Advertising, especially within the online Auto Parts business, can be difficult. Choosing the right auto parts marketing strategy can lead to more sales, better profit margins, and more return customers. While Internet-specific Marketing is still a new business, the successful general marketing principles have been proven year after year.
General Advice
Managing Parts sales starts with making sure you know what your bottom line is. It doesn’t matter if you’re averaging 10% on your most popular parts if you’re all losing the money elsewhere. The number 1 thing you must do to increase your auto parts sales is to maintain accurate numbers. If your dealership doesn’t have full-featured reporting yet, it’s critical to get that in place.
If you’ve been in business long, you’ve surely heard the tired idiom “it takes money to make money”. While this is false in some cases, it’s absolutely true when it comes to marketing. OEM Interactive offers real-time Analytics & Reporting to keep you well-informed about your sales throughout the course of the month, how much budget you’ve spent, and what parts of your campaign are converting the best.
Optimizing Search
When a potential client searches online for car parts, it’s critical that you have some input on what they see. Regardless of their location or what dealership is in their area, an effective SEO campaign gives you a chance to appear on the first page of Google — giving you the opportunity to earn their business. The amount you spend on advertising can vary based on your size and location, but most experts recommend a minimum investment of $1,000 in Pay-Per-Click advertising (PPC) to receive the best results.
Market Integration
Once you have your website set up so customers can order parts online, it might seem like your job is done. However, no matter how popular your dealership is and how familiar your customers are with your website, it’s difficult to compete against Amazon and eBay’s familiarity and huge market share. However, it’s possible to integrate your merchandise with these marketplaces, selling it through the site itself. At OEM Interactive, we’re experts at selling auto parts on Amazon and eBay and offer a suite of marketplace services to help you sell more parts and accessories on these lucrative sites.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO deserves its own section in this post because it’s so critical. The magic that makes search engines work, SEO is both highly-complicated and straightforward. When a potential customer types in “dealership” or “car parts” or “timing belt replacement”, the search engine looks at their query and location and tries to make a guess at what websites it should list first. The logic behind SEO is always updating and changing, and many search engines keep it secret.
The Complexity of SEO
Search Engine Optimization is a career all its own, and many professionals specialize in it. Optimizing your website’s SEO is the key to successfully marketing your auto parts. Potential customers trust search engines to give them relevant, convenient options for purchasing—and you need to be near the top. OEM Interactive proudly offers SEO along with many other programs that can energize your marketing. In 2019, the only way to ensure customers can purchase your parts is through SEO.
Brand Management
Along with SEO and Market Integration, OEM Interactive can ensure that your online reputation flourishes. Regardless of your public online presence, it’s important to manage how customers interact with your brand online. OEM Interactive offers Reputation Management, in addition to Email Marketing and Automotive Forum Marketing. When you can rest assured that your online reputation is flawless, you can focus on the rest of your business. For example, even if a potential customer has been turned off by a bad experience at your parts store, OEM Interactive’s Reputation Management team can address the issue head-on and improve both that customer’s review and future new customer interactions. Brand Management is another benefit OEM Interactive Provides. A cohesive Brand Identity keeps your online presence exactly how you want it to be.
Other Benefits
Video Marketing
OEM Interactive keeps up to date on the latest trends and ensures that the business we work with get the full benefit of that. For example, did you know that 80% of consumer internet traffic is video? If you’re not looking into how video can benefit your business, you’re only getting 20% of potential engagement. Generation Z is poised to become a huge part of the auto market—is your business ready for the Always-Online generation? Investing in Digital Marketing to the next generation will leave your business primed to be their #1 parts provider.
Competitor Analysis
If your competitors are making themselves available for customers that should be yours, it’s up to you to do the same. OEM Interactive provides top-level competitor analysis. Find out what’s working for them and do it better. At the very least, don’t let them take your customers away.
Cart Abandonment Optimization
If you haven’t carefully checked the logs from your online store, you may not know what a massive problem Cart Abandonment is. If your website is complicated or difficult to navigate, customers have too much time to change their mind before checkout. OEM Interactive’s Cart Abandonment Optimization ensures that customers can quickly check out and pay for the parts they want to purchase. Additionally, Abandonment Optimization discourages customers from leaving the website once they’ve added items to their cart.
AI Chat Technology
If you’d like to encourage customer interaction on your website, the best way to do it is by ensuring that they have someone to talk to 24/7. Implementing Live Chat or AI Chat Technology allows customers to have their common questions answered and even set up an appointment for someone to call them back during business hours if their questions weren’t resolved.
The Bottom Line
The rule of thumb for spending money on ads is 10:1. Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) should profit $10 for every $1 you invest in the process. We firmly believe that working with OEM Interactive will pay dividends for your dealership above and beyond the general 10:1 ROAS ratio. The bottom line is that OEM Interactive’s marketing programs can grow your auto parts and accessories sales online—no matter what your current situation is. Please contact us to learn more. We proudly work with dealerships and dealership groups of all sizes and we can’t wait to hear from you.