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Display Campaign

A display campaign is a form of digital advertising that utilizes visual media, including banners, images, videos, and interactive graphics, to target potential customers online. Unlike search campaigns, which rely on keywords and text-based ads, display campaigns place eye-catching creative across websites, apps, and platforms where your target audience spends time.

For dealerships, display campaigns are a powerful way to build brand awareness, drive website traffic, and keep your store top of mind for customers who may not be actively shopping but are still in the market. Whether it’s a prospect browsing the news, checking sports scores, or scrolling through apps, a well-executed display campaign puts your dealership in front of them with the right message at the right time. 

How Display Campaigns Work

Display campaigns run through networks such as Google Display Network, Meta Audience Network, or programmatic ad platforms. Instead of targeting only those searching for a specific keyword, you reach customers based on demographic data, interests, behaviors, or past online actions. 

Here’s how it works in a dealership context:

  • You design visual ads showcasing your inventory, promotions, or service offers.
  • You define a target audience. This might include phrases such as “in-market for vehicles,” “household income range,” or “zip codes within 25 miles of the dealership.”
  • Ads are placed across a wide range of websites, apps, or streaming content where your target audience is likely to see them.
  • Campaign performance is tracked through impressions, clicks, conversions, and sometimes phone calls or form-fill tracking.

This structure allows dealerships to go beyond simple search intent and create brand familiarity with shoppers at every stage of the buying journey.

Why Display Campaigns Matter for Dealerships

Most customers don’t walk into a showroom after a single online search. The car-buying journey spans weeks or even months, with customers researching across dozens of websites, comparing models, and checking financing options. A display campaign keeps your dealership present throughout that journey.

Major benefits include:

  • Brand Awareness: Display campaigns keep your dealership’s name, logo, and offers visible, even when customers aren’t actively searching.
  • Inventory Promotion: Highlight specific vehicles or specials with visuals that capture attention faster than text alone.
  • Retargeting Opportunities: Reconnect with shoppers who visited your website but didn’t convert by showing them ads elsewhere online.
  • Cross-Department Marketing: Promote vehicle sales, service specials, trade-in events, or seasonal promotions.

Types of Display Campaigns

Dealerships can run several types of display campaigns depending on goals:

  • Standard Display Ads: Static or animated banners that showcase promotions, financing offers, or dealership branding.
  • Responsive Display Ads: Automatically adjust size, format, and layout to fit different placements. These are highly flexible and ideal for dealerships with varied inventory.
  • Video Display Ads: Short-form video ads that can run on YouTube or streaming platforms, highlighting vehicle features, dealership culture, or special events.
  • Retargeting Campaigns: Serve ads specifically to users who already visited your site, looked at inventory pages, or abandoned a lead form.
  • Programmatic Display Ads: Advanced campaigns using AI-driven platforms to place ads across premium sites based on audience data, timing, and budget optimization. 

Measuring Display Campaign Success

Display campaigns focus more on reach and engagement. Standard dealership metrics include:

  • Impressions: How many times your ad was seen.
  • Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of viewers who clicked on your ad.
  • Conversions: Form fills, calls, or showroom visits traced back to the campaign.
  • View-Through Conversions: When a customer sees your ad, doesn’t click, but later returns to your site and converts.

For dealerships, view-through conversions are especially valuable. Many shoppers won’t click directly on an ad but will remember the dealership name when they return to research or visit in person.

Common Pitfalls in Dealership Display Campaigns

Not all display campaigns deliver results. Common mistakes include:

  • Poor Targeting: Broad or untuned targeting wastes budget on uninterested audiences.
  • Generic Creative: Ads that look like every other dealer’s banners fail to grab attention.
  • No Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): Ads should tell customers what to do next—visit, call, schedule a test drive, or claim an offer.
  • Neglecting Retargeting: Without retargeting, you miss the opportunity to reconnect with warm prospects who have already shown interest.
  • Lack of Measurement: Running campaigns without clear KPIs makes it impossible to optimize spend.

Best Practices for Dealership Display Campaigns

To maximize ROI, dealerships should focus on a few proven strategies:

  • Use Geo-Targeting: Limit ads to the dealership’s actual market area to avoid wasted impressions.
  • Highlight Real Inventory: Show actual vehicles in stock rather than stock photos whenever possible.
  • Utilize Promotions: Pair campaigns with seasonal events, trade-in offers, or service discounts to capture immediate interest.
  • Integrate with CRM: Track leads generated from display ads back into your CRM to measure the effectiveness of follow-up efforts.
  • Invest in Retargeting: Retarget website visitors and CRM audiences with highly relevant creative to boost conversions.

When managed strategically, display campaigns become a long-term pipeline builder for both sales and service.

Display Campaigns and Customer Perception

Shoppers are bombarded with ads daily, so your dealership’s display campaigns must stand out from the noise. Strong creative that reflects your dealership’s unique culture, values, and promotions stands out. Customers don’t just want another ad; they want to see reasons to trust your store with their time and money.

Consistency also matters. If your ad highlights “no-hassle trade-in,” the in-dealership experience must deliver on that promise. A disconnect between marketing and reality erodes trust.

Advertising alone won’t close deals; your people will. Automotive Training Network (ATN) specializes in training dealership sales, BDC, and management teams to maximize every marketing opportunity, including traffic generated through display campaigns. From improving digital lead handling to sharpening follow-up skills, ATN equips dealerships with proven strategies to turn ad impressions into appointments and sales.

If you want your team to convert more online engagement into long-term dealership success, connect with ATN today.