As a Partner in a digital marketing agency, it’s probably not shocking that I would promote an online marketing strategy for any business. Especially for a car dealer website…

That said, there are still plenty of people wondering what the advantage of digital marketing really is. How can it help your business? Let’s take a look.

In a 2010 presentation, industry expert Mary Meeker pointed out that “advertising dollars follow the eyeball.” The statistics back up the statement. In 1995, global internet ad revenue was $55 MM. In 2009, it was $54 billion.

That’s a lot of eyeballs

So what does this mean for your business? The internet is growing at exponential speeds. Increased amounts of users (6MM in 1995 to 1.2B in 2009) means increased emerging markets.

Marketing your business online isn’t just a nice little perk anymore. Your business needs to be visible online in order to survive.

The perfect opportunity to take advantage of these increases is through internet marketing, specifically Pay Per Click and Search Engine Optimization. Search engines receive enormous amounts of traffic – who wouldn’t want to perfectly tailor their ads to a specific audience rather than relying on chance (like a billboard or newspaper ad might).

This opportunity holds especially true for a highly competitive automotive market. If a consumer looking for a new vehicle can’t find your dealership online, there’s a good chance they’ll find a direct competitor. And think of all the car shoppers using online search early in the decision making process! Capturing first-step search traffic (for example, “ford cars for sale”) in your area is a goldmine of opportunity for auto dealerships.

With an online marketing plan, this treasure could be yours

Another killer market? Mobile marketing.

Smartphones and mobile devices like the iPhone and Blackberry have one of the fastest product evolutions in history. Mobile subscribers are growing 37% year-over-year and several industry experts predict mobile internet usage will overtake desktop within the next five years.

The potential for auto dealers to enter the mobile marketing game now, while it’s still relatively young, is enormous. Again, advertising dollars are going to follow eyeballs… and mobile’s growth is certainly eye-catching!

To inquire more about L2T Media’s digital marketing strategies, contact us here. Click here if you’d simply like to read more about the future of mobile search technology.