HARDISON’S TIPS – JANUARY 1, 2021 – New Year’s Resolutions for Dealerships in 2021

Now that you have (hopefully) survived a year of selling cars during a global pandemic, it’s time to set your sights on the year ahead.

We have a few helpful suggestions for your marketing team to start 2021 with renewed energy online.

2021 Is the Year of Focus

As any seasoned marketer knows, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s important. Facebook’s data drama, the shape of your CTA buttons, and the deluge of statistics in Google Analytics can all distract you from what really matters.

What Do You Want to Accomplish in 365 Days?

In addition to knowing your key performance indicators (KPIs), it’s important to take time and focus on your tactics. This focus will help you set some great resolutions and supporting goals in 2021.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• What do I need to do to help my dealership reach its goals?
• How can I influence my marketing department’s KPIs?
• Which tactics have proven to be the most effective in the last year?
• When am I doing the most effective work at my dealership?
• How can my dealership gain an edge online?

Answer the above questions to get your wheels turning, and then write down whatever comes to mind. (By the way, if you’re looking for a great digital way to record and visualize these important thoughts, I highly recommend the Mind Node app.)

Simply documenting these thoughts will put you ahead of most of your competing marketers. In 2019, 97% of surveyed marketers said they’re involved in strategically managing content, but only 59% actually write their strategies down. C’mon, people!

I can’t stress enough how important it is to document your resolutions and goals in 2021.

This forward-thinking brainstorming activity will likely result in a plethora of thoughts related to performance at a personal, team, or even dealership scale. No two dealership marketing teams are alike, so when you’re perusing our suggestions, make sure to adapt them for the unique strengths and challenges of your dealership.

Suggestion : Simplify the Digital Experience in 2021

This one hurts me the most, so let’s just “rip off the Band-Aid™” right away.

As marketers, we’re often so immersed in our own monthly ads, emails, campaigns, and branding that we begin to lose empathy for the outsider. We forget what it’s like to shop at our dealerships for the first time.

This is a common problem for automotive marketers, but luckily — for the well-organized ones — it’s easy to solve.

Aside from “the best selection” and “the best service,” every dealership also has a plethora of add-on programs, subscriptions, or memberships aimed at retaining relationships with their clientele.

Here’s the catch: No one cares. Your special programs and roundup of email subscriptions make no effect on leads or customers until they fail.

Furthermore, add-on programs are rarely perceived to be as special as the dealership wants them to appear. People really don’t care for the “extras” for their car, so why complicate the marketing that leads them to your dealership’s F&I office?

Sometimes, we’ve also seen hyped-up messaging get in the way of what actually matters to the client: their car.

For example, one dealership’s tagline became so prominent in its marketing that it actually began getting online reviews from customers who mistook the tagline for the actual name of the dealership.

Make It A Champion Day!