Connected Marketing Is More Important Today

Marketing today continues to become more complex. Customers are encountering your company’s message across multiple platforms. Every week, another place to connect or re-evaluate.?

• Offline: Radio, TV, Newspapers, Print Ads, Mail, Billboards
• Online: Websites, Reviews, Blogs, social media, Streaming?
• In-Store: Employees, Banners, Signs, Word of Mouth, Emails, Phone calls

?And the list keeps growing. Now TikTok is the new frontier for dealers to embrace or engage with. Yet the conversation I began over 5 years ago with publishing of the book The Power of Connected Marketing, is even more relevant today.??

Troy "Turbo" Spring (DealerWorld), Tracy Myers, CMD (Owner Frank Myers Automaxx) and I published the book with the goal to help dealers understand how marketing waste was happening when all marketing channels were not connected.?

“If your message is not connected and consistent through all of your marketing channels, you're wasting marketing dollars.”?

What do I mean “connected”??

For example, if you have a specific ad campaign or commercial running on TV or Cable or streaming, when the customer comes to your website, do they see the same messaging? Do they see similar imagery? And when they come to the dealership itself, do they see the same imaging or messaging in the showroom? When they connect with your staff are they prepared or knowledgeable about the campaigns running??

The key is to have the consumer feel connected or comforted they are in the right place. The mistake or waste happens when a consumer connects with your message on one platform and then to connects with your dealership on another platform or in person and they receive a different experience or message.

Wasted marketing dollars.?

So how can you connect your marketing? First ask yourself this question:?

"Do Your Agency Partners Talk to Each Other?"

?Each agency or person handles one aspect (silo) of marketing for a company. If they do not talk to each other, then assumptions can be made by each which may not be the most effective.?For example, an agency handling the traditional marketing (radio, TV, or direct mail) should discuss with the digital agency where to send the traffic on the company’s website. Should this traffic be directed to the home page or a specific landing page. Is the website properly tagged for tracking results? Who should handle this?

All these topics should be discussed together so if a landing page is needed, it can be created with the same graphic design or messaging from the commerical/radio/direct mail piece. Even if the traffic is being sent to the home page, is there messaging that connect what the consumer saw in the offline media.?

During this discussion, the metrics for success are decided upon. Is it video views? Page visits? Form fills? Or something else? All of these can be discussed and then all parties understand how they can work together to maximize each step along the marketing journey.?

A key component is communicating to the internal staff what campaigns are running when. Even the receptionist needs to know because they are interacting with potential customers. A few ways dealers share their information is posting it in a communal area for all to see or bringing it up in daily/weekly meetings, so everyone is prepared if a customer asks.?

While this may sound easy or like common sense, business leaders are handling multiple initiatives and may not have this mapped out. Now is the time to take a step back and make sure all your vendors are connected, your messaging is connected so your customers feel comfortable your dealership is aligned.?

If I can help in any way, please reach out to me or drop by PCG Digital

If you are going to the upcoming NADA Convention, please stop by the PCG Booth #6567 or come see me speak on Thursday 1 pm Room C141 and Friday 10:30 am Room C147. https://bit.ly/3GEriYt