Why Every Car Dealership Needs a Fractional CMO To Increase Sales

As an Austin car dealership, you face intense competition from small independent companies to established brands. How do you overcome this challenge while raising revenue and managing your limited resources? Hire a fractional chief marketing officer (FCMO).

This article enumerates the various ways an Austin FCMO boosts sales:

• Increasing market understanding.
• Assisting brand development.
• Integrating different marketing campaigns.
• Managing customer relationships.
• Optimizing sales processes.

Get ready to take notes because we have many details to discuss. Let’s go!

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1. Increasing Market Understanding

Understanding the local audience allows you to more effectively tailor your marketing efforts. For example, it informs you of what they look for in a car dealership such as competitive pricing, community reputation, selection of family vehicles, availability of servicing, financing options for first-time buyers, and staff that speak their language. 

FCMOs invest time and resources to know the audience and refine the marketing plan to align with their needs and desires. Some of the steps they take include the following:

• Conduct thorough market research to gather data on the Austin automotive market. They use various resources such as industry reports, government data, and surveys.
• Engage with existing and potential customers through various feedback methods to gather insights into their needs and preferences. 
• Analyze the strategies of your competitors to identify gaps in the market where you can dominate.
• Build relationships with other businesses, community organizations, and influencers to get more insights into local trends. The information further refines the marketing efforts.
• Monitor online conversations, reviews, and social media discussions about automotive trends in the city. This strategy helps identify emerging trends, consumer sentiment, and areas of opportunity.
• Stay updated on changes in the Austin market by constantly researching technology trends and regulation changes. 
• Continually adapt your strategies and offerings to meet evolving market demands.
• Train marketing and sales teams on gathering more market information, such as encouraging customers to fill out surveys and feedback forms.

Getting to know the neighborhood and what matters to local families shopping for a new or used car allows you to highlight the most relevant strengths of your dealership. As an example, you might focus ads on a new inventory of minivans and SUVs or hire multilingual associates to assist Spanish-speaking customers. 

Understanding the market helps differentiate your brand and puts you ahead of competitors. A substantial market share often correlates to increased sales and return on investment (ROI).

2. Assisting Brand Development

Austin fractional CMOs bring specialized knowledge and experience in brand development. One of their primary responsibilities is identifying your dealership’s unique selling points to help you differentiate the brand.

They lead in the following activities:

• Brand strategy development: Collaborate with stakeholders to define your dealership’s unique value proposition (UVP). This involves identifying your company’s strengths, target audience, and competitive advantages.
• Brand identity creation: Develop a compelling brand identity that reflects your dealership’s values. This includes designing a logo, selecting brand colors and fonts, and crafting brand messaging that resonates with the target audience.
• Content creation and distribution: Produce high-quality content to educate and entertain the target audience while aligning it with your brand identity and messaging strategy.
• Customer experience optimization: Create a seamless, consistent, positive customer experience across all touchpoints and stages of their journey, from the initial online search of your dealership to post-sale support.
• Community engagement: Build relationships with the local community through sponsorships, events, partnerships, and outreach initiatives to solidify the brand’s reputation and improve awareness.

An FCMO’s expertise in marketing brings your dealership cost-effective solutions for improving your brand’s development strategy. This ultimately helps you stand out in a competitive market and attract more customers.

3. Integrating Marketing Campaigns

Austin is a vibrant city with a diverse population. An integrated marketing campaign allows your dealership to reach potential customer segments through various channels, widening your reach.

A typical holistic online marketing plan involves the following strategies:

• Social media: Develop a solid presence on popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. They share engaging content, including photos and videos of new car models, behind-the-scenes dealership tours, and customer testimonials.
• Email marketing campaigns: Build and maintain an email list of Austin customers for lead nurturing. They also send targeted email campaigns with personalized offers, promotions, and dealership updates.
• Search engine optimization (SEO): Optimize the dealership website for local search by targeting keywords, such as “Austin car dealership,” or “best cars for Texas roads” and creating a comprehensive Google My Business profile. Additionally, they design the site for mobile, such as speeding up the loading time and include meta tags to improve on-page SEO.
• Traditional advertising: Run ads in local newspapers, magazines, or radio to reach older demographics or those who might not be active online.
• Customer referral program: Encourage satisfied customers to refer their friends and family to your dealership by offering incentives. They track referral campaigns to determine their effectiveness as well.

Combining multiple marketing channels, Austin fractional CMOs maximize your reach by appealing to a diverse audience and increase sales by keeping you top-of-mind for car purchasing consumers.

4. Managing Customer Relationships

Fractional C-suite market experts manage customer relationships (CRM), keeping track of their preferences, purchase history, and needs. This leads to increased customer loyalty and retention, which is crucial for sustaining long-term business success in Austin.

They achieve this using the following methods:

• Select a CRM software or platform that meets the specific needs of your dealership. They consider salient features such as customer contact management, sales and lead tracking, and data-reporting capabilities.
• Gather and centralize customer data. Unifying customer information helps you better understand their needs, leading to better service quality.
• Divide your customers into segments based on purchase history, demographics, preferences, and buying behavior. Segmentation allows for more targeted marketing.
• Streamline repetitive tasks to save time and keep customer interactions and experiences consistent.
• Record all customer interactions, including sales inquiries, service requests, complaints, and feedback, within the CRM system. This enables better communication and follow-up.
• Use the customer data stored in the CRM platform to personalize customer communication. For instance, emails can address customers by name, tailor marketing messages to their interests, and offer relevant products or services based on their purchasing history.
• Track customer service requests for timely resolutions. 
• Respond promptly to inquiries and complaints and strive to exceed customer expectations at every touchpoint.
• Provide comprehensive training for your staff on using the CRM platform to deliver exceptional service.

An Austin fractional CMO assesses your business’s needs for a CRM and helps you choose the best solution. In addition, they manage customers, especially in the early days of the relationship, to let you focus on other high-impact business activities. These include optimizing the customer experience to drive growth and profitability in the competitive car dealership industry.

5. Optimizing Sales Processes

Fractional CMOs quickly streamline sales processes to help your dealership more efficiently operate. It eliminates bottlenecks and allows marketing and sales teams to focus on activities that directly generate revenue.

FCMOs usually employ the following tactics to optimize the sales processes:

• Identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) relevant to your sales processes. These include lead conversion rate, average time to close a sale, and customer satisfaction scores.
• Map out the entire sales process from initial lead generation to post-sale follow-up. This involves breaking down each step in the process, including lead qualification, vehicle selection, test drives, negotiations, financing, and delivery.
• Leverage technology, such as artificial intelligence, to automate the sales process and improve the user experience. They might integrate digital tools such as online vehicle configurators, financing calculators, and e-signature solutions into your sales platforms.
• Provide ongoing training to sales teams to enhance their skills and knowledge in closing deals and using technology.
• Standardize sales processes and best practices across the dealership. To illustrate, they develop policies on handling common sales complaints to reduce or remove purchase barriers.

Optimizing processes shortens the sales cycle, allowing you to quickly close deals and generate more revenue. It cultivates a positive customer experience that translates to higher retention, customer lifetime value, and lower acquisition and marketing costs too. 

Summing Up

With their marketing expertise and a focus on driving results, an Austin fractional CMO empowers your dealership to navigate challenges with greater ease. Start leveraging their services to elevate your sales performance and even dominate the local market.

Need help in increasing sales for your Texas dealership? Contact Digital Authority Partners (DAP) today to talk to a fractional CMO.