Numerous studies show that high quality images can help auto dealers attract customers, generate sales, and grow their business. This is why so many auto dealers use images from a car stock photo library to market their dealership. However, images aren’t the only digital assets you can use to help your dealership reach new levels of success.
If you want to stand out from your competitors, it’s important to also incorporate professional car stock footage into your dealership’s marketing campaign. Why should your dealership use videos? How can car stock footage help you grow your dealership? Here’s what you need to know:
Why Should Auto Dealers Use Car Stock Footage?
Every auto dealer’s marketing campaign should include the use of videos. The car buying journey has evolved over the years. Now, the vast majority of consumers start the process of shopping for a new car online rather than at a dealership. This means you need to grab your target audience’s attention online, and there’s no better way to do that than with professional car stock footage.
Today’s consumers start the car buying journey by conducting online research. Many of these consumers rely on videos to learn about different vehicles. In fact, Google reports that 40% of auto shoppers said that watching videos helped them discover a vehicle they weren’t aware of or considering.
Auto consumers use videos to narrow down their options and make a final purchase decision, too. According to Google, three-fourths of auto shoppers say that videos have influenced their purchase decisions.
Watching videos also motivates auto consumers to take action. Google found that 60% of auto shoppers who relied on videos to research their options visited a dealership or a dealer’s website immediately after watching videos.
The bottom line? If you aren’t using videos, you are missing out on a huge opportunity to connect with your target audience online.
Different Types of Car Stock Footage
Before you learn the best ways to use car stock footage, it’s important to understand your options. There are a number of different types of car stock videos you can incorporate into your dealership’s marketing strategy. Some of the most common categories include:
- Editorial videos: This type of video, which runs between 60 to 120 seconds, provides an overview of the interior and exterior of a vehicle. It provides the viewer with a detailed look at all of the vehicle’s features.
- Exterior video spin sets: An exterior spin video provides the viewer with a 360-degree view of the vehicle. This type of video shows a vehicle slowly spinning around so the viewer can see it from every angle. It is used to help viewers see the lines, curves, and proportions of the vehicle’s exterior.
- Fly-around videos: These videos are similar to exterior spin videos. Both types of videos feature a vehicle slowly spinning so the viewer can examine its exterior. However, a fly-around video is taken with a mobile camera that rises and falls in elevation. As a result, this type of video captures the curves and lines of the vehicle better than an exterior spin video.
- Video clip sets: Each of these sets consist of 27 animated stills that showcase the interior and exterior of a vehicle. Each animated still within a set focuses on a different feature so the viewer can get a closer look at some of the vehicle’s key selling points.
- Showroom videos: These videos are designed to simulate the showroom experience. A showroom video is a combination of exterior video clips and interior panoramic videos. This allows the viewer to explore every inch of the vehicle just like they would if they were standing in a dealer’s showroom.
What Are the Best Ways to Use Car Stock Footage?
There are many different ways to use car stock footage to grow your dealership, including:
- Enhance Online Listings
- Provide Virtual Tours
- Introduce New Models
- Explain New Features or Technology
- Create An Engaging Website Design
Enhance Online Listings
Most auto dealers upload dozens of images for every online listing. The more images you include in a listing, the better. But images aren’t the only assets that can enhance your online listings. Make your online listings stand out by including videos, too.
Your target audience will get a better look at the vehicle by watching a video rather than looking at an image. A video can also help them better understand the size, scale, and proportions of the vehicle, which is important when they are still in the early stages of the car buying journey. The videos are filmed by professionals, so the lighting will highlight all of the vehicle’s best features and make the vehicle look more appealing to the consumer.
Since many auto dealers aren’t incorporating videos into their online listings, this strategy can help you gain an edge over the competition. Seeing a video may stop a consumer in their tracks as they scroll through dozens of online listings.
Provide Virtual Tours
Your target audience shouldn’t have to visit your showroom in person to tour a vehicle they are interested in purchasing. Make it easier for potential customers to explore their options without leaving home by using videos to provide virtual vehicle tours.
Use an editorial video to showcase a vehicle on your website, social media page, or YouTube channel. Each editorial video provides an overview of the interior and exterior of the vehicle, so it’s the perfect way to introduce your target audience to a specific model.
No tour is complete without a tour guide, which is why you should add a professional voiceover to the video before posting it. This gives you a chance to explain what is being shown in the video so the viewer understands what they are looking at. You can use your voiceover as an opportunity to highlight certain features, talk about the pricing, and encourage the viewer to contact your dealership for more information.
Watching an editorial video with a professional voiceover will recreate the showroom experience for the viewer. They will feel like they are speaking with a knowledgeable sales representative inside a showroom rather than watching a video from home.
Introduce New Models
You can also use car stock footage to introduce new models that have recently arrived at your dealership. Posting a short set of videos on your social media pages is a great way to build excitement about new vehicles and keep your target audience engaged with your content.
You can post multiple videos at once or draw it out over the course of a few days. The latter option gives you an opportunity to create suspense and keep your followers coming back to your page for more.
Either way, make sure your followers know they can contact your dealership to learn more about purchasing the model shown in the video. Include a short caption for your video that explains how your followers can get in touch with you to get more information, schedule a test drive, or purchase a vehicle.
Explain New Features or Technology
Your target audience needs to know about all of the features that a vehicle has to offer before deciding which one to purchase. But if a vehicle is designed with new features or technologies, it may be hard for your target audience to understand how they work or what benefits they offer. Fortunately, videos can help you get the message across.
Use animated stills that focus on a specific feature of a vehicle. Then, either add a voiceover or write a detailed caption that explains how the feature works, why consumers should want it, and what vehicles are designed with it.
This type of video can help consumers who are in the research stage of the car buying journey. During this stage, consumers need to gather as much information about their options as possible, so learning about new features and technologies is essential.
Create An Engaging Website Design
Your target audience will most likely visit your website before they ever step foot inside your dealership, which is why it’s so important to create an engaging website. One way to appeal to online auto shoppers is to use videos on your website.
For example, make a strong first impression on people who visit your website by using a fly-around or showroom video as the background on your homepage. This will be the first thing that users see when they land on your website. A high quality fly-around or showroom video will immediately grab their attention and make them want to explore other areas of your site.
You can also incorporate videos into your blog posts. For example, if you are writing a blog about a specific model, incorporate an exterior spin video of the model into the post so your readers can visualize the vehicle you are talking about.
These are some of the many ways in which you can incorporate videos into your dealership’s marketing campaign. By following these tips, you can appeal to today’s automotive consumers, drive more foot traffic, generate sales, and take your dealership to the next level.
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