Your automotive marketing agency might do great work, but they can’t do it alone. They need your help in tracking quality leads.

That’s true of 9 Clouds, too. Each person on our team is an intelligent, uniquely gifted marketer, but we’re not the only ones responsible for our clients’ digital marketing success. Our automotive clients benefit from quality Facebook ads, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and other digital touchpoints that we strategically implement together.

(Skeptical? Check out some of our case studies to see what I mean.)

Successful work between your dealership and your automotive marketing agency is the result of a partnership that’s created when you give your agency the best customer information you can, so they can use that information in a strategic and helpful way. 

If your auto dealership is feeling lost on what your marketing team needs from you to achieve better lead tracking results, here’s a checklist to help guide the way. Buckle up!

Start in the Right Direction with Your CRM Data

A lot of the contact information our team uses to send the right message to the right people at the right time (the heartbeat of inbound marketing) comes straight from your customer relationship management (CRM) system.

For example, say you want to send an email with an oil change coupon to anyone who’s been MIA from your service department. Our team would use our marketing automation software to craft a smart list of all customers whose last service date is unknown (AKA never) or more than, say, six months ago. We have that information because, as your marketing agency, we’ve been given access to your CRM.

But finding the right audience isn’t always a smooth highway ride for us. The targeted lists your marketing agency can create are only as good as your CRM data. 

That means that, as your marketing agency, we rely on thorough data from your sales team. If your team is consistently lazy with inputting contact information, that’s like trying to give your marketing team directions via landmarks and approximate distances vs. handing us an address and a smartphone.

So, which CRM data is most beneficial for digital marketing services? I’m glad you asked.

1. Contact Info Needed for Email Marketing

Your sales team may not understand why they need to input more than basic details into the CRM. We get it — if they’ve had a busy day on the sales floor, it may not seem worth taking the extra time to be thorough with customer or lead information.

But hear this: your marketing team can take your strategy even further with better customer information.

Here’s your digital marketing road trip checklist (the things your marketing team needs from your CRM):

• First and last name
• Year, make, and model of purchased or leased vehicle
• Last purchase date
• Last service date
• Make and model of lead vehicle
• Condition (new or used) of purchased, service, or lead vehicle
• Sale location (if your dealership has multiple rooftops)
• Birthday 🎉 (for delighting your customer with a service incentive on their birthday, perhaps)
• Gender

If your sales team isn’t already putting all of this information into the CRM, encourage them to do so.

The more your agency can segment lists by particular data points or demographics, the more targeted and successful your emails can be. The message can be tailored to the recipients, and you won’t burn out your audience by sending them emails too frequently.

2. Contact Info Needed for Facebook Ads

Especially since the targeting options on Facebook are now even more limited for auto dealers, it’s important to supplement your Facebook advertising with information from your CRM.

There are three main reasons your marketing agency needs lead and customer data for Facebook advertising:

• Offline Events: An offline conversion tool that allows advertisers to see how many customers made a purchase after seeing a Facebook ad
• Custom Audiences: A specific list of people from your CRM that you want your ad to reach
• Lookalike Audiences: An audience targeted by Facebook that has similar demographics to those in a custom list you’ve imported

At the bare minimum, a phone number and email address will suffice to create these lists for Custom Audiences. (Offline Events need more data — more on that in a minute.) However, with more information, Facebook can more accurately match your customers and leads to the correct profile on Facebook.

Here’s the information Facebook can use:

• First name
• Last name
• Email addresses (up to three)
• Phone numbers (up to three; include country code)
• City
• State/province
• Zip/postal code
• Country
• Date of birth
• Year of birth/age
• Gender

For Offline Events, Facebook can use all of the above, but it also needs the following event details:

• Event Time: The time the event occurred, such as the lead origination date for leads or the sold date for customers. These require timestamps, so you’ll need to add those (even just a standard 0:00:00) if your CRM didn’t include it.
• Event Name: What type of event this is (Complete Registration, Lead, Purchase, View Content, etc.)
• Value: What this Offline Event was worth to you, monetarily
• Currency: USD for U.S. dollars; CDA for Canadian dollars

Again, with Facebook, the more information you can provide, the better. A well-matched Custom or Lookalike Audience will give you more bang for your buck, and nothing proves ROI on your Facebook ads quite like correctly uploading Offline Events.

Trust us — gathering this information is well worth your time (and your marketing agency will thank you!)

Let’s Take a Turn Outside the CRM Box

Sometimes, our access to CRM data can cause us (both our clients and our team) to put on blinders.

Imagine you’re on a road trip. You’ve got the perfect playlist, you’ve bought your favorite snacks, and your best friend’s feet are up on the dash. You have your GPS set up, and you know exactly where you’re going.

But . . . what if you don’t follow the directions exactly? Don’t the most memorable road trips usually happen when you think outside the box and take a turn that’s new or unexpected?

That’s what we can do by thinking outside the CRM box. Instead of asking, “What vehicle did they purchase last time?” — why not ask, “Why did they buy that certain vehicle?” When it comes to going on a great road trip with your marketing agency, you’re the one who can provide those out-of-the-box experiences, because you know your customers best.

Here’s what you can tell us that your CRM data can’t:

• Why are people buying certain vehicles?
• Which pain points are customers looking to solve?
• Which questions do customers and leads most commonly ask?
• How does a vehicle’s features benefit the customer?

These are the real questions. If you provide this information to your marketing agency, we can then provide the answers to questions that really matter to your customers.

Ready to Hit the Road?

Now that you know where you’re going, it’s time to start getting ready for that successful marketing road trip.

Start by getting your sales team on the same page, and then give your marketing team that thorough lead and customer information so you can do great work together.

Don’t have time? Don’t have a marketing agency? Request a free digital assessment with us, and we’ll see how we can help. Or, download our free eBook, Lead Tracking for Auto Dealers, and learn how to put your data to work!