Car Dealers: 5 Strategies to Dominate Your Local Market

Unless you’re the only dealer for a luxury brand in the country, you’re likely going to be marketing and selling in a relatively small geographical area. It’s a tried-and-true strategy, and it works. People aren’t going to trek from coast to coast to buy a car when they can find it in their hometown.

The challenge for car dealers is to ensure people who live in your area know about your dealership. After all, people only visit places they know about. Your marketing is key to raising awareness and your brand profile.

In a competitive marketplace, getting your message out there isn’t quite enough. You’ll want to dominate your local market. Here are a few strategies you can adopt to help your car dealership achieve this goal.

1. Leverage Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Car dealers know much of their marketing has moved online. In the past, you may have wanted to buy local radio spots, ads in the newspaper, and even TV commercial spots on the local news stations. Today, there are many different ways to reach your audience, and many of them come with a lower price tag.

SEM is one of the best tools available to dealerships looking to dominate their local markets. If someone searches for car dealerships near them, your ad comes up. If they search for a particular kind of car and you have it, they see your ad. This puts you in front of potential customers looking for information you have.

2. Social Media Advertising

Social media is another platform where you can find people who live, work, and play in your local area and let them know you exist. With social media advertising, you can zero in on a local target market to increase brand awareness and target the leads who are more likely to buy from your local dealership.

3. Improve Your Local SEO

SEM is important, but so is improving your SEO. You want your car dealership website to be the first search result when someone searches “car dealerships near me.” It might be difficult to knock another car dealership out of the top spot, but improving your SEO can help you climb the search rankings.

Having your website rank on the first page of search results is important for visibility. If you dominate the search results with ads and organic results, you’ll gain more customers.

4. Ask for Online Reviews

Online reviews from other customers can reassure potential clients they’re choosing a trustworthy dealership for their next car. Be sure to gather testimonials from satisfied customers and post them on your website. You can also encourage feedback on Google reviews and Facebook.

Keep in mind you’ll need to do some active reputation control with online reviews. Dissatisfied customers will post negative reviews or complain about your business. See what you can do to make it right with them.

5. Be More Active in Your Community

Have you worked with a local charity for a BBQ or had members of your team participate in a local sports activity lately? Getting involved in your community in the real world can help you build a better reputation and better brand visibility, both offline and online.

Real-world opportunities translate into great social media stories, which can then be used to reach a wider audience.

With these tips in hand, you can start to dominate your local market. Bolster your car dealership marketing and watch sales increase alongside your reputation.