Long purchase cycles reduce most auto marketing to a series of gentle reminders. They bob up with something mildly entertaining (or not) a few times a year. That might keep them in the picture but not necessarily relevant.
Consumer retail brands with their own longer cycles have spent decades addressing this challenge in ways deeper than just maintaining visibility. They build familiarity, personality, and claim little wins at every chance. Auto brands can adopt these principles to remain relevant throughout the different stages of the buyer journey.
4 ways to translate retail marketing principles into automotive brand growth
1. Be visible beyond the ‘gentle reminder’
I mentioned gentle reminders earlier. This is in reference to the creative. Auto creative is pretty benign in most parts of the world. Trope-heavy, long lingering looks at the product, a checklist of features. These gentle reminders are frequent but they’re exactly that, gentle. They don’t really make you feel much.
Sure retailers are guilty of this too but they’re better at the surprise and delight factor. Take Specsavers. You don’t buy eyewear often but that doesn’t stop them regularly standing out with comms that give you a smile. They also stick ruthlessly to the master ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers’ strategy.
The best example of an auto doing that in Australia in recent times is Suzuki. They went all in on a masterbrand platform (fun) and then tweaked the definition of it to fit across nameplates. No gentle reminders here, just genuinely entertaining, engaging comms that make anyone feel good about the brand. A HUGE leg up at crunch time.
2. Connect the brand to real-life (beyond showing it in the ad)
Successful retailers link their brands to specific, everyday situational triggers for easy consumer recall.
My local Bob Jane T-Marts, for example, used to offer free puncture repairs for locals. You didn’t even have to be an existing customer. Just tell them your postcode and you’re good. I still remember the moment years later, puncture fixed, wallet in hand, when they told me it was free. I’ve been getting tyres there ever since.
Likewise, imagine the little kick of delight MG EV owners got every time they charged their car for free at an Evie charging station, courtesy of MG.
Neither of these things were complex or onerous to deliver. Just simple, practical help in regular moments that matter.
3. Remove friction and add consistency across the journey
One of retail’s strengths is channel convenience. Consumers expect to browse online, do some research on mobile and visit storefronts without repeating information or starting over.
Automotive customers increasingly demand the same. Across research, test drives, financing, dealership visits, service appointments and whatever else customers really don’t give a toss that different (and not necessarily well connected) arms of the business are delivering each. They are all one brand with no distinction. With AI research now totally dominating the early stages how your brand is showing up in third party conversations is now intrinsically part of your brand DNA.
Porsche, and its My Porsche app does a beautiful job of connecting all the dots. Lotta dots too. Browsing, buying, tracking your build, the ownership experience end-to-end and even browsing inventory for your new one are all there. A brilliant example of a brand that puts itself squarely in the shoes of the owner. Obviously doesn’t come cheap, nor easy, but nor does it have to be on one app.
4. Deliver value beyond the sale
Many retailers maintain customer relationships by providing ongoing utility rather than communicating only when they want a credit card. Aussie pet retailer Petbarn is way more than a shop – it’s a total hub for everything you need for both a pet’s care and to pamper them. Automotive brands have a unique opportunity to do the same via practical and emotional triggers.
Rivian is an interesting example of a challenger reinventing the auto space. Once you buy one the product build isn’t finished. Ongoing software updates add more than a nice UI, they actually improve the vehicle.
From a comms POV, like Suzuki stands for fun, Rivian stands for adventure. A much more well worn path, sure, but Rivian delivers it beyond words. From a sweet Insta page to many hundreds of mobile service vans that mean you don’t have to go out of your way, to the experiential Camp Rivian the brand lives premium adventure and makes it easy for their drivers to fully immerse themselves in what they bought into.
How the retail mindset elevates traditional auto marketing
While autos are generally segmented into distinct silos (OEM brand marketing, local dealer sales and servicing), consumer retail marketing succeeds by bringing these channels together to act as a single, cohesive unit.
Ultimately a connected infrastructure strengthens familiarity, trust, and customer relationships between transactions. It also rules out the need to aggressively recapture the consumer every few years because your brand has already become a permanent, frictionless and happy fixture of their lives.
