One of the fastest-growing digital advertising tactics in the automotive industry is video advertising as dealers begin to see the value of the medium, while others are simply getting on board because they see their competitors doing it. Keeping up with competitors is never a bad thing, but you should always take the time to understand the value of the marketing tactics for which you are paying.
Previously, I discussed how to drive more business with video advertising, the importance of video, and how to create and gather footage. This second part analyses targeting the right audience and how to use metrics to maximize your results. Let’s begin.
Targeting the Right Consumers
First and foremost, you should be hiring an agency or marketing services provider to help you set your targeting parameters, and you should be purchasing programmatically. Programmatic is simply a fancy way of saying that you are purchasing digital ad space in real-time. Dealers don’t need to worry too much about understanding the ins and outs of programmatic 
buying, but you should be comfortable with your agency or marketing services provider and trust them to carry out your programmatic efforts in the best fashion.
A good marketing services provider will have an understanding of the market your dealership is in, and be able to set the right geographical targeting parameters. You want to find that balance where you are reaching a solid volume of consumers in your area but still targeting only true, in-market shoppers. Good programmatic teams do this by leveraging multiple third-party data providers, which build targeting segments based on specific consumer behaviors. To keep it basic, an auto marketer can use these third-party data segments to precisely target consumers who show behaviors that indicate they are close to purchasing a car.
Which Metrics Determine Video Performance?
- Impressions = Number of times your ad was served and appeared on a user’s computer screen
- Clicks = Number of times a user clicked on the ad, taking them to the dealer website (for example)
- Views = Number of times the video started playing
- Completion Rate = Percentage of those that watched the entire video (Completions / Total Views)
- Cost per Completed View = Total Video Spend / Completions
Many people are familiar and comfortable with impressions and clicks, but completion rate and cost per completed view may be new to some. A good pre-roll video campaign should be driving a completion rate of more than 50% and a cost per completed view below 10 cents. Now, not all campaigns are going to perform in that range, but use these metrics as barometers when testing and optimizing your video campaigns. These are key metrics that you can’t get when advertising on television. So, not only can you reach more consumers for less money with video compared to TV, but you can also get the analytics you need to optimize your campaigns and continue to spend your budget wisely.
Final Thoughts
Start with programmatically buying pre-roll video spots and make sure your marketing service provider does a good job creating and targeting true, in-market audience segments. Embrace the metrics you get from video advertising. These are metrics you can’t get from TV ad buys. Use them to your advantage to take your video campaign performance to the next level.
