As dealerships nationwide work to welcome customers back to showrooms following weeks of closures related to COVID-19, Ally Financial Inc. is offering marketing advice and materials to smooth the transition.
Ally, one of the largest U.S. auto lenders, is distributing packages to dealership clients to aid stores’ reopening efforts and offering free virtual classes on vehicle sales, finance and insurance sales and management.
Reopening kits, which Ally says will be disseminated in the coming weeks, will include items such as stickers that help remind customers to stay 6 feet apart, signs about hand-washing, sanitizing wipes for cars and desks and individually wrapped pens for customers.
Andrea Brimmer, Ally’s chief marketing and public relations officer, said in a statement that the tools and programs were designed to increase traffic to dealership websites and mitigate risk inside dealerships.
“This packet of services provides grass-roots solutions that help dealers kickstart their businesses,” Brimmer said in the statement.
The Detroit lender also is offering to make donations on behalf of dealerships to local community food banks.
In addition to physical markers to set social distancing parameters, the lender distributed templates for social media and other marketing messaging highlighting sanitation efforts at the store, dealership incentives to drive traffic and any activism or charity work the dealership participated in during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Zeroing in on dealerships’ need to facilitate remote and digital sales, the lender is providing F&I product descriptions, videos and digital brochures for dealerships to display on their websites. Ally also sells F&I products through dealership clients.
Ally’s social media programs and virtual classes are currently available to dealerships.