As the end of the year approaches, auto dealers across the nation are preparing for the year-end push. From Black Friday deals to Christmas specials, to year-end closeouts, the last month of the year is a noisy time for auto sales.
With a little planning, however, your store can use digital marketing to supercharge your year-end sales event. Here are a few tips and tools you can use on how to run a year-end sales event. If you’re a visual person, watch the webinar or read on for the best ways to run your event.
4 Tips and Tools to Run a Year-End Sales Event Online
Create a Digital Home for your Event
In the Roman Empire, it was famously proclaimed that “all roads lead to Rome.” Your event is your Rome. Every piece of digital promotion, sharing and marketing should drive potential attendees back to your event’s digital home.
This focused approach enables you to measure what works (so you can do more of it), simplify your marketing efforts (so you can market more efficiently) and, most importantly, track who is showing interest (so you can follow up personally).
Using lead tracking, you and your sales team can discover who is looking at your event but hasn’t taken action. This is now your most important list of potential customers. Follow up with them personally and you will see a big jump in conversions.
To get started, create a landing page on your website. If this is difficult, (or ugly), consider using a landing page builder such as Lead Pages. This makes it easy to launch a page and also improves your conversion rates by allowing you to test what works.
Create a Form
On your event page, don’t just tell people about it, ask them to RSVP. Even if it is a free event, ask people to reserve their free spot, ask for more information or sign up for reminders.
By filling out your form, your attendees are doing two things:
- They are “paying” with their email address, showing interest and committing publicly to attending (which will make it more likely they actually will)
- They are opting-in for more information about the event. Reminders, follow-up and post event thank you’s can now be sent without being perceived as Spam.
To quickly create a form that can be used on your own website or landing page, use WuFoo. Its drag and drop formula creates beautiful, mobile-friendly forms in a snap.
Create Email Automation
If someone RSVP’s or is on a list of potential attendees, create an automated follow-up to nurture those people towards purchase. Sure, a lead might read one email and RSVP or purchase. The more likely scenario, however, is that the person will need a number of reminders over a short period of time. An email automation tool is the perfect solution.
Email automation sends emails based on time or activity. Examples of time-based emails include an email sent two days before the event, an email attendees receive as a reminder 48 hours after sign up, or an email attendees receive asking them to invite a friend.
An activity email is kicked off by an action the person takes. For example, potential customers who open your initial invitation email and don’t fill out the form could get a different follow-up email asking them to RSVP. If they don’t even open the email, they would receive an email invite that is introducing the event all over again.
Mailchimp offers a simple, low-cost email automation tool. If you are ready for more in-depth automation, consider a marketing automation tool like HubSpot.
Market on Facebook
Facebook is the best way to increase awareness of your event for the right people. As our Facebook Ads for Auto Dealers Ebook highlights, Facebook ads enable you to target specific customers, demographics or even buyer types.
For an event, Facebook becomes even more powerful. Create a Facebook event for your big day. Then when you market on Facebook, it’s a quick click for someone to RSVP. A Facebook event is not as powerful (or trackable) as an event on your own page, but it’s a great way to build an audience booth online and office.
Rise Above the Noise
Shouting louder will not make your event stand out. Instead, reach out to specific individuals, track who is interested and follow up in a consistent and personal way.
If you follow these four steps, your next sales event will be a success.
Learn more about using Facebook for your event in our free Ebook:
Photo: Sean Rowe
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