• 7 tactics to help your dealership acquire more customers
In today’s digital-first marketplace, it’s important to have the correct insights so you can enhance your online marketing efforts to help your dealership attract and acquire more customers.
Here are 7 strategies to enhance your digital marketing:
- Seize the Opportunity: Outdoor living and recreation, of which boating plays a vital role, continues to be a rewarding experience for people everywhere. With the increase in boating interest, especially post-pandemic, it’s essential to capitalize on the growing audience of boaters. As some dealers may scale back their marketing, investing in digital marketing now, even in a softer market, can give you more exposure.
- Optimize Digital Ads: Use digital ads effectively by incorporating geo-targeting to reach local customers or targeting individuals who are actively searching for specific types of boats. This can help attract buyers and generate quality leads.
- Create a Strong Online Presence: Your dealership’s online presence is an extension of your physical dealership location. This integration allows you to leverage customer data, build trust, generate leads and increase your closing ratio with less effort.
- Personalize the Experience: We’ve heard that customers are so demanding now. But in reality, they just seek a personalized buying experience. That’s why it’s important for you to utilize digital tools to deliver on these expectations. Your team should be capturing the types of boats customers have browsed and suggesting relevant and related options, saving their searches and budget parameters for any future interactions.
- Build Relationships: Personal connections are as valuable as ever. Your digital marketing — using email journeys, targeted ads and interactive social media campaigns — affords you the chance to make each message more meaningful. Having a timely response plan in place will let you connect personally and earn the sale.
- Post-Sale Engagement: You cannot ignore buyers after the sale! Create a post-sale customer engagement calendar for support and nurturing. This will maintain the relationship, encourage referrals and can lead to more positive online reviews.
- Leverage Digital Retailing Technology: By investing in digital retailing technology to learn more customer intelligence before the sale, you can add to your already existing customer database, equipping your sales team with more pertinent information to improve these intimate conversations.
In order to stay competitive in the ever-evolving marine retail landscape, you have to invest in digital marketing. Your dealership’s ability to adapt and master your digital footprint can help you better connect with customers and sell more boats.
MRAA resources with best practices for acquiring more customers:
[AIMIE, MRAA’s AI for Marine Industry Education and content delivery system, was used as a resource in the production of this content. Learn more.]