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Marketing

AutoTrader SA

AutoTrader South Africa started in 1992 as a free 24-page magazine aimed at connecting buyers and sellers of motor vehicles. Twenty-four years later, the company has evolved into a digital giant that is home to over 70,000 vehicle listings and 4 million website visits per month. Transitioning from a business model reliant on regional magazines to one that leverages a fully responsive mobile website has meant significant investment in online tools and measurement platforms. AutoTrader's commitment to digital innovation, as well as its team of 200 dedicated staff, ensure that they remain the undisputed leader in online marketing space for buyers & sellers of all motor vehicles.
Photo of a couple about to buy a car

Challenge

Slow to React Without Real Time Insights 

In order to guide AutoTrader's marketing strategy and monitor their return of investment for PR spend, the brand required up to the minute insights about their share of voice across the media landscape. In the past, AutoTrader had relied on a print content monitoring analytics tool, however, because the results were not measured in real-time, the communication's team was consistently missing out on current trend reports and marketing opportunities. 

AutoTrader's previous analytics platform also lacked the ability to delve into competitor related insights, keeping the company in the dark when it came to comparative analysis. 

Photo of a car seller in his lot
Angelique Lynch

"With Meltwater, monitoring our share of voice in real-time, enables us to keep our finger on the pulse. We have also gained insights on our return on investment for PR— all of which we had no access to with our previous alternative."

Angelique Lynch

Solution

You Can't Manage what you Can't Measure 

Since partnering with Meltwater, AutoTrader has been able to accurately measure the success of their PR campaigns, allowing them to justify online budget allocation, visualize the return on PR spend, and contrast their online share of voice against competitors. 

Summary

Meltwater Helps AutoTrader To

Generate reports and measure ROI 

"With automated media reports we're able to not only free up internal resources, but justify budget allocation based on AutoTrader's actual return on marketing investment. We're also able to measure incremental improvements or regressions in our online visibility year-on-year." 

Benchmark against competitors   

"Performance measurement can't exist within a vacuum, so by having access to Meltwater for Automotive we're able to gauge how we've fared in comparison to some of our competitors during certain periods of the year or high profile marketing opportunities." 

React to real-time insights

"Being able to keep our finger on the pulse of the automotive industry has meant that our team is able to react to real-time marketing opportunities and news stories as they break". 

— Angelique Lynch 

Screenshot of the Meltwater Media Analysis platform