What had happened was that I saw a “funny” video posted on a friends website.  When I clicked to view the video, it requested that I use my Facebook login to view it.

The implied permission gave the video website the ability to post what I watched to my Facebook profile any time I watched a video on their site.  Needless to say the video was not one I wanted to broadcast to my friends and colleagues; a parody of Wallmart shoppers caught in what you might call embarrassing poses.

As more websites use your Facebook account as the login key, I wanted to advise everyone to conduct an AUDIT of all the websites you have given access to your Facebook account.  When I did my audit I was shocked just how many sites had varying degrees of access.  A handful of sites I could not recognize while others have been closed for a long time.

Review Your Apps and Permissions

To view the websites you have used your Facebook login to grant access, you will need to click on the down arrow in the upper right hand corner of your Facebook page, as shown on the right.

You will want to click on the “Account Settings” menu choice to reveal a larger set of options for your account.  I never really took the time to review all my Facebook settings, but this experience made it very clear that we should all AUDIT our Facebook accounts.

Then, you will need to click on the “Apps” menu choice on the left, as shown on the graphic below.  This menu choice will show you all the companies that you have used your Facebook account as a primary login method.  I don’t know about your list, but mine was very long.

Delete Accounts That Are Stale – Edit Others

Any website accounts that are no longer used should be deleted.  I had a number of sites that I deleted, and on a humorous note, a few of them were once “hot” social media website properties that have faded into the sunset.

To change permissions or to delete an App, you need to click on the “Edit” link next to the app, and this will be displayed:

As you can see, by using my Facebook account to login into MetaCafe, a popular video sharing website, I am granting a great deal more that I would have thought about.  Are you comfortable that many of these sites have this type of access to your Facebook account?  Why would I want MetaCafe to have access to my friends?

This AUDIT was important for me because it made me think that I should be using a standard email (gmail) login for social media websites and NOT my Facebook account.  (i.e. brianpaschsocial@gmail.com)

Yes, the Facebook login method is easy, but at what point does your information get in the hands of too many people?  Do I want to subject my friends and my reputation to unwanted posts?

If you want to change the level of access granted for each app, you can click on the “x” next to each feature to remove that level of access.  I had much work to do and I think many readers will also.

Take a minute to do an AUDIT and let me know what you found!  Of course website companies would love to have more then just your login name and password, but do we want to give that information away?

If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it on Facebook, Twitter, and your other social networks.  Button to share are located at the top and bottom of this page.

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

Brian Pasch

Flint’s seminar at the 12^th Digital Dealer Conference is entitled: “Moneyball: Prioritizing your Digital Ad Spend.” His seminar will help dealers determine the most effective advertising strategies that deliver the most efficient and effective results. During the session Flint will share his carefully calculated make and break elements of traditional advertising and digital advertising and how you can prioritize your budgets accordingly. This will be an eye opening discussion that smart dealers will not want to miss.

Additionally Flint, will speak on a panel with Digital Air Strike regarding the place that Social Media, Facebook and Twitter have in the car business. This is a follow-up to the popular session that Flint and Alexi Venerri, Chief Operating Officer of Digital Air Strike, “Ten Things I Hate About You” teamed up for last year in Orlando.

Jim Flint Will Demonstrate How to Calculate ROI of Digital Marketing

Then in Las Vegas, a few weeks later, at the 2012 Automotive Boot Camp, Jim will be speaking on effective paid search strategy and how to calculate the ROI of digital marketing investments. In the confusing space that includes Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Bing there are certain must have commitments that any business–whether it be automotive, dentist, attorney or otherwise—should carefully consider.

This broad perspective of speaking topics helps underscore the connection between Local Search Group and all the elements associated with being a full service digital marketing agency.

As a 15-year sales & marketing veteran, Jim Flint is widely recognized as a leader in automotive sales, marketing and advertising. In 2011 he helped the John Eagle Auto Group to deliver more than 10,000 internet sales. Subsequently, John Eagle, President and Managing Partner of the John Eagle Dealerships (and always the visionary), appointed Flint President of Local Search Group and spun the company off to provide support to external clients.

Flint’s superior knowledge of the advancements in digital marketing is evident, and many of his clients are reaping the benefits of comprehensive digital marketing campaigns provided by Local Search Group. Throughout the industry many have praised Flint and his team for providing unparalleled results at a much more efficient ratio than traditional advertising through the use of comprehensive, integrated marketing platforms.

Here is what auto dealers have to say about working with Local Search Group:

Greg May, Greg May Auto Group – “Wow! That’s how to best describe what Local Search Group has done for us. They have increased our website traffic, unique visitors and Internet leads. Their in depth reports and knowledgeable staff have added a tremendous value to our internet department and our overall sales volume. They truly are a business partner with us!”

Keith Orr, Orr Auto Group- “Local Search Group has effectively lowered my advertising cost per retail and increased my volume. In my opinion it is the most effective ad dollar I spend.”

Rene’ Isip, owner of Toyota of Lewisville and Honda Cars of Katy – “It’s for real. 5 years ago 70-80% of my traffic came from the floor. Now it’s flipped with 60-70% coming from the Internet. The Local Search Group gets the traffic to our site and then through our doors.”

To contact Local Search Group, call 1-888-685-9888.

This is up from 550,000 activations a day just 4 months ago.  The pace at which Google Android devices are being activated is breathtaking.

Each Android device activation comes with a Gmail account.   Please keep this in mind as you read this article.

Car Dealers Need To Take Action

So what does this mean for car dealers?  The immediate action items are numerous.  The number of opportunities even greater, but let me share three strategies publicly.

First, it means you need to check your Google Analytics reports to confirm the percentage of visitors to your website that are using mobile devices.  You may be surprised, but that number should now be over 20% of total website traffic.  The action item here is to make sure that your mobile website does not suck.

Please test your website from a mobile device and see if the mobile experience is excellent.  If you don’t have a mobile website, stop reading this article and get on the phone with a reputable vendor.  (Check the 2011 Automotive Website Awards for suggestions.)

Mobile PPC

Secondly, it should be a wakeup call to make sure that your Pay-Per-Click strategy includes mobile device targeting as well as mobile banner advertising.

If you are not showing up on mobile devices in the paid search areas, you are missing a great opportunity.  Snooze you lose on this one.

Take a look at the example on the right.  I’m using an iPhone in New Jersey to look for a Ford Dealer.  There are TWO paid spots at the top of search results.  The field is very narrow.

Bravo to Franklin Ford for being in the game but they missed a big opportunity.  They DID NOT use a mobile ad format that allowed a “click to call” as an action from the ad.  Mobile ads format should be tested to include click to call features.

Take a minute to conduct a search on your smart phone.  Does your dealership show up in mobile PPC?

In-Store Google Identification

Thirdly, do you have a in-store process to identify which customers have a Google Gmail account?

Those customers are very valuable to both your online CSI score and your local search optimization strategy.

Consumers that have a Gmail account can post a review on Google Places which appears EVERY time a consumer searches for your dealership name.  Consumers with a Gmail account can click the “+1″ button on your website pages.  These same consumers can also join your Google+ social community which can greatly influence their local search results.

Googlized consumers are an increasingly IMPORTANT  part of a strong search marketing strategy.  If you don’t understand why these consumers are so valuable to your digital marketing strategy, give me a call.

Mobile Consumers Are Important

The significant increase in mobile traffic combined with the exponential increase in devices that are associated with Google Gmail accounts should trigger alarm bells with dealers.  Do you have a marketing strategy that includes mobile shoppers?  Do you have a “Google” and “Google Mobile”  strategy?

It’s not too late to engage but there is no excuse to delay any longer.  Need Help?  Just Call.

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing

732.450.8200 ext 1
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

According to The Christian Science Monitor article Jeff Ward-Bailey:

Google spent much of last week dodging criticism from Apple users about its online privacy practices. But when Microsoft got involved this week, that’s when things got really interesting.

Users of Apple’s Safari browser recently claimed that Google was violating their privacy by circumventing a mechanism the browser uses to disable tracking.

Here’s what’s (apparently) going on under the hood: by default, Safari disables third-party cookies, nuggets of code that companies can use to identify users returning to a site they’ve visited before, or to track what other sites they visit. Safari can accept cookies if a user explicitly gives permission, but Google’s ad platform reportedly used a workaround to mimic approval of its cookies.

Will ReTargeting Campaigns Be Impacted?

Just like the Do Not Call law had dramatic impact on the telemarketing industry, will new browser cookie privacy laws but a huge dent in the ability to build retargeting audiences?

There will be an impact for sure but how the privacy filters will be implemented are just no clear.  If all web browsers ship with cookies blocked, this could change the landscape on behavioral targeting.

If websites start requiring consumers to turn on cookie tracking to use their website, the benefits must be very strong.  In any case, business owners should be tracking this privacy issue carefully because it will have a significant impact on digital marketing strategies.

Privacy Laws May Expedite Mobile Apps

With this recent uproar, I would think that dealers would expedite the roll-out of dealer branded mobile apps.  The apps provide a direct communication channel with customers.

With email delivery rates low and privacy concerns on the rise, mobile apps are a strong way to have two-way communications with your customers.

As part of the delivery process or service process dealers can encourage smartphone owners to download the dealership’s custom app right in the store.

Recently, PCG awarded the Spotlight Award to one such customizable app from Dominion Dealer Solutions called “Be Back App“.  There are many new dealership apps coming on market that dealers should investigate and implement as part of their sales and service processes.

The digital landscape continues to change, and I’ll do my best to keep you ahead of your competitors!    I hope to see many of my readers at the 2012 Automotive Boot Camp, May 15-17th in Las Vegas.  I’ll remind you about the conference through retargeting!

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Consulting
brian@pcgmailer.com
732.672.2356
 

A Mazda commercial posted on YouTube has been generating dozens of negative comments.  You can watch the Mazda CX-5 Commercial for yourself.

Did this cross some sacred line? I would love to hear what readers have to say about this.

What Consumers Are Saying

Here are three of highlights of the comments shared on this video:

“This is a terrible example of greenwashing and it makes me sick. I pity Dr. Seuss who must be rolling over and over and over in his grave.”

“You do understand how they’re using a story about the importance of environmental awareness to sell a fossil fuel car, right? This ad is laughing in the face of Seuss and everything he stood for by writing The Lorax.”

“are you people fucking serious

ITS CALLED ADVERTISEMENT

this is sure as hell not the first car company to utilize a movie to advertise their new car and vice verse

honestly you people acting like its the ending of the mother fucking world just because its a dr. seuss movie

just like calm this shit down all of it”

Are consumers over reacting?

American Express and Twitter announced a new pilot program starting in March for 10,000 Amex small business owners.  Car dealers looking for new tools in their Automotive Advertising strategy, should take note of this limited trial.

The Amex program will allow business owners to fund sponsored Tweets, similar to how Pay-Per-Click advertising works. It is performance based so the dealer would only be charged if a consumer decided to  ”Follow” your Twitter account or click through to your linked page.

Could this be a new powerful way to drive traffic to your website? This may be another tactic in a powerful Automotive Advertising strategy.

I will be testing this new program and I think that this is very worthwhile to test and measure the best ways to create Sponsored Tweets that attract qualified traffic and local car buyers.

Sign-up For Twitter Pilot With American Express

To sign-up for the pilot, you need to visit this registration page:  https://ads.twitter.com/amex.  After you login with your Twitter Account, you need to verify that you are an American Express cardholder or merchant.

You are asked a few basic questions, like shown below:

And when you are done, you will get a confirmation message that your account has been submitted to the pilot, as shown below:

If you sign-up for the program, let me know what your strategy and success is with the new program.  I will follow-up with another post once I have some data to share.

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

The 23,000 NADA Convention attendees in Las Vegas had over 1,000 booths to visit in the exhibitor hall.  The 2012 Convention broke all attendance records according to Stephen Wade, NADA Chairman.  The automotive industry is healthy and the diversity of exhibitors and products on display this year has never been greater.

At the NADA Convention I take time to visit the leaders in our industry as well as new comers to see what dealers will be offered in the coming year by their vendor partners.   There were five products that made my Top Pick list, and I will be writing about each product separately.

This year there was one clear winner for my annual BEST OF SHOW Award.  This product will be a major game changer for automotive advertising because it brings the power of display advertising and remarketing to the masses.  Formerly, the level of sophistication and labor needed to create a powerful display advertising campaign was out of the hands of a dealer.

Dealer.com hit the ball out of the park with their Display Advertising Platform which will revolutionize paid search marketing for car dealers.   The product will be officially released on March 1, 2012.

Any existing Dealer.com customer should be advised to request a demonstration of this powerful automotive advertising platform.  In fact, I would uniformly state that ALL Dealer.com dealers should increase their paid search budget and turn on display advertising immediately.

What Is Display Advertising

Display advertising, also known as banner advertising, has two aspects: Acquisition and Retargeting.  In the example above, you can see that there are “grey” boxes that represent where ads can show on a website.  You can also see how this Toyota display banner advertisement would look on a live website page.  Millions of websites are in the Google Display Network that offer banner advertising.

For acquisition, Dealer.com has preloaded ad campaigns that can be activated with a click of a button.  For example, if you wanted to target luxury car buyers, Dealer.com has already selected the thousands of websites in the Google Network that would match that criteria and that offer banner ad space.  Just drop in your ad, and your banners will appear on those websites.

How easy is it to create a Banner Ad?

This feature is what made this product an award winner.  In seconds, dealers can create customized banners using thousands of images preloaded by Dealer.com.  They have also included all appropriate OEM artwork for all brands, so creating CONSISTENT ads that match national advertising can be accomplished without a graphic artist’s.

If you work with an advertising agency, custom banners can easily be uploaded and used with the existing ad formats.   In fact, this product is an advertising agencies dream product!

Want animated banners? No problem, they are included.  Want to create banners of various sizes? No problem, all Google ad sizes are supported.   Need to run banners for a limited amount of time?  No problem, each banner has a start and stop date.

Increasing The ROI Of Existing Web Visitors

Once a customer visits your website, re-targeting will allow you to follow them around the Internet with your banners.  Re-targeting gives dealers MULTIPLE opportunities to get visitors back to their website as well as creating considerable brand awareness.

For example, if your dealership website gets 5,000 visitors a month, by activating re-targeting you can have over 60,000 local car buyers seeing your banner ads by the end of the year.

What is revolutionary for dealers, is that the Dealer.com Display Advertising product has very granular re-targeting groups.  If a customer visits your 2012 Toyota Camry vehicle detail page, you can follow them after they leave with Toyota Camry banners without ANY manual setup.

One question you may be asking, what about Fixed Ops? Imagine with a click of a button, following local consumers who visited ANY service related page with banners that offer them service specials or reminders about seasonal maintenace.  The consumers will think that you are spending LOTS of money on advertyising when in fact, you are only charged if they CLICK on the banner and come back to your website.

Slick User Interface

The Display Advertising dashboard is well designed and graphically shows the current inventory and activity for all campaigns using display advertising.  This is a super powerful advertising strategy for car dealers that has just been made affordable.

When you really understand this product and the potential for your dealership’s digital advertising strategy, you will thank Eric Mayhew and his team at Dealer.com for their innovation.  This product is a game changer and if you need any help understanding the power of this tool, just give me a call.

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences

Brian Pasch

The Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) is what Google refers to the point in time where consumers explore and examine products and providers online— leveraging search and social media channels — to identify what’s most interesting to them before they ever go to the store.   The theory is a follow-up to Proctor & Gamble’s popular First Moment of Truth (FMOT), when a consumer looks at a shelf of products in the store and decides which brand to buy, and the Second Moment of Truth (SMOT), when that consumer actually uses the brand at home and decides if they like it or not.

With over 80% of consumers searching for cars online, a dealership’s digital ZMOT could determine whether or not a consumer ever walks into their dealership.  Automotive industry experts agree; ZMOT can negatively or positively affect a dealership’s perception within seconds.

To be a top ZMOT influencer, dealerships must be successful in two critical online factors: obtaining consumer reviews and owning more assets that rank on Google Page 1.

The Automotive Advertising Network is a powerful tool for dealers that want to dominate ZMOT.  AAN can influence ZMOT and a consumer’s purchasing decision by boosting a dealership’s visibility online with syndicated content and syndicated reviews.  The AAN syndication tool allows dealers to publish search friendly content on multiple regional and local websites with the click of just one button. The AAN can also syndicate the same content to a dealer’s personal blog sites like those created on WordPress, Blogger, Typepad and Ning.

AAN to Reveal Dealership In-Store Review Platform at 2012 NADA Convention

Earlier this week, Ananth Godavari, CEO of the AAN, announced plans to unveil a groundbreaking in-store review platform at the upcoming 2012 NADA Convention.  This new technology will allow dealers to syndicate customer reviews that are written online to their websites and dealership blog sites.

The AAN helps dealers dominate ZMOT by owning multiple AAN created web assets and syndicating consumer reviews so that no matter where the consumer looks, an AAN client is always top of mind and top of results pages.

2012 NADA attendees can see demonstration of the AAN and its new review syndication tool by visiting booth # 3657 at the convention.  CEO Ananth Godavari will be at the booth to talk about the latest technology advancements in content and review syndication and how dealers can use this technology to become more profitable in 2012.

About the Automotive Advertising Network

The AAN is the industry’s first optimized, dealer-centric network with no third-party ads, designed to promote car dealers’ inventories on national, regional, local and specialty sites.

Developed by industry experts Brian Pasch, Sean Wolfington, David Boice and Ananth Godavari, the AAN is a comprehensive digital marketing and branding platform that utilizes proven practices in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), inventory advertising, social media and content publishing to advertise and sell dealer inventory.

Using these proven SEO strategies, the AAN helps dealers establish high quality, exclusive leads for less money, translating into higher closing ratios and lower costs for the dealers.  Plus, unlike traditional third party lead collectors, the dealer’s own inventory-listing pages are free of competing ads.

The AAN has changed the playing field for dealers who have typically had to compete with national third- party lead providers who have long had an advantage on the search engines because of their national footprint and corresponding search authority.

I have written about the influence of Jim Lecinski’s book “Winning The Zero Moment of Truth” and the data that confirms that consumers are actively researching online during the Zero Moment of Truth prior to contacting a local car dealer.

This first contact, called the First Moment of Truth (FMOT), can be elusive for car dealers.  Whether a consumer makes initial contact by phone, a website lead form, or a chat session getting the consumer to come in for a test drive does not happen without considerable effort.

Internet BDC employees know the truth better than most.  A lead submitted can take numerous calls or emails to make contact. Lead to show ratios are unpredictable and can vary based on the BDC agent.   I won’t even start to go into the other challenges that include fake phone numbers and names!

New Strategies Increase Lead To Show Ratios

So I have some great news.  What if you could increase those lead to show ratios?  What would that be worth to your pay plan or monthly profits?

I’m not talking about introducing BDC phone scripts, training, recording and inspection of lead/phone processes.  That should be standard operating procedure at your store and if it not the case, get help!

Consider that the contacts that come through your website are based on previously committed marketing costs. Anything that improves lead to show ratios should stand on its own merits.  What is it worth to get someone from behind their computer into your store?  Is it worth $25 to you?

Our consulting team has been exploring this question and have been very pleased with the data and results from a new product strategy from HookLogic.  Behind this great product is the passion and BDC/Internet experience of Jeff Kershner who many know through his DealerRefresh.com community website.

Jeff helped develop this product over the past three years while working at the Younger Automotive Group and the end product is just fantastic.  The product uses targeted incentives to get consumers to show up for a test drive.  Research has shown that the test-drive is an important “step” in a car purchase so the dealer who gets the test drive is most likely to win the sale.

Gift Cards Work When Done Right!

So, by using gift card incentives, Hooklogic technology increases Lead to Show ratios significantly.  One way this is done is  by IMPROVING your lead forms with the option to receive a gift card, normally $25 in value, to stores like Starbucks, Home Depot, or even an Amex gift card.

When you visit their website, you will see that they practice what they preach.  The image on the right is an enhanced lead form using the HookLogic technology.  This product is called “Web to Show”.

The second part of the strategy is to filter and score UNSOLD LEADS, which we all have, and offer these leads a reason to come in for a test drive if they score properly. This product is called “Lead to Show”. Considering that many dealers buy third party leads, this scoring and activation can “data mine” great prospects without the tedium of calling everyone.

Reports show an average increase of 5-7% closing ratio on 3rd party leads alone. The case studies, which Jeff can share with you, are impressive.

Contact Jeff For A Demo

If you have not tried a seamless incentive program for your dealership, you are missing another opportunity to distinguish yourself during the Automotive Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT).  If you are heading out to DMSC or NADA, you should schedule a demo with Jeff and his team.

You can reach Jeff via email at: jeff.kershner@hooklogic.com and it would be a mistake not to get a webinar demo if you are not attending NADA.  Snooze you lose!   You can read more at http://www.leadtoshow.com 

I’ve known Jeff for a number of years and last year I was pleased to present him with the Lighthouse Award for his passion and contributions to the Automotive Industry via DealerRefresh.

Disclaimer

I am not a partner or equity stakeholder in HookLogic nor  have I accepted commissions for referrals for this product.  I am sharing this product because the PCG Consulting team has found this to be a great product to recommend to dealers.

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

It can be hard to take advantage of everything that NADA has to offer, that’s why representatives of these three automotive Internet marketing firms will be offering the express training session for dealers. Each booth will be going over the most pressing digital marketing updates–what every dealer needs to know to stay competitive online in 2012. With short 10-minute presentations, dealers will still have plenty of free time to explore the rest of the exhibition floor.

Automotive SEO Workshops

Topics to be covered include:

• SEO checklist tips
• Inventory syndication
• BDC tips
• Content syndication
• Reputation management tips
• Review syndication
• What is the Zero Moment Of Truth?

Presenters will be automotive industry veterans Brian Pasch (CEO, PCG Digital Marketing), Glenn Pasch (COO, PCG Digital Marketing) Ananth Godavari (CEO, Automotive Advertising Network), Marc McGurren (Partner, PCG Consulting) and Matt O’Such (SEO Strategist, PCG Digital Marketing).

The express training sessions will take place twice a day between 9:00 am and 3:30 pm all three days of the NADA Convention. Training schedules will be available at the booths:

• PCG Digital Marketing/ PCG Consulting: Booth #3659
• Automotive Advertising Network: Booth #3657

Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing is quoted, “This is an absolute must for dealers looking to absorb the most important information in the least amount of time. Dealers will be pressed for time at the convention; stopping by a 10-minute training session gives them the opportunity to learn about what’s hot in digital marketing without taking too much time away from the rest of their day.”

The dealer is leading his market and is profitable so his internal processes and execution are outstanding. This dealer was passionate and a refreshing pleasure to speak with today.

The TV commercials he designed branded the names of the dealerships and their current promotion. The dealer principal has set his TV budget to be omnipresent and it seems that he has achieved his goal for high frequency Cable TV messaging.

Opportunities For Continued Success

The dealer did not see the need to have PPC ads, marketing videos, or retargeting banners in front of consumers during their online ZMOT shopping research.  I felt that this was an opportunity he was missing for continued and sustainable market leadership.

I had a lot of convincing to do..and at times the conversation was heated.  Why would a successful dealer need to change anything?

Since consumers use broad keyword searches, that are not easily optimized by SEO, paid search (optimized for conversion) should be a part of a comprehensive digital marketing strategy.  Paid search campaigns should include specifically designed mobile ads and strategies.

Retargeting leverages the existing traffic generated by years of stimulus, brand recognition, and amplifies your PPC investments.  Since this dealer believes in constant name recognition, retargeting banners are the digital equivalent to offline branding.

Chat is a great tool to allow consumers to engage in a communication channel that they prefer.  Leaving chat off a website minimizes the ROI of stimulus investments.

Great Stimulus Does Not Pave a One Way Road

Stimulus for new and used car sales is constant in the USA.  When a consumer is ready to purchase a car, there is no lack of stimulus on TV, Radio, and print.  Stimulus will always be needed, however the bigger question is should the dealer by doing it?  And if so, is the budget sufficient to achieve the needed frequency to be effective.

Successful digital marketing strategies have to acknowledge that consumers go to the Internet to research and prepare before they contact a dealership.  A TV commercial is just one influence of many that drive consumers to look into a particular brand, model, dealership.

No matter how strong a TV campaign is designed, it will not bypass the Internet ZMOT process for most people. No matter how many times a dealer’s name is broadcast on TV, consumers do not limit their searches to the dealership name.

A dealer with a strong stimulus investment must have an equally strong digital presence during ZMOT.  If not, competitors will leach off that stimulus for their own benefit.

Dealers need to be omnipresent during ZMOT which includes great online reviews, compelling video assets, social engagement, great website content, and even paid search ads.

What is very surprising is that dealers who are heavy on stimulus and light on ZMOT investments can be successful and a market leader today.  The bigger question is whether that is sustainable.

The good news is that we negotiated a budget for some of the recommended digital strategies which is a great opportunity to build a partnership of success based on testing and measurement.

I created a spreadsheet to plug in expenses which allocates the investments into categories for Stimulus, ZMOT, FMOT, and SMOT.

One of the most disturbing patterns is that dealers are addicted to drugs.  Not in a traditional sense but addiction to the drug of Tradition Advertising or what Google calls Stimulus spending.

The second trend is that the automotive stimulus spending is not supported during the Zero Moment of Truth.

Consumers Don’t Go Directly Into A Dealership

Prior to the Internet, a TV or radio commercial may have encouraged a consumer to drive directly over to the dealership to get more information on a particular car or sale.  Today, stimulus drives consumers to validate traditional marketing claims and research prices, features, and styling.

So if a car dealer wants to invest in cable TV, radio, and print they must have sufficient visibility online to direct that research to their own website.  This is one of the greatest opportunities for dealers who want to increase market share.  They need to reallocate resources from the Stimulus column into the ZMOT and FMOT columns.

If you would like a copy of the planning spreadsheet, send me an email.  I will also give you feedback on your marketing budget to lend an extra set of eyes and strategy to your dealership plans for 2012.  This simple spreadsheet has helped so many car dealers in the last 60 days.

Looking At Website Traffic: Adwords vs Traditional

One of the discussion points from the ZMOT spreadsheet is the cost to get someone to visit a dealership website.  We know that leads generated from a dealer’s website are the highest converting leads.

Here is a real example of a Honda dealer’s advertising investments which generated 6,132 unique visitors in the month of October.  Their total advertising budget was $80,000 a month.

Their Google Adwords campaign sent 2,200 visitors to their website at a cost of $2.27 per visitor.  They were only spending $5,000 a month on Google Adwords.

The balance of their website traffic that month was 3,932 visitors.  Their investments in traditional advertising included radio, TV, newspaper, and direct mail which cost $47,833 in October.

The dealership also spent over $15,000 on third party classifieds website and third party leads, which I am excluding from this analysis.  However, some of these investments do bring traffic to a dealers website, like Cars.com and Autotrader, but I am excluding that for now.

The stimulus investment of $47,833 did not generate all of the 3,932 visitors because brand awareness and word of mouth can yield direct website traffic.  Even, if we ignore that fact, the cost per visitor from stimulus advertising is $12.16 per visitor.

If you factor in that the Unique Visitor in October was 60% of the overall total and traffic from their third party classified investments, you could reprice the traditional advertising investments costs much higher that $12.16 per visitor. For this dealer, it could be as high as $18 per visitor.

Stop Kicking The Adwords Dog

This example is a start to a much larger discussion about budget allocations and being present in the Zero Moment of Truth.  Obviously, this case illustrates the efficiency of driving website traffic from Adwords.  Adwords is often maligned and I hear dealers claim that conversion costs and bidding was too high.  Really?  Compared to what?  Not dealer stimulus costs for sure.

When someone types in the words “Used Cars”, “Used Toyota Camry”, or “Used Cars For Sale” do you really not want to be on page one?  When you consider the money dealers spend on stimulus and the “expensive” website traffic that it generates, it is time to rethink being there 100% of the time during ZMOT.

I don’t want to imply that setting up a high converting Adwords campaign is easy.  It takes time to create the right combination of keywords and landing pages to create conversions.  However challenging Adwords may be, it is no excuse not to invest in the time to get it right.

Since consumers are being influenced by over 18 different digital assets BEFORE they contact the dealership, I would challenge every dealer to rethink their ZMOT strategy.  How many of those 18 influences are controled by you?  How is your dealership’s visibility during ZMOT.

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

Blake Fulenwider Dodge Chrysler Jeep To Implement Advanced Digital Marketing Strategies

As part of their new partnership together, Blake Fulenwider Dodge Chrysler Jeep will receive the most advanced automotive digital marketing strategies developed by PCG. Their online visibility will be developed by PCG through their proven on-site and off-site SEO strategies and content development. These services will include blog and press release writing, link building, video optimization, Internet Reputation Management, Google SEO compliance and maintaining Google Maps and Analytics.

PCG Digital Marketing is a multi-award winning digital marketing firm. Among their list of accolades are awards for Top SEO Company, Top SEM Company and Top Internet Trainer (DrivingSales.com, 2010). PCG was also named to Inc Magazine’s Top 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies. They ranked #192 on the list for the United States and #7 for companies in New Jersey.

Blake Fulenwider Dodge Chrysler Jeep’s new Internet Marketing campaign will increase the frequency with which their vehicles appear in local and regional search results and generate additional traffic and leads.

Cherry Hill Triplex offers something for every lifestyle and budget including a selection of Used Cars Under 10K. They have made a personal commitment to provide that every customer visiting our dealership be treated warmly, with dignity and respect. We count with professional and well trained employees who consistently sell and service thousands of vehicles annually.

As an added convenience, their parts and service departments are open 6 days a week. If you are shopping for New Cars, Used Cars or Certified Pre-owned KIA, stop by and experience for yourself how they consistently earn our manufacturers’ top awards for customer satisfaction and business practices. This KIA dealer serves the Indiana area including Cherry Hill, Maple Shade and other surrounding cities. Find the new KIA in Cherry Hill you’re looking for at the best prices!

Joining the AAN Team

The AAN is the most innovative automotive advertising strategy that has been introduced this decade. It offers cost effective digital marketing strategies to compete against larger national lead collectors.

As a new feature, all AAN members can display their new and used car inventory on Facebook as well as other popular blogging platforms, which will give Cherry Hill Triplex a great advantage when competing with other car dealers serving the Cherry Hill area in New Jersey.

Visit Cherry Hill Triplex’s new or used cars in person. Their large inventory and wide selection of models, along with competitive pricing, allows them to make you a great deal on the KIA of your choice. Click on the Cherry Hill Triplex website and learn more about their current sales and incentives on new and used cars.

Cherry Hill Triplex

At Cherry Hill Triplex we have a friendly and experienced sales staff with a strong commitment to providing our customers with the best possible service. We are locally owned and operated with strong ties to the community of Cherry Hill. We provide a quality of service that exceeds our customer’s expectations, while contributing positively to the environment and the community.

At your top rated KIA dealer serving Cherry Hill, we offer the best in new KIA cars, along with used cars, trucks, CUV’s and SUV’s in Cherry Hill by top manufacturers. Our sales staff guarantee’s you will find that new or used car you have been searching for.

The Automotive Advertising Network proudly welcomes to its family Edmond Hyundai, your one stop Edmond Hyundai dealership. Joining the AAN will help Edmond Hyundai increase the frequency with which their website shows on the search engines and popular social media websites.

Edmond Hyundai is a new and used car dealer located off 14137 N. Broadway Ext. in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma serving the Edmond and surrounding areas. Whether you are looking for new car or used car, auto service, parts or a low interest loan, Edmond Hyundai is here to serve your needs.

Whether you need to buy a truck, car, van, suv or crossover this Edmond Hyundai dealer is here to help. Along with a vast selection of new cars, they have a wide variety of used vehicles from the top auto manufacturers of today. You can select from pre-owned cars, convertibles, trucks, mini-vans, SUVs, sports cars, CUVs and more, all at one location. Explore their used cars and you will find an affordable vehicle you will love. Browse around their pre-owned inventory or check out our used car specials.

Joining the AAN Team

The AAN is the most innovative automotive advertising strategy that has been introduced this decade. It offers cost effective digital marketing strategies to compete against larger national lead collectors. As a new feature, all AAN members can display their new and used car inventory on Facebook as well as other popular blogging platforms, which will give Edmond Hyundai dealer a great advantage when competing with other car dealers serving the Edmond area. Click on the Edmond Hyundai dealer website and learn more about their current sales and incentives on new Hyundai cars in Edmond.

Stop by Edmond Hyundai at 14137 N. Broadway Ext. Oklahoma City, OK or call 888-805-4540 to find and test drive the vehicle of your choice!

CONTACT

Edmond Hyundai
14137 N. Broadway Ext.
Oklahoma City, OK 73013
Phone: 888-805-4540

Find New Hyundai Cars For Sale Edmond, OK

DMSC is being held just prior to NADA in Las Vegas, so you can attend both conferences without conflict.   Dates for DMSC are Feb 1-3rd.

Rooms for DMSC can be reserved for $69 a night.  That’s an amazing deal we worked out with the Monte Carlo hotel to save dealers money!

This year the conference has expanded workshops and opportunities for developing the strong marketing and operations strategies for the year ahead.  If you have an doubts on the value the conference will deliver, check out the schedule:  DMSC Agenda

This year we have reserved the beautiful Monte Carlo theatre for our keynote presentations as well as hands on Video workshops.  We’ll have a car on stage to train dealers how to create powerful walk around videos.

We’ll also be showing dealers how to create the best testimonial videos to use online for branding and ZMOT strategy.  Attendees will also learn how to use their mobile devices for complete merchandizing inspections of their cars to get them online immediately!

Dealers Don’t Need To Spend More Money in 2012

They just need a better strategy on how to spend their money!  That’s right, as I travel the country speaking to dealers, it is clear that advertising and marketing budgets are not aligned to take advantage of the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) as defined by Google research and author Jim Lecinski.

The 2012 DMSC Conference will give dealers the insights, strategy, and action plans to propert adjust their advertising budgets to connect better with car shoppers online.

If you would like to learn more about ZMOT, watch this video:  Automotive Zero Moment of Truth 

2012 DMSC Speakers

Speakers for this year’s conference include:

• Matt Murray – Dealer.com
• Jason Ezell – Dataium
• Ralph Paglia – Tier 10
• Jodi DeVere – AskPatty.com
• Gary May – IMACS
• Matt Muilenberg – Cobalt
• Jeff Kershner – Hooklogic
• Christine Rochelle – PCG
• Rob Fontano – Marazzi Motors
• Paul Potratz – Potratz Inc.
• Renee Stuart – Reputation Revenue
• Cory Mosely – Mosely Training
• Allan Chell – cDemo
• Kristy Roman – Now Marketplace
• Jim Flint – John Eagle Dealerships
• Marc McGurren – Jerry Durant Auto Group
• Glenn Pasch – PCG
• Dennis Galbraith – Revenue Guru
• Kathi Kruse – Kruse Control Inc.
• Joni Stuker – Owner Connect
• Brice Englert – Dominion Dealer Solutions
• Ed Parkinson – Contact at Once
• James Kovacs – ClickMotive
• Matt O’Such – PCG
• AJ LeBlanc – Car-Mercial

and additional dealer speakers will be added as well as some very special speakers to be announced in November.

One of the workshops that I know will please dealer principals and General Managers is:

How To Advertise, Screen, and Hire The Right People For Your Internet Centric Dealership – Ralph Paglia with guests Christine Rochelle, Renee Stuart

So check out the full agenda because ALL the workshops will be amazing.

Lock In Early Bird Discounts

So, if you want to create a powerful week of education and strategy for your dealership, make a plan to attend DMSC and NADA in Las Vegas in February.  NADA has great workshops this year for digital marketing and Internet operations.

To register for DMSC and save $300 before October 31st, click on the registration link:  DMSC Registration

See you in Vegas.  Keep in mind that registration is limited to 150 dealership employees.  Snooze you lose on this very special event.

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences

Brian Pasch

Just this past week, Google was at $500 a share so this stock has surged 100 points through the earnings week.

According to Google’s press release:

…the company reported earnings excluding items of $9.72 a share, up from from $7.64 per share a year ago. Net income rose to $2.73 billion from $2.17 billion.

Net revenue, which excludes fees that Google shares with partner websites, increased 37 percent to $7.51 billion from $5.48 billion last year.

Aggregate paid clicks, which come from ads on Google sites and its AdSense partners, rose 28 percent from a year earlier and the average cost-per-click increased 5 percent from a year earlier.

Automotive Advertising Trends on Google

In the past year, automotive advertising clients of PCG Digital Marketing have been moving more of their budgets to online spending with Google.  The biggest increases are in Google Adwords, Adwords Express, Mobile Adwords, and Retargeting.

Auto dealers are also increasing spending on Facebook but to a lesser degree when compared to Google investments.

Google’s  automotive advertising strategies are connecting dealers with in-market car buyers and increasing dealer sales and profits. The shift is confirmed by today’s earnings announcement from Google.

PCG Digital Marketing is assisting dealers review their advertising budgets and strategies and recommending changes to better connect with consumers during the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT), a phrase coined by Jim Leciniski at Google.

Readers can download a free copy of Jim Leciniski’s book at www.zeromomentoftruth.com

Shifting from Stimulus to ZMOT Investments

Car dealers still are overweighted in stimulus spending; radio, TV, and print.   On average, car dealers have 75-80% of their budget investment in traditional stimulus advertising.

When PCG Digital Marketing educates dealers on the changes brought on by the online marketplace the shift to increase digital spending is clear.  Investments in Google advertising are measurable and can be tested to improve conversion and ROI.  This is an opportunity not afforded by traditional stimulus investments.

Dealers looking for more information on the best mixture of traditional and online advertising investments are invited to join the Automotive Zero Moment of Truth study which begins October 25, 2011.  The study is open to Dealer Principals, General Managers, and Marketing Managers of automotive dealerships in the US and Canada.

More information on the AUtomotive ZMOT study can be found at: http://www.automotivezeromomentoftruth.com

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Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

Automotive advertising professionals should invest a few minutes to read a free book called “Winning the Zero Moment of Truth” by Jim Lecinski.  The material contained in the book will challenge car dealers to review their advertising and marketing budgets.  I would also encourage all automotive advertising agencies to become familiar with the data shared by Jim Leciniski.

As a result of reading this book, PCG Digital Marketing has created a series of training materials and tools to help dealers review their advertising investments to better connect with online shoppers during the important Zero Moment of Truth process.

Automotive ZMOT Study Created For Dealers

PCG Digital Marketing is inviting 100 dealers at no cost, to participate in a six week educational program on Automotive ZMOT and its impact on advertising strategy.   The Automotive ZMOT study will consist of six, 1-hour webinars and follow-up conversations offline each week with each member.

The  Automotive Zero Moment of Truth study will connect dealers with important data, discussion, and action without cost.  The experience will educate and energize car dealer advertising budgets.

Who Can Participate in ZMOT Study

Members must be either a Dealer Principal, Dealership COO/CFO,  or General Manager and have the permission to share and discuss their marketing budgets with the study team at PCG Digital Marketing.

Automotive advertising and marketing budgets will NOT be shared with study members unless permission is granted.  If budgets are discussed, they will not disclose the member dealership name.  Privacy is key, but actual data will power the members of this study to new heights of success.

PCG Digital Marketing will NOT include dealers that are direct competitors in local markets because of the confidential data or innovative strategies that will be discussed on conference calls, webinars, and on the private forums.

Dealers will receive priority placement on a first come basis.  The study will also have some guest “experts” in the field of marketing and consumer behavior share their thoughts on how the concepts of Google’s book needs to be modified for durable goods purchases.

Automotive Advertising Budgeting Tools

PCG will provide each member a set of proprietary budgeting models based on current consumer shopping models.  We have developed a series of tools that will guide dealers on restructuring their current advertising budgets.  If you want to have a powerful audit of your current spending, this is the study for you!

Dealers interested in joining this study should register at http://www.automotivezeromomentoftruth.com by October 1, 2011.

Dealers who are accepted to the program will be notified by email or by phone.  We reserve the right to accept/deny participation in this study based on competitive conflicts with current PCG clients or existing members of this study group.

The team at PCG DIgital Marketing is looking forward to working with 100 dealers and creating 100 powerful marketing strategies for dealers who want to WIN the Zero Moment of Truth.  Take 10 minutes to watch this overview about ZMOT for car dealers.

Share your feedback with me on the study website.  Create an account and join today.

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences

Brian Pasch

The new Google AdWords Certification program features a more rigorous exam process designed to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date strategy-focused training and certification on the latest tools and best practices for managing AdWords accounts. In order to receive certification, companies must complete an intense and rigorous testing and training process on search marketing, advertising fundamentals, testing, tracking, analytics and conversion. The program also places a strong focus on strategies and tactics for improving ROI (return on investment) for advertisers.

Google’s certification of PCG Digital Marketing strengthens the company’s position as a leader in digital marketing strategies.  PCG’s list of AdWords advertising services includes AdWords optimization, behavioral and interest targeting, remarketing and A/B testing for Pay Per Click landing pages. PCG’s digital marketing strategies are designed to create the ideal conversion experience for consumers while maximizing ROI for businesses. The company also offers Search Engine Optimization services, content management, social media marketing and more.

PCG Digital Marketing currently handles AdWords marketing initiatives for  hundreds of B2B and B2C companies throughout the US and Canada.  For more information please call 732-450-8200 ext 3.

The Automotive Advertising Network proudly welcomes to its family Barry Sanders Supercenter, your one stop Stillwater shop for all your Chrysler Jeep Dodge needs. Joining the AAN will help Barry Sanders Supercenter increase the frequency with which their website shows on the search engines and popular social media websites.
Barry Sanders Supercenter offers something for every lifestyle and budget including a selection of Used Cars Under 10K. They have made a personal commitment to provide that every customer visiting our dealership be treated warmly, with dignity and respect. We count with professional and well trained employees who consistently sell and service thousands of vehicles annually.

As an added convenience, their parts and service departments are open 6 days a week. If you are shopping for New Cars, Used Cars or Certified Pre-owned Chrysler Jeep Dodge, stop by and experience for yourself how they consistently earn our manufacturers’ top awards for customer satisfaction and business practices. This Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealer serves the Oklahoma area including Stillwater, Oklahoma City, Ingalls, Ripley and other surrounding cities. Find the all-new Chrysler Jeep Dodge car near Oklahoma City you’re looking for at the best prices!

Joining the AAN Team

The AAN is the most innovative automotive advertising strategy that has been introduced this decade. It offers cost effective digital marketing strategies to compete against larger national lead collectors.

As a new feature, all AAN members can display their new and used car inventory on Facebook as well as other popular blogging platforms, which will give Barry Sanders Supercenter a great advantage when competing with other car dealers serving the Oklahoma City area in OK.

Visit Barry Sanders Supercenter’s new or used cars in person. Their large inventory and wide selection of models, along with competitive pricing, allows them to make you a great deal on the Chrysler Jeep Dodge of your choice. Click on the Barry Sanders Supercenter website and learn more about their current sales and incentives on new and used cars.

Barry Sanders Supercenter

At Barry Sanders Supercenter we have a friendly and experienced sales staff with a strong commitment to providing our customers with the best possible service. We are locally owned and operated with strong ties to the community of Stillwater. We provide a quality of service that exceeds our customer’s expectations, while contributing positively to the environment and the community.
At your top rated Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealer serving Oklahoma City, we offer the best in new Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, and Ram cars, along with used cars, trucks, CUV’s and SUV’s in Stillwater by top manufacturers. Our sales staff guarantee’s you will find that new or used car you have been searching for.

Contact:

Whether you need to buy a truck, car, van, suv or crossover this Oklahoma City Dodge dealer is here to help. They offer competitive Finance rates and Services for your next vehicle purchase. And if you bought your vehicle somewhere else, they’d be more than happy to provide service or repairs for your Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram or just about any other make or model of vehicle.

Joining the AAN Team

The AAN is the most innovative automotive advertising strategy that has been introduced this decade. It offers cost effective digital marketing strategies to compete against larger national lead collectors. As a new feature, all AAN members can display their new and used car inventory on Facebook as well as other popular blogging platforms, which will give Norman Chrysler Jeep Dodge a great advantage when competing with other car dealers serving the Oklahoma City area. Click on the Norman Chrysler Jeep Dodge website and learn more about their current sales and incentives on new Dodge cars in Oklahoma City.

Norman Chrysler Jeep Dodge

Norman Chrysler Jeep Dodge offers a wide selection of Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge Parts and Accessories. They also service and repair all Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep models and just about every other make and model as well. Stop by Norman Chrysler Jeep Dodge today! They are located at 481 N. Interstate Dr. Norman, OK or call 877-326-9152. Be sure to contact them first for all of your Dodge Dealerships Oklahoma City questions.

CONTACT:

Norman Chrysler Jeep Dodge
481 N. Interstate Dr.
Norman, OK 73069
Phone: 877-326-9152
http://www.normanchryslerjeepdodge.com/

Find New Dodge Cars For Sale Oklahoma City, OK

Many new and used car dealerships are now using the dealership texting program from PCG Digital Marketing:

• Infiniti of Lisle (Chicago)
• Dodgeland of Columbia (South Carolina)
• JT’s Kia (South Carolina)
• Champion Jeep Chrysler Dodge (Indiana)
• Northside Fiat (Texas)

A study conducted in over 17 markets by the Potratz Partners Agency concluded that 88% of adults ages 45 years and younger prefer text message communication over a phone call or email.  With the PCG dealership texting program, dealers can customize and send short, personalized messages to highly segmented groups of customers in real time.

How to Use Automotive Mobile Marketing

Dealerships are using text message marketing in a variety of unique ways including sending timely service and appointment reminders and blasting out exclusive coupons, discounts or savings.

The dealership texting program from PCG is 100% opt-in. Consumers send a text message to the dealer’s designated pin number. The system captures the cell phone number and sends it to the dealership, creating an instant lead generation and follow up tool.

With the mobile marketing package offered by PCG Digital Marketing, dealers will receive compelling point of sale materials, extensive training on how to leverage the texting platform and monthly reporting and insights.

More information about automotive mobile marketing can be found online.

Member dealer´s inventory is successfully promoted through a handful of search-optimized websites, specially localized for their market. Additional regional sites will be added to the network based on geography and the particular needs of dealers who are willing to target specific cities within their primary market area.

Each site contains targeted content and cars that are available for sale regionally, making them highly relevant. AAN Members can profit from our websites, strategically positioned on top of the search engines for the most popular regional search phrases.

Automotive dealers have the ability to publish unlimited press releases each month on regional websites belonging to the Automotive Advertising Network. To attain the same search exposure, dealers would be spending thousands of dollars of month on popular PR services.

How Do Regional Sites Work?

www.AtlantaDealers.org

Based on the member’s dealership geographic location, their vehicles are included on a number of regional websites. An example of a regional website is shown on the right: AtlantaDealers.org

For instance, a dealership located in Atlanta Georgia would have their new and used cars listed on a number of powerful regional advertising websites that include:

• www.AlpharettaDealers.org
• www.AthensDealers.org
• www.AtlantaDealers.org
• www.BufordDealers.net
• www.DecaturDealers.net
• www.DuluthDealers.net
• www.MaconDealers.org

In Georgia, there are over ten regional websites for members to leverage with localized content, branding and car promotion. Each and every one of these regional websites generates consistent search visibility for dealers´ cars as well as direct inbound links to their Vehicle Detail Pages within the Automotive Advertising Network.

The tremendous power of the network is indisputable, member dealers receive unprecedented local and regional search visibility for the cars they offer.

The alternative would be to create dozens of microsites on their own at a much higher cost and without the search authority and traffic the AAN is able to provide.

About the Automotive Advertising Network

The Automotive Advertising Network provides member dealers with access to dozens of national sites like CarDealerSale.com and hundreds of regional websites that are strategically positioned on top of the search engines for the most popular national, regional and local search phrases.

Member dealers can leverage a host of powerful sites to publish press releases, sales, and community events. Moreover, dealers are able to advertise coupons and promotional offers.

Each and every one of the articles published on the sites belonging to the Automotive Advertising Network lives forever on the Internet. The exclusive CarPort App allows car dealers to park their new and used inventory throughout the web.

How Does the CarPort App Work?

The CarPort App inventory listing changes in real time so a blog post written today, will have changing inventory every time the page is read. CarPort App technology automatically detects when you add new vehicles to your feed so your articles never show sold inventory.

Having actual cars that you have in stock, that day, on a page when a consumer reads your content will increase the opportunity for sales. The pages you create outside your website are “living” and connected with your inventory.

The press release, blog post or customer testimonial you publish starts as a new vehicle promotional tool and converts over time into a used car marketing strategy. Indeed, the CarPort App turns any piece of online content into a timeless advertising device.

Ultimate Blend: CarPort App and the Automotive Advertising Network

The Automotive Advertising Network utilizes the power of its national, regional and local search optimized automotive web sites, which can advertise your new and used inventory to drive abundant traffic to members’ main sites. Member dealers are able to post search engine friendly inventory/content on the AAN’s network of microsites.

The combination of CarPort App and powerful national websites like CarDealerSale.com gives car dealers unlimited publishing opportunities on web sites that already own consistent search authority. Participation in the AAN also gives members dealers advertising visibility on a host of regional web sites.

CarPort App also allows dealers to add their inventory to existing blogs and social media web sites that they own. Drop your inventory on a new Facebook Fan Page tab , Social media communities like Twitter or popular blog platforms like Blogger, WordPress, TypePad and Slideshare.

Become a member of Automotive Advertising Network and get ready to see the CarPort App in action!

About the Automotive Advertising Network

The Automotive Advertising Network provides member dealers with access to dozens of national sites like CarDealerSale.com and hundreds of regional websites that are strategically positioned on top of the search engines for the most popular national, regional and local search phrases.

AAN members can leverage a host of powerful sites to publish press releases, sales, and community events. Furthermore, dealers are able to advertise coupons and promotional offers.

In order to help dealers get a handle on the ROI of their marketing investments, we need to organize our investment channels. Take a minute to determine how your monthly marketing budget is allocated between digital and traditional investments.

Create a spreadsheet that breaks out your current monthly budget into individual columns for all your marketing channels.

The traditional marketing columns should include radio, print, cable TV, direct mail, telemarketing, billboards, license plate tags, and newspaper.  The digital marketing columns should include website costs, third party leads, Cars.com, Autotrader.com, Google Adwords, Text Marketing, Social Media, Automotive SEO, CRM, Chat, and Reputation Management.

Dealers, if you would like our Excel spreadsheet that we use to outline automotive advertising investments, send me an email and I’ll forward it to you.  You can reach me at brian@pcgdigitalmarketing.com

Is Your Digital Investment > 50%?

At the St. Louis PCG Pit Stop, Jim Flint, eCommerce Director at the John Eagle Group in Texas, shared some very interesting statistics about their franchise store growth and profits.  His research related each store’s success to their digital marketing and traditional media investments.

Jim has been tracking the changes in spending allocations for the past few years for all their stores.  I was very impressed with his passion to get to the optimal balance for each store.  He also reminded dealers to review their strategies on a regular basis because nothing is STATIC in this business!

As Jim spoke to the gathered automotive professionals at the Pit Stop Conference, he reminded me that a few years back while speaking at another Automotive Conference I told dealers that 30% of their budget should be allocated toward digital.

He also correctly recalled that last year I encouraged dealers to move their digital spending to 40-50% of their  overall budget.

Jim took it to another level during his presentation in St Louis.  Jim suggested that a dealer’s digital advertising budget should be in the 60-70% range, depending on market and brand factors.

Automotive Advertising Budget Allocations

As I travel around the country speaking at 20 Groups and conferences, I would say that a majority of dealers allocate less than 50% of their monthly budgets to digital marketing.  If I had to guess at the national average, it would be about 30-35%.  These numbers get me excited because there is so much opportunity for growth.

Just recently a member of a 20 Group conference I attended shared that 70% of his budget was radio and cable TV.  This of course is just the opposite of what Jim and I are recommending.  The challenge is to show dealers why a higher digital marketing investment is the right way to go. Few industry consultants have made that clear to dealers. Of course I’m on a mission to change that through education; live and remotely via blogs, video, and Podcasts.

In order to build confidence with dealers to change their historical allocation models to increase digital spending,  we must remind ourselves that most people do not embrace change.  There are other barriers in place for dealers that include long standing relationships with ad agencies and marketing partners.  Dealer principals have also admitted that they don’t ask too many “digital” questions because they don’t understand digital marketing and do not want to look stupid.

If your dealership is not actively using Adwords, Retargeting, Chat, Text Marketing, or engaged in Social Media, as these are just a few examples, you need to review your automotive advertising strategy.

Request A Review in Confidence

To help dealers candidly review their current advertising budgets and strategy, PCG Digital Marketing offers a Digital Marketing Assessment Program to help dealers find new opportunities in their market via digital marketing.  We take the time to complete a detailed spreadsheet of current advertising investments and then show a path for testing new ideas that can carefully reallocate expenses without causes a riot within the dealership.

When dealers are given the proper education on technology, strategy, and costs they will always do what is best for the business.  Their entrepreneurial instincts take over and the shift to a higher allocation of digital investments will come easily.  The key is documenting the Return on Investment (ROI).

Nothing pleases me more than when a dealer has the “light bulb” experience when I complete a digital marketing workshop.   I can see it in their eyes and on their face that they finally get a new concept that can make a big change in their business.

If you are looking for great workshops on digital marketing, join other automotive professionals February 1-3rd in Las Vegas for the 2012 Digital Marketing Strategies Conference (DMSC) which is just prior to the 2012 NADA Convention.  Come out for both conferences and return with winning strategies that you can implement for greater profits and success.

Schedule a Call With Me

If you would like to schedule a Digital Marketing Assessment for your dealership, give us at call at 732.450.8200 and ask for Carrie Hemphill.

Carrie will schedule an assessment call with me to get the ball rolling at your dealership   The sooner you understand the opportunities that are in your market, the faster your profits will accelerate.

Let’s get to the answers together.

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

The colorization of Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) come from customer reviews, Google +1 buttons, and color thumbnail photos of people in your network.

Dealers must prioritize implementing processes to collect in-store customer reviews; a topic that has been covered in recent articles in this publication.  Dealers who have a proactive reputation management process in place also get an additional benefit; yellow stars next to their Google Places listing.

Yellow is a color that draws the eye as you can see in Section 2 of the example SERP page. The Amazon effect has clearly trained consumers to click FIRST on the “products” and now companies that have the highest ratings. This is an untapped opportunity for most car dealers.

Check and see how many yellow stars you have compared to other dealers in your market.  My suggestion is that all dealers should have at lease 100 reviews on Google Places to be competitive.

Thumbnails Will Influence Click Through Rate

Yellow stars are not the only things that are catching the eye of the consumer. Google is now including photo thumbnails of people who click on the“+1 Button” on a website page that are connected in your network.

These thumbnails are very important and they stand out in Regions 3 and 4.

Do you agree that if you saw three of your friends photos under a search listings, that it would increase the likelihood of you clicking on the listing?

The addition of photo thumbnails adds color and relevance to people from their network of friends. The colorization and personalization of SERP pages can be leveraged to increase click behavior of online shoppers.

Your Family Friends and Staff Can Help

One of the easiest ways to leverage this new feature is to ask all your employees to create a personal Google Account and then to “+1” your key website pages.  By having them click on the “+1 Button” next to your website assets, you expand the network of influence because each employee is likely connected to a few hundred local consumers.

Do you have a Technicolor search engine optimization strategy in place?  If you have not updated your search engine marketing strategy to include the colorization provided by reviews and the Google +1 button, you need to get busy!

If you need assistance creating a market dominating search engine marketing strategy, give us a call for an assessment of your currently strategy and budget allocations.  You’ll be surprised on the insights you can gain form a fresh set of eyes on your marketing strategy.

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences

Brian Pasch

Inc. Magazine’s September 2011 edition  ranked PCG Digital Marketing (PCG), New Jersey’s fastest growing Internet Marketing Agency, #192 on its 30th annual Inc. 500, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies.

PCG also ranks # 7 in New Jersey with a three-year sales growth of 1569%.

The Inc. 500 list represents the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy—America’s independent entrepreneurs.

Companies such as Microsoft, Zappos, Intuit, Jamba Juice, Zipcar, Clif Bar, Vizio, Oracle, and many other well-known names gained early exposure as members of the Inc. 500.

The companies on this year’s list employ more than 46,000 people and generated over 35,000 jobs in the past three years. Complete results of the Inc. 500, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found on Inc.com/500.

Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing and a 20-year marketing veteran, founded the company in 2005 working out of a home office with a skeleton staff.

Pasch saw the redistribution of traditional print media budgets to Internet advertising and poured his heart into launching an agency that would work side by side with clients to implement effective digital marketing strategies and provide comprehensive education and training.

Today PCG Digital Marketing employs over 60 full time employees and has offices in the US and Ecuador.  The company is headquartered in Eatontown, NJ.

Pasch is quoted, “Being on the Inc.500 list is a great reward and blessing for our passionate team of hard-working professionals. Success takes a commitment to learn and lead and I’m proud of the fact that we have been able to do both.”

For more information about PCG Digital Marketing, please visit http://www.pcgdigitalmarketing.com/

About PCG Digital Marketing

PCG Digital Marketing is a full service digital marketing agency that serves growing businesses in all industry sectors.

PCG is nationally recognized as a leader in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) as well as an award winning Internet training firm.

PCG  also hosts the popular 2012 Digital Marketing Strategies Conference (DMSC) which will be held this year in Las Vegas on February 1-3rd.  Details on this automotive digital strategies conference can be found at http://www.digitalmarketingstrategies.org

Media Contact:

Matthew O’Such
SEO Strategist
PCG Digital Marketing
732-450-8200 ext 3
matt@pcgmailer.com

Merchant Circle, a popular business directory website that also serves as a business blogging and marketing tool, has released their mobile application. The mobile app will allow your customers to post a review from inside your business to your MerchantCircle.com profile page.

This is another sign that business directory sites are following Google’s lead into mobile apps. The MerchantCircle mobile app is free for the iPhone and allows you to search for local businesses that are listed on MerchantCircle.com. The app also makes it easier for consumers to review businesses, if they are promoted to do so.

Should You Care About MerchantCircle.com

MerchantCircle.com is a free directory platform that also has blogging, coupon, and multi-media posting capabilities without cost.  The one drawback is that unless you upgrade your free listing, your directory page will contain third party ads.  This is not unique to MerchantCircle.com.

MerchantCircle.com does provide a source for inbound links and for many businesses, the site indexes well for their name.  This makes it worthy of some consideration.  Also, reviews from MerchantCircle.com can be rolled into Google Places.

Using the mobile app is straightforward but the search mechanism for finding local businesses is clumsy.   I would download the app and make your own decision on whether you want to post positive reviews on this directory site.

Business Directory Synchronization

The automotive industry needs mobile apps that allow customers of dealers to post inside the store to places like DealerRater, Edmunds, Judysbook, etc.  I expect to see more mobile apps for these popular consumer reating websites in the coming months.

As with all business directory websites, it is important that your business name and address are consistent across the web.  Business Directory Synchronization is very important to establish search relevance for businesses, especially on Google Places.

There are sites that offer directory synchronization services for a fee but in some cases, a manual approach needs to be taken because of the specific nature of how larger car dealer groups or auto malls  appear on the web.

MerchantCircle.com is another tool in a dealer’s online business directory strategy, check it out.

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

This past week I have been on vacation in Italy. While I have been away from the US I have still been tethered to US business activity via the Internet and my iPhone.  I’ve watched the wild ride that the stock market has taken in the past week; a thousand point Dow Industrials swing!

As predicted, the financial media is back in the limelight.  Financial channels are showcasing their panel of market experts who are eager to share their speculation, predictions, and calls for a bleek future.  These shows generally feed the panic in the marketplace.

I am not minimizing the impact  on whose have received margin calls or who have seen their investment portfolio drop once again.  These are scary times indeed! Yes, the markets do impact consumer sentiment but as a business owner you can’t control how a nation thinks or feels.

Car dealers  know that people need reliable transportation to get to work, school, or to buy food.  Dealers know that when a car lease is up, consumers will need a car.  There are some things that dealers can rely on regardless of the current position of the S&P 500.

This week is reminiscent of the panic cause in the 2008 stock market collapse. Many Car dealers survived that mess!  Our clients are having a strong year and some are reporting record earnings in 2011.   The market is cyclical. We can’t pretend that this recent downturn wasn’t predictable with our current leadership (or lack of)  in Washington.

Opportunities For The Strong

While the value of our dollar is uncertain and the cost of travel in Italy is absurd, many car dealers I speak with are not panicking.  They are using this opportunity to get a jump on those that are weak in the automotive industry.

In the automotive world, dealers that are pulling back their marketing and advertising are easy prey for those who can “press” when the marketplace is filled with uncertainty.

Of course you can’t press the competition unless you have a solid automotive advertising and marketing strategy in place.   A solid strategy that is not a “flavor of the day” game plan.

The days of spending without an integrated marketing strategy are over.  Dealers need a clear measurement process in place that gives them confidence in their business operations regardless of the “noise” that is in the financial marketplace.

Business owners that pay too much attention to new reports like CNN, CNBC, or Bloomberg will likely lose their way and not invest in their business as aggressively as their marketing data tells them.

Is Your Marketing Strategy Complete?

So, are you confident that your marketing and advertising strategy is fully leveraging your budget?   Have you investigated all the new opportunities to market your business at a lower cost per sale?  If your answer is yes, turn off the TV and focus on selling more cars.  The profits will come.

If you have not yet invested in creating an integrated marketing and advertising strategy, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get one created.  Turn off CNBC and get back to business,.

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

This information is very important for dealers who have been using PPC ads for Mobile Devices.  If you are not targeting mobile devices, this is a reminder and wakeup call.  You should be testing mobile ads as well as mobile RETARGETING.  (Very cool)

Clickable Phone Numbers on Ads

The point is that Google is making mobile Ads more effective by adding a clickable phone number as part of the ad.  This is a win for the consumer and the advertiser who believes that targeting mobile shoppers is a smart investment.

Once gain, Google is on a roll and continually adding new ways to monetize their platform.  Is your vendor keeping you up to date with the latest opportunities in search marketing?

This is a great reason why this forum is a great place to stay ahead of your competition.  Stay tuned, every week there is another great suggestion by bloggers on this forum.

Google’s Official Letter

Dear AdWords Advertiser,

If you currently have a phone number in your ad text or have plans to start adding your phone number in an ad, this is an important notice that in the coming weeks, we will be launching a new enhancement to AdWords ads that will impact charges on clicks to these numbers.

To help our mobile users connect more easily with advertisers, all non-clickable phone numbers displayed in AdWords ad text will be automatically converted into a Click-to-call number. Currently when advertisers enter a phone number directly into their ad text instead of using Call Extensions, the phone number is not clickable and will not generate a call. This can be a frustrating experience for mobile users who attempt to initiate a call to this phone number.

The new Click-to-call enhancement ensures that all phone numbers shown in AdWords ads are clickable and allows users to easily place calls from their mobile device. If your ad text includes a phone number, you will begin to receive clicks and calls on this number once the enhancement is enabled in your account. As with phone calls placed via a Call Extension, you will be charged for clicks on your phone number that result in a call.

Please note that AdWords policy does not allow for phone numbers to be inserted into ad headlines. As with all Click-to-call ads, advertisers will be charged when a user either clicks on the headline or the phone number listed in the ad. Please see below for additional information regarding this change.

Which phone number shows?

If you are currently using both Call Extensions and a phone number in your ad creative, only the newly clickable phone number in your ad creative will show. This is designed to help reduce user confusion from seeing two potentially different numbers. If you would like your Call Extension number to display, simply delete all phone numbers from your existing ad text by following these steps. You’ll also receive an additional line of ad text displaying your phone number if the Call Extension is used.

Measuring results

You’ll be able to review how many calls you receive on the clickable phone number listed in your ad text for each campaign, ad group, keyword and ad on the “Campaigns” tab in your AdWords account. Just select the “Click-type” option under the “Segment” drop down and view your report. Please note that since these are not calls generated from a Call Extension, they will not be reported in the Extensions tab reports.

Recommendations for featuring a phone number

You can simply leave your phone number in your ad text and benefit from this change which will automatically make your phone numbers clickable and enable users to call you. However, to get the most value from click-to-call, we recommend that you remove your phone number from your ad creative and create a Call Extension with your phone number directly.

This has several benefits. With a manually created Call Extension your number will appear as an additional line of ad text which frees up space in your ad creative for other promotion. In addition, when you create a Call Extension, your phone number appears on a separate line in the ad, and you’re able to take advantage of other powerful enhancements such as Vanity Numbers, Call-only and Call Metrics reporting.

Keep Up WIth Search Marketing Changes

If you would like to be notified when new digital marketing opportunities are announced, join our alerts mobile campaign.  To join,  text PCGTIPS to 75674

This will make sure that changes in the marketplace that impact your marketing and advertising investments are delivered to your mobile phone.

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

This has been a great month for change at Google and PCG Digital Marketing has been in the forefront advising car dealers about these changes.  In July 2011 we were introduced to:

• Google+
• Google Circles
• Google +1 button
• Profile thumbnail photos under search results
• Enhancements to Adwords Ads to include META data and Site Links
• New formulas for review star counts on Google Places

To keep the news stream flowing, Google announces that Google Boost is now called “Google Adwords Express”.

This is another opportunity for dealers to adjust their Automotive Advertising budgets.  Are you ready for a GREAT opportunity to market your dealership online at a LOWER cost?

Adwords For The Masses

I’ve been asked many times if Google Boost was a replacement for Adwords and it is not.

Google Adwords Express (formerly Google Boost) is Adwords for the masses.  It is ideal for the small business who can not afford to have a third party setup and manage Adwords.  It is ideal for the non technical business owner who wants an easy online “yellow pages” ad on the #1 search engine.

Car dealers may forget just how advanced they are when compared to small business owners who only have a few hundred dollars a month for advertising.  Google Adwords Express takes no more than 5 minutes to setup once your Google Places listing is up and running.

As a caveat, dealers must update the Google Places category selections to use Adwords Express.  Google has “standardized” these categories to avoid spamming.

Benefits of Adwords Express

Google Adwords Express is accessed through your Google Places dashboard.  It allows you to create an ad that is based on one of the five business categories that you select for your business.  The BENEFIT of a Google Adwords Express ad is that it includes:

• Business Name
• Business Address
• Contact Phone Number
• Call To Action Message
• Consumer Reviews (Star Counts)

Google Adwords Express ads STAND OUT from the boring text Adwords Ads because they include the yellow highlighted star counts.  Do not ignore the fact that these ads stand out from your competition.

Google Adwords Express ads MAY reduce clicks because they have the location of your business, a contact phone number, and social proof that people like your store.  This is especially true for Fixed Ops marketing campaigns.

The key to leveraging Google Adwords Express is to have your Google Places page setup properly. You can also download our free white paper by clicking on this link:  Google Places Optimization

Adwords Express is Ideal For Car Dealers

Just because Adwords Express was designed for small business owners, it is actually perfect for car dealers.  You just have to know how to utilize Adwords Express.

We have managed and documented Adwords Express campaigns that have a lower cost per click than Adwords.  We have also seen campaigns setup improperly and cost MORE than Adwords.  Don’t rush and be sloppy, it is still a PPC campaign!

Google Adwords Express is ideal for Fixed Ops marketing.  Dealers who want to go after the national service and tire chains (Jiffy Lube, Meineke, Discount Tire, Pep Boys, etc.) should take note:  Adwords Express can change the dynamics of your Fixed Operations marketing strategy.

Adwords Express Must Be Integrated With Reputation Management

Dealers who want to benefit from Google Adwords Express, which is connected to Google Places, must have a strong Internet Reputation Management Process in place.  Do you have one?

Here is a quick check:

• Do you have a process to identify Google consumers in your sales process? Service?
• Are your customers adding new reviews to Google Places each week?
• Are you reading and responding to reviews each week?
• Do you have a policy on dealing with negative reviews?

Dealers who implement an in-store review process that leverages the power of the Google Places App will significantly advance on leveraging Google Adwords Express to increase their sales and fixed operations revenue.

Watch The Adwords Express Video

This is the video that Google published today on Google Adwords Express.  If you need help with your digital marketing strategy and to align all your digital marketing investments, give our team a call at 732.450.8200.

About Brian Pasch

The recent changes with Google Places make a strong case why dealers need a marketing strategy that is continually updated based on market conditions.

I’ve been flooded this week with calls and emails asking for guidance on how to adjust Internet Reputation Management (IRM) processes since Google cleaned up their star counting policy. This is a major opportunity for dealers who adapt first.

Google Places is not the only digital marketing opportunity that has changed recently. There are a dozen major shifts that we have seen this year that impact a dealer’s operating strategy and budget.

Fluid or Inflexible?

• Are you properly identifying customers with Google accounts?
• What are you doing to have your digital assets tagged with +1?
• Are you using the Google Authorship tag in your blog posts?
• Are you preparing for your Google+ brand page?
• What is your strategy to build mobile text marketing lists?
• Are you leveraging ALL of the opportunities to remarket to your monthly unique visitors?

Without a winning strategy, dealers will be wasting time, money, and losing competitive opportunities.

Jim Flint To Speak in St Louis

We are also pleased to have Jim Flint from the John Eagle Group speaking in St Louis. He’ll be sharing how his Dealer Group has changed their automotive advertising budgets and strategies to be more effective this year.

Jim will share what got cut and what stayed in the budget. This will be an eye opening discussion that smart dealers will not want to miss.

Dealers should reserve their hotel rooms and register for St. Louis this week. We also also proud to be jointly promoting this event with the St. Louis Automobile Dealers Association, a great partner in advocating education for Missouri car dealers.

So book a flight, drive your car, or walk over to the conference on Sunday August 14th and make the decision to build a smarter and more efficient marketing strategy for your dealership.

The workshop schedule can be found on the link below. See you in St. Louis and all dealers that register in advance can request a free digital marketing evaluation with a report delivered to you at the conference.

I am writing to remind those who care to DOMINATE their market, to consider these opportunities.

24×7 Managed Chat

If you would like to significantly increase high quality website leads using chat and have a money back guarantee, give us a call.

Managed 24×7 chat is real and effective. 35% of the chat leads come after you are closed. Chat leads close higher than website leads. So what are you waiting for?

Want 40% more website leads this month?

The ROI on chat is amazing. For most dealers, 24×7 managed chat is less than $1,000 a month and generates a 10x ROI. Now that’s exactly the numbers dealer principals need to hear about.

If our managed chat solution doesn’t deliver 40% more website leads, you get your money back!

Mobile Text Marketing

If you would like to start building powerful opt-in mobile marketing lists, which have 95%+ consumer delivery rate, give me a call. Email open rates hover around 20% and are dropping. Mobile marketing is the channel that Gen Y and Z want to use!

We will design the showroom banners, signage, and desktop tent cards to engage your showroom customers. We’ll give you the strategy and word tracts to get your team engaged in collecting mobile phones. We’ll show you how to add mobile messaging to your print ads and TV commercials.

We will enhance your email marketing campaigns to drive more customers to opt-in to your mobile campaigns.

Do more with what you have in place for under $500 a month with a power mobile text marketing strategy.

Re-targeting Campaigns

Add up the total visitors to your website in a year to start to see the opportunity to touch these consumers multiple times during the year with a strategic banner advertising campaign.

For many dealers, annual unique visitor counts total over 100,000 people and many of these are local buyers. Imagine creating new messages each month to enhance your online reputation, sharing your work in the community, or the arrival of new models.

I challenge all dealers to invest $500 a month in a retargeting PPC budget to start building your re-marketing list. Each month that goes by you are losing people that may never come back.

ALL advertising investments that drive traffic to your website can be enhanced with retargeting. If you are using radio, TV, print, SEO, and/or PPC to drive traffic to your website, building a retargeting campaign makes all of these investments better.

Reputation Management Consulting

Here is a fact; all advertising investments are impacted eventually by your online reviews.

We have written about it in the past and we have turn-key solutions to help your team get MORE reviews that your competitors. We show dealers how to use the Google Places application as well as the #1 rated in-store platform PrestoReviews.

Do a search on your dealership name and one page one is Google Places and your reviews. 30% of dealership organic traffic is on their store name. Google Places shows up on Page One 25,000 – 50,000 times a month for car dealers.

Our research has shown that less than 20% of car dealers have a proactive reputation management process in place. Despite selling thousands of cars a year and servicing 10x that number of cars, most dealers have less than 30 positive reviews online.

Dealers are still struggling to get buy-in from their team and implement in-store review process. So, we are now offering in-store consulting and training services to jumpstart your review process.

A 2-3 day visit to your store will demonstrate how to implement in-store review processes in service, sales, and F&I. We’ll make sure a proactive reputation management program enhances your online brand. If your dealership does not have HUNDREDS of strong reviews online, you are a candidate for onsite training.

Keep in mind that having strong reviews enhances your SEO positioning. Having poor reviews hurts your business because showing up on Page One with bad reviews just drives traffic to your competitors.

FOUR OPPORTUNITIES

I’ve listed four opportunities that have a clear and measurable ROI. No smoke and mirrors. Immediate visible results. Are you utilizing all four?

I’ve listed four opportunities that have a clear and measurable ROI. No smoke and mirrors. Immediate visible results. Are you utilizing all four?

PCG will work with your team to implement one or all of these solutions to ensure that you are dominating your market. We will ensure that you generate more leads and will stand by the ROI of these investments.

It starts with a call. You can call me direct at 732.672.2356, Matt O’Such at 732.450.8200, or Lizelle Landino at 201-800-1315. Keep in mind that we work with ONE OEM brand per market so if you want the very best in digital strategy, be the first one in your market to call.

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
About Brian Pasch

Click here to register

Flint’s hands-on workshop entitled “Allocation of Resources and Budget Strategies”, will evaluate where and how the most successful dealerships are allocating their marketing budgets to maximize every dollar. Flint will reveal surprising information about which advertising mediums are seeing less automotive marketing dollars and those that are now taking a bigger piece of the pie. Attendees of Flint’s workshop will also learn how the Internet is changing the way dealers spend their money and new strategies that are proving to be the most cost-effective.

Jim Flint

Flint is quoted, “With the budget pressure that most companies face today, it’s more important than ever to be able to track results and ROI in order to deliver the greatest efficiency for even the smallest of investments.” Jim will speak to Prioritizing Digital Marketing Strategies and how to evaluate new opportunities at the Pit Stop tour.

St Louis Marketing Conference Welcomes Expert Speakers

The St Louis PCG Pit Stop will take place August 14^th at The Chase Park Plaza. Dealers who fly in on the 13^th are invited to attend a cocktail reception with host PCG Digital Marketing.

The PCG Pit Stop tour will be making its way to major US and Canadian cities this summer. The automotive marketing conference pit stops are open to any dealership employee but were created with Dealer Principals/GM, General Sales Managers/ISM, and Fixed Operations Managers in mind. Some of the additional workshop topics to be covered include customer communication, selling with social media strategies, fixed operations marketing, CRM processes, Google AdWords, mobile marketing and more.

Along with Jim Flint, PCG and the Pit Stop team welcome leading expert speakers including Dennis Galbraith, Christine Rochelle, AJ Le Blanc, Keith Shetterly and Brian Pasch.

Dealers need to look at the value of their customer base in terms on the new power given to Googlized consumers.

In fact, I suggest that business owners need to implement processes to ask and identify consumers with Google accounts. Why?

Google Consumers and Reviews

These Googlized consumers can place a review directly on Google Places which impacts your business every day. For many businesses, Google Places is the #1 source of free referring traffic to their website.

Reviews posted by Googlized consumers can also be used in Google Boost advertising to make your PPC ads stand out from local boring text ads. Google Boost does NOT include reviews posted on 3rd party review sites.

Google Consumers +1

These Googlized consumers can now “+1″ your website pages, videos, press releases, testimonials, and the list of digital assets goes on. Once they “+1″ your digital assets, their thumbnail image will appear to their network of friends. These thumbnails will catch the eye of consumers and increase click activity.

If you compare the power of Googlized consumers to increase brand awareness, click traffic, and enhance your digital advertising EVERY DAY, then their worth soars over a non-Googlized consumer that sends you a note card of thanks.

550,000 Google Accounts a Day

When businesses realize that 550,000 Android mobile devices are activated a day and that each has a Google account, the tsunami of influence Googlized consumers will grow.

It’s time to get serious about tapping into the digital marketing influence a Googlized consumer can do for any business. It’s time to ask happy customers to post their reviews using the Google Places App. It’s time to “socialize” your search marketing advertising strategies.

The boring SERP of years past is how a Technicolor quilt of thumbnails and stars.

Opportunity is here for those who see change before the masses.

Dealers who want the exclusive strategy in their market, just need to call us. That’s 732.450.8200.

Click here to register for the next Pit Stop

The PCG Pit Stop tours are bringing award-winning digital marketing strategies from today’s most influential automotive marketing experts to major US and Canadian cities this summer. With stops in Chicago and Dallas already wrapped up, the team of marketing leaders have their sights set on the Hyatt Huntington Beach, the location for the next Pit Stop.

Industry thought leaders Ralph Paglia, Kathi Kruse, JD Rucker, Brian Pasch, and Paul Potratz are just some of the personalities that will share their insights into the latest opportunities for car dealers to grow their business online.

Automotive Digital Marketing Workshop Topics

Paglia’s hands-on workshop, entitled “Digital Guerilla Marketing Strategies and Tactics,” will show dealers how to take advantage of emerging Internet marketing tools for guerilla marketers and how to recognize when their competitors are using these same tactics against them.

According to Paglia, “No dealer should try these techniques without knowing the risks and returns.”

Kathi Kruse will be addressing all conference attendees at the opening dinner reception on July 16th with a keynote address titled: “How to Generate Leads Through Social Media Integration.”

According to Kruse “Before they visit your store, internet savvy car shoppers spend up to 11 hours online researching you and your store. They bypass the Yellow Pages and cable ads to see what their Social network says about your reputation and inventory.”

JD Rucker, automotive social media pioneer, will be leading a popular workshop entitled, “Facebook Marketing vs. Facebook Advertising.” With Facebook and Google +1 dominating discussions on new media strategies, Rucker brings to the table a proven tactical plan that dealers can implement to dominate their local markets.

The automotive marketing conference pit stops are open to any dealership employee but were created with Dealer Principals/GM, General Sales Managers/ISM, and Fixed Operations Managers in mind. Some of the additional workshop topics to be covered include customer communication, selling with social media strategies, fixed operations marketing, CRM processes, Google AdWords, mobile marketing and more.

Learn more about the Huntington Beach workshops here

Paglia’s hands-on workshop, entitled “Digital Guerilla Marketing Strategies and Tactics”, will show dealers how to take advantage of emerging Internet marketing tools for guerilla marketers and how to recognize when their competitors are using these same tactics against them. According to Paglia, “no dealer should try these techniques without knowing the risks and returns”.

Automotive Marketing Conference Coming to Major Cities This Summer

The PCG Pit Stop tour will be making its way to major US and Canadian cities this summer. The automotive marketing conference pit stops are open to any dealership employee but were created with Dealer Principals/GM, General Sales Managers/ISM, and Fixed Operations Managers in mind. Some of the additional workshop topics to be covered include customer communication, selling with social media strategies, fixed operations marketing, CRM processes, Google AdWords, mobile marketing and more.

Along with Ralph Paglia, PCG and the Pit Stop team welcome leading expert speakers including AJ LeBlanc, Paul Potratz, David Page, Keith Shetterly, Scott Falcone and more.

The Huntington Beach PCG Pit Stop will take place on July 16th and 17th at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach.

PCG Digital Marketing’s ‘Pit Stop’ tours are bringing cutting edge digital marketing training to car dealers in the US and Canada. The Pit Stop tours provide marketing tune-ups in social media, lead management, Google Places, automotive microsites, mobile websites, CRM processes, Google Adwords, Remarketing, Automotive SEO, Fixed Operations Marketing and integrated automotive advertising processes.

Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing is quoted, “We are thrilled to work with AskPatty.com to provide educational opportunities for women in the growing fields of digital marketing, social media and automotive sales. Jody DeVere is a pioneer in helping to empower women in the automotive industry.”

The inspiration for the scholarship program with AskPatty.com came from Lizelle Landino, National Dealer Advocate for PCG Digital Marketing. Lizelle is also an active member of the Automotive Digital Marketing (ADM) professional community.

According to Landino “I have been a long time advocate of empowering women in the automotive industry. One reason I chose to work with PCG Digital Marketing was their leadership in providing cutting edge education for car dealers.”

After participating in the PCG Pit Stop Conference, Lizelle took action, “I reached out to Jody DeVere because I saw the opportunity for women to strengthen their careers through PCG’s educational workshops. I was confident that AskPatty.com would create an effective scholarship program for women. These scholarships will allow women to participate in career enhancing education without cost to their employer.”

The PCG Pit Stop tours are taking place now throughout the United States and Canada with upcoming destinations that include Dallas, Huntington Beach, St. Louis, Vancouver, Toronto, and Seattle.

For more information on the Pit Stop events, please visit http://www.pcgpitstop.com/

About Ask Patty

With international headquarters in Thousand Oaks, California, AskPatty.com, Inc. takes a two-pronged approach to revolutionizing the women’s automotive retail market: For consumers, the AskPatty.com website, is a safe and reliable source for expert automotive advice and research. For auto dealers, tire dealers, collision centers, auto service and repair centers, the revolutionary AskPatty.com Certified Female Friendly® program, designed from the ground up, trains and certifies automotive retail and service centers on how to attract, sell, retain and increase loyalty with women customers.

Women can find an Ask Patty Certified Female Friendly® auto dealer, tire dealer, collision center, auto service and repair centers using the location search at http://www.askpatty.com/

About PCG Digital Marketing

PCG Digital Marketing is a full service Internet marketing agency that serves growing businesses in all industry sectors. CEO Brian Pasch is a successful speaker, educator and active writer and blogger.

PCG is nationally recognized as a leader in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) as well as an award winning Internet training firm.

http://www.pcgdigitalmarketing.com

Media Contact:

Carrie Hemphill

PCG Digital Marketing

732-450-8200 ext 2

carrie@pcgmailer.com

As part of their new partnership together, Gene Langan Volkswagen in Glastonbury will receive the most advanced automotive digital marketing strategies developed by PCG.  Their online visibility will be developed by PCG through their proven on-site and off-site SEO strategies and content development.

PCG Welcomes Gene Langan Volkswagen in Glastonbury

By partnering with PCG, Gene Langan Volkswagen has taken the opportunity to join PCG’s exclusive Automotive Advertising Network (AAN). The AAN combines PCG Digital Marketing’s proven strategies in Search Engine Optimization, content development, social media and blogging to provide dealers with an industry-leading solution for lead generation and direct sales.

Additional PCG services will include blog and press release writing, link building, video uploads, customer review posting, Google SEO compliance and maintaining Google Maps and Analytics.

Gene Langan Volkswagen’s new Internet Marketing campaign will increase the frequency with which their vehicles appear in local and regional search results and generate additional traffic and leads.

The automotive industry’s top marketing experts and trainers will be making stops in major US and Canadian cities in 2011 to help dealers fine tune their digital marketing and advertising strategies.    Speakers include Paul Potratz, Keith Shetterly, Christy Roman, Joe Webb, AJ LeBlanc, and the PCG digital marketing trainers, which include Brian Pasch, Glenn Pasch, and Christine Rochelle.

The dates and locations of the PCG Pit Stop tours are as follows:

• June 11th and 12th Chicago, IL
• July 9th and 10th Dallas, TX
• July 16th and 17th Huntington Beach, CA
• August 13th and 14th St. Louis, MO
• September 10th and 11th Toronto
• September 17th and 18th Vancouver
• September 20^th Seattle

The PCG Pit Stop tour is modeled after PCG’s widely popular Automotive Marketing Boot Camp. The Boot Camp is an annual three day event that brings together leading marketing experts to provide hands on tactical training for Internet Marketing, digital advertising, social media, lead management, CRM systems, automotive SEO and more.

The PCG Pit Stop tour will provide similar hands-on training in a condensed format during the Pit Stop conference.  Most programs will be one and half days to reduce time out of the dealership for key staff members.

The Pit Stop tours provide marketing tune-ups on social media, lead management, Google maps, microsites, mobile websites, CRM processes, Google Adwords, automotive SEO, fixed operations and integrated advertising concepts.

Advanced registration is required for all Pit Stop tours.  Auto dealer professionals who would like to register can visit http://www.pcgpitstop.com

For more information, please contact Carrie Hemphill at 732-450-8200 ext 2 or carrie@pcgmailer.com .

It wasn’t long ago that my friend told me that he was paying $250,000 a year to have his ad on the back cover the the county edition of the yellow pages.  All I could think about was how much advertising using Google Adwords that would buy.

Does your automotive advertising strategy still include the printed Yellow Pages?

Are you subscribed to the online Yellow Pages?

Yelp Survey Results

Here is what was contained in the email (in italics) and I thought I would share their findings with this community:

Last week, we presented a survey to gauge how business owners feel about yellow page phone books in the digital age. Only 24% of our 3,500+ respondents said “Yes” to the question, “Are yellow page phone books still relevant?”

That’s quite a find. Here are some others:

1) Most business owners don’t think yellow page phone books are useful to them:

“Yellow page phone books are useful to me as a business owner.”

• Agree – 11%
• Somewhat Agree – 17%
• Somewhat Disagree – 19%
• Disagree – 52%

2) Only about 10% of business owners use yellow page phone books more than once per month; 3 out of 4 don’t use it at all:

How many times per month do you rely on a yellow page phone book to find a local business?

• “Zero” – 75%
• “Between two and four times” – 8%
• “Once” – 14%
• “Five or more times” – 3%

3) Very few business owners believe customers find them using a yellow page phone book.

Estimated percentage of customers who find me using a yellow page phone book.

• “0%” – 43%
• “1-25%” – 47%
• “26-50%” – 5%
• “51-75%” – 3%
• “76-99%” – 1%
• “100%” – 0.1%

The conclusion (according to Yelp): Business owners have clearly observed the shrinking relevance of yellow page phone books. As we continue to move away from printed phone books, online and mobile directories will continue to grow as the customer’s choice for local business information.

Before You Point Fingers

You may be laughing at those who still pay large sums of money to be in the printed Yellow Pages. Before you point the finger, consider what current advertising investments you are making that are in place because they are on auto-pilot?

Are there any advertising channels that are just being used because they worked in the past?  Are you in TV, radio, and paper because you are continually testing those channels or is it because there would be a General Manager rebellion if you reduced those budgets.

Could reducing budgets in traditional media be better spent elsewhere?

• Retargeting?
• Facebook Advertising?
• Google Boost?
• Pandora Radio?

Have you tested these new advertising channels?

There are no simple answers to finding the perfect mix.  Getting to the right balance requires a more thorough testing strategy that most dealers are not patient enough to see to the end.   That’s where I see a great opportunity for my company; helping dealers find that balance.

Innovative dealers are testing new strategies and if the four opportunities I listed above have never been tested at your dealership, your delay may be as silly as a full page ad in the Yellow Pages!

A promising new feature in Google Analytics will show which combination of websites influenced consumer behavior prior to a conversion action on your website. The feature is called Multi-Channel Funnels.

This new data-reporting tool inside of Google Analytics will give business owners tremendous insights into the top influencing websites or media platforms that yield a website conversion. This data will help dealers fine tune online marketing decisions based on which channels assisted and/or produced more conversions.

In the past, dealers using basic Google Analytics data would only know the last website a consumer visited prior to a website conversion. This is known in Google Analytics as “referring websites”.

Multiple consumer touch points and communication tools influence a conversion. With Multi-Channel Funnels, you will be able to see that your newsletter email was read, which encouraged your customer to click on a link to your blog, where they read an article which encouraged them to click on a link to your website where they decided to submit a lead.

With Multi-Channel Funnels you can see all the “players” that assisted with the conversion. Google has produced a video to describe this new feature. In their first video, they use the analogy of a basketball team. The players will assist the shooter who makes the final goal so when you find the right “team” that makes more goals, you will want to replicate that organization.

In the same way, once you see which communication channels (blogs, videos, press release, Facebook, etc.) are involved in producing the highest conversion paths, you can focus on enhancing that success funnel.

From the Google website:

“Multi-Channel Funnels in Google Analytics will show which channels your customers interacted with during the 30 days prior to converting or purchasing. Conversion path data includes interactions with many media channels, including clicks from paid and organic searches, affiliates, social networks, and display ads.

Multi-Channel Funnels reports are generated from conversion paths, the sequences of interactions (i.e. clicks/referrals from channels) during the 30 days that led up to each conversion and transaction. Conversion path data include interactions with virtually all digital channels. These channels include, but are not limited to:

• paid and organic search (on all search engines along with the specific keywords searched)
• referral sites
• affiliates
• social networks
• email newsletters
• display ads
• any custom campaigns that you’ve created. “

I’m very excited about this new opportunity because it will start to shed light on how your digital marketing investments are influencing your customers. For example, you would be able to see if consumer visited Cars.com or Autotrader.com which introduced your dealership name in the past 30 days prior to coming to your website and submitting a lead.

You would be able to see if consumers watched your videos, visited your Facebook page, or read a press release prior to coming to your website and submitting a lead. With Google Multi-Channel Funnel you will be able to start ranking and rating your top influencing mediums, websites, and advertising partners.

This new opportunity to analyze your website visitors and behavior is being rolled out on a limited basis. You can request early access to Multi-Channel Funnels by visiting: https://services.google.com/fb/forms/AnalyticsFunnelSignup/

Multi-Channel Funnels in Google Analytics Video

From a dealer perspective I have a problem with automotive advertising partners that run competing ads on the dealer’s Vehicle Detail Pages (VDP). You may not have a problem with that as long as the website produces leads and calls, so I’d like to hear your opinion.

I also want to disclose that I have developed a platform to advertise car dealer inventory; the Automotive Advertising Network. Over the past 5 years I have been a keen student of what other automotive advertising companies are doing online. I have not included my own platform in this data to avoid self promotion.

What Amount of VDP Advertising is Fair?

I have and will continue to look out for the dealer when I write my blog posts. I want to educate dealers that there are choices on the market and how to best evaluate those options. I’m not writing to put down any specific platforms; I want to start a good dialogue on the marketplace as it exists today.

I decided to share some of the data that I will include in my final white-paper on how the many automotive advertising platforms stack up to each other.

What I did was to search for a used car in my local market, and see how many ads show on the listing pages and how many ads show on the Vehicle Detail Pages (VDP). Now, I have no problem with ads on vehicle listing pages since those pages are the property of the website owners.

However, I do have a problem with the brand leaks and distractions on actual car detail pages. These distractions come in the form of banner ads, Google Text ads, and links to third party services like insurance quotes, car financing, and vehicle research reports which take consumers to another website or take business away from the dealer.

In the first table, I have listed popular car inventory advertising websites, listed alphabetically. The first set of data shows how many ads are running on “listing pages”. A listing page would be a search for a query like “used Chevrolet cars”. The second columns of data are based on the single used car vehicle detail page.

Used Car Platforms Ordered Alphabetically

Ordered By Ads on Vehicle Detail Pages

Notes on Chart Data

When the Ads on the VDP says “N/A” (i.e. Cars.Mitula.us) it is because these sites syndicate data and drive consumers to the origination websites; they no not have their own Vehicle Detail Pages.

When was the last time you tested the impact on conversion with different website designs?

Car dealers see hundreds or thousands of consumers come through their doors each month depending on location.

I challenge dealer principals and dealership equity holders to step back and ask how they are leveraging those connections.  I challenge dealers to get involved in their online automotive advertising strategies.

No Shortage Of New Advertising Ideas

There are many new ideas being presented at 20 Groups, Automotive Conferences, Boot Camps, and on blogs on how to better connect with consumers. Is it SEM, SEO, Social Media, Banner Advertising, Re-Marketing, or something new?

There is a scarcity of documented automotive white-papers on grass roots consumer surveys. When was the last time you read a dealer generated white paper that asked consumers to share their motivations, processes, or influences in the car buying process.

Yes, the largest companies in our industry have case studies, but what about the dealers on the front lines of automotive sales and service? I would love to read local survey data from a dealership group that sees 2,000 customers a month in their sales and service channels.

Are you willing to share feedback from your store?

Industry experts, thought leaders, and peers are great motivators for change. Outside influences challenge dealers to consider looking at their businesses in a new way.

But why have dealers not asked their own customers for advice?

Dealers are asking consultants whether they should engage in Facebook. Did you ask you customers if they are regular Facebook users? Regular Twitter users? Foursquare?

Survey Your On-Site Customers

I just wanted to remind dealers that their local customer behavior is unique in many ways. By conducting regular in-store surveys over the next 30-60 days, you will get some data that can be monetized. You just have to define a process and start collecting data.

Here are some simple questions that you can ask your customers when they are in the store. Of course, you don’t have to ask them all of the questions at one time or visit:

1. Do you have a Google or YouTube Account?
2. Do you use Facebook? If Yes, how many times a week are you on Facebook?
3. Do you use Twitter? If Yes, how many times a week do you Tweet?
4. Have you ever used Groupon?
5. Do you use any of these mobile applications: FourSquare, Whrrl, or Google Places?
6. Did you visit Autotrader.com before coming in?
7. Did you visit Cars.com before coming in?
8. Did you visit our main website before you came in to purchase a car?

If Yes, How could we improve our website?

Don’t rely solely on out of town experts like me!

It’s your business so activate your local consumers to refine your marketing strategy.

Consider creating Point-Of-Sale (POS) materials to activate your customers to engage with your dealership online. Do you have any “Join Us on” Facebook, Twitter, or FourSquare desk cards, window stickers, or banners in the dealership?

Let’s get back to engaging our customers and collecting local marketing data that can be used to prioritize your digital marketing strategy.

Keep in mind that “conversion” for Google tracks responses via forms submission, which would not include phone calls that are generated by PPC campaigns.  This is one reason why dealers using PPC should include tracking phone numbers to capture all activity related to PPC clicks.

Since consumers call dealers more often than they submit leads, you just have to keep in mind that Google conversion “numbers” can be just a fraction of the true conversion metrics.

Setting Google Adwords Conversion Optimization On

The Conversion Optimizer is an AdWords feature that uses your AdWords Conversion Tracking data to get you more conversions at a lower cost. It optimizes your placement in each ad auction to avoid unprofitable clicks and gets you as many profitable clicks as possible.

How Conversion Optimization Works

With the Conversion Optimizer, you bid using a maximum CPA, which is the most you’re willing to pay for each conversion (such as a purchase or signup), or a Target CPA, which is the average amount you’d like to pay for a conversion.

Using historical information about your campaign, the Conversion Optimizer automatically finds the optimal equivalent cost-per-click (CPC) bid for your ad each time it’s eligible to appear. You still pay per click, but you no longer need to adjust your bids manually to reach your CPA goals and can benefit from improved ROI.

To calculate the optimal equivalent CPC bid, the Conversion Optimizer first calculates a predicted conversion rate for each auction. The Conversion Optimizer takes many factors into account, including your ad’s conversion history, the keyword’s broad match query, the user’s location, and the conversion rates of Google’s search and partner sites on the Display Network. The feature then generates an ad rank by combining your CPA bid, quality score and predicted conversion rate.

Improving your performance

Many advertisers using Conversion Optimizer have achieved double-digit percentage increases in conversions, while paying the same price or less for each conversion.

To begin using the Conversion Optimizer, you must have AdWords Conversion tracking enabled, and your campaign must have received at least 15 conversions in the last 30 days. Also, the campaign must have been receiving conversions at a similar rate for at least a few days.

Google recommends you run conversion tracking for at least two weeks before trying the conversion optimizer no matter what your volume of conversions is (more if you don’t have a high volume of conversions).

I hope you found this helpful!  Google Adwords should be a part of an comprehensive Automotive Advertising strategy.  When properly setup, Adwords can be a great sure for leads; sales, service and parts.

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

See you in Orlando, April 16-18th at the 2nd Annual Automotive Marketing Boot Camp

In the traditional advertising category I would add radio, TV, print publications, newspaper, printed yellow pages, billboards, and direct mail costs.  In the digital advertising category I would add website costs, Google Adwords or similar Pay-Per-Click models, digital display advertising, re-marketing, social media, third party leads, OEM leads, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services, and inventory advertising platforms like Autotrader.com and the Automotive Advertising Network (AAN).

The responses I get from car dealers vary, but can range from 10% digital to 95% digital.  This large swing reflects the tsunami of change that has engulfed the automotive industry in the last 10 years. These massive changes are not limited to the automotive sector.  All business owners are being faced with the challenge of being open to reconsider if the  yellow pages, radio, TV, and newspaper are connecting their brand with the majority of in market buyers.

The Opportunities For Education

Recently I spoke with a dealer who had just purchased an existing franchise store that need a complete renovation.  He shared all the costs associated with the refit of the building and his upcoming opening. He wanted to turn around this store and make it profitable location.

The conversation we had was focused on how he could make the biggest impact on the market with this new point.  Intermixed with the conversation was frequent reminders of how much he was investing in the store, how much this place needed a capital investment, and how much he wanted to make this work.

When I asked him on what portion of his budget was allocated to digital marketing, the answer surprising.  Aside from his costs to setup his new website, he had not budgeted for any other digital marketing of the dealership.   His advertising plans were solely radio, TV, and print, and I won’t share what he planned to spend.  When I suggested an initial investment of $3,000 a month in digital marketing strategies, he said that he didn’t have that much to spend.

Welcome to 2011 and the wide gap in knowledge and confidence that digital marketing is a core strategy for automotive retailing.

Eliminate The Extremes

It is easy to say that a car dealer that is only spending 10% in digital marketing is spending too little on new media since over 90% of car buyers use the Internet to research a car.  It may also be safe to say that a dealer who eliminates all radio, TV, newspaper, and direct mail are missing a segment of their local market that is influenced by these channels.

Ignoring the extremes, I would like to suggest that to bigger opportunity is to move the majority of car dealers that under utilize digital marketing to the middle.  From a survey conducting by PCG Digital Marketing with dealers across the country, the current  average “allocation” for digital investments is 20-25% of a dealers total advertising budget.

I would like to see the average dealer investment in digital marketing move to 50% in the next year. Those that say 50% is still too little, I’ll be working on another industry move in 2012!  We can’t parallel park the Titanic in Manhattan without some patience.

Moving digital spending to 50% would be considered a massive change but one that this industry needs to embrace.  This reallocation of traditional marketing investments will not happen without a massive effort to reeducated the dealer community.  Proper education on the strategies and opportunities that digital marketing can provide will help make those steps to 50% + with confidence.  Today, dealers either are not moving because of fear or they just don’t know better.  Neither position is attractive to an entrepreneur.

Automotive Advertising Education

We can assume that dealers will make this move on their own but there will be a tremendous opportunity cost for those that take the slow path to 50%; an that still is not the end game.  Since first responders are rewarded in search, the sooner dealers make this move, the more they will be rewarded.  This move will need a coordinated effort by industry leaders, vendors, and educational agencies to educate dealers on all of the new media opportunities and marketing strategies for automotive advertising.

Dealer principals need to be able to clearly differentiate and measure the benefits of SEO, SEM, social media, display advertising, and inventory syndication.  Every time I conduct a seminar at a 20 Group meeting or at an automotive conference, light bulbs go off in the audience.  Dealers are truly thankful to be shown, in plain English, why their lack of digital marketing investments is hurting their brand.

Automotive Marketing Conference

We need to coordinate more “light bulb” experiences at 20 Groups, conferences, and regional teaching events.  One of those opportunities for education is the 2011 Automotive Marketing Boot Camp in Orlando, April 16th-18th organized by my company PCG Digital Marketing.  The Boot Camp will be held at the beautiful Hilton Orlando hotel and has attracted a wonderful team of industry leaders and dealership employees to teach.

Dealers spending less than 50% of your total advertising budget on digital marketing and new media,  need to attend and find out what is working for dealers that have made that have crossed that line  If dealers wants to increase their dominant market position, they should attend to learn that latest strategies for digital marketing and social media from industry leaders.

I would also like to suggest that at least 2 people from each dealership should attend.  Why?  Because the best opportunity for change occurs when the dealer principals or GM  learns side by side with their eCommerce Director or Internet Sales manager.  Too many things can get lost in translation when one of these two roles are missing.

The good news is that attendees and educators at the Boot Camp will be willing to share exactly what is working and how they are measuring the ROI of that investment.  Dealers can register for the Boot Camp and make the decision to invest in education and the future of their dealership today.  The event website is located at: http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com

Chrysler executives told dealers it would spend 68% more on automotive advertising this year to support 16 new or freshened models, and complete an ongoing effort to have all 2,400 dealers selling Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram truck brands, dealers said Sunday.

As large media companies reported the 2010 Q4 reports, all have posted strong increases in Automotive Advertising, some as much as 70%.  From a January press release from the Publishers Information Bureau (PIB):

The Automotive category generated the biggest percentage increases in revenue (21.9%) and pages (16.9%) vs. 2009. General Motors Corp. led all automotive advertising in magazines, spending $385,380,000 in 2010, up 56% compared to 2009′s magazine ad spend of $246,456,000.

“The significant increase in automotive advertising mirrors the general uptick in the economy that is benefiting magazine media,” said Jung. “Automotive manufacturers are continuing to invest in magazines because magazines and the Internet are considered the most influential sources of information for brands especially in the final stages of purchase decisions.”

With this momentum, it is clear that manufacturers and retail car dealers need leadership and guidance on how to best leverage that spending,  Social media is clearly a growing channel that the automotive industry is tapping.  Recent Superbowl commercials from major automotive manufacturers linked social media contests and promotions.  With Facebook growing into an eCommerce and search engine of its own, the auto industry is mining new ways to hit consumer gold.

Automotive Advertising Strategies

PCG Digital Marketing specializes in digital marketing strategies for the automotive industry.  One of those successful strategies is the Automotive Advertising Network (AAN) which was just recognized at the 2011 NADA Convention with a Dealer Satisfaction Award.

In the competitive category “Used Car Advertising Platforms” the AAN was voted to Top Rated platform sharing the awards podium with Autotrader.com and Cars.com.  According to Jon Sherrell, eCommerce Director at Rairdon Auto Group in Washington, “The AAN has help Rairdon increase new and used car sales by 48% year over year.”

PCG Digital Marketing has also found great success with the AAN for distributing press releases, content, and news through the network’s microsites.

By implementing a 360 degree digital marketing strategy, PCG can create more paths that lead to the dealer’s website.  Social media, blogging, press releases, and industry websites are all part of the automotive advertising strategy.

Facebook display advertising and contests have also been a growing trend for car dealer spending and the ROI is strong. PCG Digital Marketing has run a number of successful campaigns that had clear connections to cars sold as well as significant increase in local fan followers.

Recent announcement by Facebook which allows cars to be advertised in their Facebook Marketplace however have not been very successful.  Most dealers have found that in its current configuration, the amount of leads or calls generated by Facebook Marketplace does not justify the advertising investment.

Reporting on his experience with Facebook Marketplace, one eCommerce Director told us via email:

“Unfortunately I have no data other than no leads. I ran for three months. My frustration was that there are no reporting tools what so ever. IMO it was not worth the 299 (pretty sure) I paid for it. I canceled in both stores at the end of Jan. Unless they make some major advances, I don’t see any advantages.”

Digital Marketing Evaluation

Car dealers who are looking for education, mentoring, and leadership in the most successful automotive advertising strategies can contact PCG Digital Marketing for a consultation. Automotive consultations can be scheduled by contacting Carrie Hemphill at 732.450.8200.

Digital Compass Marketing is the parent company that offers the Automotive Advertising Network (AAN), the industry’s first optimized, dealer-centric network with no third-party ads, designed to promote car dealers’ inventories on national, regional, local and specialty sites.

Ananth Godavari, Partner at Digital Compass Marketing said, “We are thrilled at the level of success dealers are having in the Automotive Advertising Network.  Dealer members are capitalizing on the various opportunities available and the program is a natural fit with dealers who are already implementing social media and SEO strategies.”

The DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction Awards measure satisfaction with services provided by vendors by allowing dealers to rate and review their vendors online at DrivingSales.com.  Only vendors who achieved top rankings in dealer satisfaction in each category, as determined by the thousands of auto dealers who are part of the DrivingSales.com community, received awards.

“We are proud to present a DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction ‘Top Rated’ Used Car Advertising Award to Digital Compass Marketing said DrivingSales CEO and Founder Jared Hamilton. “This award is a reflection of the excellent results Digital Compass Marketing has generated for dealerships across the nation, and we are proud to recognize their accomplishment.”

Full award results are available online at www.DrivingSales.com/dealersatisfactionaward. Full broadcast coverage of the DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction Awards ceremony is available at drivingsalestv.com.

Used Car Advertising on the AAN

Developed by industry experts Brian Pasch, Sean Wolfington, David Boice and Ananth Godavari, the AAN is a comprehensive digital marketing and branding platform that utilizes proven practices in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), inventory advertising, social media and content publishing to advertise and sell dealer inventory.

Using these proven SEO strategies, the AAN helps dealers establish high quality, exclusive leads for less money, translating into higher closing ratios and lower costs for the dealers.  Plus, unlike traditional third party lead collectors, the dealer’s own inventory-listing pages are free of competing ads.

The AAN has changed the playing field for dealers who have typically had to compete with national third- party lead providers who have long had an advantage on the search engines because of their national footprint and corresponding search authority.

To learn more about the AAN, it’s member benefits and features, please visit www.automotiveadvertisingnetwork.com.

“I am very passionate about helping dealer professionals lead their business with effective digital marketing and social media strategies,” says Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing, “In 2011 PCG will be announcing additional initiatives and partnerships, like the Automotive Internship Program, to assist car dealers with educating their team to master the skills needed to be successful with automotive retailing.”

PCG is Highest Rated Automotive Marketing Trainers

The DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction Awards, presented at the 2011 NADA Convention and Expo, measure satisfaction with services provided by vendors by allowing dealers to rate and review their vendors online at DrivingSales.com.

“We are proud to present the DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction ‘Highest Rated’ (category) Award to (company name) for achieving what we consider to be the highest possible accolade: the satisfaction of their customers,” said DrivingSales CEO and Founder Jared Hamilton. “This award is a reflection of the excellent results (company name) has generated for dealerships across the nation, and we are proud to recognize their accomplishment.”

Full broadcast coverage of the DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction Awards ceremony is available online .

PCG Digital Marketing is a full service digital marketing agency that serves the Automotive Industry. PCG is nationally recognized as a leader in Automotive Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and automotive digital marketing.

Brian Pasch, CEO and founder of PCG Digital Marketing is an active blogger, writer and speaker at automotive conferences, 20 Groups and digital marketing forums. PCG Digital Marketing is also the creator of the Automotive Website Awards which recognizes the best automotive websites platforms based on their search marketing effectiveness, the Digital Marketing Strategies Conference and Automotive Marketing Boot Camp.

Are you planning on going to the 10th Digital Dealer Conference in Orlando in April? Consider booking the Dynamic Duo of automotive conferences in the Spring of 2011.

The 2011 Automotive Marketing Boot Camp, hosted by PCG Digital Marketing, is scheduled from April 16th – 18th in Orlando Florida.  Automotive advertising and marketing professionals will be staffing the Boot Camp to provide hands on education to car dealers in the USA and Canada.

We are encouraging attendees to fly into Orlando on Saturday April 16th in the afternoon to participate in the evening kick-off reception on Saturday night.  The Automotive Marketing Boot Camp will attract car dealers who want to increase their search visibility and dominate their local markets.

The Automotive Marketing Boot Camp will feature two full days of classes on Sunday and Monday to provide the strongest educational experience for all that attend.

The Automotive Marketing Boot Camp (#AMBC) will provide and early breakfast on Tuesday morning April 19th. After breakfast, attendees who will be going to the 10th Digital Dealer Conference can shoot over for opening day activities.

The conference centers will be less than 5 minutes away from each other so jump over the DD10 will be very easy.

More details on the Boot Camp will be posted in January as we finalize the roster of speakers, educators, and sponsors. Last year the Boot Camp attendees posted rave reviews of their investment of time for this event. Don’t miss out on this dynamic due of automotive conferences in April.

Booking Flights to Orlando?

So if you are booking your flights to the 10th Digital Dealer Conference early to save money, keep the Boot Camp opportunity mind. The Automotive Marketing Boot Camp is $795 per person for the 3 day event and will be the best investment in education you can make in April.

Visit: http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com for more details. See you in Orlando!