Saturday, March 10, 2012

American Auto Industry: Prepare for a Wave of Consumer Demand! - Automotive Marketing

American Auto Industry: Prepare for a Wave of Consumer Demand!

Scarborough’s automotive study reveals that 7% of American households, representing 8 million households, plan to purchase a new vehicle in the next year. Further, more than half (65%) of American households currently have a domestic vehicle, and 46% of these domestic vehicle households purchased those domestic vehicles new. 42% of American households that own domestic new vehicles either plan to purchase a new vehicle in the next 12 months or already own a domestic vehicle which was purchased new in model year 2000 or earlier – representing purchase opportunity.

Source: Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community

Vendors Wanted! - by Dealers United on Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community

Vendors Wanted! -  by Dealers United

While Dealers United already represents 3 times more rooftops than all of the publicly-traded MegaDealer Groups combined; we’re continuing to experience increased momentum and expect to count more than 10,000 members by NADA 2013.

Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community

Matt & Vanessa Don't Hate Me… Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community

Matt & Vanessa Don't Hate Me…

Many thanks to Larry Bruce for creating a post that takes apart the misguided and self-serving criticism of microsites that so many of the RAW website suppliers have keyed upon in an effort to discredit the powerful marketing and sales success case studies that showcase "Best Practice" use of microsites.  On top of the many valid points that you have made, I will go one step further and state that microsites can be an effective branding and engagement tool specifically for the auto industry.

The car business is unique in that we have a franchised distribution system selling a brand of product with distinct and separate sub-brands called "Model Lines".  Additionally, these products require ongoing servicing and maintenance and carry warranties that are actually being used by many of the purchasers of these products. furthermore, the buyers of a Chevrolet SILVERADO is a very different customer than the buyer of a Chevrolet VOLT... In some cases, the buyer seeking information on one of these sub-products within a brand (a model line) has little to no interest in finding or being exposed to information about other sub-products (model lines) within that very same brand (make) product portfolio... We are not selling Tide Detergent that comes in 6 different scents and cleaning specializations! We are SELLING motor vehicles which are in many cases designed for specific usage categories.

In the case of dealerships that sell model lines such as "Silverado", "F-150", "Ram" and "Tundra" these are products with a very different usage profile than other products within their same franchise brand... Yet, they sell more of these product lines than some entire brands (makes) sell of all combined model lines... Why shouldn't a Ford dealer have a website that specializes in delivering the exact perfect information that a truck buyer wants and needs rather than a RAW website cluttered with so much crap and unnecessary information on products and services that have nothing to do with trucks...

And besides all that... Microsites actually work quite well for car dealers.

Source: Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community