Luxury automakers are becoming more focused on millennial
auto shoppers, who made up 27 percent of new car sales in the US last
year. Of this segment, 41 percent use
mobile channels to inform purchase decisions, both at the dealership and
remotely. Even more interesting is that
of all drivers, 75 percent suggest they’d consider purchasing a car online (the
end-to-end process).
Overall, automakers, particularly luxury brands, have been
slow to adopt digital trends. Notable
standouts are BMW’s noteworthy investment in Instagram and Rolls Royce’s new
website and mobile platform (see below) to more efficiently communicate to its
target market. In addition, Tesla and
Land Rover have made investments to make mobile devices more usable.
Yet digital trends have ben changing, such as how businesses
have been decreasing their number of posts on Facebook based upon feedback from
the algorithmic newsfeed. Automakers
have not always responded well to such changes, as they continue to saturate
the platform. The US has had better
performance than Europe, where the options to schedule test-drives along with
see 360 views of the cars are missing on mobile sites.
Brand equity is critical here, as paid search efforts on
competitive brand names may be futile.
If someone is specifically searching for “Audi” or “BMW,” they are
seeking relevant results and not open to additional ads. Yet for the non-luxury brands, it is
worthwhile to compete in the space for product terms such as ‘minivan’ or ‘sedan.’
Another missed opportunity is within the email channel,
which currently accounts for 39 percent of dealership leads. There is a better opportunity for prospect data
capture to ensure local dealerships manage follow-ups and schedule test-drives.
As discussed in class, it’s critical to ensure your web
presence is set to match your offline media spend and marketing efforts. The latest James Bond film, Spectre, heavily featured Jaguar and
Aston Martin vehicles. Their websites
saw traffic double in the month following the film’s release!
An additional digital trend in the automotive space is
wireless connectivity for cars. In a
recent survey, 50 percent of respondents rated connected car technologies as
‘extremely important’, up from only 8 percent last year.
http://www.luxurydaily.com/luxury-automakers-falling-behind-on-digital-marketing-l2/
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