One of the best and most proven ways of drawing buyers to your dealership is by hosting events. A well-planned car dealership event can turn curious local community members into long term loyal car buyers, helping your car dealership stand out and thrive in the highly competitive Australian Automotive Industry.
Whether your dealership is celebrating an anniversary, is launching a new range of cars for sale or want to host a test drive event for customers, EasyCars has put together the complete guide to planning and executing a successful car dealership event that attracts local buyers.
Let’s get into it!
1. Define Your Event Goals
Every successful event no matter what industry you are in starts with having a clear plan, goals and objective. Before you consider hosting an event or starting to plan an event make sure to outline your goals.
What do you want to achieve at your dealership event? Are you aiming to boost car sales? Do you want to increase your dealerships brand awareness? Setting and having clear goals will help shape your events theme, will help you setup and come up with a promotional strategy.
2. Choose the Right Event Type
Once you have your goals and you know what you want to achieve it is time to choose the type of event that your dealership will host. The type of event that your dealerships chooses should align with your goals and target audience. Here are some of the most popular types of events that many new and used car dealerships in Australia currently take advantage of:
- Car Launch Events
- Test Drive Events
- Customer Appreciation Days
- Holiday Car Sales Events
Be sure to choose a dealership event type that appeals to your local target market and is at a time that best suits their availablity.
3. Partner with Local Businesses
One of the best ways to build anticipation and ensure a successful event is by partnering with local businesses. Think about collaborating with food trucks, coffee shops, or entertainment companies to provide refreshments and activities for visitors to do at your dealership event.
Your dealership could also consider co-hosting an event with a business that offers complementary services like auto detailing or accessories. Partnering with local businesses will not only expand your dealerships event reach but also adds unique value to all attendees.
4. Promote Your Event Online and Offline
The key to having a successful event is effective promotion. To get the most attendees, use social media, email and google my business to spread the word about the event that your dealership is hosting. Here are some proven tactics for promoting a dealership event:
- Social Media Posts: Create engaging posts with clear visuals that outline your dealerships event information so that users can share and engage with. Think about running a promotion or competition that rewards social media users that share or tag friends in your event post.
- Email Marketing: One of the best ways to reach potential customers instantly is by sending out event invitations to your customer list. Outline your event details and highlight the value of having them attend your dealership event.
- Local Advertising: Another great and proven way to get event attendees is by using local radio, print ads and community bulletin boards to reach people that are not as active online.
- In-Store Signage: Think about placing banners and posters highlighting your event at your dealership and other local businesses.
To get the most attendees it is important that you promote the event for at least a month before the event date to build anticipation and excitement.
5. Engage Attendees with Activities
Activities make events memorable. To give the best value to your attendees think about doing things like:
- Vehicle Showcases: Highlight new cars that you have for sale and showcase their benefits and unique selling points.
- Test Drives: Allow all your dealership guests that have a valid licence to experience the different cars that you are showcasing with supervised test drives.
- Q&A Sessions: Another great way of building engagement with your attendees is by hosting a Q&A with knowledgeable staff that can speak about your cars for sale, financing options, and maintenance tips.
- Contests and Giveaways: Promotions and giveaways are the best way to engage with your audience. Think about offering and running some sort of contest and giveaway for all attendees.
Well-organised and interactive activities will keep all attendees engaged and excited at your dealership event.
6. Capture Contact Information
The main aim of all dealership events is to capture leads. Be sure to set up a registration booth or digital sign-up form to collect the information of all attendees. The benefits of capturing contact information is you can remarket your cars and services to them at a later date if they do not purchase immediately.
7. Create an Exceptional Experience
For many attendees, your event will be their first interaction with your dealership. To turn attendees into loyal long-term customers you need to create a memorable experience. Be sure to offer the best customer service, train your staff to be approachable and knowledgeable and most importantly focus on creating a welcoming environment where each attendee feels valued.
8. Follow Up with Attendees
After your dealerships event has concluded, always follow up with each attendee to get their feedback and to thank them for attending. Effective follow-ups show that you value their time, encouraging them to continue their journey with your dealership.
Final Word,
Hosting a successful dealership event requires careful planning, community engagement, and consistent follow-up. The 8 steps presented in this piece are proven ways that your dealership can host a successful event to drive leads.
DISCLAIMER – The content within this blog does not constitute professional advice and is intended to be general in nature. Please consult with all relevant parties prior to making any decision.
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About EasyCars,
EasyCars by Jeal is an Australian, web-based, dealer management system that automates the buying and selling of motor vehicles. Using the latest technologies, EasyCars removes frustrations experienced at the dealership and opens your doors for greater growth.
EasyCars features include Simple Stock Management, Automated Advertising, Integrated Accounting, Government Compliance, Business Reporting, Facebook Automotive Inventory Ads, Reviews Management, Dealership Websites and more.
To learn more about EasyCars Dealer Management System or to arrange a no-obligation free demo, contact us today on 1300 473 744 or submit the form below.