The power of online video marketing

Do you have a problem getting your advertising and marketing dollars to drive any new leads?

Are you sick of spending tons of money on social media, print media, TV and radio, even online pay per click and retargeting campaigns? The ad agency keeps telling you that you’re getting your name out there like that is supposed to pay the bills.

Over and over during my strategy sessions and Boot Camps, I hear story after story of dealers with no idea how to generate more traffic to their dealership.

Maybe they have a remote location with little traffic.

Maybe their dealership is cut off by a major traffic flow.

Maybe they just aren’t getting the foot traffic they used to.

Whatever the reason, traffic is just not walking through their front door and traditional advertising isn’t fixing the problem.

In addition to many other strategies and tactics, the one that many dealers and sales people are surprised works so well and is so easy is online video.

Yes, online video gives you an enormous edge over your competition and once you learn a few tricks and short cuts it can be very efficient as well.

Let me share with you the results from my personal online marketing strategy from 2014:

• 241,875 video views in 2014
• 539,491 minutes watched in 2014

The fact is that almost all of our potential buyers are going online to search “Boats for Sale” during their buying process. And, when they see a link with video, they will select that link first in most situations. This will lead to thousands and thousands of potential local buyers seeing your message – at at zero cost.

Not only will online video pull more traffic to your YouTube Channel, but when used properly, it will drive more to your website and get more views from all of your listing sites like Boat Trader, YachtWorld, Boats.com and iBoats.

And that’s another big reason I love online video marketing. If you take about 27 minutes a week to video the boats you have for sale, you can use that content in a number of ways to drive new leads and additional sales.

If you video the newest boat that came off the truck today, here are just a few of the ways it can drive more traffic and sales to your dealership:

• Increase your dealership website search engine ranking
• It can generate a new lead from an Internet researcher
• It can be added to your website listings to generate additional leads
• It can be added to your BoatTrader listings to generate additional leads
• It can be emailed to past prospects who may be interested
• It can be found on Google by someone searching your dealership name
• It can be sent as a follow-up to a client who did not buy as a reason to be-back
• And it will be available forever which means there is a tremendous amount of leverage (even after the boat is sold, it can still drive leads)

If I had a client with a true traffic problem in the boat dealership, this is the one strategy I would recommend. If they were willing to follow through and commit to the success with as little as 27 minutes a week.

Once you get the hang of using your smart phone to make money for your boat business, you’ll be wondering why it took you so long to figure it all out.

And, with research showing that 74 percent of all Internet consumption will be video based by 2017 (less than two years away) I suggest you master it now before your competition does … or your potential prospects get sold a pool, a fancy vacation or something else via video and never consider buying a boat from you at all. For a more in-depth webinar on the topic, visit www.SellMoreBoatsWithVideo.com.

Matt Sellhorst is the author of the book “Marine Marketing Strategies” and Head Profits Coach at Boat Dealer Profits. Sellhorst was also the winner of the MDCE Best Ideas Contest, Boating Industry’s Movers and Shakers Bold Moves award, a top producing boat salesman, and a speaker and presenter at the Marine Dealer Conference and Expo. He now helps dealers, brokers and manufacturers sell more boats with proven sales and marketing systems.

To receive a free copy his book, visit www.HowToSellMoreBoats.com to receive instant access (and your special bonus training). More info at www.BoatDealerProfits.com.