Our Final Destination: Customer Data

Well, we have reached the final destination of our whistle-stop digital marketing journey!

Over the last few weeks we have looked at everything from Google Analytics, Big Data and SEO to Social Media Marketing and Paid Ad Campaigns. 

Your business should be well-versed in the basics of current digital marketing tools, tips and thinking and this is just the beginning! Market Motoring will be back with another series soon, but for now we will close out with an important hot-topic which is Customer Data.

Most companies you interact with these days hold some form of information about you. It could be anything from simply your name to your PPS number, card details or web browsing history. 

This incredible volume of data that is now created on a second-by-second basis means customer's privacy has been prioritized over the last number of years and we have seen the implementation of world wide data protection laws. In Europe, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) sets out how customer's data should be managed. In Ireland, there are additional laws like the Data Protection Acts. These laws govern who can hold customer's data, how they hold it, why they hold it and for how long they hold it. 

Running a business, particularly in the online world, means upholding your responsibility under these laws and acting ethically with the data you hold. It is critical to your business that you keep up-to-speed on the latest requirements under law that considers consumer's data. You can read more about GDPR using this great Irish resource here 

In our most recent blog post we talked about using paid advertising which can be used to target customers. When we think about customer data it is important to remember the information you use to target them should be used ethically. You may be targeting people in Kildare as you advertise a new car that is for sale for example - how you go about doing this is important. Take a look at the graphic below by Tasil to learn more!

Overall, it is important to remember customers online translate to real people and it is important to be respectful with the data you hold.

For more information you can contact your local Chamber of Commerce who can point you in the right direction if you need help getting to grips with managing customer's data. To find your local Chamber of Commerce click here 

Thank you for reading these blogposts, I really hope you enjoyed them and I hope to come to you with lots more information, tips and insights very soon. 

In the meantime, keep up with us here on Facebook!

Take care,

Holly - Market Motoring

The Benefits of Running a Paid Ad Campaign to Drive Traffic to your Site

 

Welcome back to the Market Motoring blog!

We recently looked at the importance of good SEO practice which can help drive traffic to your website in this blog post.

Today, we are looking at running paid ad campaigns, and how they can be another tool added to your kit that can help increase your website or blog views!

Pay Per Click Advertising

You may have heard this term before, and it may just be the perfect option for your business. It quite simply means you can run an advertising campaign and you will be charged a fee each time one of your ads is clicked on. It allows you to drive up your site views as your audience can be targeted using key words and phrases. 

How do I get started?

Google Ads is a perfect platform to start with and it is currently the biggest provider of search advertising on the market according to Statista. Here you will find step-by-step tutorials and information on how to get started using Google Ads.

How does it work?

Google Ads allows key words to be bid on in what is known as an auction which runs every time a web search takes place. You can place a bid on key words related to the service or product that you are advertising, like "new tyres dublin" or "used cars Leinster" for example to give you the best chance of reaching potential users. With Google Ads you can set your own maximum bid per click, so if your budget only allows for a certain amount of money you will never be charged over this amount. But it is important to be mindful that you will be charged each time someone does click on your ad, so it is critical to budget well in advance and determine what a feasible spend is. There are many other criteria you can use to hone in on the audience you want to target, so that the keyword match is not the only thing that will drive a user to your site - this is helpful as it ensures your ads will reach the people you need it to.

What are the benefits?

• Reaching the audience you want using targeted advertising
• It can be as affordable as you need it to be as you set the budget
• It can be very specific, for example you can choose to advertise to people within a 2-5km radius of your premises if you wish
• You can use many different channels relevant to you to advertise on like Google, Facebook and Instagram
• You can retarget audiences who have previously engaged with your ad

You can then use Google Analytics (which we have a full blogpost on here) to measure the success of your Google Ad campaign.

Overall, using paid ad campaigns is not just a recommendation - it's a necessity these days. Choose your budget, select your audience, create your ad and see the traffic to your site increase. 

It's a no brainer!

Holly - Market Motoring

Benefits of Using Social Media Marketing for the Auto Industry

 

Social media was once something that allowed us to know what every person we knew was having for dinner on any given evening. But now, the list of ways social media can be beneficial to businesses is endless. Read on to find out how!

Increase Brand Awareness

Hootsuite - a company that allows businesses to manage all social media activity using their software - reported in 2021 that there are now 4.2 billion active social media users around the world. That means there are customers waiting at your fingertips. Having a social media presence means more potential customers will learn about your business, and existing customers can support by liking and sharing as well as keeping up-to-date on your latest offerings.

Boost Sales

In 2022 it is so important to meet customers where they are - and that is online.

Having an online presence will boost lead opportunities and with an effective ecommerce website that can be shared though social media, it will allow customers to easily purchase your goods and services.

Size up Competition

Using social media marketing can also allow you to size up your competition to see what other automotive companies are offering consumers and to check out the traction they get on their content. 

Targeted Advertising 

Social media marketing can allow you to target the market you wish to reach easily and in a cost effective manner. You can choose your own budget and use Instagram or Facebook ads to market directly to potential or existing consumers on social media. Read our previous blog post on Google Analytics which can help you monitor the success of those ads here.

These are just some of the many benefits of social media marketing. In today's digital world most companies really don't have a choice as to whether or not to market via social media, as if you want to remain current in the eyes of consumers it is a necessity.

Holly - Market Motoring

The Importance of SEO Within the Motor Industry

                         

SEO is a buzzword you may have heard by now, but might not quite understand exactly what it's all about. So, let's break it down....

What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. SEO is the process of improving your website to get traffic from free (also called organic or natural) search results in search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo. 

Webfx carried out a study in 2021 and found 75% of search engine users do not go beyond the first page of search results. This shows the importance of optimizing your website so it is ranked as high as possible in search results.

While a company can pay a fee to advertise their site and appear higher on search engines, SEO is all about improving the organic results as we mentioned.

How do we improve our SEO?

The first step in implementing SEO best practices is creating an effective website that is easy to navigate, communicates information clearly and provides a great user experience.

There's also much more you can do, take a look at our main tips below:

• Optimize your page speed - nothing makes a user click that 'X' button faster than a page that is slow to load! Some simple ways to ensure that your site loads quickly include optimizing image sizes, not using too much media or features and sticking to one or two key fonts throughout. 

• Create internal links -  Links play an important role when it comes to SEO. When one page links to another it helps Google make connections between pages and their content. This can help with the categorization of pages, and perhaps more importantly enables Google to add them to the list of sites they consider when displaying search results more efficiently. And linking does not only have to be to external sites, you can also link between pages within your own website to show Google all pages on your site are important. It also helps the user experience as linking within your own site will make it easier for users to find what they are looking for. And it can also help increase traffic to pages that are less-visited!

• Ensure your website is mobile-friendly - More than 50% of all traffic comes from mobile devices, so making sure your site is mobile friendly is key. Google often crawls the mobile version of your site in order to determine how it should rank amongst its results overall, so it is key that is adaptable and efficient when accessed on a mobile device.

• Use Google Analytics - constantly tracking and monitoring how users are interacting with your website is key so you can track how your site is performing and make any adjustments necessary in order to improve the SEO of your site. If you missed our last blogpost on Google Analytics you can catch up here.

Why is it important in the Motor Industry?

In reality, SEO is important to every industry. However, take for example the candle industry. There will be a certain percentage of people that want to buy candles - but they are a want, not a need and they are not popular with every demographic. There are also a limited number of candle makers and sellers. Take a look below at the number of results that come up for the search result 'buy candle Ireland'.

Now, think of the Motor Industry, where there are more than 1.5 billion cars in the world owned by almost every demographic of people and cars and car maintenance are often essential for people particularly in the Western World including where we are based within Ireland. This means there is a lot of competition when it comes to selling cars and selling car maintenance services. And the more competition, the more results you must compete with. So, the higher your company can show up in search engine results, the more likely you are to secure business from more users.

Now, take a look below at the number of results that come up for the search result 'buy car Ireland' which far surpasses the number of results for candles!

But, don't just take our word for how important SEO is. Check out our friend The Marketing Bite's blog on the importance of SEO within the food industry for another great take on this topic. Click here to read.

Holly - Market Motoring

The Importance of Big Data Analytics in the Motor Industry

What is Big Data?  

There is an endless amount of data being created, monitored, examined and utilized at any given moment, so Big Data is a term used to refer to data sets that are too large and complex for traditional methods of processing and managing data.

People are now producing more data than ever, and when you think of users creating data don't just think of smartphones and laptops.

Many of us have heard of the term 'The Internet of Things', but what exactly does it mean? Many “things” now use WIFI so they can connect to the web and to one another. The Internet of Things (IoT for short) allows us to lower the heating in our home using digital thermostats that work with smart phones, track our text messages on our smartwatches whilst simultaneously monitoring our steps or turn our washing machine on from a touch of our phone. 

Big data became more popular with the advancement of mobile technology and the IoT as there is now more data than ever to get to grips with.

Big data can improve business intelligence and encourage innovation.

Why is it important to the Motor Industry?

The car was once something that helped people move from one place to another. But now, cars have transformed into machines that can tell you how to get to your destination, read your text messages allowed to you and in some cases even drive you to where you are going! These advancements have come about due to technologies like Big Data and the Internet of Things among many others.

Here are just some ways Big Data is important in the Motor Industry:

• Product planning
• Automobile development
• Improving quality
• Avoiding accidents & Improving Security
• Logistics
• Customer services

Holly - Market Motoring

Using Google Analytics to help your small business!

The term "Google Analytics" is enough to make any small business owner shudder, as it can seem overwhelming to get to grips with!

But, in 2022 if you're not using Google Analytics you really are missing (quite a simple) trick!

This short blog post will introduce you to the basics and tell you how it might just be the perfect tool to help your small business thrive.

So, what exactly is Google Analytics?

In simple terms, it is a free tool offered by Google that allows you to track the performance of your website and gives you key information on how visitors are interacting with your site

What does it track?

There are endless possibilities when it comes to what metrics Google Analytics can track, but here are the most popular ones:

• Sessions: The overall number of visits to your website.
• Users: The number of unique visitors to your website.
• Pageviews: The overall number of pages viewed on your website.
• Average time on page: The average time visitors spent on your website.
• Bounce rate: The percentage of sessions that leave your website without taking any additional action.
• Entrances: The entrance points (i.e. your homepage, pricing page, etc.) users visit your website through.
• Exit rate: The rate at which visitors leave your website from specific pages.

How can it help my small business?

It is key for most small businesses to have an effective website and this free tool can help you see what is working well and what can be improved when it comes to your website. This ultimately can save precious resources like time and money which is priceless for any small business.

Google Analytics can help you grow your business and build your reputation as the information it tracks can help you better understand your users, which in turn means you can improve your website and provide customers with the best experience possible.

The information Google Analytics provides allows you to learn how users are engaging with your offerings now, and your can use this data to inform key business decisions to ensure you are catering to users needs.

What are the benefits for me as a small business owner?

• Google Analytics is free to use
• It is straight-forward to set up
• It can help you learn more about your target audience
• It allows you to understand your website visitors
• The data it gathers allows you to run targeted campaigns
• It helps you understand what offerings users are interested in

Okay I'm sold. How can I get started?

Click this link to get started.

Holly - Market Motoring