Good digital ads take more work

For dealers who want to effectively convert online searches and clicks into on-lot sales, digital advertising is no longer a turnkey solution.

A more hands-on approach of asking questions, analyzing data and understanding what is working for a dealership -- particularly regarding search -- is crucial, according to dealers and marketing experts.

"The savviest of dealers are looking at their analytics as much as they are their financial statements," said Peter Leto, head of industry, automotive retail sales for Google. "We're going from "drive all this traffic to our pages' to "drive the right traffic to our pages.'"

Simply throwing money into the pot is no longer the solution when everyone is in the same pot, according to Leto and others.

"The biggest opportunity in digital right now is to stop shouting at the crowd and start talking to your customers," said Jonah Cole, Dominion Dealer Solutions SEM product manager.

Brett Morgan, CEO of Florida-based Morgan Auto Group, said managers at his 23 dealerships are offered tailored training on digital advertising -- from how its single-point markets can target local buyers, to how larger stores can customize ads on Google and analyze the results.

Morgan said one of the top managers in the group treats his digital pay-per-click campaigns through Google the same way many dealers "treated [classified] liner ads 10 years ago."

"From a copy standpoint, it's appealing and communicating a strong message to get a high conversion," he said.

Customization, according to Cole, remains "rarer than it should be" for many dealers. Every month, he said, dealers should analyze their goals for the month and tailor ads to meet those objectives.

"It's not setting up a campaign, or letting someone else do it for you, and saying, "I did it,'" he said.

Google offers a variety of services and tools for dealers and their advertising and marketing partners to help analyze and optimize ads and website traffic -- from the AdWords and AdSense services that place ads on relevant websites to testing a company's website for speed and mobile friendliness.

"The opportunity to support dealers is significant," said Guy Schueller, Google industry director of automotive.

"The focus to automotive has been something that we have really put time, effort and people against because we feel there is an opportunity to do it better."

The tech giant has expanded its reach in recent years by working more closely with dealers and affiliated companies as well as increasing its auto footprint through employment and resources.

Google search is ever-evolving due to its complex algorithms as well as the way customers search and engage.

"It used to be more turnkey," Morgan said. "Now, frankly, there's a level of accountability because there's a level of understanding that didn't exist in the past."

More than three out of four car shoppers, according to a report by Google and media measurement and analytics company comScore, used search in the process of purchasing a new car.

One new frontier for advertisers is attracting consumers through mobile during what Google calls "micro moments."

That essentially means getting relevant dealer ads and websites in front of people throughout the day when they have short intervals of time to search Google on their phones.

Search, according to Google, is the top activity performed on mobile devices for auto shopping, and people are five times more likely to leave a site that's slow or not mobile-friendly.

That's why the company launched testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com, a website that is designed to help website owners optimize their website speeds and mobile-friendliness.

"Speed is so important," Schueller said. "We have to figure out as an industry how do we create the best solution for a customer who predominantly is going to interface with your brand or dealership on a mobile phone."