If you’re considering your dealership’s next advertising strategy, you’ve likely considered direct mail and online advertising. There are benefits to both marketing strategies; however, you can use either method to create an effective marketing plan.
Epsilon Individual Automotive discusses how direct mail and online advertising can work together to craft a well-rounded marketing campaign below.
Direct Mail & Online Advertising Generate More Leads
Direct mail and online advertising have the same goal: to help your dealership get more business. To get more business, your marketing campaign needs to generate leads.
Direct mail materials, like postcards or flyers, can reach customers physically, while online advertising, like on Facebook or Google, can reach customers while they’re online. Your customers are reminded of your automotive business on and off the web, making them more aware of what you’re offering.
A coordinated message across marketing platforms can also help create distinct branding for your business. This may include the colors, images, or phrases that you use in advertising. Customers will recognize your ads when they see them, creating a relationship.
Build Brand Loyalty With Multi-Touch Campaigns
Dealerships looking to effectively strengthen brand loyalty should consider a multichannel approach that includes both direct mail and online advertising campaigns. This allows dealership campaigns to expose customers to their brand through different mediums to stay top-of-mind as they’re sifting through other promotions in their inboxes or mailboxes.
Since it builds familiarity and trust—two very integral elements of brand loyalty—repeated exposure of this nature helps in doing so. Additionally, with multi-touch campaigns, there is less constrained storytelling. Although direct mail can handle details and on-the-spot personalization very well, online ad servers offer a platform for interactive coverage through videos, social media engagements, etc.
The combination of these activities creates a richer, more dynamic brand narrative to which customers can connect with a dealership on a deeper level. Some ways to specifically channel this method are through:
Cross-Channel Promotions & Offers
Possibly the best benefit of combining both direct mail and online advertising is that it will support cross-channel promotions and offers. For example, a direct-mail piece could include a special discount code that is only valid when placing the order online, encouraging visitors to your dealership website. Conversely, promote in-store events or special offers that are available only through direct mail using online ads.
This cross-channel approach does more, too: It increases and creates the interest of the customers in interacting with the dealership through different channels. These offers bring about an air of exclusiveness and urgency, therefore driving more traffic both online and offline. Dealerships can strategize these promotions and offers through different platforms to make the most of their marketing efforts and drive improved results.
Integrated Marketing Enhances the Customer Experience
This is where a well-orchestrated direct-mail and online advertising campaign can leverage customer experiences. Consistent messaging propagated through various channels will bring about a seamless journey from offline to online activities. A seamless and engaging experience results, making it easier to engage prospects deeper into the sales funnel.
Through personalization, the customers feel important and understood by this direct mail and online ad issuance. This is done by tailoring a message to the individual’s preferences and needs, which helps dealerships build a stronger relationship with the audience. This could result in increased customer satisfaction and brand loyalty, driving sales and repeat business.
Direct Mail Can Move the Online Marketing Funnel Along
Direct mail can kick-start the online marketing funnel. When you craft a direct mail piece, you can include interactive sections that direct a potential lead to your website, allowing them to explore.
Personalized direct mail is an excellent way to create interactive direct mail. Personalized URLs and QR Codes can lead to microsites devoted to that specific person’s needs and even include their name. This information can be collected from one of Epsilon Individual Automotive’s databases to help you target demographics or locations.
Once your lead has visited your website, you can collect additional information to help determine your ROI. You can also follow up with your customers via email if they have not committed to a purchase or visit. Data also allows you to create targeted display ads for your customers as they surf the web, keeping your dealership in their minds.
Analytics Can Refine Your Next Campaign
The analytics you receive from your direct mail and online advertising campaigns can influence how you craft your next campaign.
Direct mail with digital components can help you measure who has visited your website via the QR Code or PURL. You’ll know how successfully your direct mail piece worked and which parts appealed to your customers once they’ve visited your website.
You can measure the success of the online advertising portion of your campaign in a few ways, including:
- Clicks
- View-throughs
- Digital lift
Each of these tells you how successful your campaign was. Clicks measure how often your ad was clicked. View-throughs inform how many people saw your ad and visited your site later. Digital lift, after 90 days, can tell you the likelihood that someone will visit your site after they’ve viewed your ad.
Combine all this with direct mail, and you’ll raise awareness and the ROI of your marketing campaign.
We’ll Show You More About Direct Mail & Online Advertising
If you’re interested in learning more about how direct mail and online advertising can work together to benefit your dealership, Epsilon Individual Automotive can help. Our team of experts will work with you to create a tailored marketing strategy that leverages the strengths of both methods to enhance your automotive business.
Epsilon Individual Automotive is committed to helping dealerships create successful marketing campaigns that drive results. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you integrate direct mail and online advertising for a more effective and impactful marketing strategy.
