As the pandemic-driven sales boom shows signs of subsiding, it’s becoming more important than ever for dealers to find effective ways to maintain customer connections. And, since we’re living in “the age of video,” dealers are hard-pressed to find a better alternative right now than producing and distributing appropriate digital video content that includes a Season’s Greetings from your team.
Given today’s technology, studies find we’re all spending an average of 90 minutes every day consuming videos on our phones or computers. Further, most people (72 percent) claim they would rather watch a video than read about a product or service. It makes using videos a compelling way to nurture relationships and build customer appeal. Over the last few years this format has become a key component in any marketing plan.
Accordingly, if you’re not creating your own videos you’re likely falling behind. And while creating videos can seem overwhelming at first, it’s not all that complicated, and audiences are very accepting of DIY video content.
Want an easy place to start? Customers and prospects like learning more about how a business works and, especially the people behind it. Simply showing the team members who are making things easy for the customers humanizes the dealership — that alone is a powerful marketing tool.
Videos that focus on a major activity that customers engage in, like fishing tips, can be popular; offer maintenance pointers from the service department; introduce a new member of the sales or office team; push out occasional special holiday accessory deals only to existing customers; use a video to promote a customer’s-only preview night of new models; in short, any video you make gives you the chance to get in front of your customer base without waiting for them to approach you.
The point is a buyer’s journey doesn’t end when the sale is completed. The attitude should always be that the customer’s first purchase just begins a long-term relationship. And, how apropos is that today given our recent sales success to first-time boaters.
A Great Place to Start
Bring in some lunch and have a dealership team brainstorming session where everyone can throw in their subject ideas. It’s a sure bet you’ll have more possibilities than you could ever actually video. Meanwhile, here are 3 framework classifications that you can work with:
The Educational Video
People are now turning to educational videos online to learn new things or how to do something right. You can take advantage of this growing demand to reach customers about specific topics. They can be as simple as showing the proper way to cleat a line (most boater’s do it wrong), make a half-hitch or the easy way to make the single best knot in boating, the bowline. How about boat maintenance tips, a pre-outing checklist or tips on easily ramping the boat. They key is providing useful information.
The Tutorial Video
It’s designed to highlight a process, share knowledge, explain a concept or most often, briefly show how to perform a specific task. You’ve probably seen hundreds of them on social media or YouTube; they can quickly help a customer learn something that will help them enjoy their boat more, and they innately show you care.
The Explanatory Video
As the name implies, it explains what something does, how it does it and the contribution it makes to a great day on the water. Subjects like how to best set-up the tow line for pulling the kids around on a tube, using the trim tabs to balance the passengers’ weight or a comprehensive checklist on the trailer before setting out for the local ramp.
A video can cover anything from a simple chat about a new product to tips from the service department. It simply boils down to is using some imagination and it can be fun for the whole dealership team to come up, with ideas and participate. And right now, a simple holiday greeting from the team can be a great starter.
