Your Guide to Automotive Industry Digital Marketing

New research shows Americans prefer car, computers and cell phone over TV.

MediaPost recently had an interesting blog on how television sets are losing importance.

Pulling figures from Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends project, the research found only 42 percent of Americans see their TV sets as a “necessity.”

This is down 7 percent from 2009, when 52 percent of people saw TV as a necessity. In 2006, that figure was at 64 percent.

Here’s the breakdown on what Americans saw as a necessity:

• Car – 86%
• Landline phone – 62%
• Clothes Dryer – 59%
• Home air conditioning – 55%
• Home computer – 49%
• Cell phone – 47%
• Microwave – 45%
• TV set – 42%
• High speed Internet – 34%

It’s great to see cars (86%) in the top spot for “necessities.” Even in tough economic times, people still look at their car or truck as important possessions.

What’s interesting is that people see their home computer and cell phone as more important than television.

This is important for aftermarket auto companies as well as the entire auto industry.

Are television advertisements the best way to use your marketing budget?

With people spending more time online and buying more smartphones, it makes more sense to move advertising dollars to these growing channels.

Here are the benefits:

• Online/social media advertising is cheap
• Online/social media advertising is direct
• You develop relationships with potential customers through social media

We can go on and on about the benefits of online advertising. What are your thoughts on television and online advertisements?