If you’ve been in the automotive business for a while, it can seem like all digital marketing solutions are the same. PPC, social media campaigns, classified sites, and SEO all seem to blend into one another. Your store finds ways to keep the doors open, thanks to an assortment of vendors and techniques. Even if your store is surviving, the competition is palpable, and you know that you need creative solutions to stay in business. At VIN Ads, we understand the difficult position dealership GMs face. Y’all are experts at selling cars, but you’re utterly reliant on online advertising vendors that speak a bunch of jargon you don’t always understand. We know the struggle, which is why we’re motivated by our combined love of cars and the web to provide the most advanced solutions available. With that in mind, let us introduce you to grassroots marketing.

Let’s take a closer look at how most classified sites work before we get into grassroots marketing. The majority of classified pages offer two services: a platform to promote inventory and third-party leads. Uploading inventory onto a classified site isn’t a guarantee that leads will convert into sales, though. If you think about it, most classifieds do not focus on helping dealerships move iron; they’re a way for the classified company to make money. After all, they showcase your inventory right alongside your competitors. Sure, shoppers can narrow down their selection by location, but that’s hardly enough to give you the upper hand over your neighbors. 

Because classifieds put everyone’s inventory on the same page, there is no way to pull a shopper directly to your store. On top of that, the leads that these sites generate also get sold to neighboring stores. So, you’re not getting a leg up on any other dealership in your vicinity. To make matters worse, these classified vendors don’t provide any quality control for those leads. How many leads in your CRM don’t have complete phone numbers or email addresses right now? We’d bet the majority don’t. As affordable and convenient as they may be, they do not consistently and reliably help you sell cars, trucks, and SUVs. Instead, these classifieds take advantage of your need to advertise your inventory so that they can rake in the dough.