10 Proven Marketing Strategies for Car Dealerships to Gain Leads and Grow Sales

As the number of car dealerships in the United States continues to grow, reaching nearly 19,000 passenger car dealers in 2024, competition in the automotive segment is becoming increasingly intense. That is why automotive dealer marketing is a muse for dealers to stand out, attract potential buyers, and ultimately drive sales. 

In this article, we'll discuss 10 effective car dealership marketing strategies designed to enhance online presence, engage customers effectively, and increase sales for car dealerships.

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1. Make Your Dealership’s Website Attractive and Easy to Use

Nowadays, 23% of US customers are ready to make automobile purchases fully or partially online. That is why a strong online presence is a basic car dealer marketing strategy. Ensuring good UX/UI is critical for attracting and retaining potential buyers. Invest in the development of a user-friendly website, replete with high-quality images, detailed vehicle descriptions, and intuitive navigation. Given the prevalence of mobile browsing, ensure that your website is optimized for seamless access on smartphones.

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2. Implement a Content Marketing Strategy

An important part of auto dealership marketing is settling a strong connection with your audience. A well-crafted content marketing strategy is a great tool for this purpose. Create and use interesting, useful content on topics that are important to your target audience.  The list of car dealership promotional ideas for content marketing includes car-related insights, maintenance tips, and industry trends. Regular blog posts, articles, and visually appealing infographics can establish your dealership as an authoritative source. At the same time, it allows driving organic traffic to your website.

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3. Don’t Neglect Social Media Marketing

Running marketing for car dealerships, use the full potential of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even TikTok to connect with your target audience. Share engaging content, run targeted advertisements, and actively interact with your community. Today, social media is not only an effective tool for building brand awareness but also a powerful source of sales-qualified leads.

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4. Invest in Video Marketing

A good idea of digital marketing for car dealers is engaging your target audience with qualitative video content. Promodo experts recommend creating different videos to showcase your inventory effectively. Develop virtual tours in your dealerships, test drive videos, and customer testimonials as part of your auto dealership marketing strategy. Platforms like YouTube and TikTok are great social media channels to reach a broader and diverse audience.

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5. Incentives and Discounts: Well-Working Car Sales Promotion

Not new but still powerful car sales marketing trick is attracting potential buyers with attractive incentives, special promotions, and exclusive discounts. Launching automotive dealership marketing strategy, consider time-sensitive offers or unique discounts for your social media followers to create a sense of urgency, ultimately driving sales.

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6. Provide Exceptional Customer Service

One of the most obvious also critically important car sales marketing ideas is providing exclusive service for your customers. Outstanding service can be a key success factor for your dealership. Invest in comprehensive training programs for your employees to ensure they are knowledgeable, helpful, and responsive. Positive customer experiences not only lead to word-of-mouth referrals but also to repeat purchases of vehicles at your dealership.

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“Targeting the best service quality at your dealership, consider the importance of the call center. Customers are often not sure which type and model of vehicle they need. That’s why they prefer consulting via phone. That is why creating paid ads for car dealerships, we offer our client adding the call extension to the add copy”.  

Borys Dziundziuk, Senior PPC Specialist at Promodo

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7. Apply Retention Marketing

43% of car shoppers say that promotion and sales automotive emails motivate them to visit a dealership. That is why we insist on using a comprehensive email marketing campaign as part of your car dealership online marketing to increase leads and sales. It’s better to segment an email list to launch targeted campaigns to potential buyers. Keep your audience informed about new arrivals, promotions, and maintenance tips. Personalize your email communications to enhance engagement and develop customer loyalty.

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Important❗️:  We’ve compiled a list of email marketing benchmarks as well as other automotive digital marketing insights in comprehensive research.

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8. Optimize for Local SEO

As 80% of automotive customers come to the dealership from a 25-mile radius, local search engine optimization is critical for ensuring that your dealership appears in relevant local searches. That is why incorporating location-specific keywords, claiming and optimizing your Google Business Profile listing, and actively encouraging customer reviews to enhance your local online visibility are obligatory dealership marketing tactics.

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9. Offer Test Drives and Events

Allow potential buyers to experience your cars for themselves by offering test drives. Additionally, consider hosting different events, parties, or exclusive previews to attract the attention of local customers to your car dealership.

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10. Implement Chatbots and AI Technology

To strengthen your digital marketing for car dealerships strategy, we recommend staying updated on technological advancements. Innovative car dealer marketing ideas are integrating chatbots on your website as well as launching AI tools. The bots provide instant assistance and engagement, available 24/7 which will improve your customer service. In addition, the use of AI-powered tools can automate repetitive tasks, streamline processes, and significantly improve the overall customer experience.

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Summing up…

By implementing these 10 comprehensive car dealership marketing strategies, you’ll improve your market presence, engage with customers effectively, and grow sales significantly. However, at the same time, remember that each business is unique and requires its approach. In case you need help with developing your own car dealer marketing strategy that will best fit your business, location, and target audience, Promodo is here to help you with the most challenging tasks in the automotive industry.

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