Whether you call it auto dealer SEM or PPC campaigns, dealerships need them to get the word out about their inventory and services. The competition among stores is fierce, and these ad campaigns have a lot of potential to grow profit. Unfortunately, many dealers miss out on these opportunities because their vendors don’t generate leads that convert into real-life sales. Many GMs stick to what they know because it’s difficult to distinguish between techniques. One way to do that is to question how these vendors measure success. 

For decades, automotive online marketing has relied on leads as the primary way to measure a campaign’s success. Counting leads has become an industry-standard because gathering consumer data is easier than ever. As a result, generating many leads is a simple task. However, a vendor that can generate hundreds of leads every month says nothing about the quality of information they provide. If your CRM gets filled with leads that only have partial or incorrect information, what good is having thousands of leads? Counting leads as the only way to measure ROI no longer makes sense.

Instead, GMs need access to high-quality leads and a comprehensive way to measure them. By high quality, we mean the kind of leads that come directly from customers engaged with the inventory and services your store offers. These leads can only arrive with customized PPC campaigns that do more than geographically target buyers. With the power of AI technology, dealers can connect to local shoppers in a whole new way that gets them excited about what is on your lot. When buyers get excited, they are far more likely to fill out a contact form or come in for a test drive. 

These customized leads are called behavioral targeting and are a specialty of vendors that generate first-generation leads, such as Vin Ads. We insist on first-generation leads because we know that they are the only ones that convert into sales that make a difference for your bottom line. Because we engage shoppers and send them directly to your store, only you have access to their content information. As a result, they are up to ten times more likely to purchase or lease a vehicle when they connect with dealers directly. Still, we want to do more than ensure dealers have direct relationships with customers. 

We want to empower GMs to move away from counting leads. Relying on counting leads at this point in the digital age is like deciding if a car is worth buying by kicking the tires. Instead, we want dealerships to have better tools to separate the wheat from the chaff. For that reason, we also insist on using an external program to measure our progress. Transparency is the key to ensuring dealerships survive the hard times and thrive during the good times. Get in touch with us today to learn more about how we can revolutionize your digital marketing strategies so that you can be at the top of your game.