Role of Audience Management in Automotive Marketing

In today's business a lot of marketers are recently talking about "Audience" and "Audience Management"; but what do these terms really mean and why should you care? Before we dive in, let's just say this; you should care because the payoff is simple.

Managed audiences drive more sales than unmanaged audiences.

In fact, recent studies show that although managed traffic only accounts for 40% of a dealer's web traffic; it actually drives 60% of vehicle sales.

A managed experience is a more consistent experience, from the ads that initially picked their attention, to the landing page that provides more information on the offer, all the way to the reviews you serve them on your site.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's first start by defining "audience".

What is Audience?

Simply put, your audience is the collection of people that you want to reach with your dealership's message. The tricky part here is that your audience can be fluid. It can change depending on a dealership's business goals, their "why buy", or even depending upon their monthly specials.

With the sheer number of shoppers and the cost of advertising today, it's not a smart strategy or cost effective enough to just target based on a zip code, or target "car buyers" and wait for your sales to go up. You have to think about the particular shopper that you are trying to reach with your message and whether or not that specific shopper is worth your time and dollars.

For instance, if your dealership is known for focusing on consumers with bad credit or shoppers looking for distressed inventory, you are going to send your message to a different group of people than a dealership that is focused on moving luxury inventory. Simple enough, right?

Let's take another example to make sure the idea is fully explained. Suppose your dealership is promoting two lease offers this month on your top selling models? One model may be more of a family vehicle that's attracting shoppers focused on safety ratings. While the other model is more of a performance vehicle attracting in-market thrill seekers.

It goes without saying that consumers looking at these vastly different vehicles may have many things in common; they're looking to purchase a new car, they may live in the same zip code, and they could even be the same age and have a similar household income. However, no one would argue that their interests and vehicle needs couldn't be more different.

As a car dealer how can you speak to each shopper and treat your shopper as if s/he is an "Audience of One"? That's where "Audience Management" comes into play. Be selective. Be profitable.

Audience Management uses technology to identify the shoppers who are perfectly suited to the message at hand, allowing you to choose the customers that will be most profitable. At the end of the day, not all customers are equal.

You need to be able to target and engage the right audience, the one that fits your business goals. Highly sophisticated real-time targeting is really the key here, and it can't be done by just anyone. You need a partner with deep data pockets to accomplish this. A partner who touches millions of car shoppers, who understands the differences between car buyers' underlying motivations and who in turn is able to provide a personalized experience and message that speaks to each shopper uniquely.

Ideally, this is what happens on your floor with great salespeople. They cater their pitch, their stories, their approach to each consumer as they learn more about what makes them tick. Audience Management solutions do this on a grand scale, online, in real-time, before your customer even walks through your doors.