Autoprometrix.com



When I started my Automotive Sales Career, I noticed that there were some people at my dealership who were successful – very successful in fact – because they had a strong community base behind them. It occurred to me that they were successful because they had something I didn’t: a niche. As a young Caucasian guy in a new city, I didn’t have any community to speak of. I wasn’t part of an ethnic group, a religious organization (per se), a networking group, or even Greenpeace. I didn’t have a newspaper to advertise to my community as others did. I worked with a great guy, Jin, who was of South Korean descent and spoke three languages. He advertised his website (which I built for him) in the local Korean newspaper and built his niche from contacts in his ethnic community who trusted him and referred sales to him. He was a top producer, without question. I realized I needed to find my community in order to build my own niche.



The first question I’m often asked is, “What is the most important thing to know when marketing and promoting yourself and your website within a niche?” Simple answer: whether it’s a niche you have actively chosen to become a part of, or one you are lucky enough to be a part of already, Know Thy Customer.



Occasionally I’ll meet young, smart automotive sales professionals who tell me they have a niche. And when I ask them who their target market is, they generally list off the demographics of their niche. While demographics are important (especially when marketing online), demographics don’t really give you any insight into your real customer base. Knowing your niche goes well beyond this. It means getting into the mindset of your niche, feeling what they feel, understanding the challenges that they often face when purchasing from anyone else. Getting your message out and driving people to your automotive website through Facebook or Twitter, etc., means creating blog posts, articles, news, updates, and more, targeted to the people in your niche. This does not mean selling. By constantly trying to sell, you are not really an active part of the community. Get involved, become the expert, write articles in your blog section, and drive traffic from “tweets” and Facebook, for example, which are on target to your community.



Think about the way you communicate with friends, as opposed to your mom, your dentist, or your boss. When communicating with each of these people, you do so in different manners. Your tone, your speech, the words you choose, and the style in which you express yourself will be different to varying degrees. The same thing applies when speaking to your niche. Remember: stay on target and adapt your writing style according to who you are writing to!



Drawing a blank as to what niche you could target? There’s an endless supply of niches ready for the automotive expert to build upon. To identify your niche(s), ask yourself what you love to do and where people who share that activity or interest gather in a community. If you’re a member of a church, for example, that may be a great place to find your niche. Other niche groups may include stay-at-home moms, local business professionals, or your ethnic community. Local car clubs are also fantastic; if you work for Toyota or Scion, for example, join the local chapter of the Scion club. Don’t have a car club close by for the vehicle you sell? Even better – you can create one. A friend of mine once created a local Jeep club, and guess what? He’s now known as the Jeep expert in the area. His website is, of course, targeted at Jeep enthusiasts, and his blog post updates, inventory, special offers, and tweets are about everything Jeep, all the time. His community of Jeep fans can find him day or night by simply logging onto his website; there, his contact information is listed for all to see.



Once you have identified your niche, find out all you can about the people who make up your target group – not just the demographic they fall into. For example: Are they creative types? What do they do for a living? What are their thoughts on domestic vehicles vs. imports? Is there a language barrier? The more information you can gather about your niche, the more effectively you’ll be able to communicate your message to them.



Also important: always, Always, ALWAYS promote your website to everyone. Promoting a website is one of the best ways you can create an opportunity for customers to find you and purchase from you. You don’t even have to promote the vehicle sales aspect. A great line in a conversation might be, “Hey, did you hear about the changes to the Jeep Wrangler this year? Yeah, I just wrote an article about it on my website. Some interesting stuff on there. You should check it out – it’s www.yourWebsite.com. Here’s my card. And hey, while you’re there, subscribe to my RSS Feed, or ‘Like’ my Facebook page.” In this example, you didn’t even say anything about buying or selling a Jeep. All you did was share some information, and by doing that, you are now building a relationship with someone you just met who now sees you as an EXPERT, not a SALESPERSON.



When promoting yourself and your website to your niche, remember to focus on what is important to them, and position yourself as the expert. Before posting new material and promoting your posts, have a friend or associate at your dealership give you honest feedback on your content: Do they think you’re on target? Have you positioned yourself as an expert? Do you address some of the key needs important to your niche?

I want to hear about your niche! Have a comment or an experience that you would like to share? Please post below.

Until next time, sell well, and sell often!