By Brian Cox

For the life of me, I can’t think of one good reason for NOT making online video part of a dealership’s overall marketing mix.  It’s surging ahead as a preferred medium that reaches, holds, and engages customers on their home computers, tablets, and smartphones.  And primes the pump for – ultimately – the sale.

The truth is: We humans love watching videos.  To laugh.  To learn.  To ogle.  To shop.  To find the best price.  To keep up with the conversation at the water cooler.  And to stay in the mainstream.   Your customers are curling up at night with their mobile devices.  To surf.  To “Play”.  And to watch.  Play.  Watch.  Repeat.  Play.  Watch.  Repeat.  And because everyone is watching videos – guess what Google is looking for?  Videos!  Have you ever performed a Google search and noticed that a video link always pops up in the first few results?  Video gets you noticed.

A leader in measuring the digital world, comScore, released data recently from its comScore Video Metrix service, showing that “183 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in November (2011) for an average of 20.5 hours per viewer.  The total U.S Internet audience viewed for 40.9 billion videos.”  Other notable findings from November 2011 include: “85.9 percent of the U.S. Internet audience view online video,” and “the duration of the average online content video was 5.5 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.”

As a dealership, you’ve got to put your product front and center in the visual field of your customers.  And doing that, most strategically, means presenting your inventory via online video on your websites.  Video can showcase each vehicle in your inventory, from floor mats to moon roof, from wipers to wheel wells, and everything in between.  Videos can show vehicle specs, features, fuel economy stats, cargo capacity, safety components.  You name it on a vehicle, and video can spotlight it.

Your dealership’s video can boast slick images, professional narration, and data overlays, and be underscored with music that complements each make and model.  Your videos can feature satisfied customers giving their testimonials and endorsement of your dealership.  They can be educational to help your customers master vehicle operation and maintenance steps – or they can show feel-good footage of a community event sponsored by your dealership and its dedicated colleagues.  Your video can walk your customers through a virtual tour of your multi-faceted dealership to give them a sneak peak of all that you have to offer.  Best of all, your videos can easily be shared by your customers with their friends, family, and coworkers.

Play.  Watch.  Repeat.

To put a new twist on an old joke – What’s the last thing a customer says before he buys?  “Hey, watch this.”

 

Brian Cox is president and CEO at Dealer Impact Systems and can be reached at b.cox@dealerimpact.com or at (877) 334-9638.