SANTA MONICA, Calif. -

Because Edmunds provides guidance across all areas of the car buying process — including reviews, shopping tips, deal ratings and payment calculators — the company says it attracts a “highly engaged, ready-to-buy audience.”

Edmunds says that its recently launched Premier program takes advantage of that audience, highlighting dealer inventory and then “funneling” shoppers directly to a dealer’s own website.

The company describes Premier as a dealer marketing program that it says can bring more ready-to-buy car shoppers directly to a dealer's website or storefront.

Edmunds says Premier goes beyond leads and listings. It uses targeted advertising and combines that with what Edmunds says is its strong audience data. That connects shoppers with a dealer’s inventory at every part of the process of buying a car online, according to the company.

Highlighting new and used inventory on Edmunds and across partner sites, Premier brings what it describes as an efficient and effective marketing program that it says helps dealer partners to connect with shoppers.

With Premier, dealer partners receive direct website traffic through targeted social advertising. Premier also brings that traffic through promoted display ads on Edmunds and dedicated emails. The program, through the use of web chat, text and Facebook Messenger on a single platform, allows dealers to connect with shoppers.

Schomp Automotive marketing director James Kurtenbach said in a news release that his company sought to improve an important channel after Facebook removed automotive endemic audiences from its platform.

“Edmunds stepped in and not only met our needs, but exceeded the results we were getting previously. This, along with considerable improvements in the usability of the Edmunds platform, has improved our inventory visibility and in-store performance.”

Edmunds vice president of product innovation Nick Gorton said that with Premier, the company recognizes that the path to buying a new car is more often a winding one rather than a straight one.

“From initial research on Edmunds to scrolling through social media sites, shoppers move around frequently when looking for their next new car, but Premier is designed to keep a vehicle in front of a shopper whenever and wherever they are on this path and then deliver them to a dealer knowledgeable, confident and ready to purchase.” Gorton said.