A lot of dealerships have “value proposition” videos, the problem is their strategy is to get those videos seen by “the right shopper.” Facebook, TikTok, and other social media platforms are great for branding, high funnel messaging, and the occasional mid to low funnel contact. However, there is a place where significantly more people (every day) will see your videos than they will on all of the social media platforms combined, and the majority of the people on this site are mid to low-funnel shoppers. Have you guessed it? That’s right, “your” website.
Listen, this is simple. One of the most important components of a Video Marketing Strategy is getting your video content in front of the right shopper, at the right time of the buying cycle. You spend thousands of dollars every month driving mid to low-funnel traffic to your website. This is THE most important touchpoint to display your value proposition (and testimonial) videos. But not on a “videos” tab hidden away on your menu, front and center on your SRPs and VDPs next to your New Model Test Drive and VIN-specific Inventory Videos.
You want to “make the car the star” on your VDPs. But write this down: most consumers are looking for a dealership that they can trust every bit as much as they are a vehicle to purchase. You already know this, and you’ve structured your “on the lot” sales strategy around it. If you apply this same logic to your “online lot,” and display your value proposition and testimonial videos alongside your inventory videos, (instead of hiding them somewhere on your website) you will be amazed at the impact they will have on your sales.
Video marketing as a means of reaching and building relationships with consumers has dominated for years – and it’s not going away any time soon. Knowing this, many businesses are quickly allocating more of their marketing dollars to it. However, simply “doing” video marketing is not enough. Every dealership needs to have a strategy and start with the end goal in mind. As with any marketing, the message you relay to consumers is important. One key strategy point is knowing how you want your dealership portrayed in the minds of consumers. What is unique about your dealership? What is special? Is there anything that your customers LOVE about your dealership? Is there anything they HATE? People buy from people they like, so your goal should be to find the unique, likable characteristics of your dealership and convey them to shoppers. A recent article on Entrepreneur shared the importance of aligning your video marketing strategy with your business strategy, connecting the dots, if you will. Some dealerships portray a wild, crazy personality — but that is on purpose. Take Frank Myers Auto Maxx in Winston Salem, NC. The owner, Tracy Myers, has developed characters and tells fun stories in his commercials. But also conveys that his salespeople are non-commissioned and are focused on the customer experience. Here is an example:
He made a short movie about his dealership’s history that was nominated for an Emmy (you can catch the whole thing here – https://youtu.be/ietWhebVMQY.) The point is that he doesn’t do this because he just wants to be crazy, he does it because IT WORKS. How does he know? Through DATA. Even when he gets emails from people saying that they don’t like his video, there is one simple fact… they watched it. His customer loyalty is phenomenal.
Your dealership has a story to tell. You don’t need to make short movies to tell it, but there are many kinds of videos that you can create to get it to your customers. High in the funnel, you can start with value propositions and testimonials, or monthly promotional videos. As the customer moves down the funnel, you can show them inventory videos with your dealership’s unique messaging and branding included. And finally, at the bottom of the funnel, you can drive home your messaging in video emails/text, as well as post-sale videos.
You just have to figure out what kind of message and video you would like to get out, and then have the data to know whether it is working or not. Without data, you won’t know what works, and you could end up wasting time and money on a strategy that isn’t driving results. Stop saying “buy, buy, buy.” Customers watching your videos and commercials know you are a car dealership and want to sell them a car already. By following the lead of every other car dealership, the customers may just tune you out or worse, fast forward, and not watch it at all.
There are many other ways to use video to build rapport on a personal level, but that isn’t what I’m talking about here. The point I am trying to make is that dealerships need to identify WHO they want to be and WHAT they want to say. Then tailor all of their video (and other) marketing to tell that story. More importantly, that story should be reflected and presented in all their marketing. Consistency brings brand awareness and top-of-mind. It’s about brand identity and aligning that with your marketing funnel. Use data to make decisions on what strategy is working.
If you don’t have a platform that can give you the depth of data that you need, you should look for one as it is crucial to make these decisions. You can’t rely on “Likes” and “comments” on Facebook (or any other platform) to direct if your strategy is working or not.
Ask yourself these questions: What purpose is this video trying to accomplish? Does it align with my overall marketing strategy? Does it portray the personality and/or tell the story of my dealership? And most importantly, how do I know whether it’s working?
Once you answer these questions and look at the data to determine if it is working, keep doing it. If you find some things in your strategy aren’t resonating or performing, pivot and change. All businesses fail at marketing occasionally, but that doesn’t mean they don’t keep trying. Eventually, you will find that “special sauce” that resonates with your consumers, brings them down your marketing and sales funnel, and helps accomplish your goal of increasing revenue.
