The internet has dramatically changed our lives and has redefined the way Dealers must identify and reach local auto-buying consumers. In order to adapt, dealerships are activating audience data in new and creative ways to reach consumers and measure the impact of advertising on their business.

Understanding what type of consumer data is available and usable for advertising, and where all of this audience data comes from, is crucial for the modern Dealer, and the accuracy and quality of audience data is paramount.

James Moore, Chief Revenue Officer at Simpli.fi, spoke at Digital Dealer 25 about how, without accurate data, our marketing attempts are doomed to fail. Data is the most important tool at your disposal – you simply cannot succeed without it.

Mr Moore holds over 20 years of digital sales leadership experience at some of America’s most successful organisations, including eBay Enterprise, FetchBack, Airborne Express, ADP and Careerbuilder.com. He is a regular content contributor to Adexchanger, Geomarketing and Marketingland.

In his session, titled ‘Reaching Local Consumers: The Only Thing That Changed is “Everything” — How the Internet Has Redefined the Way Dealers Must Identify and Reach Local Auto-Buying Consumers’, Mr Moore argued that content distribution has forever changed advertising.

Almost 50 per cent of car purchases begin online and customers typically switch four times between online and offline channels. Six out of 10 car shoppers enter the market unsure which car to buy, but more than 60 per cent of customers decide on brand, model and price before visiting a dealership.

• On the path to purchase there are 24 average touchpoints and 19 of these are digital
• Shoppers visit an average of 2.7 dealerships throughout the car-buying process
• The average decision-making cycle from research to purchase is about nine weeks
• More than half of new vehicle shoppers on the internet use a mobile device
• 23 per cent of car buyers use their mobile phone to research their purchase while on the lot.

Reach the right audience at the right time

Mr Moore stressed the need for Dealers to reach consumers searching for their dealerships and/or inventory, or their competitors’ dealership(s)/inventory.

Data can help Dealers reach users reading content relevant to their dealership(s) and inventory; find those who have visited their corporate website and/or dealership(s) website; target potential customers in a defined geographic area (and measure offline, physical conversions); reach users who have previously visited their dealership(s) or their competitors’ dealership(s) and those who have been to specific locations of interest to your dealership(s) or inventory.

By capturing behavioural data we gain a greater understanding of what marketing tactics are working better than others, as well as other vital information such as the optimal time, keywords and media best used to deliver our message.

We can track online-to-offline conversions in mobile advertising and use mobile advertising technology powered by latitude and longitude data to target specific geographic areas.

Event targeting is a geo-targeting solution used to build an audience based on a specific geographic area during a specified day and time window of an event. Addressable geo-fencing is an address-level geo-targeting solution used to build an audience based on data for physical addresses.

Cross-platform delivery allows us to take advantage of a wide spectrum of data elements through multiple channels, across multiple device types and across multiple creative types, including mobile, display, video and social media.

Timing is everything, Mr Moore said. Not all marketers need to target someone who just took an action. Some need to target users while they are researching a purchase or service while others want to catch them right at the point of purchase. Others might want to time a message after a purchase or as part of a loyalty strategy. Data can help you advertise at the optimal time to someone you know is in the market for your products and services.

The bottom line is if you are not maximising your collection and use of data across all platforms you are missing out on crucial information.