Spring is in the air! Can you smell it? If you can’t, it’s probably because of allergies.

*Sniffs*

Aside from it being the dreaded allergy season, spring is a great time to focus on the newness surrounding you. For automotive marketers, you have a chance to give yourself a fresh start. We can’t help you with asthma or allergy relief, but we can give you some tips to declutter your automotive digital marketing efforts and focus on the tools and strategies that work.

While removing unnecessary and outdated tactics can seem overwhelming at first, a great way to begin is by following a list and having a plan. The main things that need sprucing are your website and content distribution platforms, so we’ll focus on those today.

Let’s get cleaning!

Give Your Website A Good Scrub

A good place to begin “spring cleaning” is with your website.

How you represent yourself online will transfer over to how people expect your business to run. Think of your website as your digital storefront. Attracting more people to your online content will ultimately mean more conversions. Brands with strong and effective communication online are able to get people on board with their messages and build trust.

Essentially, the more people trust your website, the more they will trust your business. So what are some ways to improve and declutter your website? Here are three.

1. Get Rid of Stock Photos

Use real photos of your inventory and employees instead of stock imagery on your website. Stock photos aren’t doing you any favors. People want to see real photos of vehicles, not those idealized, glossy stock images. 

Take photos of your friendly staff, and post them on a team or “Contact Us” page. People want to work with other people, and pictures of people will humanize your brand. It’s that simple. 

2. Be Minimal

Make all your information as easy as possible to find and understand. Don’t make your website visitors have to search for your phone number or street address. And when your leads do reach out, be sure someone is available to respond when needed.

Blocks of text and too many details aren’t being read, anyway. 55% of visitors spend fewer than 15 seconds on your website. You only have a limited amount of time to spark their interest and hold their attention long enough to get your message across.

3. Personalize Your Text

While remaining minimal is always good, don’t get rid of text altogether! You need text for link building and keywords for search engine optimization (SEO).

When leads turn to search engines to find local vehicles or auto service, they use phrases like “used SUVs” or “Chevy with low mileage” or “oil change.” Be sure these phrases transfer to your meta descriptions, page titles, headlines, links, and URLs.

Improving your automotive SEO is all about creating unique content. Make your content personal, and use common terminology that speaks directly to your audience.

Audit Your Content Distribution

After your website is clean, focus on your content distribution platforms. Your auto dealership’s content is probably distributed in a combination of places, including Google AdWords, Facebook, email, third-party websites, etc.

It’s good to have a strong digital footprint, but if you’re putting in all your effort (and budget) to be everywhere at once, it’s time to focus on what actually brings traffic to your vehicle detail pages (VDPs). If one of your digital platforms is only reaching a small portion of your audience, put that time and energy elsewhere.

Two of the best ways to distribute your messages are Facebook ads and email.

1. Attract Customers with Facebook Ads

Facebook ads are a cost-effective way to attract new customers. Unlike Google AdWords or traditional ads, Facebook allows you to target ads to the exact people you want to reach in your community.

Auto dealers are able to target ads to people driving specific vehicle types, models, series, makes, and much more. Learning how to make and test Facebook ads now will definitely pay off later.

2. Hone in on Leads with Email

Email may not be shiny and new anymore, but it still works. No matter who your target demographic is, they’re likely using email. To improve your email strategy, declutter your database in order to focus on the leads who are the most interested in your messages.

Create a list of contacts who haven’t opened any of your emails in the last year. Either delete them, or send a “Do you still like us?” message to gauge their interest. Opt those who don’t open that email out of your communication.

On the flip-side, create another list of your highly engaged audience, and create more middle-of-the-funnel content to nurture them to start considering your new or used vehicle inventory.

These spring cleaning tips will help you declutter your automotive digital marketing. Scrambling with the chaos of content strategies that don’t work take up useful time out of your day. Focus on what matters and what works. And in the process of tidying up, you make room for new strategies along the way!

But Before You Get Started on Spring Cleaning…

How are your dealership’s website and digital marketing efforts doing? Request a digital audit to learn exactly what you should be investing in. We can show you how you stack up online and point out where there’s room to grow.

This free analysis delivers three key recommendations to help grow your dealership online and tells you how to implement them. Plus, you’ll receive an in-depth analysis on your SEO, online ads, social media, and links.

Banner image: Leon Beu