Introduction
Use of videos for promoting products and services has become extremely common nowadays. So, it’s obvious that a high profile industry, such as the automotive industry would also jump on the bandwagon. There’s no way one can deny the immense impact a video can have on the target market but if you want to increase your sales, you must make sure that the videos created by you are powerful enough to attract your target audience. Read through this book to get acquainted with the benefits of using YouTube videos for selling automobiles and learn different ways of attracting more people towards the cars offered by you.
Benefits of Using YouTube Videos for Selling Cars
As a car retailer or dealer your goal should always be to discover new and effective ways of making people aware of the vehicles you are offering to sell, but without spending too much money. Advertising and promoting the cars through YouTube videos is probably the most cost-effective way of reaching a huge customer base. Read on to know more about the benefits of YouTube-based marketing strategies.
You will be able to take advantage of the huge reach of YouTube- The reach of YouTube videos is increasing exponentially with every passing day. Today, it is the third most frequently visited website (after Google and social networking site Facebook) in the world and the second largest search engine (after Google). Recently obtained numbers suggest that this video sharing platform is visited by more than 1 billion people each month. Videos uploaded on this platform have the potential of reaching more US residents aged between 18 and 34 than all the cable networks operating currently. So, if you upload the videos that are entertaining and informative, you will be able to reach a massive number of raving customers.
Marketing via YouTube videos will make you more visible on Google- As the owner of a car dealership or a showroom, you must have the desire to see yourself ranked high on the result pages of the world’s biggest search engine Google. YouTube videos will definitely help you achieve this goal. The Google Universal Search allows images, news, local searches, books, and of course videos to be blended together on Google’s search results. Right now, Google considers videos as essential as the text-only web pages.
You will see your audience promoting you- If you succeed in making interesting videos showcasing the cars you offer, conversions will take place more frequently and easily. People would purchase cars from sellers or dealers they trust and to build trust, you will have to relate to your target audience on an emotional level. Once you succeed in this, you can get people to view your videos promoting your offerings via comments and likes.
How to Optimize a Car Dealer’s YouTube Channel
You can use your auto dealership YouTube channel for bringing targeted traffic to your business website 24 hours a day. The best thing about these channels is that they not only drive good traffic but they do that without taking a single penny from you. Treat the YouTube channel as the hub for all the video content representing your dealerships. Yes, creating the right kind of videos is extremely important for attracting visitors, but optimizing your YouTube channel is equally important, if not more. The section below will tell you how to optimize a car dealer’s YouTube Channel.
1.- Update or change the title of the channel- Being an auto dealership, you must make sure that the YouTube channel, representing your business, has a title that symbolizes your brand. You should pick a name that either reminds visitors of your brand, business or you as an individual. If you can add some related keywords to the title, it would help bring in great results. Let us look at an example. Suppose the name of your dealership is “Fusman Hyundai”, it would be good if you can name the channel “Fusman Hyundai TV”. To put it more bluntly, you should try to include at least one of your primary keywords to the title of your channel.
2.- Update or change the icon of the channel- Don’t get confused by the term “icon”. It’s actually the profile picture your YouTube channel would have. Most of us have a profile picture on our Facebook accounts; the icon of YouTube channels is something similar to that.
Do you have a dealership logo? If yes, then you can use it as the icon of your channel. You should optimize the channel in such as way that it represents your business aptly and your business logo will allow you to do that without much fuss. You can also consider adding your own photo as the icon of the channel. This suggestion might appear a bit weird as it is the channel that represents your business, and not you. However, a study conducted recently has revealed that online users appear to get more inclined toward channels and pages carrying photos of individuals. So, uploading a photo would not be a bad idea as long as you look good in it. It can be seen that when the person, with whom customers have to deal with, has his or her photo uploaded on the channel people start trusting the dealership more easily.
3.- Update or change the channel art- “YouTube channel art” is a term synonymous to the banner or header graphic, which the channel will have at its top. The size of the channel art must be 2560 x 1440, and its main element should cover an area of 1546 x 423, right at the center of the place dedicated for channel art. If you succeed in doing this, it will ensure that a user would be able to view the entire channel comfortably even on a tablet or a smartphone.
The header graphic, which you would add to your YouTube channel, will be the primary representative of your brand on the channel. Thus, you must make sure that the graphics used for this purpose are designed professionally and include all the unique elements of your brand. If you want, you can include “calls to action” to direct visitors to your official website. The channel art uploaded by you should convey exactly the things the channel would be doing for your potential customers. It should not be misleading in nature.
4.- Update or change the description of your channel- Optimization of the description of your YouTube channel not only improves the search ranking of your business, but also makes the process of converting a visitor into a subscriber much simpler. The description you add must be keyword rich. Perform a thorough research to prepare a list of keywords and key phrases your potential customers look for and include some of them in your description.
The description you add to the channel should also tell the viewers what exactly they can expect from this YouTube channel and why they should subscribe to it. Don’t forget to mention how the content of your videos can benefit people viewing them.
5.- Update or change the keywords of your YouTube channel- In the sections above, we have time and again discussed about the importance of including keywords to different optimization tools, such as channel description, channel title etc. However, if you want those suggestions to work for you (improve your position on YouTube and Google search results) you must ensure that the keywords and key phrases picked by you are the right ones. Pick the keywords based on the kind of videos you are planning to upload on your channel. Also, look for the keywords that your target audience is frequently searching for.
6.- Add the social links and website address of your dealership- The higher the number of online platforms (that link to the official website of your dealership) the greater would be your chances of receiving more traffic. The same thing can be said about links to your social media profiles (for instance profiles on Twitter, Facebook etc.)
7.- Upload a channel trailer to the YouTube channel of your dealership- Let us first look at what a YouTube channel trailer actually is. It’s a featured video that can only be viewed by people who are yet to subscribe (nonsubscribers) to your channel. All nonsubscribers will get to see that video after landing on your YouTube channel. The moment they subscribe to the channel, the video would no more be visible to them.
The primary purpose of channel trailers is educating viewers about things the channel would be offering to them. By doing so, they try to persuade viewers to subscribe to the linked channel.
There are certain things you must keep in mind when creating a trailer video. You should never try to sell cars you have in your collection through a trailer video. It’s strictly meant for making viewers understand how the content of the videos uploaded on your channel would help them. The only thing you can sell through this special video is subscription.
Try to make the video as short (and of course to the point) as possible. Ideally, you should not make it longer than 2 minutes, the shorter the better.
8.- Verify the associated website - Doing this is extremely important for increasing the trustworthiness of your YouTube channel. The other most prominent benefit of verifying your dealership’s official website is that it will allow you to add the site’s URL as clickable annotations on the videos uploaded. You will also be able to use the URL in the newly introduced YouTube Cards feature. This will allow you to direct YouTube traffic to the website.
Types of YouTube video you must make to sell more cars
It’s true that today there are very few low cost (if you can make your videos yourself, you would actually be able to use this tool without spending a single penny) marketing tools that can work as effectively as YouTube videos. However, to enjoy the benefits of these videos, you must know what kind of videos will work for you. The discussion below will help you understand the types of video you must make to sell more cars.
Testimonial videos- These videos can be your best bet if you want to generate a feeling of authenticity among your existing and potential clients. You must be wondering how they are different from written testimonials. Well, the written testimonials simply don’t have the power of the testimonial videos. As it is tough to fake the videos, they appear more credible to people. Due to this reason, they have the ability to touch the hearts of more and more prospective car buyers.
We are not trying to say that people who use written testimonials to promote their product or business are doing things in an absolutely wrong way. What we are trying to say here is that the effects of videos are more profound.
In addition, using written testimonials has become a pretty common affair for car dealers. The number of auto dealers and car pros using video testimonials, on the other hand, is still not impressively high. People tend to get attracted to uncommon things more easily than things they come across regularly. This makes the suggestion of creating testimonial videos a valid one.
We would suggest you to make videos featuring genuine customers. Modern-day consumers are extremely intelligent. If you try to fake them, they will not take a second to understand your objective. Record a minimum of 50 testimonials and use the best ones (at least 10) from them to create an appealing video compilation.
A common mistake auto dealers make when creating testimonial videos is not adding a suitable and convincing CTA (call to action). Don’t forget to add one to your video if you want to convert YouTube traffic into website traffic. The CTA you use must be creative and unique. If you don’t add a CTA, your viewers will have no clue what they should do next.
Videos with product reviews- Product review videos are not as uncommon as the testimonial videos. If you are into car dealership for several years, you must have already made a few videos reviewing the cars you are offering or your business as a whole. As these videos are not rare, you must make sure that the ones you are making and uploading boast features that will allow them to stand out in the crowd. In other words, you must make the videos count.
Recently a search was conducted on YouTube and it was found that the majority of the car review videos are named following a particular pattern. For instance, name of vehicle model-review-name of dealership. This means if the name of the vehicle model is 2013 Hyundai Grandeur Hybrid and the name of the dealership Fusman Superstore, most people would name the video “2013 Hyundai Grandeur Hybrid Review, Fusman Superstore” or something very similar to that.
The majority of these videos provide viewers with some basic information about the car and a tour of the vehicle. Of course, right at the end of the video, there will be a statement reminding the viewers to visit the website or store to purchase the car (you must have come across several such videos). That’s the reason we have been asking you to do something different with your product review videos.
Put in immense effort to plan your videos out. Instead of talking about all the basic features of the car you are trying to sell, cover 2 to 3 prominent features of that vehicle in a single video. If you want to cover the other features, make more videos. You can use CTA to direct viewers of the first video to the others. Name the first video “Top 3 Reasons Why the 2013 Hyundai Grandeur Hybrid Is a Motorist’s Delight”. Follow it up with another video titled “Top 3 Reasons Why the 2013 Hyundai Grandeur Hybrid Is a Passenger’s Delight”. Such titles would be enough for the viewers to understand what exactly they should expect from the videos.
The product review videos you will be uploading on your YouTube channel should be short and snappy. They should provide visitors with useful and essential information and should contain only the facts the title promises them to offer. Right at the end of the videos, add CTAs like “Dial 888-888-8888 to get in touch with me”, “Watch other videos on my channel and visit my website” etc.
Comparison videos- Comparison videos can do wonders for you. Line up the most frequently searched models and make your collection with their fiercest rivals and explain what makes your offerings the best. Even here you should avoid concentrating on all pluses of the car. Focus just on 3 to 4 key factors that make the car the best option for your potential customers. So, the title should be something like this, “Top 3 Reasons Why the 2015 Toyota Camry Falls behind the 2015 Hyundai Sonata”. You will not have a tough time to put together such compelling titles for your comparison videos. Increase the value of the video even further by adding a killer CTA.
FAQ videos- As a car dealer you might not be ready to admit it, but for most regular buyers the process of purchasing a car is quite complicated. Due to this reason, buyers often have multiple questions that they need to be answered before deciding whether or not they should buy a car. These might be questions regarding the process adopted by the dealership for selling new and used cars, payment methods, car models, warranties, servicing and repair works and so on. To attract more customers, you can prepare a list of such frequently asked questions and create videos with answers.
The videos should make viewers feel relieved as they can see you are trying to solve their problems. They should never feel that you have created the videos with the aim of impressing people so that they purchase cars from you.
Upload as many FAQ videos as possible on your dealership’s YouTube Channel. If you monitor the phone calls and emails you receive on daily basis, you will know that customers come up with new questions almost every other day. While, FAQs are primarily about questions that are asked frequently, you shouldn’t ignore questions that are although not asked very often, are extremely relevant. One video shouldn’t answer more than one question. This is important as your potential customers must come across your video on the search engine results after typing a question only if the key phrase (the question) entered by him/her is similar to that of the title of your video. CTAs such as “Call us at 888-888-8888 to know more” are great companions of these videos.
Videos with tips and valuable info- Examples of such videos include, videos elaborating rules you must follow when buying a used car (especially if you are a used car dealer), videos with tips to keep your car’s interiors in good shape, tips for choosing a car for a large family or a small family and so on. In short, these videos should inform your target audience about your knowledge in cars. End them with catchy CTAs such as “Take a look at our website for more info on tops cars available on the market”.
Conclusion
We know that you are not an expert in making videos. However, as a car retailer or dealer, you have immense knowledge about the vehicle models you are offering. So, instead of trying to be too fancy, just concentrate on what you know and follow the guidelines that have provided in this book. You would surely find your YouTube videos helping you in selling more cars. If you are still struggling to make compelling videos, seek help from the qualified and experienced automotive marketing professionals at Turbo Marketing Solutions by calling 1-800-262-0081.
------
Sean Cassy is co-owner and digital marketing strategist at Turbo Marketing Solutions. You can contact him if you have any questions regarding the article or how to use videos to generate more leads and sales for your dealers.