Automotive Industry Growth

The first six months of this year saw over 4.18 million used vehicles sold in the UK alone. Up by over 300,000 from the first half of 2015.

The 8% rise in sales is also the first time used sales have gone past 4 million in the first half of any year on record. To put that in perspective, new car sales peaked at a little over 1,420,000 for the first half of this year (Source: Auto Express). And in the United States, used car sales for the first quarter of 2016 were the highest since 2012.

Used cars need more maintenance and therefore more aftermarket parts and accessories. After three years, many cars are outside of their initial warranty with owners becoming responsible for the upkeep of their vehicles and choosing where they have their cars maintained, more often than not this will be at an independent garage. There is a vast amount of choice in the aftermarket for replacement parts and from a sales and marketing viewpoint this creates a highly competitive landscape.

LAW Creative is a specialist integrated marketing communications business and as such has launched several global campaigns in the sector space. James Szczepanski is an Account Manager at LAW Creative having previously worked in the automotive industry for fourteen years for such companies as Renault. Says James “Perhaps it is a sweeping statement, but typical B2B automotive marketing can be quite ‘me-too’ with little strategic input and no real emotional engagement for its audience. It can go astray because it often fails to employ tried and tested B2C and consumer marketing techniques to which its target audience is exposed to on a minute-by-minute basis. But B2B marketing definitely needs to become more human and more approachable.”

Interestingly it is said that 91% of B2B buyers use smartphones during their path to purchase. 70% use video content. B2B buyers tend to be younger than we expect. Therefore SEO, content, mobile and video are crucial. 80% of buyers prefer content to help them with their buying decisions. Just like a large percentage of us prefer Trip Advisor when we are booking a hotel. We even prefer it to the hotel’s own website.

But LAW Creative is assisting selected automotive clients in the sector to be more socially driven and aware of the marketing tools that are readily available to them with impressive global success.

For instance our “True Originals” campaign for TRW has been shortlisted for 3 major awards in 2016. The Masters Of Marketing, Best Automotive Campaign, B2B Awards, Best Brand Initiative and Best B2B Campaign in the DMAs. www.lawcreative.co.uk At LAW Creative we make businesses stand out from their competitors through the use of integrated marketing communications. Our expertise at producing highly targeted, segmented communications to reach the correct customers, means that TRW videos have been viewed over 2.5 million times on YouTube, and increased website traffic by 50% to the TRW Aftermarket website. LAW also works with famous brands such as Lucas, ECOBAT Battery Technologies, Brake Engineering and Girling.

If you’d like to know more about how we can help your business, please email Brett.sammels@lawcreative.co.uk or keith.sammels@lawcreative.co.uk