As an automotive dealer, you’re probably used to wearing many “hats” at work. You’re juggling sales, customer service, inventory management and marketing, among other responsibilities.
Have you heard the phrase, “jack of all trades but master of none”?
In business, everyone multitasks, but with too much on your plate, you’ll never do any task well enough! Spreading your time and effort out like peanut butter across your to-do list will only inch you forward.
For sustainable growth, your solution depends on finding expert partners.
When it comes to marketing, sourcing the right vendors can be a game-changer, helping you meet your targets and grow faster.
By outsourcing specialized functions to trusted experts, you can focus on what you do best—selling cars and delivering outstanding customer service.
The Essential Vendors
In this blog, we’ll explore 8 essential types of vendors that will elevate your dealership’s marketing efforts and propel you to success, even in today’s competitive automotive market.
From search engine optimization (SEO) to reputation management and beyond, here are the vendors (and some big players in each area) that every dealership should consider partnering with:
1. A DMS/CRM Vendor:
A dealership management system (DMS) and customer relationship management (CRM) platform are indispensable tools for managing customer data, tracking leads, and streamlining communication. You almost cannot operate as an automotive dealer today without these tools!
These platforms are the backbone of your marketing efforts, letting you effectively target and engage with your audience.
They’re also crucial to proving your marketing ROI because some partners (like AutoSweet) can match back your offline sales to your online marketing using your DMS.
Reynolds and Reynolds, CDK, and DealerTrack are the leaders in the DMS space. For CRM vendors, look at VinSolutions, Reynolds & Reynolds, or eLeads. If you are an independent dealer, the top DMS/CRM vendors are DealerCenter and Frazer.
2. A Paid Ads Vendor:
SEO is an important component of a digital marketing strategy, and it is complemented by paid advertising.
Look for expertise and specialization from vendors who play in automotive and have multi-channel reach across Google, Facebook, and classified sites like Craigslist. They should also be pros at targeted audience segmentation and performance monitoring, so you’ll know you’re getting ROI while driving sales.
In addition to AutoSweet, PureCars, Digital Air Strike, and NakedLime are vendors with knowledge of placing paid ads across various channels.
These vendors create targeted ad campaigns to reach potential customers where they spend their time online, maximizing your dealership’s exposure and driving qualified leads.
There are many options available in the paid space. The right vendor will employ a variety of tactics to drive traffic to your site. For example, AutoSweet has expertise in Google Ads and leverages Vehicle Listing Ads (VLAs) to attract mid- and low-funnel shoppers at much lower price points than third-party auto listing websites – about $1 a click. AutoSweet was one of the first marketing partners to roll this ad type out to dealerships and remains an expert in it today.
3. An SEO Vendor:
Search engine optimization is critical to marketing because it improves online visibility, drives targeted traffic to your website, and delivers solid long-term results.
Any marketing vendor should consider SEO when supporting your business, but some vendors have deep expertise and can get you farther faster.
These vendors help improve your dealership’s visibility in search engine results by optimizing your website content and driving more organic traffic to your site.
AutoSweet specializes in SEO for car dealerships, focusing on local SEO to rank you higher in searches across your area and leveraging customer reviews to drive your rankings, too.
Most popular website companies, like DealerInspire, Dealer.com, and DealerOn offer SEO services to complement their website business. If you don’t mind a standard approach to SEO, these are good options.
On the other hand, an SEO specialist who understands how to align with your brand and marketing effort will usually yield better long-term results.
4. An Email Marketing Vendor:
While many general marketing agencies working in the automotive space offer email marketing services, it’s important to partner with vendors who specialize in this area.
Email marketing should guide prospects down the sales funnel, creating automated sequences that deliver timely, qualified leads to your team.
Your strategy should include plans for winning new customers with conquest email campaigns and building life-long customers with loyalty campaigns. And you should look for a vendor who can work quickly to promote special offers and sales events when you have them.
A good email marketing vendor will help your dealership stay top-of-mind for potential buyers. AutoSweet is the best in the business when it comes to email marketing. We specialize in conquest email marketing and loyalty campaigns, and our unparalleled matchback capabilities use DMS data to prove ROI so you know your marketing dollar is well spent.
5. A Social Media Marketing Vendor:
Social media is a critical channel to include in your digital marketing strategy. These vendors craft engaging content, manage social media ad campaigns, and foster meaningful interactions with your audience across social platforms.
Most importantly, a good social vendor will build your content strategy and manage your social media calendar and may also advise you on targeted advertising opportunities. They will ensure that your brand content and monthly specials are seamlessly coordinated with your social media properties, like Facebook.
This builds your dealership’s brand, moving customers further along the path to purchase, from awareness to sale.
Friendemic, Digital Air Strike, and, of course, AutoSweet are strong in social media marketing, handling paid ads and organic posting.
AutoSweet’s Marketing Platform is designed to make your inventory and specials the star of the show, quickly and efficiently publishing frequent changes to multiple channels, including social media.
6. A Reputation Management Vendor
Birdseye, Digital Air Strike, DealerRater and Reputation.com specialize in reputation management services, focusing on review generation and response management.
These vendors help boost your dealership’s online reputation by soliciting positive reviews from satisfied customers and addressing any negative feedback promptly and professionally.
Did we mention that AutoSweet also offers reputation management services, advising clients on building their brand online by soliciting reviews and heading negative reviews off at the pass? Our white-glove service can even respond to reviews for you, and our AI sentiment analyzer can help you understand the way your customers view your brand.
7. A Vendor for “User De-anonymization”:
It sounds complicated, but “user de-anonymization” is fairly straightforward. It involves identifying and collecting relevant data on website users while staying compliant with privacy laws. The right partner will ensure that your processing practices are transparent, legal, and respectful of users’ rights.
With the demise of website cookies in 2024, identifying and collecting data on website users has become even more crucial to dealers’ targeted marketing efforts. For example, knowing if a customer has repeatedly visited your website to view a particular vehicle indicates they’re a good candidate for follow-up communication.
Vendors like VisualVisitor, DrivenIQ, and AutoMiner specialize in user de-anonymization, providing valuable insights into visitor behavior and preferences so dealers can tailor their marketing strategies.
Similarly, AutoSweet uses its SilentVisitor™ tool to safely identify and market to your website visitors throughout the sales funnel, helping boost your market share.
8. Inventory Management Vendor:
Managing, organizing, and merchandising your inventory is vital to sales. Without it, you couldn’t organize by make, model, year, etc. You also wouldn’t have real-time updates on what inventory has been sold and which is available. Your lot—and your website—would be a mess.
Partnering with a reputable inventory management vendor streamlines your inventory process. This ensures that your dealership’s inventory is accurately represented online, easily accessible to potential buyers, and merchandised to be the most appealing.
Leading the space in automotive inventory are vendors like VINSolutions, Dealer Center and CDK.
Choosing The Right Partners
Your dealership’s success hinges on selecting the right partners. By working with experts across the marketing spectrum, dealerships can enhance their online presence, drive quality leads, and boost sales. Investing in these essential vendors ensures your dealership stays ahead in a competitive automotive market landscape.
Luckily, AutoSweet can help.
- We cover many of these critical functions in one agency, including email marketing, SEO, paid advertising, and social media marketing.
- We offer user de-anonymization services and more importantly, marketing to de-anonymized visitors through our proprietary SilentVisitor product.
- We offer reputation management services through our partnership with Chatmeter.
- We’re certified with all major DMS providers, such as CDK Global, PBS, AutoSoft, Frazer, and DealerCenter. AutoSweet has completed the certification process in the Reynolds Certified Interface (RCI) Program.
AutoSweet is your one-stop shop for automotive marketing services, saving you time and money. Contact one of our digital marketing consultants today to learn how we can help your dealership streamline its vendors for greater ROI.
Ready to supercharge your automotive digital marketing efforts? Say goodbye to guesswork with our FREE Publishing Your Specials Checklist. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just revving up, this comprehensive guide gives you the information you need to publish monthly specials on your website like a pro.
Interested in speaking to an AutoSweet digital marketing professional about paid ads, email marketing, SEO or one of the other services mentioned above? Reach out to us today for a free demo!
