The automotive sales industry is highly competitive, which means individual car dealerships face the challenge of capturing the attention of potential buyers and transforming them into loyal customers. Today’s dealerships need a strategy that goes beyond traditional marketing and promotions. Today, successful auto dealerships know that it’s all about creating immersive, memorable interactions with customers. 

This is where experiential marketing for car dealerships enters the picture. 

For car dealerships, experiential marketing offers a one-of-a-kind opportunity to engage directly with customers and develop the type of emotional connections that naturally lead to brand loyalty. Let’s take a look at what experiential marketing for car dealerships is, and how modern dealerships can implement these strategies effectively. 

The Art of Experiential Marketing for Car Dealerships

In the simplest terms, experiential marketing is engagement marketing. Rather than flat, static marketing and promotions, experiential marketing creates immersive experiences that are memorable and exponentially more likely to foster real connections. Where traditional marketing speaks “to” automotive customers, experiential marketing is all about interacting with them. 

The goal of experiential marketing for car dealerships is to spark an emotional response with potential customers. You want them to feel something. This could be excitement, curiosity, trust, or a sense of belonging to the dealership’s community. 

For car dealerships, this might look like hosting lifestyle-focused events, such as a luxury lifestyle event centered on the dealership’s offering of luxury vehicles. This is just a single example, but the possibilities are endless. 

How Experiential Marketing Connects Car Dealerships with Customers 

Today’s automotive consumer can become easily overwhelmed. With this level of overwhelm comes a sense of numbness that filters out most, if not all, traditional marketing strategies. A customer might feel that there’s nothing new or attention-grabbing that a car dealership can deliver through traditional marketing. And, to be truthful, they’re not wrong. 

Experiential marketing busts through all the noise. It provides something that pulls potential customers out of their fog of overwhelm and gets them interested and invested in new ways. 

Building Strong Emotional Connections 

Purchasing a new car is a highly personal and emotional process. A new car could be connected to the goal of landing a dream job, or maybe it’s time for a larger vehicle due to an expanding family. There are also those who associate a new vehicle with a sense of freedom or a level of security they didn’t have before. 

A great experiential marketing strategy taps into these emotions. It allows potential customers to actually experience all the promise that a new car holds. It goes beyond looking at the specs, and taking steps to form real emotional connections. 

Creating Memorable Dealership Experiences 

Potential customers are exponentially more likely to remember and talk to their family and friends about the unique experiences a car dealership offers than they are some billboard they saw or the digital ad that follows them around wherever they go online. 

This is because experiential marketing is memorable. It lingers. It makes people want to talk about their experiences. These memorable experiences are how the best car dealerships are able to stand out in an overcrowded marketplace. 

Word of Mouth Marketing 

Following up on how experiential marketing creates memorable interactions, is how consumers love to talk about the great experiences they have. Today, word-of-mouth marketing can spread like wildfire, and it’s a highly effective way of reaching target audiences organically. 

Brand Loyalty 

Car dealerships often need to go the extra mile to prove to potential customers that they are trustworthy and respectable. It might be cliche, but those less-than-scrupulous car dealerships do exist. Experiential marketing sets reputable dealerships apart from the rest, and it provides customers with a reason to become loyal. A great experience can earn a dealership a customer for life. 

Examples of How to Use Experiential Marketing for Car Dealerships 

Test Drives That Turn Into Adventures

What’s the fun of test-driving around the neighborhood? Car dealerships can transform the test-drive experience into a true mini-adventure. Set up an event that invited customers to test drive vehicles in ways that really highlight the car’s capabilities. 

For example, a car that is known for smooth quiet, and luxury handling could be test-driven through visually exciting urban hotspots, highlighting how the car handles well with both comfort and style. Auto dealerships specializing in trucks and SUVs might consider setting up a multi-terrain obstacle course. 

Pop-Up Showroom Events

Pop-ups are fun and engaging, plus they attract new customers who might have previously been just out of reach. Choose a high-traffic area, such as concerts, festivals, and sporting events. Auto dealerships can tap into marketing analytics to highlight vehicles that are most aligned with the preferences of the audience attending the high-traffic event. 

As an example, a pop-up showroom at a family-friendly event could offer interactive displays and on-site test drives for vehicles that are popular among young and growing families. Interactive touchscreen displays that allow the casual customer to explore vehicle features are a great low-pressure way to encourage exploration and curiosity. 

Virtual Reality Behind the Wheel

It isn’t always possible to demonstrate a vehicle’s full capabilities with a single test drive. This is especially true for car dealerships located in regions that experience the four seasons and all their glory of weather challenges. 

Adding virtual reality to the customer experience helps to bridge this gap and make it so the customer can more fully experience what the car offers. For example, going for a VR test drive in snowy, icy, or off-road conditions can drive home the value of a car’s safety features. Another option could be taking a higher-end model out on a VR test drive at a race track to demonstrate its superior handling abilities. 

Events That Focus on Lifestyle 

Consumers often choose vehicles that are aligned with their lifestyles. Hosting a lifestyle event is a great way to show potential customers how a vehicle can meet their lifestyle demands. 

A car dealership specializing in SUV sales could host an outdoor adventure day, with a full itinerary of outdoor fun. Consider partnering with outdoor sporting or camping brands. For a luxury vehicle, lifestyle events could center on golf outings or touring a local vineyard. 

The goal is to encourage the customer to visualize how this new vehicle will not only fit naturally into their lifestyle but also how it will enhance it. 

Customization Events 

Some of the most popular experiential marketing strategies we’ve seen have gotten the audience involved in creating something new. Whether it’s coming up with a new crayon color or creating a new featured burger, audiences love to see their visions come to life – and be shared with the masses. This is a strategy that can seamlessly translate to the car dealership industry. 

If your auto dealership also offers customization services, consider allowing customers to either develop a new paint color or name it. Maybe even create a whole unique color scheme. You could also host a contest for the most innovative custom feature ideas. This is also a great way for dealerships to gain insight into what sparks interest in their customers. 

Social Media Challenges 

Social media challenges are a great way for busy dealerships to get in on experiential marketing without needing to devote time to hosting a physical event. Social media challenges don’t just get customers engaged, they’re also extremely effective for word-of-mouth advertising. Customers actually do the work here, but they have fun doing it. 

This could be something as simple as inspiring vehicle owners to take a photo of their cars at various locations. For a national dealership, the challenge could be to collect images of cars at as many national parks as possible. Or maybe, the goal is to collect images of a specific model in each state. 

Smaller, local dealerships can tap into this also. Encourage the sharing of images at local hotspots, special places for a date night in the city, or images showing how their car fits into their everyday life (school drop-off, commuting, etc). 

Challenges of Experiential Marketing for Auto Dealerships 

With any type of marketing, it’s important to look at not just the potential benefits, but also the challenges. With experiential marketing for car dealerships, the challenges are few. For the most part, experiential strategies are easy to implement, but there are a few things to consider. 

Personalization: The experiential marketing strategies for car dealerships are the ones that tap into a very specific segment of the audience. This means that personalization is a must. 

Dealerships need to consider which segment of their audience will be most receptive and how they can reach them. This requires an understanding of market analytics, and not all dealerships have someone on staff with this level of marketing knowledge. 

Execution: It’s one thing to come up with a brilliant experiential marketing idea, but quite another to execute it effectively. A poorly executed event can hurt a dealership more than it will help. Choosing to work with an experiential marketing team is a smart move to ensure effective, professional execution. 

Cost: Depending on the type of event, experiential marketing costs can quickly grow out of control. This is especially true for large-scale events and those involving advanced technology or popular influencers. 

It’s smart to have reasonable expectations of how much experiential marketing costs, and the budget constraints that exist. Costs can be minimized by partnering with other local small businesses, seeking out local venues, and starting small. It’s better to make a huge impact with a small event than a mediocre impact with a large one. 

Final Thoughts in Experiential Marketing for Car Dealerships

We’re living in an era where customers crave feeling connected. They want authenticity, transparency, and trustworthiness. Experiential marketing is a tool that can deliver all of this and more for car dealerships. Gone are the days of static showrooms. Today, we welcome experiences that are dynamic and interactive as we engage with each customer on a deeper level. 

There are countless ways to help your car dealerships stand out. At Factory360, we’re here to help. Providing businesses like yours with a competitive edge through experiential marketing is what we do best. Contact us today to learn more and begin planning your next experiential marketing campaign.