For auto dealers, the period of time between Thanksgiving and the New Year has become one of the best times of the year for sales. And even though the pandemic still hasn’t ended, experts are predicting a busy holiday season this year: Holiday retail sales are likely to increase between 7% and 9% in 2021, according to Deloitte’s annual holiday retail forecast. And the more leads you have going into this season, the higher your revenue potential will be. Here are four marketing tactics to help you maximize your leads for the holidays.

Decorate As Early As Possible

While some shoppers may complain when retailers put up the holiday decorations and merchandise right after Halloween, the truth is, it puts consumers in the holiday spirit — that is, the spirit of gift-shopping. Start playing holiday tunes and decorating your dealership as early as possible inside and out. Be as decadent as possible, and you’ll be sure to share some holiday cheer with your customers and passers-by.

Run a Holiday Promotion

As early as possible, ideally in time for Black Friday, roll out a holiday-themed promotion such as a “12 Days of Christmas Sale” with 12 individual promotions that climax to an extra special deal on the last day. This will help drive more traffic to your site as well as to your facility.

Staff up Your Internet Sales Team

According to Deloitte, “E-commerce sales will grow by 11-15%, year-over-year, during the 2021-2022 holiday season. This will likely result in e-commerce holiday sales reaching between $210 billion and $218 billion this season.”

With more and more car shoppers opting for an online retail experience, it’s more important than ever to make sure your Internet Sales department is fully staffed. During the holidays, see if you can add temporary staff in order to handle the extra inquiries generated by your holiday promotions. The longer a consumer waits to hear back from your dealership, the more likely they are to shop somewhere else.

Utilize All Your Channels

As car shopping has largely gone digital, make sure you’re taking advantage of the latest eCommerce trends by promoting your holiday special through a combination of channels, including phone calls, mailers, social media, email marketing, video marketing, digital marketing, and more. Consider these marketing tactics for a multichannel approach:

• Reach out to customers with SMS messaging
• Run a paid social media campaign
• Increase your organic social media content, drawing from user-generated content for first-hand testimonials whenever possible
• Launch a contest on social media
• Post videos with customer testimonials to YouTube and your other social media accounts
• Create a photo booth in your dealership with a dedicated hashtag for your dealership to encourage sharing on Instagram

With the holidays around the corner, it’s a great time to get started on your marketing efforts so you can make the most of this opportunity. While it might involve a lot of time and work, the efforts are sure to pay off.