Just about every business strategy depends on rules and principles that come together to formulate a plan of action, and marketing is no different. One rule that is well known in the marketing and sales community is the 80/20 rule – 80% of your profits come from 20% of your customers, and therefore sales people need to devote more attention to developing opportunities geared towards that 20% that will drive revenue.
For auto dealership marketers, this formula has evolved. Dealerships can’t afford to miss out on any piece of business, which is where the 60-20-20 rule comes into play: focus 60% of marketing on repeat customers, 20% on referral customers, and 20% on new customers. Auto marketers know that relationships drive sales. Dealership owners are aware that repeat customers bring in the most revenue, which means that auto marketers naturally need to place more focus on them, but they should also leave some room to tend to referrals and new customers as well. Below is a breakdown of what marketing solutions will help reach each type of customer.
60% Repeat Customers
A dealership that has a well-kept and functional CRM is gold for auto marketers. By combining a dealership’s CRM with a Data Management Platform (DMP), marketers can match customers’ digital devices which gives more insight into those customers. Once devices are matched, marketers can use this information to reach to send personalized and targeted information through various platforms. For example, dealerships can begin to target customers whose leases are almost up with renewal campaigns, or customers who have cars older than two years with loan equity campaigns.
20% Referral Customers
That great CRM that we talked about? It can be used for more than just reaching your current customers. Once customer’s devices are matched with a DMP you can use that information to reach auto intenders in two ways. First, you can tap into their personal network to find people that have exhibited the behaviors of someone that is planning to purchase a car in the near future. Second, you can define the behaviors of an auto intender and create look-a-like audiences – basically, find people that are similar to your current customers that may be more likely to purchase a car in the near future. You can then use these two new audiences to create personalized campaigns that are targeted at those potential customers.
20% New Customers
Of course, every dealership wants to reach the elusive new customer base. There are three recommended routes to targeting this audience.
- CRM Prospect Re-Engagement
Every sales person has experienced those leads that have gone cold. Whether it’s recent prospects that are still in the typical 90-day path to purchase window or previous prospects that are again showing online auto behavior, following up with these audiences can really pay off for a dealership. Of course, reaching these audiences means knowing that they exist – which goes back to dealerships needing a solid and consistently updated CRM.
- Physical Behavior Targeting
Get a glimpse into the auto intenders who are interacting with your competition by targeting your competitor’s location. Once the devices of your competitor’s prospects are captured, you can create campaigns that speak to that clientele to try to bring them your way.
- Online Behavior Targeting
Find people that are showing signs of intention to buy a car based on their online behavior by targeting those that have visited your website, a manufacturer’s website, and 3rd party lead provider websites within a certain time frame.
As auto dealership marketers continue to evolve and learn how to manage this new digital world, it will be important to keep marketing strategies flexible and to try new tactics to reach your intended audiences. If your dealership is looking to build a strategy with the right balance of customer focus, let Advance Ohio help you put all the moving pieces in place. Contact us today to begin the conversation.
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