Although some indicators such as VFACTS depict a subdued car market, buyer activity on carsales.com.au – Australia’s #1 destination for car shopping – has remained particularly buoyant. In October 2019, carsales served 25.8 million sessions – up 5% year-on-year.1
Given strong buyer activity, dealers looking to keep their inventory highly visible to buyers, have utilized the power Promote upgrades on carsales.com.au to great effect – generating more views on their inventory.
But when it comes to driving business awareness and staying top of mind with in-market buyers, should dealers look exclusively to investment in traditional channels such as radio or print, or complement Promote investment and explore Display Advertising opportunities in a contextual and digital environment such as carsales?
Increasing effectivess and reducing wastage
For some time, savvy and digital-orientated dealers have achieved strong results by combining the power of Promote and Display Advertising on carsales.
Matt Heggie, General Manager – Value Add Solutions at carsales believes that dealers should ensure that their brand is highly visible in environments frequented by in-market car buyers and invest accordingly.
“Marketing managers need to ask themselves; Is investment in print and radio the most effective way to shift metal when buyers actually enter the car market and begin their purchase journey on trusted digital destinations like carsales?
“Display Advertising ensures that your dealership and contact details are in full view of target buyers on carsales. It’s a smart and cost-effective investment when buyer activity on carsales.com.au is so strong,” Heggie explains.
“Buyers shop for cars differently these days so optimizing your spend between online and offline marketing channels is key. Expenditure in traditional marketing channels that are not digital, mobile optimized or contextually relevant, may mean that you’re not actually making an immediate impact with in-market car buyers.”
In a competitive car buying environment, proven and cost-effective marketing investments can prove to be beneficial.
“With Display Advertising on carsales, there is no waste. You’re not spending money to advertise in front of consumers that are not necessarily in market for a car. Positively, your business and contact details are highly visible in contextual and digital environment that sees 3.5 million unique buyers spend an average of 40 minutes on site per month, for the sole purpose of buying a car,” says Heggie.
24/7 visibility in front of motivated buyers
One way car buying behavior has changed dramatically in recent years is evidenced by out of hours enquiry on carsales. Like all manner of goods and services, car buyers are utilizing mobile devices and better connectivity to digitally shop at the most convenient time. In July 2019, 52% of sessions and 43% of dealer enquiries occurred outside of traditional 9am -5pm business hours.
“One of the key advantages of Display Advertising — as compared to channels such as print and radio — is that the solution highlights your business and contact details in the thick of 24/7 buyer activity,” says Christine Wong, Senior Product Manager at carsales
“In this way, Display Advertising acts as a 24/7 gateway into your showroom – serving customers digitally and in a mobile-optimized fashion when your physical showroom is closed for business.
“In essence, it is this versatility that makes Display Advertising so effective – it caters to achieving multiple business goals such as growing awareness with in-market buyers, but also helps you shift actual inventory in the short-term,” says Wong.
Funneling buyers to your inventory
In the latest enhancement to Dealer Display, dealers are now empowered to link directly to inventory items on their website from a display ad on carsales – in addition to their website or stock locator.
“Not only can you target your Dealer Display by state, make and model across all devices, but we’ve listened to customer feedback and are now able to offer direct links to website inventory, which delivers greater flexibility,” explains Wong.
“This upgrade will not only empower dealers to funnel buyers on carsales to the specific website content more efficiently, but also facilitate more effective off-network retargeting opportunities – so it’s a win-win.”
Transparent performance tracking
As a digital solution, Display Advertising enables dealers to clearly ascertain the effectiveness of the campaign and creative including impressions, clicks and engagement rate.
“Unlike other channels, the results from a Display Advertising campaign are completely transparent and trackable,” adds Wong.
“Display Advertising enables you to assess the effectiveness of your messaging and creative in driving buyers to your website. You can accurately track impressions, clicks and post-view website traffic – weekly or monthly – and stay in complete control,” she concludes.
Increase awareness of your business
Source:
1. carsales internal data, October 2019