When it comes to automotive marketing, the Internet has been a game-changer. According to a recent Google study, 83% of car buyers go online first, checking out dealer and manufacturer websites and comparing cars and prices on their mobile phones, often right from the showroom floor.

As a result, showroom visits are decreasing, with more consumers comparison-shopping inventory online and only swooping in to buy after their minds are made up. Dealerships no longer can rely on in-store visits to drive sales. They need to have the most powerful online presence wherever dealer or vehicle selection is happening and work far harder to keep customers close throughout the ownership cycle by using every retention-marketing tool possible.

But in the rush to adopt new techniques and channels, it’s easy for the marketing process to become disjointed. In many cases, online marketing departments have been set up to be entirely independent from their established, traditional-marketing counterparts. Such a division can be harmful, as it can lead to a dual-track marketing strategy, with each track going off in a different direction.