With all of the uncertainty the news cycle has created this week due to the outbreak of COVID-19, it can be difficult to refrain from making any knee-jerk decisions for your business, especially your digital marketing spend. The financial market fluctuations, National Emergency declarations, and school closings have created a lot of change in many verticals, including the automotive sector.

However not all of the changes analysts are monitoring is inherently bad. Where some digital consultants are seeing a threat, our analysts are seeing a massive opportunity for our automotive clients.

Top Digital Marketing Trends Every Dealership Should Know During COVID-19

1. Screen time is up 30% nationally, with mobile apps seeing the biggest increase!
2. Website traffic is trending up across 15 of our largest clients.
3. Click Here Digital is working directly with Google to build smarter profiles, in real-time.
4. Sporting event cancellations provide a major opportunity to move that budget into digital marketing.
5. $1.5 trillion of new market liquidity means financing a car has never been easier, even for those with poor credit!

In the last week, we've been monitoring and analyzing automotive-specific and overall industry traffic trends, conversion rates, and in-target consumer profiles. The results were not what you might have expected. Even though Google sessions were down overall, the automotive sector had a slight increase in traffic across our clients' portfolios. In our research, we've even found that Amazon is experiencing some of the highest levels of At-Home Shopping and Prime Video viewership we've seen since Black Friday!

With the cancellation of sporting events, traditional media is scrambling to keep people’s attention. Instead, Americans are using mobile applications and streaming devices at record-high rates. If you haven’t given serious thought to quickly pivoting marketing spend from traditional advertising into social media, digital marketing, and other streaming services (Hulu, Amazon, Roku, etc), now is the time! Learn more about shifting to Connected TV Advertising!

Now, more than ever, your customers are online and they have the time to shop around before they buy!

With more pending business and office closures on the horizon due to quarantines and social distancing, automotive dealers could be taking advantage of an entirely new audience that is much larger, more engaged, and with more time to make an informed decision on their purchase.

According to Google, "78% of US is now working from home."

New Target Audiences Dealerships Can Reach Digitally

• Working parents (new school closures)
• Teachers
• Professionals now working from home
• Sports fans in large cities

Digital Marketing Strategies to Reach New Target Audiences

It's of pivotal importance to us that our clients are well-informed and have the latest on real-time, data-driven trends in the automotive space. Click Here Digital's data science team has been closely collaborating on research and development with our Google and Facebook partners to help arm our clients with digital marketing strategies for COVID-19 and other tough times.

Worried about staying competitive during these times of uncertainty? Click Here Digital is here to help! Give us a call at 225-383-0333 or Contact Us and ask to speak with a member of our Data Science Team today.