Car shoppers spend nearly 61 per cent of their time researching online before deciding on a purchase. Generating leads for car dealerships is getting more complicated by the day. With agencies and search engines charging a ton to rank your business listing at the top of search results, it’s easy to grow tired in your quest to acquire genuine first-party leads. 

With the right strategy and tools, you can quickly generate leads for your car dealership. Here are five smart and effective ideas that can generate car sales leads for your business that doesn’t require heavy spend or investment.

Publish Value-Add Content on Your Blog

Businesses and marketers frequently overlook the potential of an insightful blog. However, a blog becomes a strong lead generation medium over time, with relevant audiences landing on the site while searching for information. 

Follow these steps to get started.

1. Assign your in-house content team or hire a freelancer to facilitate 1-2 posts to go live on your blog every week.  Find a good balance of quantity and quality, and tell the stories that your dealership experiences every day. Be yourselves!
2. Keep a check on SEO for car dealership keywords and phrases to stand ahead of the competition.
3. Maintain a publishing calendar and mark the important dates for submission.
4. Identify the buyer persona, address your target audience, and brainstorm ideas to attract more leads to your car dealership site. Are you targeting truck buyers, EV shoppers, soccer parents? Jot down your most influential personas and build your content around them.

Look at this car reviewing and a news blog that attracts almost 78,000 monthly visitors through organic rankings of industry-relevant keywords for their audience. Authoring a blog won’t be a quick win, but will become a long-term strategic advantage that will set you above your competition.

Cater to Customers with Targeted Promotions Using TradePending

Your sales and marketing teams should constantly find ways to bring repeat customers back to your dealership. Keeping regular contact with past customers is one of the most cost-effective strategies. Repeat business such as lease customers is highly beneficial, creating a very valuable target audience that’s worthy of their own marketing content. 

Any customer that has purchased in the last 24 to 60 months is worth reaching out to as well. Some of our most successful dealers use Trade, our car sales lead generation software, to run “trade-in / trade-up” promotions. These campaigns drive their past customers to a specific landing page to value their trade-in.

This simple framework makes it easy to think about who you’re going to target and how: 

• Target specific groups based on family size, demographics, and location.
• Offer promotional discounts and coupons per the needs and wants of customers. You know them best.
• Send out new and used inventory information, as well as maintenance tips, through newsletters and social media. 

Shoot Impressive Walkaround Videos

A potential car buyer wants to know every detail about the make and model before signing the check. Creating detailed walkaround videos impresses consumers and gives them a greater sense of personal connection to each vehicle, and your sales team.

Designate a sales associate or hire a model to present a complete walk-through video of your vehicle inventory to gain more traction for your site. Include the following content pieces in your videos to gain more views, shares and likes. 

• Overview – Highlight the unique selling points of individual vehicles and your dealership. Psst! Take a look at Badges to make this even easier! 
• Exterior & Interior – Speak to the main features and the vehicle’s design, and what makes it stand out.
• Performance – One of the key sections, quickly call out engine quality, braking, and security features. Show them up close, and get the sound of the engine revving as an added touch.
• Call to Action – Urge your customers to take a test drive or schedule visits to your showroom with a creative call to action button. 
• Personality – Make sure your videos let your team’s personality shine through. This will build more trust and a personal connection.

Here’s a snapshot from a detailed walkaround video from a car reviewing firm about a vehicle with all its necessary details highlighted.

Acquire Leads from Every Page of Your Dealership Website

A key aspect of dealership website design is to acquire leads from as many places on the site as possible, before overwhelming the user experience. There’s a fine balance. 

Here’s an example demonstrating a seamless approach to capture leads on the SRP. Pay attention to the bullets “Get Today’s Price”, “Schedule Test Drive”, and “10 Second Trade Value”. These call-to-action buttons make it very simple for consumers to engage with the site, and to know exactly what they’re getting when they click.

Below are additional effective ways to cultivate leads for your dealership website.

• Display your contact details on the header and footer of every page of the site. Use clear fonts to highlight your phone number, email address, and physical address for better visibility and reach. 
• Use chatbots to boost user engagement. The combination of AI and chatbots can even work as resource management options. They can help provide answers and insights to customers regarding common queries related to your dealership and the automotive industry.
• Leverage lead magnets on your website in the form of ebooks and how-to PDFs.

Test, Measure, Adjust!

There’s no shortage of ideas when it comes to generating more leads for car dealerships. Whether it’s new blog content, walk-around videos, or optimized approaches to lead capture, the most important thing is to test, measure, and adjust your strategies as you learn what works, and what doesn’t.

Are you looking for more ideas and help with sourcing inventory? Download our “Ultimate Checklist for Sourcing Pre-Owned Inventory“.