How are You Not Running a Paid Search Campaign for Your Dealership Yet?
While there is a good chance that your dealership is currently running a Paid Search Campaign, there are still (surprisingly) a good portion of dealerships that aren’t.
There can be many reasons for deciding not to: lack of marketing dollars, lack of expertise, lack of knowledge, lack of time, etc.
Nowadays, it goes without saying that businesses have a plethora of digital marketing options to choose from, but I’d like to make my case on why dealerships can’t afford not to be running a paid search campaign.
The Basics:
According to Google, in the city of Edmonton alone, the term “Dodge Ram” is searched 390 times per month on average.
Now, when a user searches for “Dodge Ram” on the Google search engine, the search engine results page (SERP) reveals something similar to the following:
As you can see from the screen grab, the paid-for search results all sport a green box labelled “Ad”. This is a fairly standard sponsored results page.
In this particular case, the OEM (Dodge) is bidding the most for the search term “Dodge Ram” and therefore the OEM appears at the top of this results box. If, and only if, a user clicks on their link, will it cost the OEM anything. This is because Google uses a Cost-per-click (CPC) model, meaning that you, as an advertiser appearing on a SERP, only pay Google for each user’s individual click on your ad, not for simply being there.
The Why
The most important benefit here is your company’s appearance at the top of the SERP. With organic results rapidly moving further down the screen – due to more people searching on mobile devices and changes Google has made to their SERP – it’s vital that your company appears within the top five results in order to have a better chance of a visitor visiting your website.
This goes without saying, but why do you want users visiting your website? It has been proven that buyers today make ONLY 1.7 visits to the dealerships before making a purchase. This means that the decision to buy has been made well before walking through your doors.
There are a total of 7 Dodge dealerships in the Edmonton area. However, for the search term “Dodge Ram” (from a computer in Edmonton), only 2 local dealerships showed up on Google’s Paid links. Lucky for them, they will likely see the majority of traffic from users looking for a “Dodge Ram”. Sound like a missed opportunity for the other 5 Dodge dealers?
Plus, many OEM’s offer co-op funds for advertising on Google. This is free money you could be claiming from your OEM to get more leads to your dealership!
Dealers often talk to me about the importance of listing their vehicles on AutoTrader, or Kijiji. Why? When you list your car for sale on Kijiji, you know it will be seen by users searching for your inventory. This very same principle applies for paid search on Google. When you post your website link on Google, you know it will be seen by users searching for your inventory. THEY ARE LOOKING FOR YOU! I always say, just like the O’Jays sing, “You got to give the people what they want”.
YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxoL3uQbPoc
To find out more about how to get started on Google, contact us – a leading Premier Google Partner – today!
