In the UK alone, companies and businesses spend over £21 billion a year on advertising, making it Europe’s most active marketplace when it comes to marketing spend and only bettered worldwide by the giants of the United States of America, China and Japan.
Within that spend, is a large percentage from the automobile industry, which is why it’s hard to turn the TV on these days with seeing some fancy new motor on our screens.
For that reason, we are going to take a look at actually what car companies spend on their marketing, and how they go about doing it:
Car Marketing: Facts and Figures
Recent studies suggest that in 2019, the UK car and automobile industry spent over £1.9 billion on digital advertising alone, which equated to more than 13% of what was spent on digital ad’s by the UK.
As a result of Brexit, these figures are expected to drop slightly as we head into an uncertain 2021, with growth rates for the automobile industry expected to be around 8%.
However, that may not stop the digital interest completely, with digital ad spending only 0.2% down for 2020 so far and the industry already taking close to 13% of the UK’s spend this year.
What Device Is Best?
In decades gone by, cars were well known to be advertised on billboards around major cites and towns, as after all, people would be driving past them in their own cars and might quite like the idea of getting a new one.
However, the rise of digital media has forced companies to change their focus and although print marketing and billboard advertising is a huge part of the mix, it’s the digital spend that has seen the biggest increase since the turn of the Millennium.
Mobile Spend
Practically everybody has a mobile phone these days, so it’s no surprise to see the motor industry spending millions on targeting their marketing towards these devices.
Remarkably, in 2020 the automotive industry has spent 70% of it’s digital ad spend on mobile advertising, equating to over a billion pound. That is up 11% from the previous year and will continue to rise with mobile devices only becoming more popular as time goes on.
Desktop and Laptops
As a result of the 2020 lockdowns, the majority of people have been working remotely, so it’s no surprise to see the automobile industry still having a strong hand when it comes to advertising on laptops or desktops.
The marketing spend on those devices is only up 2.5% compared to last year, but even still, that equals to over 14% of the UK’s desktop ad spending in 2020.
Like mobile ad spending, we won’t expect these to decrease much in the next couple of years, especially with the working world expected to modify how their employees go about doing daily business.
How To Plan Your Ad Spend
Just like the automobile industry, many companies have had to make a change of strategy when it comes to marketing this year.
With the pandemic changing the world’s day-to-day activities and Brexit forcing through new ways of doing things for some firms in the UK, now is a great time to plan out your advertising spend and look at how your marketing can be more profitable in the future.
Here are a few handy hints to get you started…
Learn From Past Figures & Set Goals
The best way to start with any new advertising plan, is to take a look at your own data and figures.
Not only will they give you a good reminder on what you did and whether or not it worked, they are also completely unique to your business so will give you the best possible picture for moving forward.
Have a look at what you spent and whether or not you want to spend more or less, then set realistic markers to what you want to achieve from that new budget. Also check out what devices or platforms you targeted to see if any improvements could be made there.
Competitor Research
Every business rightly focuses on itself, but it’s vital to not get too blinkered and you can do that by keeping tabs on what your competitors are doing with their marketing.
For instance, if your best performing competitors are all advertising on Facebook, then the chances are, that you need to be too. They’ll always be gaps to try and break into, but if your competitors are more visible than you, then you’ll nearly always be playing catch-up.
Don’t forget to think about size and location when comparing others business; otherwise you won’t get a fair indication.
For example, if you are a local second-hand affordable car garage in Manchester, you shouldn’t be comparing your marketing efforts with that of Ferrari or Lamborghini. Instead, look at similar-sized businesses in your local area and see if there are any lessons you can learn.
Automobile Advertising With ActiveWin
As a dedicated marketing agency, we are proud to have enjoyed success in a number of different sectors including the automobile industry, and have an experienced team on hand to help take your digital marketing to the next level. Visit ActiveWin to view our full array of services and who we have worked with.
If you are thinking about starting a PPC campaign, SEO strategy or just want to hear more about how digital marketing can help your company, then feel free to get in touch.
