In today’s fast-paced automotive industry, staying ahead of the competition requires more than manufacturing extraordinary vehicles. To do so, dealerships need effective automotive aftermarket software for online marketing and strategies. This is one of the largest industries globally and includes companies for manufacturing, marketing, designing, and sales.
Consumers have shifted from traditional to digital car purchasing methods in recent years. Digital marketing calls for top-notch marketing software, and it helps businesses create targeted campaigns, and takes their marketing game to the next level!
What is Automotive Marketing Software?
Automotive marketing software is used to market automotive products or services, and assist car companies manage sales, marketing efforts, and customer service. Dealers can market new or used cars and make more sales by utilizing the right software. Digital marketing and online automobile sales have been a major part of automotive marketing because of the increased internet usage, especially since COVID-19.
Automotive marketing refers to the promoting and advertising of vehicles, and related products or services. Marketing software can help dealerships with campaigns, managing inventories, creating listings, tracking customer interactions and sales, and distributing marketing texts to potential buyers. It provides them with tools to grow their customer base and helps build an omnichannel strategy that delivers personalized experiences to customers. There is so much potential for growth in the future, and that’s why dealerships must have the right marketing software to reach their targeted audience.
Some other services that automotive retail software provides are:
1) Create and distribute marketing materials
2) Automate marketing and sales workflows
3) Let user list inventory on sites
4) Track ROI for each campaign
5) Offer competitive pricing
Best Automotive Marketing Software
Here’s a list of the best automotive marketing software available for auto dealers:
| Software | Description | Rating |
| Dealer.com | Dealer.com platform specializes in providing marketing solutions like content and lead management, online advertising, inventory marketing, and performance analytics. | 3.8 |
| AutoAlert | AutoAlert’s CXM helps automotive dealerships by engaging with the dealership’s customers and building a relationship. | 5 |
| PureCars | PureCars helps dealerships make the best marketing decisions by helping with vehicle inventory, keeping track of local competitors to see who’s winning or losing, and helping with advertising budgets based on their data. | 3 |
| Carbase | Carbase.com creates custom websites for auto dealers, provides better service to customers, generates focused automotive leads, and increases car sales. | 2 |
| ActivEngage | ActivEngage is an automotive chat provider, designed to build relationships with customers and offers managed digital messaging services to certified OEM programs and automotive retailers. | 0 |
| Craiglist | Craigslist allows dealers to post their inventory with personalized posts of their vehicles, and repost advertisements whenever they want. | 3.5 |
| Gubagoo | Gubagoo provides advanced conversational solutions in the automotive industry like car dealer live chat and digital marketing. | 5 |
| Ebiz Autos | EbizAutos provides internet marketing, marketing software, and websites to dealers in the automotive industry. | 0 |
| Spin Car | SpinCar is a cloud-based management technology that helps dealerships by capturing images, marketing vehicles, and creating personalized content that will boost sales and increase customer engagement. | 4.1 |
| Elead | Elead provides comprehensive retail solutions for car dealerships, and offers services like CRM, overviewing of their inventory, and managing and organizing products for efficient sales. | 0 |
What is Marketing in the Automobile Industry?
Automotive marketing helps dealerships by connecting them with potential customers, which includes those who actively looking to purchase a car or are in the process of researching. Most marketing strategies rely on digital pathways, rather than non-digital paths, which include old forms of communication like billboards, printed advertisements, handwritten notes, and more.
Digital marketing refers to digital campaigns that work by circulating advertisements through emails, websites, social media platforms, display ads, online videos, and search engine marketing. It allows quick product comparisons, and this marketing strategy is found to be quite useful in the automotive industry.
Types of Automotive Marketing Software
Technology and innovation have brought multiple new auto dealer marketing software, that has been found to work effectively in reaching potential buyers and increasing the customer base for automotive dealers. Here are some types of automotive marketing software:
1) Referrals and Outreach
Referral marketing is expanding the customer base by using connections with recent clients. Car dealerships use this marketing strategy by including software that generates referrals that will increase their audience reach. Dealerships reach out to their past and current customers as well, to maintain customer engagement. Auto dealers can send emails and offer service appointments to their old customers.
2) CRM Software
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) manages relationships between customers and dealerships. In the automotive industry, dealerships can use this software to organize their marketing and customer service processes. It helps build communication with customers and keeps track of the interactions held through texts, emails, or walk-ins.
3) DMS Software
Dealer Management Software (DMS) allows dealerships to perform their daily functions from a single site. It allows simplified information exchange between all the divisions of the dealerships, i.e., manufacturing, sales, design, marketing, finance, service operations, and more. It also helps with improving customer service, collecting and analyzing all the data, improving marketing strategies, and giving dealerships mobility and security.
4) Inventory Management Software
Inventory management software keeps track of the orders, inventory levels, and deliveries for the dealers. It associates the inventory with the dealership’s website and brings third-party leads, which improves car dealership marketing and increases sales.
5) Digital Retail and Website Building Software
Building a website according to the dealership’s model and specifications is very important. This software makes sure the website is user-friendly and stands out in the crowd. Digital retail provides an e-commerce experience on the dealership’s website where customers can shop online. The website is built to be easy to navigate so that customers can compare prices, look at the inventory, and much more.
Features of Automotive Marketing Software
Automotive software and data for business intelligence and digital marketing software help generate marketing campaigns and increase sales and leads. Here are some features of automotive marketing software that aim to increase customer base for the automotive industry:
1) Manage Leads
Automotive lead management software manages leads by keeping track of the leads and filtering the qualified ones. This helps them focus on the leads that appear to convert. This happens when a potential customer visits the page multiple times. The software triggers notifications to the dealerships to reach out to the leads and close a deal.
2) Manage Website Lists
Automotive predictive marketing software allows dealerships to post their products, services, or inventory online and manages the listing based on how often the page is being visited. It also shares the listings through other channels.
3) Marketing through SMS
The software reaches customers or potential customers through text messages on their mobiles. It can also send out reminders, notifications, and event invites, and handles bulk messaging. This increases customer engagement and can bring quick responses if needed.
4) Marketing through Emails
This is similar to marketing through text messages. This marketing software works on email marketing and campaigns. It designs emails and sends them to all the registered customers. The emails can be of upcoming events, successes, and activities that can be done online.
5) Marketing through Social Media:
Marketing through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, is important for the current sales strategy. Automotive marketing working through online platforms can be done on multiple social media at once, and reach many audiences altogether. The software can capture who interacted with the post and push notifications when required.
6) Manage the Reputation of the Dealers
The software helps dealerships by sending out surveys and review requests to the customers. It helps build customer relationships which will help dealerships with repeating business with the same client or bring more leads.
7) Smooth Workflow
The marketing software helps dealerships by automatically sending out reminders, and offers, scheduling phone calls, and maintaining outreach and follow-up tasks with customers. This can be a difficult set of work for dealers to handle on their own. That’s why this marketing software can be helpful for them daily.
8) Overall Analysis
The marketing software also helps with constantly analyzing the sales and assessing the methods that are useful for the dealership’s outreach. It keeps records of every sale and lead the dealership has made and what strategies have been useful to them, and applies to future deals as well. It can also keep records of the teams and their performances.
Benefits of Using Automotive Marketing Software
The car dealer marketing software has been beneficial for the automotive industry with its cooperative features and dealerships have been benefiting from them from the time these software came into existence. Some of the benefits are listed below: :
1) Maximizing Engagement
The automotive aftermarket software for online marketing creates engagement between dealers and customers or potential buyers. It does so by using tools that promote its automotive products and/or services and reach a wide range of customers who might be on a search for a suitable vehicle.
2) Improving Sales
The software helps dealerships target customers at the right time and close deals or secure repeat business. It will allocate resources to campaigns doing well and improve sales by working specifically towards bringing in more potential customers and turning them into buyers.
3) Managing Inventory
Auto dealers can use the software to keep up with seamless advertising of their business. It can be done by using software that will help in car inventory management with real-time pricing and updates on the stock and product availability.
4) Finances and Insurance
Auto dealers support diverse financing and insurance options. The software helps customers by lending platforms that offer a range of financial solutions that meet customer needs. It helps build dealerships with better financing and insurance options.
5) Enhancing CRM
The automotive lead management software helps dealerships with customer relationship management (CRM) and track the leads effectively. It will improve communication with customers and develop targeted campaigns that will increase sales opportunities.
6) Analyzing and Reporting
The marketing software identifies improvement areas by analyzing sales performance and increases profit. It also gives insights into inventory and optimizes stock levels. It helps dealerships with marketing campaigns to enhance strategy and ROI.
7) Increasing Productivity
Dealerships can increase productivity by saving time on automated tasks, which can be done by the software, focusing on customer service and sales, and improving efficiency.
8) Improved Customer Experience
Auto dealer software focuses on sales and communication, which boosts customer satisfaction. This speeds up sales and builds trust and relationships with the buyers through effective communication.
Challenges in Implementing Automotive Marketing Software
As the automotive industry becomes more advanced, the complexity of car dealer marketing software increases. The development of dealership marketing software comes with its challenges. Here are some key challenges faced in implementing the automotive predictive marketing software:
1) Intense Competition
The automotive dealership marketing industry is highly competitive. With an increase in competition to gain customers’ attention, there has been a constant need for new automotive software and data for business intelligence and digital marketing software and tools. There is pressure on dealerships to outperform the rival dealers. This can compromise the software quality.
2) Changing Technology
The technological advancements in the industry are occurring at a fast pace. Keeping up with the latest trends is a challenge dealerships have to face. Software developers must ensure compatibility with platforms and technologies being used to maintain the software’s performance.
3) Consumer Preferences and Demands
Consumer preferences evolve as they are influenced by trends in technology and media consumption. The auto dealer marketing software must adapt to their changing preferences to increase engagement and offer personalized experiences to the consumers.
4) Market Dynamics
The auto dealer market fluctuates often and the reason for this is economic conditions, consumer trends, and changes in preferences. This calls for a need for software to be able to adjust supply chains, customer demographics, and emerging market opportunities. The software needs to be adaptable to these challenges.
Using AI to Automate BDC
Dealerships can automate their Business Development Center (BDC) with AI to make their BDC operations better. In the automotive industry, the BDC is responsible for managing communication with customers and lead handling. This can help dealerships improve customer engagement, their work efficiency, and increase sales.
Here’s how AI is going to help automate a dealership’s BDC:
1) Faster Replies: AI can provide quicker replies to customers and increase customer interaction. The customers won’t have to wait to receive information. This increases customer engagement.
2) Attention of Prospects: AI can identify potential customers more effectively and predict which leads are most likely to convert by analyzing their activity data.
3) Increase Sales: AI helps assist by analyzing customer preferences and behavior, and tailors recommendations accordingly. This will increase the likelihood of the customers to make a purchase.
4) Solve Inquiries: AI-powered chatbots and assistants can handle a wide range of inquiries made by customers. It ensures that customers get accurate answers, which will result in customer satisfaction.
5) Connection with Leads: AI can help maintain engagement with customers with follow-ups and personalized communication. It will keep the customers informed and engaged.
Conclusion
Automotive marketing software is a necessity for automotive dealerships now that there is increased competition in this industry. Marketing software will help boost sales, increase customer engagement, and make effective advertising campaigns. These software solutions will help automotive dealerships be more efficient and compete in this ever-changing and evolving industry. These smart software are a solution for dealerships to be ahead in the race and drive towards success!
