Cars.com is unveiling a digital video marketing strategy to help dealerships more efficiently target would-be car buyers.
The Chicago dealership technology company unveiled Fuel In-Market Video this week and will introduce it to dealers during the NADA Show.
Cars.com envisions Fuel as a smarter marketing option than TV advertising, which it says casts too wide a net. Fuel will draw on Cars.com’s audience data to target shoppers it senses are in the market.
“The dealer’s ad will appear where we think is most appropriate,” Dean Evans told Automotive News. The former Hyundai and Subaru marketing chief was hired last fall to lead Cars.com’s digital marketing initiative. He added that the multichannel approach could include such modes as cellphone or the Hulu streaming service.
Dealerships will be able to access advertising that can be customized to fit their brand and offers, Cars.com said.
Fuel has been piloted with an undisclosed number of dealerships, Evans said. Cars.com said one of the test sites, an unidentified Hyundai dealership near Atlanta, experienced a 153 percent increase in new users visiting its website, along with a 180 percent jump in traffic referred from social media.