How to Generate Buzz for Your Automotive Dealership on Black Friday

With Black Friday right around the corner, auto dealerships are gearing up to celebrate this national shopping day with some serious deals on some of the hottest new models on the market. However, it's not enough to open your doors on Black Friday morning and expect customers to flood in through your doors by noon. While Black Friday certainly offers tremendous opportunities for generating buzz about your dealership, you also need to take time to plan ahead to make the most of this chance at reaching new customers before they slip away! Here are five tips on how to generate buzz for your automotive dealership on Black Friday.

OPTIMIZE YOUR MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

There is no question that marketing plays a vital role in driving sales; however, it can be overwhelming to feel like there is always something that needs doing when trying to start marketing for Black Friday. So first things first - develop a focused marketing strategy. Having a focused approach will make all your efforts come together and target the consumer you want to reach. Some things you can do as part of that effort is:

• Create anticipation
• Implement pop-ups that feature your dealerships deals
• Create a Black Friday / Cyber Monday landing page with featured prices and models
• Highlight if you are a small business owner on small business Saturday
• And never stop running ads for your inventory!

But don't forget, Mobile and Tablet usage surges during the holidays. Most people are now enjoying the luxury of browsing and shopping online rather than fighting the crowds at 6 a.m., so make sure your campaigns are optimized for this. Here are key areas to focus on:

• Confirm your website is mobile responsive and optimized
• Confirm your ad campaigns are optimized for mobile-first
• Optimize copy and content for your local markets

Additionally, offer special promotions to encourage customers who may be looking elsewhere during their car search online. For example, offer a holiday gift certificate to each customer who test drives a specific model.

PROMOTE GIVING BACK DURING THANKSGIVING

Don't let the mountain of mashed potatoes and turkey fool you; Thanksgiving is a time of sentiment, appreciation, and generosity. People come together to celebrate what they're thankful for and to give back.

Through "Giving Back Campaigns," you're able to generate great SEO for your dealership and positive reviews/public image. Consider running or getting involved in these campaigns leading up to Thanksgiving:

Canned Food Drive: Hold a canned food drive in exchange for discounts and incentives. This is a great way to showcase your dealership's community impact and get customers in the door with great specials.

Raffle Giveaways: Dealerships that donate things like maintenance packages, heavy discounts, or a new car into a community-focused, charitable raffle are sure to get great exposure to buyers (as well as get an excellent opportunity to show the community the fantastic holiday specials they're running).

RUN ADS WITH BROAD LOCATIONS, THEN GEO-TARGET ON BLACK FRIDAY

If you start advertising your promos and deals at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Thursday, you're too late. People are already shopping online right after eating their turkey and watching football and trying to find the best deals. In fact, this year, Black Friday deals were announced on Nov. 1st.

For this reason, we highly recommend running broadly based paid ads for your Black Friday specials the entire week before and during Thanksgiving. This way, prospects all over your target area have 4 days to see your ads and plan out their visit and budget.

Then, when Black Friday starts, switch your ad strategy to geo-targeting! This ad campaign targets individuals in a specific location. By honing your ad budget and area to popular malls or shopping centers, you're able to target highly-qualified prospects in hyper-specific areas.

After your ad campaign has ended, go back and analyze which keywords were clicked most often as a way to find out what terms people used when searching for a car near them. Then, using those keywords in future campaigns will allow you to reach those potential customers right away without paying as much per click once those people have been identified as relevant leads based on their search history.

INCREASE YOUR PAID AD SPEND

Pay-per-click is one of your most effective ways to increase your organic search rankings, but you can use it in conjunction with other forms of paid marketing. There are now thousands of options when it comes to placing ads, but you'll still want to use AdWords or Facebook Ads as a way to quickly boost awareness of any special offers you have. Include your website URL in your ad copy, and make sure you use keywords that will be relevant to anyone searching for automotive-related deals on Black Friday.

Driving consumers to your dealership during their online browsing is an excellent way to expose them to your car inventory and helps build brand awareness as they scroll past competing dealerships. 

While there are many benefits of running targeted ads, one of our favorite aspects is that it can help gather more data about who's visiting your site or calling into your dealership. You can begin building lists of prospects by collecting emails or making calls to targeted auto shoppers before they even come into the store.

CYBER MONDAY IS ALL WEEK

In the line of succession, don't think that Cyber Monday waits patiently until Thanksgiving and Black Friday are over. Shopping trends show that Cyber Monday lasts all week essentially. 

Businesses will offer huge markdowns on their products online throughout the week, so ensure you're doing the same. This way, you don't fall behind the competition, and other dealers don't beat you to the punch. In addition, this will allow you to start generating leads and follow up with them when they're ready to buy! 

Final Thoughts

The week of Thanksgiving represents one of the best times to work in the car industry. With all the festive spirits, great food, opportunities to give back, and opportunities to sell, there's no reason why this November shouldn't be your best on record.

At Edifice, we specialize in running tailor-made digital strategies. We have the method to get you what you need, from paid ads to email campaigns to website optimization to everything in between. Simply click below for a free consultation with one of our marketing experts.

Schedule a free 15-minute consultation, including a demo of our groundbreaking Elevation software.