Is Your Automotive Marketing Agency Really Qualified to be Your Agency?

As an auto dealer, one of the best ways to identify opportunities and grow your business is to hire an automotive marketing agency. These agencies come in all shapes and sizes, but all of them share the goal of helping you sell more cars, faster. Here are some of the most important things to consider when choosing an agency for your dealership.

Product Offerings

One of the most important things to look at when determining if an agency is right for you is the range of products they offer. While some agencies may be highly specialized, others will offer a full suite of automotive marketing solutions. It is important that you examine where your dealership needs the most help and determine if each agency you consider offers those specific services.

Metrics

Any agency you work with should have a clear way to assess performance for each of the services they offer. It is important that you can see how each advertising channel is performing at a glance so you can quickly make changes if needed. While the standard KPIs such as CPC, CTR, VDP views, and others are helpful, you also need to be able to measure how you are moving your vehicles. A great agency will be able to tell you how many of your sales are directly attributed to their work and from what channels.

Certifications

To determine if an agency is a good fit, you may also want to check if they have certifications for the services they are offering. For example, it may be a good idea to run Google ads through a certified Google Partner. To become a part of this program, agencies must meet a certain optimization score, ad spend, and account strategist expertise. For other services, there are similar certifications that can be acquired including Meta Certification, LinkedIn Certified Marketer, and many more. Going with a vendor that is certified allows you to be confident that they know how to run successful campaigns.

Partners

Another way to verify an auto marketing agency is a good fit for your dealership is to look at other brands they have worked with. Most agencies will have a section on their website that shows who their partners are, allowing you to examine the types of companies the agency works with. It is important to look at whether the agency has worked with dealerships of similar size, geographic location, and structure to yours. If they have, and those dealerships have performed well, you know they’ll be able to do the same for you. If you can, ask the agency for references so you can talk to a few of their current customers. How you work together and whether they understand your strengths and challenges is crucial.

Case Studies

You’ll also want to make sure any agency you hire has proven results, and a great way to do this is by reading their case studies. Ideally, a good agency will have several case studies available, with some showing dealerships like yours achieving the results that you are looking for. If you know an agency has been successful many times in the past, it is more likely they will perform well for you too.

People

In addition to great software, make sure your agency also has great people who are available to monitor your account for success. With the automotive industry constantly evolving, you’ll want to have someone overseeing your strategy at all times so that you can make adjustments before anything goes south.

Looking for an automotive marketing agency that can seamlessly create, run and optimize your social media, display, search, Google Vehicle Ads and OTT/CTV video ads? ZeroSum is a certified Google Partner that has helped dealers nationwide achieve their goals. Book a demo today to learn what we can do for your dealership.