In an ever-evolving digital marketing landscape, it can be tough for Canadian dealers and groups to know where they can get answers to some basic questions about marketing.
“It’s eye-opening knowing that, for every 2,500 people visiting your website, you’ll see only 100 in your showroom,” said Roger Dunbar, VP of Marketing for TRADER. “The front line battlefield for car shopper attention is online, and every dealer must be there. No argument,” he said.
TRADER has launched a free digital education program called Fast FWD to help Canadian auto dealers figure out the new digital marketing landscape and meet consumer expectations.
Dunbar told Canadian auto dealer the program came about based on the feedback from a number of earlier dealer council meetings.
He said dealers were looking for answers to questions such as how much to spend on digital marketing, and how to measure success.
“The problem today is there’s so many people out there telling dealers what to do and have a vested interest in one thing or another,” said Dunbar.
“There’s no one answer. You’ve got to take an objective view and say, ‘here’s what’s best for your dealership.’”
The program’s content is offered in a variety of forms and level of detail, said Dunbar.
One of which is a dealer-focused web series called Piston & Pixels, featuring guest digital marketing experts who cover the topics in short, animated and entertaining videos. Topics include search marketing, SEO, email marketing, paid search and website design best practices, among others.
Dealers with some marketing knowledge can access videos that are more detailed, a little longer — and are not quite as entertaining.
There’s also a number of white papers based on in-depth research from Google and from vendor input, though Dunbar expects a small percentage of dealers will actually read them.
“It’s about making the content as relevant as you can. You’re trying not to be boring but at the same time we need to give [the dealers] some meat,” said Dunbar.
Although it’s still early, Dunbar said dealers are responding well to the program, based on some anecdotal feedback.
The first episode of Piston & Pixels tackled building effective websites, and already there is a desire to have it translated into French to make it more accessible to more dealers.
A number of industry associations are also on board with the program, including the Trillium Automobile Dealers Association.
Dunbar said the TADA has been instrumental in its support so far, helping to check the web series content for accuracy, and spread the word to its dealer partners.
TRADER is also in preliminary talks with some of the other provincial new car dealer associations, said Dunbar.
As the program evolves, Dunbar hopes to have marketers at dealerships and even dealers in front of the camera to share some of their challenges as they navigate these treacherous digital marketing waters together.
To learn more about the program and view the first episode of Pistons & Pixels visit: www.pistonsandpixels.com
