Get All Your Automotive Marketing Channels in the Same Lane
What’s the most effective way to drive retail traffic and sales? You need a clear, consistent, and compelling message about your dealership, your inventory, and your services. And for that, you need automotive integrated advertising.
Chances are, you already integrate your marketing channels in some way. Let’s take that to a whole new level and coordinate every communication channel you have.
If you want a slick integrated advertising campaign, you need a single provider that knows how to break down walls and fuel conversations between marketing specialists. You need Stream Companies!
Integrate Your Automotive Advertising & Measure Real Results
When you hear the words integrated automotive advertising, what do you see? We see your digital and traditional marketing channels in perfect alignment—maybe for the first time ever.
We see modern data tracking that helps you visualize how those channels interact to produce results—and which combos of channels prove most powerful for shoppers, so you can make smarter marketing decisions.
Most of all, we see incredible creatives hard at work unifying your message across platforms. Our savvy specialists deliver measurable results in every area of integrated automotive marketing.
INTEGRATION BY THE NUMBERS:
Outperform a Single-Channel Campaign by Up to 300%
Right off the bat, we want to touch on an essential part of integrated marketing in automotive: how it effects your ad spend and return on investment.
Given what you’ve read so far, it shouldn’t surprise you that omnichannel integration can help your automotive group optimize the media budget a little bit better.
Did you know campaigns that integrate three or four channels can outperform single-channel campaigns by up to 300 percent?
It sounds like a crazy claim, until you start to look at the why behind it. If a shopper sees a branded ad for, say, car lease deals at your dealership as a pre-roll video on their connected TV and then receives an email in their inbox with the same information, they’re more likely to click.
Why? At this point, they’re already familiar with you—and familiarity leads to trust. At Stream, we use your media to drive home a consistent message so your integrated marketing efforts will compound one another. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts!
In other words, just keeping your brand top-of-mind with a consistent marketing output from multiple angles can garner more sales.
Constantly Optimizing for Better Results
Constant ROI review is a necessity, too. Our experts are always optimizing to help your business see the best returns, and we do that in part by setting cost per acquisition (CPA) limits. Know the max amount you are willing to spend to acquire one customer without sacrificing your operating profit margin.
Risks can sometimes pay off in advertising, but so can setting firm limits and sticking to them!
INTEGRATION BY THE NUMBERS:
You Can Achieve a 10% Spend Increase from Your Customers
We have another crazy claim to make: Integrated marketing not only gets you more customers, but it also means you’ll get more from your customers.
That’s right: You’re likely to see at least a 10 percent spend increase from your customers. We wouldn’t make such a bold assertion without a clear rationale, so here are some reasons why:
- Customers see more information about your inventory and services, if only because more media and materials are out there for them to see.
- Continual brand exposure means more customers will seek out your website and social media channels. This exposes them more to your business and causes them to research your inventory and services more.
- Customers who make one purchase may think of other ways they can use your services when they see your marketing media across channels.
To that last point, consider a customer who purchased a new SUV at your dealer. They’re more likely to return to your service center for maintenance if they’re presented with marketing on a consistent, cross-channel basis (or if they have a virtual vehicle wallet to remind them—something else we offer!).
INTEGRATION BY THE NUMBERS:
Retailers Who Use Integrated Marketing Retain 89% of Their Customers!
The data on retention couldn’t be any clearer: Consistency breeds familiarity and brand trust—and integrated marketing tactics are the fast track to consistency in the automotive world.
In fact, companies that use these strategies have a 91 percent higher year-over-year increase in customer retention rate on average than those without omnichannel strategies in place. Furthermore, retailers who use integrated marketing retain 89 percent of their customers.
Stream uses segmentation and fact-based insights to drive your customer retention efforts. By knowing who you’re marketing to and what messages are meaningful to them, you can keep more return customers in the fold.
Our integrated strategies can help you retain your current customers and drive incremental new business at the same time. Those incremental gains, in some cases, can be the secret to long-lasting success!
ONE VENDOR, ONE MESSAGE:
Stream-Lined Marketing Magic
It’s a waste of time and money to juggle multiple vendors for months and even years. There’s so much value to be had in letting one vendor chart your automotive marketing.
Make one call and have all your concerns addressed! You have one person to go to who understands the ins and outs of your marketing efforts—the director who handles your account. If you like, you can pick up the phone and speak to the specialists working on your account, too.
One vendor means your messaging is more aligned, too. When we craft your brand’s message, we start with your Unique Selling Points (USPs). What makes your dealership better than the other folks down the street? We’ll make sure that comes across loud and clear on every marketing channel!
We Bleed Orange—Creativity Is Our Lifeblood
Spend more than a few seconds on our website, and you’ll notice all that bright and brilliant orange. We like to say we “bleed orange,” but what does that really mean?
Orange is the color of creativity and outside-the-box solutions. We nurture the most artistic minds, and all that creative inspiration bleeds from one department to the next. We never put a silo around ideas—after all, open communication means a more integrated campaign.
Our Integrated Digital Media team works in concert with our Creative team. If we’re launching TV spots, our Creative experts will know when those spots are running and how to support those efforts with aligned online content across channels.
In short, we talk to each other, just like we talk to you. It’s the simple secret to our success—and yours, too!
ONE VENDOR, ONE EXPERIENCE:
What Is Integrated Omnichannel Marketing?
The importance of integration in automotive advertising becomes clear when you consider the success of omnichannel marketing. Another fancy marketing term, you may be thinking! But the idea behind it is not so different from what we’ve already been talking about.
Omnichannel marketing is just another name for the lens you use to view the relationship between your prospects and your integrated automotive marketing machine. Here’s a grammar lesson for you: The prefix omni- means “all,” and omnichannel is a marketing strategy that aligns all channels.
Car Shopping Goes Digital
The world has gone digital. If you haven’t been living under a rock—and we trust you haven’t—you’ve noticed by now. Maybe you do your banking online or order plane tickets online. When hit with a sudden food craving, we know you’ve used a mobile delivery service for your order!
Well, your customers are ready for a more digital-friendly shopping experience, too. Gone are the days when shoppers would hop in the car, drive over to the local car dealership strip mall, and shop the lots at every dealer within distance.
Today, your prospects do their research online. They narrow their options to one or two vehicles as they use the resources available to them on the internet. And finally, they visit just one or two dealerships to confirm their interest and complete the purchase.
Why Automotive Needs Integrated Omnichannel Marketing
So, where does integrated omnichannel marketing come into play? Shoppers expect a seamless transition between your website and your brick-and-mortar shop.
Any customer who starts their shopping journey online should experience a seamless transition when they show up on your showroom floor. In practical terms, that means:
- They meet with a salesperson who knows exactly where they are in the process. With fullthrottle.ai’s robust customer data platform and AI engine, your sales team can pick up where your digital efforts left off.
We can track all sorts of information, from anonymous website visits to engagement with direct mail and email blasts. Understand how your leads have engaged and what they want from the experience, so you can gently guide them from the get-go.
- They see consistent messaging. Have you been advertising a holiday campaign in your TV ads? Are your USPs plastered all over your website? We can provide posters and other print media that gets those same messages on your showroom floor.
In this way, integrated omnichannel automotive advertising ensures that shoppers experience consistency from your brand. Coordinated messaging will cement your brand in the minds of shoppers, so it isn’t easily forgotten.
- A simple, straightforward process. For the average shopper, the marketing funnel feels like a maelstrom of chaos sometimes! We can steer you to calmer waters by creating an expectation of how the process should flow.
That could mean creating media for a separate and branded area for online shoppers to go when they enter the showroom. Or, it may involve leaving clearer instructions for an online shopping process—and guidance for how to finish the process in-store.
Well-defined, integrated omnichannel customer experiences yield real results for your dealership.
Remember, today’s customers typically visit just one or two dealerships throughout their entire buyer’s journey. With a clear roadmap from online engagement to the showroom floor, you can make your leads feel more comfortable choosing your dealership at the point of sale.
RACE FRAMEWORK FOR AUTOMOTIVE:
How We Organize Integrated Omnichannel for Automotive
Over the past decade alone, a host of new digital marketing channels has stepped into the game. If you want your automotive integrated marketing campaigns to succeed, you need to work with a partner and provider who can structure every experience in the buyer’s journey.
How best to do that? At Stream, we use the RACE Framework to map out how every piece of the puzzle should latch into place.
Obviously, there’s no exact formula for optimizing your integrated omnichannel advertising efforts! That said, automotive dealerships can use this framework to set goals and evaluate progress toward them. The real result will be more effective marketing decisions.
“R” Is for Reach: Grow Your Audience
At this stage in the game, you need to boost awareness among your intended audience. No one will buy a car from you if they don’t know you exist!
Stream will help you grow your audience with paid, owned, and earned media. Snag prospects in their exploration phase with traditional media, from television and radio to print ads.
Also, invest in the always-on digital marketing that attracts visitors to your website: organic and paid search, social media, and display advertising. At Stream, we’re all about owning the space organically. We can do what it takes not just to land on the search engine results pages but to totally dominate them!
“A” Is for Act: Encourage Interactions—and Leads
Your people have found you—great! Now, it’s time to show you were worth finding in the first place. You can do that by providing content that is compelling and 100% unique.
Stream will help you create a content hub that is relevant and useful to your audience, one that inspires them to interact and sparks their conversion to a lead.
We’ll track all the key measures, from time spent on your website to conversion rates and likes and shares, so you can see the fruits of our labor.
“C” Is for Convert: Persuade Them to Purchase
The art of persuasion is as essential in sales as it is in life. Whether the final sale happens online or offline, you need to amplify your persuasion media to make it happen.
Stream uses a combination of marketing automation technology, retargeting campaigns, and Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) marketing to persuade (but never to push!) your leads.
We apply these tactics to ensure contextual relevance, brand trust, and value drive conversion. We’ll track on- and offline influence on sales so you can see where the value lies in persuasion!
“E” Is for Engage: Spark Lifelong Loyalty and Advocacy
Delighted customers are return customers, and they could become brand advocates for life! It has been shown that the most effective form of marketing isn’t one you undertake. Rather, it’s people telling their friends and family—the ones who trust them most—about your business.
So, double down on remarketing efforts and other tactics with Stream. Boost your social media marketing efforts and earn repeat sales, referrals, and some highly coveted social proof!
Why The
RACE Framework?
The RACE Framework allows businesses, including automotive dealerships like yours, to optimize their marketing funnel and take advantage of opportunities in digital marketing especially. It’s always smart to have a plan, even if that plan changes, and this easy mnemonic can be yours!
Your dealer has so many marketing channels and tactics to juggle, and this framework allows you to see how you might integrate them in ways that make sense for your business.
Understand how to leverage your paid, owned, and earned media and organize all the latest digital experiences that have emerged on the scene in recent years.
The Importance of KPIs in RACE
At Stream, we’re all about data-driven marketing. We believe improvements to your marketing operations should be based on a sound evaluation process rooted in digital analytics. When we implement the RACE Framework, we measure key performance indicators (KPIs) at every stage.
Many of these indicators can be pulled from Google Analytics, but we use our own proprietary tools to collect important performance measurements as well. This allows us to see where the value is—and where value remains untapped—in your integrated automotive advertising.
Optimizing Media Buy in an Integrated Environment
With comprehensive strategies, media coverage, and the data to understand how they work together, you can make smarter decisions about when and how to use every marketing tactic in your arsenal. You’ve seen that to a degree with the RACE Framework earlier.
But with Stream Companies as your integrated advertising partner, we’ll take you beyond broad theory and into the nitty-gritty details. Discover which platforms to harness at what time. Meet your audience where they are and fine-tune your marketing for better ROI.
We have access to thousands of quality data segments to behaviorally target the audience that drives revenue for your business. Our precise database and list of households helps us plan and deliver creative marketing across media, optimizing for ad type and placement.
We’re a fully integrated automotive agency, so the right hand always knows what the left hand is doing! For coordinated media buys that maximize your ROI, integration is the most important piece of the puzzle.
BEST PRACTICES FOR:
Automotive Integrated Advertising
So, what’s our recipe for successful integrated advertising in automotive? For best results, your dealership(s) must follow some best practices. Our specialists work with all of these in mind.
Cross-Device Optimization
Some shoppers will begin their journey on a smartphone or tablet and finish on a laptop. When you optimize for cross-device usage, your omnichannel marketing will be all the more effective. Smooth out the buyer’s journey with fewer dips and bumps in the road to the finish line.
Campaigns: Balance Short Bursts and Long Term
Burst campaigns are important, but they need to be balanced with long-term, continuous online visibility. Take this strategic approach, known as “always-on marketing,” and enhance your online presence with organic and paid digital media.
Make Sure the Messaging Is Consistent
We’ve already said this, but it’s worth mentioning again. Use the same slogans, identities, and brand colors across all your marketing channels for the best results in integrated automotive.
A unified multichannel approach will not only keep your brand top of mind, but it can change perceptions of your brand, too. Home in on your key messages across all channels, and you can change your audience’s opinions about your brand’s values and all that you bring to the table.
Look at What Your Competitors Are Doing
No brand exists in a vacuum. Great integrated marketing campaigns need to weave a coherent story about your brand. Your competitors are a great resource for inspiration in this respect. Draw from their successes to create some of your own!
Just keep in mind: Whatever good things they’re doing, you can do better. You only need the right tools and the right—integrated—approach.
Plot Out Customer Touchpoints in Correlation with the Buyer’s Funnel
To successfully integrate your automotive marketing so all channels are guiding your shoppers in the same direction, you need to plot all customer touchpoints with your brand throughout the buyer’s funnel. The RACE Framework will be essential here!
Integrate Your Automotive Advertising with Stream
As the #1 Integrated Advertising Agency in Philadelphia, we help clients reap the rewards of automotive integrated advertising every day. See how clarity, consistency, and smart strategy can produce real results for your dealership(s).
Are you ready to rev up your showroom with retail traffic? Contact Stream Companies today for your free audit from our integration experts. We’ll show you where and how you can save time and see more value when you align every aspect of your marketing campaigns.
With offices in Malvern and Pittsburgh, PA, we are your one-stop shop for omnichannel automotive marketing! Our team truly does it all.
