is speaking in the video should also introduce themselves and their role at the dealership, like this:

“Hi, everyone! My name is Matt Marketing, sales manager here at Matt’s Autos. Today I’m going to give you a close-up look at the newest features of the 2018 Chevy Silverado.”

You’ll also want to mention your auto dealership at the end of the video by getting the audience to take some kind of action. This could include checking out your dealership’s website, stopping by the dealership to look at your inventory, or engaging with your dealership’s social media.

5. Make It Short, Sweet, and Simple

You don’t need to be a professional videographer in order to make successful dealership walk-around videos. Short, sweet, and simple is best.

Our attention span as humans continues to drop year after year. This makes capturing a customer’s attention difficult. To help keep your customers engaged with your video, make it concise (three to four minutes) while still communicating your main points.

If you have a lot of information to share about a particular vehicle or topic, try making a series of videos instead of one long video.

For example, if you’re making a video highlighting the features of the new 2018 Chevy Silverado, make one video about the Silverado’s technology features only. Make the next video about its safety features, then a final video about its performance features.

Looking for a good example of video marketing by an auto dealership? The video below incorporates all five of our tips for a successful walk-around video!

Go Further with Dealership Video Marketing

In addition to written content, using dealership video marketing in the form of walk-around videos can help boost your SEO and educate customers in a unique, personalized way. 

If you’re ready to achieve real results with a trusted digital marketing partner, contact us for a custom digital marketing proposal for your dealership. We guarantee that our services will increase your internet conversion rate by at least 25% in the first six months.