At the AUTOHAUS E-Marketing Day it became clear how important it is to address customers correctly. New marketing channels play an important role, especially with regard to young target groups.
By Felix Altmann / AUTOHAUS
Even though the AUTOHAUS E-Marketing Day took place for the 7th time, there was still a premiere: This year it was a purely virtual event, to which the trade magazine welcomed around 300 users. The online event was moderated by editor-in-chief Ralph M. Meunzel from the Munich publishing studio. The speakers held their presentations on all aspects of digital marketing and sales in front of their own computers, and users could see the presentations via screen sharing.
The young wild
The presentations by the younger speakers this year gave a foretaste of what retail should be prepared for in the field of digital marketing: A new generation of customers who are dealing with the subject of cars for the first time and whose advertising demands are sometimes significantly different from those of the Differentiate between “classic” customers in the dealership.
In his contribution, Charles Bahr showed the expectations of “Generation Z”, the group of buyers who were born around the turn of the millennium and who have already grown up with the Internet. Such customers do not require perfectly staged, but honest marketing with campaigns and people with whom they can identify. The next generation “Generation Y”, reported by AUTOHAUS Next-Content Manager Nina Lipp, is similar. Here, too, individuality and the question of “why” (Y = why?) Play a major role. Lipp: “These customers question, for example, what a campaign wants to achieve and why it even exists.”
Jan and Jens Weiss caused a stir. The young influencers presented themselves with an elaborately produced video. In it, she presented the possibilities of how, with the help of influencers, retail on popular platforms such as Instagram and TikTok can turn customers into fans and followers of the car dealerships.
Basics are still important
But not only completely new marketing channels are of interest in the e-marketing of tomorrow. Of course, for many companies the first thing to do is to digitize their internal processes and benefit from the benefits. Sara Bay from the Emil Frey Group presented ways to a successful business development center. Customer inquiries can be processed with a low lost call rate and valuable leads are no longer lost, no matter how many locations a company has.
Car stock exchanges also continue to play an important role. Industry expert and consultant Jörg von Steinaecker gave an overview of the common platforms in the network, how they differ and what is important when presenting the vehicles in order to generate as many leads as possible.
Opportunities in digital marketing
In his lecture, Stefan Jentzsch from automotive heads underlined the possibilities with regard to the measurability of digital marketing strategies. Many retailers are often not even aware of these opportunities for evaluating campaigns. He advocated “getting rid of the fear of the digital world and instead approaching e-marketing in an open-minded, creative and with a partner with whom one can develop suitable marketing measures”.
Video marketing has also become more and more important over the years. Max Weiglin founded driveme for this purpose. The agency develops tailor-made video marketing solutions for car dealerships. According to Weiglin, videos are the “ideal starting point for a successful customer journey”. They are particularly popular on social media and thus have a significantly greater impact than images or texts.
So it can be said that the opportunities for car dealerships to reach their customers with digital marketing continue to increase. These are no longer just aimed at older customers. A new generation of buyers, sharers and subscribers is also coming, whose expectations must also be observed. What sounds like a major challenge for retail is also a real opportunity to set the course for the digital future.
You can read more about the 7th AUTOHAUS E-Marketing Day in the AUTOHAUS issue 23-24 / 2020.
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The best kind of marketing can only be done once you have a clear understanding of who your audience is and what are they looking for in a business.