When you think dealership marketing, you automatically find your mind traveling to one of those luxurious Mercedes-Benz or BMW commercials, where the driver and or passenger seem to be living the dream. This is because marketing has evolved and revolutionized over the past few years, finding innovative ways to become a more approachable experience for the consumer.
As David Pritchard, states in his article titled “The Three Phases of Dealership Digital Marketing”, published on Auto Dealer Today’s website, he highlights the enlightenment process, the strategical development phase, and lastly the necessary online presence. This outline allows for potential dealership marketers to better comprehend the advances in dealership marketing today.
Pritchard quotes Harvard Business School’s Rosabeth Moss Kantar, “Start by accepting a few truths about the evolution in consumer behaviors. In “The New Rules of Retail by Lewis and Dart,” it’s referred to as a paradigm shift of power from producers to consumers, “Those who make to those who buy.”
It is crucial for dealerships to understand that consumers have the technology in mobile devices to access information at lightning speed with geographical map allocation, as well as personalized search engine optimization features. This technological advancement has made it easier for the consumer to research a product, analyze its services, thus allowing the consumer the option to make comparisons on quality, experience and innovation.
Consumer satisfaction is no longer driven by the product; if not it is now driven by the experience. Dealerships must realize as Pritchard states “For the last 10 years, dealer profit margins have been getting squeezed from all sides. The manufacturers push production and supply-chain model. Third-party vendors exploit information. Consumers desire to receive the best deal and Information demands to be free.”
All these factors must be considered by dealers to avoid being set back by what Pritchard calls the “Internet Revolution.” Profit margins become directly affected if the appropriate marketing strategy has not been implemented.
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http://www.autodealermonthly.com/channel/dps-office/article/story/2011/08/the-three-phases-of-dealership-digital-marketing.aspx