With an SEO strategy keeping your business visible and digital advertising campaigns generating high-quality leads, you’re bound for year-round success.
Here are the paid and organic tactics that heavy equipment dealerships can use to level-up their digital marketing and grow sales in 2021.
Paid Search
1. Used equipment ads
Digital advertising can help generate leads across business categories, but used equipment ads are where you’ll typically see the best margins. In addition to general equipment ads, build used campaigns specifically around branded and non-branded keywords that will capture qualified traffic from both Google and Bing.
Don’t be afraid to advertise for specific used inventory that you have in stock. As long as you have 15+ units, you can safely bid on keywords for specific pieces of heavy equipment. To ensure you never waste ad spend on out-of-stock inventory, keep your website and CRM up-to-date as you buy and sell used inventory.
2. Branded search ads
You need to own your own name and take up as much real estate as possible on search results. When people are already looking for you, you don’t want them finding the competition. Push competitors down the page and out of the way by advertising on your own brand name. If it’s hard to spell or you acquired another dealership—even if it was five or more years ago—make sure you have coverage there too.
Paid search should account for 15-35% of your overall site traffic. If your current digital strategy isn’t returning these results, it’s possible you’re missing branded campaigns. Yes, it stings to pay when people are searching for you by name. But it’s worse to lose existing business to a competitor. Audit your strategy and adjust as needed.
You can also bid on branded keywords related to the manufacturers you represent. The trick is to pair each manufacturer’s name with another keyword, like [John Deere dealer] or [Hyster forklifts for sale]. Exclude the manufacturer’s standalone name so you don’t waste any ad spend on searches meant for the national brand. If you represent brands that provide co-op dollars, this is a great place to use those funds.
3. Sales-based geotargeting
In general, we recommend limiting geotargeting for new equipment, rentals, and parts & service campaigns to 60-80 miles around each location. For used equipment campaigns, you can push geotargeting out to 80+ miles, especially if you’re bidding on inventory specific terms (e.g. “2007 john deere tractor”) and see results.
Geotargeting is one of the few components in a digital advertising strategy that can make or break your success, and you should combine these general best practices with your own sales data. Using a combination of historic sales-by-zip code data and OEM territory boundaries, you can create a targeting strategy that’s custom-fit to your customer base.
Search Engine Optimization
4. Google My Business
Your Google My Business (GMB) profile is an effective tool to reach customers in organic search results and maps. Information from your GMB profile populates the Google Knowledge Graph and Google Maps, enabling customers to contact you, get directions, and see customer reviews.
If you haven’t done so already, claim a GMB profile for each location. Fill out the company name, address, phone number, website, and categories, as well as any additional information you can provide. Complete the verification process with a phone call or postcard from Google to access your complete profile and ensure it’s eligible to show up in search results.
On an ongoing basis, you should manage the content submitted by the general public. Report any spam reviews and be sure to upload your own photography. We’ve seen more than one equipment dealer account with a picture of a driveway as their primary business image.
5. Video
YouTube is the second largest search engine, making video an effective marketing tactic for equipment dealers. Video is especially important in the ag and farm industry, where 44% of farmers watch videos to acquire information on products and services, and over 50% of farmers use YouTube every month.
While video may have been cost- or time-prohibitive in the past, creating video content is now easier than ever. Smartphone cameras are perfectly adequate for video creation and the finished product doesn’t have to be perfectly edited or scripted. Consider creating walk-around videos of new or used equipment, how-to videos for basic repairs, or instructional videos for operation. These videos can be used on your website and social media, as well as featured in video ads and email campaigns.
6. Onsite optimization
To rank well in search results, consider the needs of both search engines and users. Optimize the technical aspects of your website so search engine bots can successfully crawl and comprehend your website. Then, optimize your copy, navigation, and onsite resources with your customers in mind.
Spend some time clicking through your own site to see it from a customer’s eyes—is it easy to find inventory? Can you quickly contact the location nearest you? Is the website quick and easy to navigate, regardless of whether you’re browsing on a tablet or smartphone? Google aims to serve only the best and most relevant search results for users, and the way that customers interact with your website can impact your rankings. Make sure you keep them in mind and optimize your site for user-friendliness.
Equipment Digital Marketing Strategies for Sales Success
Digital advertising and SEO can increase paid and organic traffic to your website and help generate more business in 2021. Get a head start on the new year with a free digital analysis from Adpearance. Our team of digital strategists will assess your market and current rankings to identify specific opportunities for your business to stay ahead of the competition. Reach out to learn more.
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