Video Marketing Ideas and Tips for the Automotive Industry

The early days of YouTube are long gone, and today’s marketers know video can be a powerful tool. When people are planning big purchases—like a new car—they’re doing their research online, and increasingly searching for videos. In fact, video’s domination is projected to continue into the foreseeable future, accounting for 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2021.

Looking for ways to not just hop on the bandwagon but make video work for your Chicago dealership or auto shop? In this post, we’ll take a look at video marketing ideas specifically for the automotive industry, as well as some quick tips for producing effective videos.

For more reasons why video is a worth investigating, plus mistakes to avoid, check out our previous post, More Brands Should Use Video (But Avoid these 5 Video Marketing Mistakes).

5 Ways to Put Your Automotive Video Marketing in Motion

When it comes to your video strategy, be creative while staying focused on your customers’ needs. How can you deliver value and convenience? What if someone is not ready to make a purchase now, but wants to get to know your brand, learn something new, or solve a problem they’re experiencing?

Here are just a few simple ideas to kickstart your video marketing:

1. Customer testimonials. There is nothing better than word-of-mouth, and a video featuring a satisfied customer can be a meaningful perspective to a prospective buyer.
2. Practical advice for car owners. A great way to build trust, as well as increase brand recognition, is to produce how-to videos on basic car maintenance and simple repairs.
3. Sneak peeks. Producing videos showing off new vehicles you’re expecting on the lot can build anticipation and help consumers feel like they’re in the know.
4. Myth busting. Post videos debunking common auto myths and misconceptions, like how turning on the AC rather than opening the windows is better for fuel economy.
5. Behind the scenes. Give people a look at things they might not normally be exposed to. For example, you could show what happens when a truckload of cars arrives, or how a vehicle is prepped before a customer drives it off the lot.

6 Video Tips for Automotive Businesses

1. Start with a plan. Make sure you define and understand the role of video in your overall marketing strategy. What do you want to achieve with videos—increased website traffic, sales, or a combination or metrics?
2. Tell a story. People don’t want to be sold to. Use the ideas listed above to inspire great storytelling. Including a CTA at the end of your video is a best practice, but if all of your videos are commercials, people will be less likely to watch and share.
3. Be helpful. One of the best ways to build trust with prospective customers is to empower them. Produce a video demonstrating how a car owner can do their own oil change. Consumers will appreciate that you’re willing to provide the information for free, and they’ll see you as a helpful resource.
4. Keep it simple. You don’t have to produce a full-length feature or cover a subject comprehensively with your videos. People enjoy bite-sized content, and producing short videos is a great way to dip your toes in the water and develop your skills.
5. Take advantage of free tools and techniques. It’s not necessary to hire a professional videographer for all of your brand videos, but you also should not sacrifice quality in favor of quantity. (A few high-quality videos are better than a bunch of irrelevant or unprofessional ones.) You can shoot a Facebook Live video and still pay attention to quality by ensuring you have good lighting and are using a stand for your phone.
6. Repurpose and repackage (where possible). One video can be used on social media, your website, or as part of digital ads. Slice and dice videos to make shorter clips for use on social, and merge different videos into a compilation video to use for other purposes, such as recruitment.

With video on the rise and continuing to grow in importance to marketers, now is the time for your Chicago auto dealership to put video marketing into play, or step up your game heading into 2018. Follow the tips above, and leave us a comment if you have other ideas to inspire Chicago business owners to put video to work!