A car dealership event is often the most effective way to generate sales, but getting prospective customers through the door is half the battle leading up to a great event. In this post, we tell you how to make the most of your dealership event, before, during and after to maximise sales and establish your dealership as an industry-leader.
Step 1: Define the aim of the event
What is the purpose of your event? Of course you want sales, but narrowing this down a little can be a great way to make an event more effective. Do you want to generate new vehicle sales? Maybe you want to push used vehicle sales? Perhaps you want to shift excess stock of a certain make, model or spec of vehicle? Do you want to reignite some old flames by inviting those who didn’t quite convert recently? Do you want to promote your after sales products? While you can focus on a combination of these, in order to really personalise your messaging ahead of the event, you should have one or two key metrics that your event is centred around. This, in-turn, will make it easier to measure the success of your event and your return on investment.
Step 2: Decide who should attend
Based on the objectives of your event, this should inform the optimum target audience to invite. Utilising your existing data, take a look at where each person is at in their journey with your dealership and whether this event would appeal to them. If you have a limited amount of data, then it’s possible to use the data that you do have (from both customers and prospects) to create a ‘lookalike audience’ – this allows you to accurately target a similar type of buyer persona without wasting money targeting those that are not likely to buy or convert. If you’re not sure how to do this – no problem – just get in touch with our team and we can show you how.
Step 3: Incentivise the event
One of the simplest ways to encourage potential customers to attend your event is to provide an incentive to do so. This could be in the form of an offer, such as a free valet when they attend your service event, or a free gift when you purchase a car during the event. If a customer feels they’ll get more by attending your event than they would on any other given day, then they are far more likely to show up. Tailor the incentive to suit your dealership and budget for the best possible results.
Step 4: Create a dedicated and personalised event website landing page (PURLs)
Ahead of sending out your invitations, create a dedicated website landing page for your invitees to sign-up and confirm their attendance. A great way to get this to resonate and encourage registration is to create this landing page with a Personalised URL (PURL). This takes the user to a web page that appears as if it has been made specifically for them, and allows them to register within 4 or 5 clicks.
Personalisation can make the invitee feel valued and they may just feel more compelled to attend, as this makes it look like you have hand selected this person as a great fit for your event. Using a unique PURL also makes tracking far simpler, as you can see more clearly who is interacting with your messaging. They also make RSVPing easy – as they are pre-populated with the prospects details as soon as they land on the page – significantly increasing your conversion and attendance rates.
Step 5: Invite attendees
Now that you’ve decided who you wish to invite, and you have your landing page set up, it’s time to send out those invitations. It’s important to remember here that not one size fits all. The best way to ensure your invitation is received and considered is to use each individual’s preferred method of communication. If you have this data to hand, you can personalise your invites by sending through direct mail, email, text or a telephone call, whichever the person has selected as the best way to reach them. If you don’t have this data, then utilise all four methods over a period of time, analyse which method performed the best, or directly ask each person to choose their preferred way to be contacted.
Step 6: Advertise your event
Of course, you’ll want to invite more than just your existing database to the event and work on getting a new set of data to market to. A great way to do this is through social ads, which work well as you can fine tune your audience by location and demographics to ensure your messaging is reaching the people you expect your event to resonate most with. Find out where your target audience resides online and start from there, if you’re unsure how to do this, feel free to give us a call.
Step 7: Create event collateral
Now that the invites have been sent out via various mediums, it’s time to begin prepping the showroom. You will now have your message agreed and the focus of what you want to achieve through your event nailed down. Ensuring your POS reflects this is key, as these details will be seen by all of your attendees throughout the event. Creating eye-catching banners, freestanding displays, vehicle and window decals and bunting that detail what your dealership can do for customers can help to encourage event attendees to purchase, as your USPs are directly in front of their eyes throughout the event.
Step 8: Follow up
As it draws closer to your event, you will need to get in touch once more with those who have registered to speak directly with the person letting them know you’re looking forward to seeing them at the event. We send out a confirmation of attendance in a fun and engaging way, such as personalised lanyards.
Step 9: Analyse the results
So your event is over and you need to measure the success of it. Using both your existing and new set of data from leads driven via advertising, you will be able to highlight those who purchased on the day and those that didn’t quite cross the line but are now eligible to receive further marketing messages from your dealership. To ensure you use this data effectively, you will need to ensure this data is managed properly and you’re left with a ‘clean’ database that can be segmented and used with tailor-based messaging.
Step 10: Prepare your aftersales program
You’ve analysed the results of the day and you have a measure of performance. It’s now time to put this into practice by creating a comprehensive aftersales program that targets your new database of converted customers with all of your great service, MOT, parts and further event offerings. Making these messages personalised is again key, which can be done by making the offers specific to each individual and the car that they have purchased. Want to know more about how to leverage aftersales? Check out our blog that details 3 key ways to retain customer loyalty in the automotive industry.
If you’re ready to begin planning your next dealership event, but need a hand getting all of the above into place, then feel free to give us a call. At AlphaGraphics, we’re the experts when it comes to creating effective dealership events, with over 20 years’ of experience working with the majority of high-profile automotive brands.
