The full version of this article was first published at: How to Get the Most Out of Automotive PPC
The automotive industry is fiercely competitive. Dealers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) spend billions every year on print, TV, and radio ads. The problem is that a lot of these campaigns aren’t necessarily driving showroom traffic, and even if they are, there’s no good way to track showroom traffic back to the campaigns driving it.Because of this, we’ve seen dealers shift towards spending more on paid search and SEO. In fact, the U.S. automotive industry is expected to spend $7.8 billion on paid digital advertising by 2017. In an industry plagued by shoddy attribution, PPC and SEO give dealers more insight into how their ad dollars are driving car sales. Compared to a TV spot or a 30-second radio jingle, we know exactly how much site traffic each campaign generates and exactly how those site visitors behaved. Because we have this insight, we’re able to optimize our ad spend in these channels and better track our results. Budget/Funnel Allocation Focus on showing up in the funnel when your prospects are most likely looking to buy. For a car dealer doing PPC, this means maximizing your brand and regional spend, even if you’re showing up in organic for some or all of these searches. Brand searches would be queries like “Bob’s Ford Dealership,” while regional queries could include your brand name, the region or city you’re located in, and the OEM make your dealership provides. Not serving an ad for these searches is a mistake for three main reasons. Even if you’re…
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