PPC Campaigns for the Automotive Industry

There are a number of different ways to market your dealership in the digital age but one of the most important avenues that must not be overlooked is PPC campaigns for the Automotive industry.  Just ahead, we’ll explain why your bottom line relies heavily on the ads sitting at the top of SERPs on your customer’s favorite search engines.

PPC Refresher

Pay-per-click or PPC campaigns are self-explanatory because you’re paying a search engine every time someone clicks on your ad. What that person does once they’re on your site is a whole other topic. Your main concern with PPC campaigns is getting visitors to your site. Now how do you do that when there are so many dealers vying for that same traffic? You create dealership PPC campaigns that potential customers can’t ignore. These ads are an advertising tool that when used and designed smartly can truly increase your conversation rates and bring you new customers. You’re letting the search engines do the heavy lifting of placing your ads in front of new customers, but you’re still in control of what the ad looks like. Yes, you have to pay every time someone clicks on your ad, but when your ad is served to hundreds of visitors and one or two visitors turn into customers, the advertising money spent will be worth it.

Reviews Are Not Enough

Reviews and testimonials are an important part of your marketing strategy, but they’re not your end all be all way to secure new customers. That’s where PPC campaigns come into play.

When people are starting their car buying journey, they’ll shop around and figure out which car is the one for them and then they’ll crunch some numbers and once they’re confident that they’re ready to buy, that’s when they’ll search for the best dealer to buy from. They want the best deals and you can serve them your best offers through your PPC campaigns.

When you’re planning out your PPC campaigns, be prepared to invest some advertising funds toward these ads because you’ll be bidding for placement in search engine results along with your competitors. Bidding just a skosh more than what you had in mind may be just the boost you need to have Google serve your ad above a competitor’s ad.

Preparation is Key

Before you’re ready to build any PPC campaigns, take some time and research your target audience. Ask yourself questions that your customers may ask and then design your ad around ways to answer their questions in a couple lines of text. You should also run some searches and see what current ads are popping up. You’ll be able to see how one ad may be stronger than others based on what they say. If you’re a customer and see an ad that says, “Save an extra $2000 off MSRP,” versus an ad that says, “Savings on new inventory,” you’ll be more likely to click on the more descriptive ad. The more research you do before building your ads, the less money you’ll have to spend experimenting because PPC campaigns can be expensive and if you’re just starting out and have a smaller automotive advertising budget, you want to spend your dollars wisely.

Crafting Your PPC Campaigns

Wording and branding are key when it comes to creating your PPC ads. You want your visitors to associate your dealer’s name with the car they’re searching for. It’s important to include your dealer’s name and other branding qualities that reinforce you in the minds of your visitors who could very well turn into customers. You also want to provide other useful information to your visitors which include your address, phone number, and any keywords like “limited offers,” and “extra savings.” It’s all about repetition and making sure you’re in the minds of your potential customers.

When selecting your keywords, it’s important to also include negative keywords, so you’re reaching the right visitors. If a negative keyword is entered in Google and it’s on your list, then your ad will not be served. This is especially useful because you want your ads to work for you, and when your ad is served to someone who clicks your ad, but then immediately leaves your site because they didn’t find what they were looking for, you’re still stuck paying for their visit even though they took no further action.

You want to make it easy for your visitors to find the information they’re looking for in your ad, so when they see it, they don’t even think twice before clicking the ad. You also want your ads served to visitors who are most likely to convert their search into a sale.

Strengthen Your Dealer’s PPC Strategies

When you’re preparing and setting up your PPC campaigns, it’s important you go in with a plan and don’t take a trial and error approach. Pay-per-click campaigns are based on strategic planning and highlighting the right aspects of your dealer. When executed correctly they can bring you new customers and keep your business growing.