How Data as a Service Will Lead Automotive Marketing Efforts
As the influence of access to data continues to grow over markets of all sorts, marketing strategies are in a state of constant change. Within the automotive world, we have seen a major shift to digital platforms taking over our marketing efforts. Since 2016 digital media has led marketing investments for the automotive industry, dethroning television marketing. This change has been further dramatized by the rapid progression of AI learning and consumer data refining techniques.
All this change may have you asking “What’s next?” – Let’s take a look:
Increased reliance on real-life feedback and social media:
As it stands already, up to 90% of car buyers begin their shopping journey online. With a hefty portion of this shopping experience revolving around real feedback about products from customers. This feedback is gathered from a variety of sources including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. According to research conducted in the UK, YouTube is the most popular platform by which car buyers seek feedback about models of their interest.
Pixability identified that 93% of all monthly views for auto content are given to “creator” channels, while only 7% of views are given to branded content.
This tells us that consumers are valuing “reality” in the face of a contrasting growth of interest in Artificial Intelligence. This trend is only going to continue as over 80% of Gen Z consumers claim that a brand is more trustworthy when their marketing materials feature real customers. So how do we maintain authenticity and “realness” when the best marketing practices are becoming more and more digital?
Utilizing data as a service (DaaS):
The key to reaching your audience on any digital platform is to understand your audience. The best way to do this is to utilize data about your consumers. With insight into key data points such as auto loan status, family size, and last car purchase, getting the right marketing material to the right people becomes easier than ever.
As social media reliance takes over the automotive industry, getting your consumers engaged with their buying experience becomes a self-perpetuating effort. One key to effective social media marketing is allowing potential consumers to connect directly with satisfied or returning customers. Thankfully for your automotive business, this aspect is, to a degree, engineerable. By collecting real customer feedback and combining that volunteered advertising material with data about your potential consumers, a successful, authentic ad campaign can be born. This data-driven marketing is translatable across all mediums, from TikTok to banner ads. By diversifying your platforms but keeping your messaging consistent, your presence as an authority to the industry (and thus customer trust) grows.
Social media advertising without a root in data is a waste of resources; don’t let your dealership fall into the ether of aimless advertising. M1 Data & Analytics has the largest database of car owner information on the market. Alongside our plethora of data-driven tools, we help keep our clients on the leading edge of every marketing trend.
For more information about M1 and how we help you succeed, please contact us or take a look at our suite of services.
