News

The Automotive SEM Study will provide free training to car dealers who register for the 4-week event.  Training is delivered via a series of webinars that will guide dealers through creating, managing, and analyzing paid digital marketing campaigns.

The study is open to car dealer employees only and registration is required.  The dates of the webinars are: June 19^th, June 25^th, July 3^rd, and July 19^th.

Study members will be trained and coached on the proper setup, execution, and measurement of paid advertising campaigns.  Participating dealers will have access to winning digital marketing strategies, marketing outlines, tutorials and websites managed by PCG Digital Marketing that will enhance the results of their work. In return, members in the study will share the results of their work and will be included in a whitepaper being prepared by PCG Digital Marketing.

Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing, is quoted, “Paid search is becoming increasingly important to a dealer’s marketing strategy so they need to have a better understanding of how it works.  Being informed will enable them to prepare their own campaigns or better manage companies that want to do SEM for them.”

Automotive professionals who are currently working at car dealerships and want to master powerful SEM strategies to improve the search visibility of their website are invited to participate in the Automotive Search Engine Marketing study.

For more information and to register, please visit http://www.automotivesemstudy.com

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

PCG has announced new digital marketing strategies to help car dealers do MORE with the existing website and showroom traffic. The response has been amazing so I’m sharing the opportunity to new potential clients.

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