Digital Marketing Solutions for Automotive Advertisers

Strategic solutions that drive positive results for marketers

The automotive industry, like many others, is facing a digital transformation. With companies like CarFax, Car Gurus, Cars.com, and even Tesla entering the playfield as digital-first car buying platforms, traditional dealerships have a new competitor on the horizon. Even if consumers prefer to stick with the conventional buying route, they are researching, comparing models, and browsing for cars online more than ever. 

Throughout the entire car-buying journey, which lasts about four months for the average car buyer, consumers spend 59% of that time researching online. In a recent study, consumers stated that throughout this buying process, online advertisements were the most persuasive method for influencing buying – more so than traditional TV, radio, and newspaper. While they’re researching and browsing, brands need to stay top of mind with timely, strategic digital advertising campaigns. 

In 2021, experts predict a 7-10% increase in car sales. As auto-industry advertisers, it’s essential to stand out from the competition with seamless omnichannel customer buying journeys. Digilant’s media execution expertise across the auto industry ensures flawless execution across programmatic, search, social, and beyond.

Automotive Industry Trends

70%

expected rise in global sales of electric vehicles in 2021.
(Source: IHS Markit)

Nearly ⅓

of US consumers prefer to buy their next vehicle either partially or fully virtually.
(Source: Deloitte)

21.4%

expected increase in digital ad spend within the auto industry in 2021.
(Source: eMarketer)

Client Success Stories

 

Digital Advertising Solutions for Automotive Brands

CRM Data Onboarding

Onboard first-party CRM data to target and customize ads to travelers.

Key Benefits

  • Customize ads using real-time behavior and data points drives over 50% higher engagement.
  • Send users to the right pages and actions by pinpointing user intent helps boost engagement and conversions.

Lookalike Audience Targeting

Target new prospects that look & behave more like your most valuable customers.

Location Based Targeting

Create custom location-based audiences by setting a specific radius that can be targeted on display or mobile devices.

Key Benefits

  • Use custom geo-fences to target consumers before they arrive at a location, while they’re at a location, and after they leave a location.
  • Location-based targeting removes barriers to sales. When a prospect is physically close to your location, you have a much better chance of persuading them to purchase from you.

Adaptive Segmentation

Develop custom segments based on observed behaviors to reach the most qualified audience segment(s). Segment consumers who have visited your booking site(s) multiple times, and/or abandoned the booking cart to reach mid and bottom-funnel prospective customers. In a similar way, you can segment consumers who have clicked on ads but not yet converted.

Site Retargeting

Use pixel-based retargeting to reach consumers who have previously visited or engaged with our website, researched the brand, and/or use the store locator or added an item to their cart but didn’t check out.

Key Benefits

  • Promote brand familiarity and trust by keeping your brand in front of consumers who have previously engaged with your brand.

App Ownership

Reach verified, deterministic mobile audiences classified along dimensions of life stage, interest & activity, & intent based on app ownership behaviors. This can be targeted by using pre-built segments or custom segments.

Paid Social

Eliminate channel silos with the power of social to reach new prospects and encourage sales.

Key Partnerships

  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • TikTok
  • Snapchat
  • Pinterest

Contextual Targeting

Deliver ads on websites or site pages that are directly relevant to the ad you’re running, based on pre-determined content categories. Contextual segments can also be put in place as pre-bid filters for viewability and brand safety.

Search Engine+

Enhances the performance of programmatic campaigns by unlocking quality URLs that rank highest in Google search and uncovering relevant ad placement that competitors are not reaching. Also utilize this for competitive conquesting.

Audience Targeting

Leverage custom segments to find your target audience online and reach them when they are most receptive to your message

Key Partnerships

  • Edmunds BT Segments (Powered by Oracle): Target by Car Type, Condition, Makes & Models
  • CarGurus: Digilant & CarGurus have partnered to offer audiences based on recent carsgurus.com visitors in the US and Canada. Target consumers searching for: 
    • ~New or Used Cars
    • ~Specific body styles – SUV, crossover, or sedan”
  • Semasio

Digilant Premium

Privileged Access to 1,000+ fully-verified publishers allows us to create site lists geared directly towards your desired audience. This premium placement can be paired with targeting tactics to reach customers most interested in your brand. 

Key Benefits

  • Ad placements on Cars.com PMP

 

Algorithmic Optimizer

Our proprietary technology is fully-customizable, giving us the ability to build algorithms that optimize towards your main KPI or goal at the most efficient CPM.

Key Benefits

  • Maximize bid efficiency and drive performance.

Page Index

Digilant’s propriety web-crawling proprietary tool that uses keywords & URLs to achieve the most relevant ad placement.

Key Benefits

  • Engage your target audience in hyper-relevant endemic content.
  • Identify, own and target a customized white list of URLs based on campaign-specific keywords and suitable pages unique to your brand message.
  • Differentiate your overarching contextual strategy by expanding your targeting beyond predefined programmatic channels.
  • Curate site lists using positive and negative sentiment analysis for advanced blacklisting.

Additional Resources

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