Inbound and Outbound Marketing for Car Dealers
A little disclaimer from the start: this is not just another categorization to sound more impressive while doing the same job. Inbound and outbound marketing are two very different approaches to increase car sales. This article will shed light on the distinctions between these two methods and will answer the question which one is better for car dealers?
Outbound marketing
“Sorry for interrupting” – this can be a slogan for the outbound marketing, because it was actually designed to interrupt something. TV ads disrupt people’s favorite TV shows and films, radio ads interrupt songs, cold calls tend to catch people while at work when they are super busy or after work when the last thing they want to do is listen to another sales pitch. Do you truly want to constantly apologize for your car dealer marketing?
The main types of the outbound marketing are:
- TV commercials
- Radio advertising
- Print advertising
- Direct mail
- Offline yellow pages
- Telemarketing
- Outdoor billboards
- “Cold” calls
All of these advertising sources are costly, and sometimes they can become insanely expensive. However, their effectiveness as car dealer marketing channels is very questionable. People’s tolerance for such interruption has declined whereas the ability to block annoying ads has increased. Customers now can easily blacklist phone numbers, mute the TV or change the radio station. 44% of those direct mailings that dealers are spending a fortune on in production and distribution costs, will never be opened.
In the twenty-first century it is taking its toll: customers as a whole and car buyers in particular don’t want to be annoyed with ads anymore. Now they want to choose what to read, what to watch and whom to speak to. In order to respect their freedom of choice but still advertise your brand to improve car sales, opt for inbound car dealer marketing.
Inbound marketing
What’s different about this method is the way the information is being delivered to the customers. Outbound marketing pushes products and services onto people and interrupts their activities. Inbound marketing is totally the opposite: it harmonizes with the way people work, shop, learn, and live. This approach is intended to pull customers in instead of going out and attracting people’s attention.
When you advertise your dealership using classic marketing methods, you send a message to the broadest range of people. Are they looking for a car? Maybe, or maybe not. In other words, you gamble with the hope of a desired result. Inbound marketing is not so risky, because it is aimed at your target audience. You pull in only relevant customers, who are more likely to become buyers.
If the television, radio and newspapers are not involved here, what is? The answer is the Internet. It is the playground for the inbound marketing. Though many customers quit watching TV and going through yellow pages, they are still shopping for goods and services, they just moved their search online. You should meet them there.
Where to start?
- Create a stunning dealer website
- Start an automotive blog
- Implement search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns.
Such activities will help you build inbound connections and drive more traffic to your website. Customers will come to you instead of you needing to seek them.
Traditional, blue-chip outbound marketing strategies are simply not as effective as they used to be. Essentially, when using outbound marketing, you rent some of the traffic that somebody created before. Why don’t you create your own traffic and rent it to yourself? Yes, it takes time, but it’s worthwhile. Autoxloo is ready to assist you with building a car/truck dealer website and then promoting it. Increase your car sales with inbound marketing techniques.
