How Relevant Is Your Dealership Today?

Have you stopped and really asked: How relevant am I?  Not how relevant  you’re as an individual, but how relevant is your business to the shopping public.

This is a key statement!  You need to begin looking at customers and prospects  as the shopping public.

Prospects are no longer prospects.  Customers are no longer customers.  They have become educated, informed, shoppers.  

Always learning!

Always sharing!

Always shopping!

If you want to be relevant ask yourself:  Am I making it easier for people to shop?

• Are my messages relevant to the searches being made for information?  
• Are my methods of communication relevant to the media channels that people desire to access information? 

Communication Channels

We have  dealers who will only use the telephone to communicate with our agency.  I know other dealers who still like the fax machine.  And there are those who prefer to handle things through email.  My point is we have to communicate with our dealers in the manner they prefer. 

Your marketing message must be relevant to the market place.  You need to be integrating Social Media, digital and traditional media into your monthly plans.  You can no longer treat each media channel as an isolated silo.  The shopping public isn’t behaving this way, why should you?  

Message

The shopping public wants to get the information they desire from the media channel they  prefer.

They also expect your message to be more relevant to their search or inquiry.

A great example of how dealers are not making their message relevant is the use of Google Ad Words.

Do a search.  Type in any product you like and what you’ll find is two major mistakes.

1. The copy in the Google Ad does not specifically match the search.  It’s also so generic that it doesn’t relate to the time of year, the event in play or the product searched.
2. 90% of the time when  you click on this ad you’ll end up on the home page of the dealer’s web site!  These dealers are asking the consumer to work even harder to find the information they thought they  put into a search bar.

The solution is Relevant Content.  Try creating landing pages that match your key search terms.  Give the shopping public the information they want.  Update the copy in your ads. Try just adding Fall Specials into your copy, it will make your ad more relevant to the shopping public.  Make everyone else’s ad look stale and old.

If you start thinking Integration you’ll quickly see how easy it is to become relevant to the shopping public.  It doesn’t take more effort, just the willingness to look at the market from a different view point.

The shopping public’s eyes!  Take a look and you might realize you’re not very relevant.

Give me call if you have any thoughts on Integration!  We’re always thinking here.

Marketing Guru’s… I Bet You’re Not Here Yet!

Integrated marketing is here!  And it’s more powerful than you can imagine.

Talk about a competitive advantage!

If  you want to know what it looks and feels like watch this video from Social.Motive.

Traditional Advertising + Digital Advertising + Social Media

Hold ON!

If you’d like  more thoughts on how to make integrated marketing work just drop me a note.  It will be interesting to see how many Automotive Ad Agencies can connect with this new world.

How To Get Your Automotive Advertising In Touch With The Digital Customer

The world of automotive advertising is changing quickly.  

No longer can you afford to ignore the development of a  comprehensive strategy for today’s digital customer.  

This video blog will provide some  insight into today’s customer and how you can connect with them.

If your automotive ad agency is not prepared or ready to attack this new world give us a call.  This is what we do.

Two Absolute Rules Of Social Media For Your Automotive Ad Agency

Two pieces of social media advise are combined in Ron’s two basic rules of social media.

RULE #1:   Don’t shove retail selling into the social conversation.

Don’t fall in line.  If there’s one trap waiting for you in social media it’s following what the pack is doing.  This is one time you don’t want to follow.   Shoving retail advertising into the social conversation is a no win strategy.  However it is the easiest thing to do.  And like most things in the world the pack migrates to the easy way.

RULE #2:  It’s ok to inject social tools into retail advertising.

On the flip side it is  a great idea to put social media into your retail advertising plans, strategies and creative.   For example:

• Create a newsletter using the content from your blog.  Use a software like constant content.  Take  4 blogs and put them into the one of many formats available to you from constant contact.  Then take you email data base and mail it out to them twice a month.  This amount of frequency is just fine with the type of content you’re sending.
  
• On a radio spot ask them to comment on your latest blog and you’ll send them a $100 gift card for their next service appointment.  You’ll get a new friend and lots of new opportunities for service business.   These ads can be done very effectively with 10 second spots.

Be creative but remember to follow  “Ron’s 2 Rules.”  If you or your automotive ad agency can these two simple rules you’ll find that social media is fun and effective.

What do you think of my two rules?  Let me know!

YouTube Has The Numbers Your Automotive Ad Agency Can’t Ignore!

If you’re wondering the impact YouTube has had on America take a look at these numbers.  

Remember, YouTube is just a tool and not a magic pill.  Posting a video, to just post a video will not help you obtain your marketing goals.   However,  put the right plan in place with the right videos…… WOW!  What an audience!

Make sure your Automotive Ad Agency  has a plan  to capitalize on the growth and power of YouTube.  

Let me know how you’re using YouTube.

Drive Dealership Traffic With Social Promotions

Great Job SoCal Ford!  Another great social promotion from Ford!

Social promotions are all over the internet.  Here is one of my favorite in a series on SoCal Ford.  This  promotion is part of a on going social promotion designed to engage the public  with a series of promotions.  Everyone who enters is eligible to win a new Ford Fiesta.   The winners of each contest win a $100 gift card.

Below is a sample of the post that are being done on facebook.  Throughout this promotion they have done a great job of creating the urgency to get your entry in and win.  Be sure you or your automotive ad agency builds the urgency.

Here is just one example of a logo entered by one of SoCals fans.

Ken Grady Ford was not really eligible but I really liked how they got in the game and got some eyeballs on their dealership.

Smart!  Very Smart!

Be creative when it come to events and contests.  Let me know what you think of this event.  Share your best with me and I’ll include it in one of my blogs.

Drive Dealership Traffic With A Street Sign?

Another Fun Promotion from SoCal Ford!

Street Signs Have Never Had So Much Attention!

 

Here you can see a great post to put all the photo’s together to drive traffic to the site and comment on the photo’s.

Reach out to your social community.

This is a great example relationship selling!

This was my favorite!  Take a look and let me know which one was yours!

Dealership Traffic Created From Your Own Traffic?

Yes it’s true!  

Create more dealership traffic simply by engaging your own ups.

Here’s how SoCal Ford is using social media to do just that!

It’s just one of the many events they have created.

The number of comments is the key element to additional traffic.

 This motivates the entrants  to encourage family and friends to post comments to their picture.  One of the major goals of every social event should be to add to the size of your social networks.

Give this type of promotions a try.  It will add some energy to the showroom.

I don’t know a dealership that can’t use a little fun in the showroom from time to time.

Let me know how it goes if you try this promotion.  In fact send me the winning photo.

Drive Dealership Traffic With Your Slogan!

SoCal Ford took advantage of Fords and drove some traffic through social media.

Here are a series of posts you can use as a blue print.   Be sure to pass this post on to your social media director or your automotive ad agency.

 

Just click here to go to SoCal Ford’s facebook page.

Here is the post of the winners.  Three winners were awarded a $100 gift card.  The creativity was really neat to see!

At the end of the promotion they made sure everyone had a chance to see the photo’s.  I don’t know how viral this became but you sure can imagine these photo’s being passed on to family and friends!!!!
Let me know which one is your favorite!

Can You Describe Your Car Dealership In 7 Words?

Here’s a challenge for you.

 

Can you describe your dealerships unique selling proposition in seven words or less?

 

Let’s take it one step further …

Can you describe your dealership in seven words “without” using the 10 things most car dealerships say about themselves?  I like to call these the industries common point of view.

Ten things dealership are most likely to say about themselves that everyone else is saying:
• We offer great service
• We have great prices
• We have great selection
• We care about our customers
• Nobody beats our deals
• We can get everyone approved
• We do what it takes
• We’ve been in business ____ years!
• We offer more for your trade
• We’re Number 1

If you are up for the challenge, share your description in seven words or less in the comment section below.

 
Be sure to identify your dealership, include your address if you like.
Be creative! Challenge your automotive advertising agency to come up with a brand new one if you need to.
I’d like to highlight these in a future post and have readers vote on the best.

Here are the first three entries!
• One Price Honda’s. Fast Fun Friendly
• Our Cars Are Cheaper In the Country
•A High Five Experience You Count On

Thanks for participating! Just type yours in the comment box below.