Digital advertising – are paid ads worth it for automotive brands?

Digital advertising, through its myriad of channels, is a very tempting prospect for automotive brands to guarantee online exposure and help drive sales.

It can be very beneficial in terms of being cost effective, targeted, trackable and open to multi-media content.

However, without due care and attention, messaging can be missed, have the wrong tone or simply fail to appear in front of the correct target audience.

Knowing how to maximise return on investment is incredibly important for the automotive sector in today’s digital world.

What is digital advertising?

Digital advertising has a variety of different strands ranging from web banners, Google Ads, video content, paid search advertising, social media ads and email marketing.

These various tactics can be used on a wide range of platforms, including mobile apps and websites.

And budgets can vary wildly based on audience reach, frequency, campaign length and channel.

Before a penny is spent, it’s critical to define your target audience, and understand their behaviours.

Know your automotive audience with digital advertising

Truly effective digital advertising taps into the buying considerations of a target audience.

Through testing and research, plus using the correct vocabulary and tone, it can cut through the noise, resonating with the appropriate demographic and persuading them to take action, whether that’s buying a product, researching a service or clicking through to a website.

The benefits of digital advertising were clear to see when Red Marlin was tasked to generate sales enquiries for Pro-Align’s entry-level Hunter four wheel alignment system targeting UK independent workshops via social media.

Our solution was to create and optimise a Facebook business page for brand presence, develop organic content to support awareness alongside a paid social media campaign, together with performing A/B testing on creative concepts prior to running a three-week paid campaign.

The impressive results maximised ROI through A/B testing and optimisation, while multiple high-quality leads were generated.

Furthermore, more than £250,000 in sales enquiries were generated, with every £1 spent generating leads worth £500.

Is digital advertising right for you?

There’s little doubt of the benefits of digital advertising but this doesn’t mean it’s always the best fit for all automotive business.

After all, would you consider Google Ads to be the best channel to promote a high-end product which might be better suited to a more personal touch?

Therefore, it’s worth considering alternative or complementary strategies as part of the overall marketing mix, such as PR and media relations, which includes media exposure in printed publications, on TV and through radio.

Do you want to benefit from digital advertising?

Experienced digital advertising professionals, like Red Marlin, will ensure your online content is creative, informative and interesting, and will be seen by your target audience, ultimately having the power to influence.

If you’d like to know more, then please get in contact.