12 key words for automotive marketing in 2021

In 2021, where are the high-value customer groups, how to make high ROI investments, and what are the high-traffic conversion platforms... These issues are what brand marketing is most concerned about, and they are also what the leaders want to reveal through insights. In the first half of this year, the Zhiniuer Marketing Business Research Institute released two major reports, the "2020 Automobile Consumer Experience Research" report (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") and the "2021 Automobile Digital Marketing Trend White Paper" (hereinafter referred to as the "White Paper"). It explored and elaborated on the future commercialization of digital marketing of automobile brands and the user's consumer experience, focusing on the automobile industry and in-depth expounding on the progress and future of digital marketing business. Zhiniuer raised his own questions and thoughts on the issues of personalization and inclusiveness involved in automotive digital marketing and user experience.

01. Where are the growth points in the automotive industry?

(Note: Automobiles in this article refer specifically to passenger cars)

Trade-in has become the main growth driver in the era of automobile inventory. According to statistics from Zhiniuer, the proportion of replacement purchases in automobile sales has continued to increase since 2015, from 20% to 32% in 2019. It is estimated that the proportion of replacement sales will be 37% in 2021 and will exceed 50% in 2025.

The automotive aftermarket will be a new blue ocean for automotive consumption in the future. Personalized, socialized, and family-oriented car-centered consumption will be a new force in driving private brand operations, fan growth, and the automotive market.

02. Car sales trends

"Double upgrade" of brands and models is the latest sales trend in the automobile market. Sales data from 2019 and 2020 show that among trade-in consumption, the proportion of both brand and model upgrades was 31.3%. Individual upgrades of vehicle models and brands account for about 50%. Space, power, entertainment systems, etc. have become the main factors for consumption upgrades. Affected by the population structure, people born in the 1990s and 2000s are the main group of first-time buyers, and the first-time purchase bonus is gradually decreasing.

03.Automotive Marketing Trends

"New normal" has become synonymous with the future economic environment. For the automotive industry that is focusing on digital marketing, digital marketing touchpoints and full life cycle operations are the "prescriptions" prescribed by the leading companies for automotive brands. Mobile social platforms and e-commerce platforms will become diversified touchpoints for digital automotive marketing. New product launches, brand recommendations, and solid content will become the main vehicles for "digital" traffic and customer acquisition.

Full life cycle operation is the long-term marketing strategy of automobile brands now and in the future. From acquiring customers through advertising to cultivating their own fans, automobile brands have entered the "full life cycle" marketing stage. The development of the brand and the growth of the customer base go hand in hand. Through major products, services and derivative content, full coverage of the user's "car ownership life cycle" is achieved, forming a multi-touchpoint, multi-value, and multi-interactive repeated consumption conversion.

04. How do car brands do it?

Digital transformation is the only way for automotive brands. Zhiniuer believes that digital thinking is the key to brand transformation. Digitalization of the entire marketing chain, long-term data empowerment of operations, and data-driven changes in decision-making processes constitute the key to the digital transformation of enterprises. The improvement of the brand's digital marketing capabilities will form a closed loop of digital marketing services with full-link online, full-data operation and full-process intelligence.

05. What kind of cars are easy to sell?

Only by focusing on user experience can we design a product car that users like. In the era of experience economy, leaders not only pay attention to the digital trends on the supply side, but also have insights into the trends on the demand side. Consumers' car ownership experience shows a "Yummy" tendency, that is, they get more "self-satisfaction" through car ownership. Comfortable elements such as fashion, social interaction, leisure, and pleasure have become new experiences that users pursue. The brand value, technological means, and service perception of automobiles have built a harmonious relationship between people and cars. Convenient and fashionable driving experience, realization of self-cognition, and pursuit of life value will become the new value given to automobiles in the digital age.

Leading insights and predictions are supported by data. Economic data, industry data, and quantitative analysis of user experience are the basis of leading reports. By collecting, analyzing, and modeling data, we can gain insight into the current state of the marketing environment, explore the underlying connections, and form judgments and expectations. The main data include:

• 7%-8%: China's GDP growth forecast for 2021;
• 32%: The proportion of car trade-in consumption in 2020;
• 37%: The proportion of car trade-in consumption in 2021;
• 26%: market concentration of top brands;
• 63.3%: The proportion of brand-model “double increase” consumption;
• 2.884 million: Model sales volume fell year-on-year;
• -25%: the average brand price inversion;
• 60%: Content traffic growth;
• 13.4%: The proportion of short video APP customers;
• 61%: Content traffic growth in 2020;
• 13: 13 indicators of the automobile experience evaluation system;

When it comes to insights into user experience, Zhiniuer focuses on exploring the real user experience through scenario-based research methods. The report studies 12 types of vehicle usage scenarios and 6 major environmental scenarios, and conducts dimensional experience evaluation through the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch, and driving (riding). Understand users’ perception and expectations of car use at different times, places and environments.

For the collected scene data, Zhiniu built the LACU analysis model (L: Learning, A: Accessories, C: Cost, U: Utility). Attribute and categorize scenario data based on four main dimensions of user vehicle ownership. The points are clustered into three categories: “pleasure points, itch points, and pain points” to form a systematic analysis structure and intensify the user experience. And through engineering language transformation, the user experience is transformed into the "language" of industrial design, forming an experience evaluation index system with 13 major categories, 52 subcategories and 255 items.

Author: Zhiniuer Media

Source: Zhiniuer Media