ADM Professional Community Member Blogs

Social Media Math 101

2009-11-22T14:00:00.000Z

At the Driving Sale Executive Summit I had the opportunity to meet Chris Brogan and to hear him speak on social media trends.

I received a free copy of his book Trust Agents and have been reading it in between flights and work and it's really a great resource to focus your thought on social media strategies.

The book is a must read for anyone in your organization tasked with managing your social media campaigns.

On Page 79, Chris cites a "Trust Equation" created by the authors of a book called "The Trusted Advisor" which reads like this:

Trust = (Credibility x Reliability x Intimacy) / Self Orientation

The formula stuck out in my mind because it demonstrates the relationship of "self promotion" (S) in creating trust with the social community. For those of you who loved math, Self Orientation is in the denominator of the fraction. The higher this number goes, the lower your trust "result".

This formula should be taped on the computers that are used by your employees that manage your Twitter, Facebook or blogs. Remind your social media managers that too much self promotion will weaken the net effect of their social media efforts.

Social Media Topics That Can Build Trust

Things that build creditability

posting manufacturer recalls and safety warnings
acknowledging where your dealership has failed and how you fixed the problem
admitting when your competitors have done something better than you
pointing out third party sources than can help the members of your social community

Things that can build Reliability

provide car service tips for things that customers can do themselves
warn customers about extended warranty scams via phone or postcard
respond to people who post on your social media accounts promptly - without a pitch
provide online self-service documents that can help answer common questions

Things that can build Intimacy

Post a story of an employee winning a customer service contest and their trip to Hawaii
Share you staff's work in the community or with non-profit organizations
Post videos of your customers getting delivery on their cars

Everyone needs to create a list of things that they can do in each of these three categories. Inspect what you are posting to see where your social media posts fall.

If the last paragraph of every blog post is a reminder of how great you are or how wonderful your organization delivers "the goods", then you'll flunk social media math. Review your posts and see how many times you reference your company in a blog post or in a response/comment. Do the math.

If you have other suggestions on what dealers can write about to build trust, please share them.

Brian Pasch
http://twitter.com/automotiveseo

(B)ad Words: The Attack of the Same Old, Same Old Seasonal Promotions

2009-11-22T00:40:51.000Z

They’re back. Not the spirits from the film Poltergeist. Not Arnold Schwarzenegger from the film The Terminator. Not General MacArthur returning to the Philippines. Not Ace and Spike, your teenage son’s Goth pals who say that they have sworn off doing drugs until Christmas Day and that they are now dating Crystal and Beth instead of using Crystal Meth. At least for the time being. Worse.

B(ad) words.

The attack of the same old, same old seasonal promotions has begun. Hunkered down in their trenches, shell shocked consumers endured an incessant artillery barrage of OEM and dealer on line, print, radio and TV promotions since the end of Cash for Clunkers. Still, they held out hope for change that they could believe in. They wanted to see a different sort of presentation with respect to seasonal promotions. Alas, ‘twas not to be.

Peeking meekly over the parapets a few weeks ago, consumers were greeted by the sight of OEMs and dealers charging toward them, shouting the b(ad) words highlighted below. Check out these words, then ask yourself what these words actually do to compel customer curiosity about your product line? Are these b(ad) words empowering motivators or stressing de-motivators? Your inquiring mind should want to know.

Best - While searching for a Winter parka, I visited the websites of various, highly respected vendors of outdoor clothing and equipment. There, I encountered accurate descriptions and clear photos of parkas and customer reviews of the products. I did not encounter hyperbolic adjectives such as “best” or “better, nor did I find constant references to competitors’ products. For example, LL Bean’s website’s parka pages do not refer to products sold by Eastern Mountain Sports, Lands End or REI. Paradoxically, automotive OEM and dealer websites are replete with breathless references to their own products as “best” and “better” as well as comparisons to products sold by the enemy. Why do automotive OEMs and dealers seem so eager to put their competitors’ names and products in front of consumers’ eyes? Why, indeed? Perhaps automotive OEMs and dealers could learn a valuable lesson from LL Bean and similar vendors. Focus exclusively on the functionality and quality of your own product. Know the competition, but don’t mention it unless the consumers ask you about it.

Cash Back - While recently checking out new fishing rods advertised on Cabela’s website, not once did I see this disclaimer: “Because we have so little confidence in the inherent value of this fishing rod and because we are so desperate for business, we are offering you “cash back” simply for visiting our website and for purchasing this item.” All kidding aside, despite the reality that “cash back” promotions have become accepted practice over the past decade, do these promotions not send a subliminal message to consumers that OEMs and dealers are manufacturing, marketing and selling vehicles that, absent substantive “cash back” hooks, are not really worthy of being parked in Americans’ garages?

Deal - “Deal” is what a burned out Las Vegas casino card flipper does on a daily basis. I also think of this word when I see a bald, pirate earring-sporting game show host ogling Hooters alumnae who are holding suitcases as he asks contestants, “Deal or no deal?” Way back when, a “deal” used to refer to a business agreement between two parties. In those times of yore, honesty, honor and integrity were central to the process. As time passed, a “deal” came to mean a deeply discounted price on a specific item. Consumers were conditioned to fight to secure the best possible “deal” (price), while OEMs and dealers were conditioned to give a good “deal” out of necessity while trying simultaneously to hold gross. Accordingly, showroom floors can still resemble Roman arenas, despite the commendable, herculean efforts of dealers to de-stress the shopping and buying experience.

Event - An “event” is a meltdown of the core of a reactor at a nuclear power plant. An “event” is your mother in law coming over for Thanksgiving dinner and announcing upon arrival that she is planning to stay for a month. An “event” is your teenage daughter calling you at 1:14 a.m. and wailing, “Dad, you’re not going to believe this, but (fill in the blank) … ummm, uhhhh, there’s a police officer here who wants to speak to you.” (Ha ha ha. Been there, done that. Unfun but memorable days, to be sure.)

Here’s a message for “John Boy” Walton (actor Richard Thomas): please stop telling consumers to travel to their local Mercedes-Benz dealer to take advantage of a Winter “event” that involves purchasing a German-built “Geldwagen” before the “event” ends when a gigantic meteor strikes the dealership at month end. We understand that the Mensa Men of Mercedes (known in the rap world as Triple M) dearly love the elite sound of the word “event”, but the bad news is that the use of the word has spread to many other OEMs faster than the H1N1 flu virus, and Tamiflu cannot stop it. Only you can. While you’re at it, “John Boy”, please ask your mates at Land Rover to refrain from having Winston Churchill’s great-grandson refer to “Lend Rova” “events”, too. The consumers know that OEMs and dealers are trying to polish a sneaker by replacing the word “sale” with the word “event”, so it’s white flag time. Surrender. Find a more appropriate word to describe current happenings, and you’ll be just fine.

Holidays - There’s probably a better chance of hitting Powerball than of seeing specific references to “Thanksgiving”, "Eid ul Adha", “Al Hijra”, Bodhi Day”, “Hanukkah”, “Christmas” and “Kwanzaa” on OEMs’ or dealers’ websites. Be bold. Defy conventional PC trends. Delight and surprise your Buddhist, Christian, Jewish and Muslim customers and website visitors. Make the world a better place. Dare to define holidays with specificity on your websites instead of denying holidays with generic generalities. Of course, you will probably field a complaint or two from Jivaro headshrinkers who reside in the far reaches of the Amazon Rain Forest because you neglected to mention their preferred holiday, but you can take that matter up directly with the Jivaro’s head cheese / chief. Enough of hollow, tepid “Seasons Greetings!” Step up to acknowledge openly and to celebrate the rich holiday traditions of many cultures. Your customers and website visitors will thank you for your courage.

Hurry - Consumers hate being pushed, pressured and rushed during the car search process. In fact, anxiety over losing control of this search process is probably the number one problem consumers refer to when they express concerns about the overall car buying experience. Not wanting to pick on “John Boy” Walton again, but it’s definitely annoying to hear him implore consumers to “hurry” to their local M-B dealer as if the fate of the world were dependent upon their timely arrival. How would you feel if the person behind you in line at the grocery store admonished you to “hurry” as you were placing your groceries on the belt to be scanned? Yeah, I thought so. People who tell other people to “hurry” are likely to be told to S.T.F.U. Ditto for OEMs and dealers who push deliberate consumers’ buttons. Just as with OEMs’ more frequent use of the word “event”, the “hurry” cancer is spreading like wildfire from OEM to OEM, and one can only hope that a combo of chemo and radiation will kill the metastasizing “hurry” tumors before they alienate too many prospective buyers who do not want to be poked and prodded to get their behinds in gear.

Limited - The word “limited” connotes lines of demarcation, borders, boundaries and no go zones. Conversely, the word “unlimited” connotes freedom, liberty, openness and a wide open world. Why would any OEM or dealer want to send a message to consumers that opportunities are limited in nature? In today’s economy where all consumers experience maximum freedom to explore on line, the OEM or dealer who decreases consumers’ comfort factor by implying or explicitly highlighting too many restrictions will cause those consumers to shop elsewhere.

Offer - In the film Apocalypto, the Maya “offers” consisted of human sacrifices, gifts given to their gods in a futile attempt to ward off disease and societal disintegration. Today, many of us “offer” voluntary donations to our respective religious organizations to assist charities of our choice. An “offer” is indeed a gift. OEMs and dealers regularly describe constantly changing promotional incentives as “offers”, but how are these “offers” described (verbally and in writing) to consumers? Consumers have come to view “offers” (gifts) as nothing more than expected numbers and not as unexpected but appreciated gifts. While OEMs and dealers cannot change consumers’ propensity to be self-centered and perhaps even a bit spoiled, they (OEMs and dealers) can shape the definition of an “offer” (promotional incentive) so that there’s no doubt whatsoever that there’s real value inherent in the “offer” and that the “offer”, as a gift, constitutes a dramatic “step up” by the OEM and dealer that deserves appropriate acknowledgement from the consumers.

Sale - “Sale” … now, here’s a “beaten to death” word that doesn’t need a fork stuck in it for us to know that it’s done. As in “all done.” In 2009’s 24 x7 on line marketplace, consumers expect merchandise to be on “sale” (to some degree) on a consistent basis. When OEMs or dealers breathlessly inform consumers about an upcoming special “sale”, today’s educated, well informed, Starbuck-sipping, nail-clipping consumers are likely to yawn and reply, “Yeah, and the sun came up this morning, too, so, what else is new?” Clearly, the word “sale” has been overused to such an extent for the past few decades that it has lost the ability to create buzz or excitement. It means nada, nothing, the big goose egg, zilch. Avoid using this word like the bubonic plague. Say a prayer for it, visit its gravesite once in a while and leave flowers, but please, allow it to rest in peace.

Zero (“0”) - ”Zero” (“0”), “nothing”, “no cost”, keep repeating these words ad nauseam as you reflect that “Zero World” has become the (forced) environment of OEMs and dealers for the past five years. At a worrisome time when the government is striving to turn the USA into “Something for Nothing Nation” where the favorite anthem sung under the Capitol Dome and at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is “Somebody Else Is Gonna Pay”, consumers are seeing more and more of the ill conceived “Zero World” marketing mentality.

Consumers pay 0% interest, consumers pay “zero” to get their vehicles serviced (“no cost” maintenance, yeah, right), soon, consumers start to suffer from “zero” commitment to fund and secure their own well being. Of course, these very same consumers who are rabid “zero heroes” when it comes to interest rates and “no cost” maintenance schedules will scream bloody murder when the time comes for their minimally maintained and serviced “rat trades” to be given actual cash values on the current market.

With regard to feckless politicians’ “Zero World”, come on, who is kidding whom? OEMs and dealers absorb the costs of automotive “Zero World” to the detriment of profit margins, our capitalist economy and our society as a whole. Consumers get used to “consuming” in a surreal world where their cost is too often “zero” because “somebody else is gonna pay”, the concept of personal responsibility takes a back seat to selfishness, and these two ominous trends become more and more widespread to the detriment of our nation. OEMs and dealers would be wise to work together to deep six the unworkable “Zero World” theme before Zero World’s favorite numeral (“0”) becomes all too prominent on their monthly statements.

So, there you are. (B)ad words. Perhaps some are just ad words and don’t deserve the moniker “bad.” Whatever the appropriate description might be, take a fresh look at the relevant seasonal promotions that are being “shouted out” to your consumer base, review them to establish and evaluate the presence of various (b)ad words, and consider attacking the end of year selling season from an entirely new direction. Your consumers, battered and buffeted up to now by the same old, same old (b)ad words, will likely be glad you did.

Additional Info....

2009-11-20T15:40:46.000Z

Dealers,Managers,Potential Reps.....we are taking all questions you may have about AutoMax Blast.If we haven't gotten back to you in a day,please forgive us,been bombarded.Please email remmons@aol.com or call 800-878-5090 press 2 with any questions or need info sent out to you.There are very few legit "No Brainers" out there...but THIS IS one of them!

Social Media Marketing; Best and Worst Practices - How Hot Is It?

2009-11-20T10:24:49.000Z

Social Media Marketing is hot, if you went to any of the more recent automotive conferences, such as Dealer Synergy Sessions in Atlanta, Driving Sales Executive Summit in Las Vegas, J. D. Power Automotive Internet Roundtable at the Red Rock Resort (somewhere far, far away from the Las Vegas Airport), or the 7th Digital Dealer Conference in Nashville, you could not help but notice all the buzz around "Social This" and "Social That". Heck, just take a look at the Google Trends charts I pulled (shown above and below) and you can see the comparison between recent hot topics like “Search Marketing” being overtaken by interest in “Social Media” for search term volume and references being made in news publications, and that's using data from the biggest search engine of them all, Google.
In the chart inserted below, you can see where the term "Social Media Marketing" came from oblivion in April 2009 to become a hotter topic than "Search Engine Marketing". You can click on the chart to open a new browser window with the current Google Trends Chart for the same terms...

Now, for those of you who fancy yourselves as being ahead of the curve in automotive marketing matters, if you joined ADM in the early days, January through March of 2008, then congratulations are in order because you have been able to learn a lot about, and see Social Media Marketing in action just be being an early member of the ADM Professional Community. You have been seeing how and why it has grown, when ADM has stumbled as a community and when ADM has soared in terms of traffic to this Professional Community, as measured by Google Analytics and the volume of subscribed members and activities. One of the things I like the most about Twitter, is that it is a great way to measure "buzz" or how hot a topic is... Because we have the ability to search every tweet and topic sent out from millions of accounts, we can get a very large samples size... And, what a sample it is! The average Twitter user earns OVER $175,000 a year, so these are not kids sex-texting or teenagers doing stuff on MySpace... And, if they are, well they make enough money to buy cars, that's for sure! Any ways, using the cool "Twiitter Venn" application located at:
http://www.neoformix.com/Projects/TwitterVenn We can enter any combination of terms or keywords and see how many people are tweeting with those words in their Tweets... now, as in not just today, but the most recent 24 hours as of right frickin' now. When I entered the words Search Engine Marketing” and compare it to “Social Media Marketing” in the volume of activity around those words on Twitter, the results are significant. I also ran "Search Marketing" compared to "Social Media", which is what the second chart shows. Again, click on either image to see the real-time update as of the moment you read this article to notice if the predominance of Social Media over Search Marketing has subsided.

Of course, none of this has been subjected to scientific scrutiny and validation, but I do not need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows! and these are observation being made by a lot of people that know what they are doing... The Twitter Venn Charts below give you an idea of what a lot of people using Twitter are focused on, and in many cases what they expect from business like car dealers. You can click on the image to open the actual Twitter Venn app in a new browser window:

Getting back to the topic of the last two months of automotive marketing and sales related conferences, by the time I got to Digital Dealer in Nashville, I was beginning to worry about how all this “hotness” around the topic of Social Media and how dealers can use it in their marketing and advertising strategies, was going to play out... One thing is for certain about this space, we already have learned (we being those of us who have actually DONE IT!), that there are some undisputed "Best Practices" and quite a few "Worst Practices" (some bordering on having a marketing death-wish), in the hows, whens, whys and whats of dealers getting into the mix of engaging with social media channels, Web 2.0 and User Generated Content (UGC) sites.
DEALER GROUP A (80% TO 90%)
In the car business, when it comes to new technology that changes our business capabilities, dealers can be divided into two groups... The first group are the "Don't Touch My F@#$ing Cheese" types which is 80% to 90% of us, or the dealers we work for. This group typically tries to apply what has worked in the past to whatever new marketing mediums come along. Or, they want to see at least a dozen other dealers that have tried something, and then get sworn depositions with an outside CPA accounting audit to prove an ROI before they dare risk any marketing or advertising budget on something as risky as "New Ideas".

DEALER GROUP B (10% TO 20%)
However, there is the other group, the 10% to 20% of "Entrepreneur Dealers" (or, REAL dealers) who will take a look at that new marketing medium and study it to determine if there are any unique characteristics that bring enhanced communication or persuasive capabilities that may not have been present in previous marketing or media channels. These Entrepreneur Dealers will try to leverage what makes the new media different as a means of gaining a marketing, advertising or sales advantage. Think what the term "American Ingenuity" meant at some point in the past and you will have the general idea of what I am describing...

Already, we have seen many dealers take the "Group A" approach by entering the social media marketing channel like party crashers with no class, manners or respect for the host. These are the dealers who are oblivious to any of the formal terms of use and clearly stated rules, or the informal etiquette and manners that these social communities live by. I have seen dealers go into various social network and User Generated Content (UGC) channels simply as another place to pump in as many of their current advertising campaign collateral materials as thyey can get away with. In many cases this makes the dealer look crass, ill mannered and not the kind of business people will want to visit offline.

DIGITAL ADVERTISING IS GOOD
Keep in mind that I personally ADORE good automotive digital advertising and admire the creative talent that is demonstrated by a lot of it. I have in the past and will continue to encourage dealers to leverage the investment they make in producing TV commercials and Radio Spots by uploading them, along with detailed text based descriptions that explain what the campaign is about and has links built into the text that point to calls for action, such as RFQ forms... It has been my experience that TV spots, out-takes and bloopers from when they were being made, along with good old fashioned vehicle walk-around presentations that are video recorded make great clips to upload to video sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler, Metacafe, or better yet, your own dealer sponsored Social Network! Then post a recommendation of the page those clips appear on, along with another bunch of descriptive text, tags and headlines to bookmarking sites like Digg, Delicious and StumbleUpon.

But for the most part, many dealers are not exactly sure about the difference between social media marketing "Best Practices" and what tactics are actually "Worst Practices" when it applies to online community participation arising out of their business development objectives or simply trying to drum up business. I do not pretend to know what every community or social network will or will not tolerate, but I have learned a lot from both a personally professional perspective, and while doing social media marketing work for over 20 dealerships at this point. These guidelines for how to behave at these online gatherings and communities we call social networks are an ongoing work in progress and as social networks and the communities they spawn continue to emerge, grow, evolve and change, not only will the rules and etiquette change, but they will be quite different from one social network to the next. For example, here at ADM it is OK for suppliers to write about their solutions, and then have other suppliers and/or dealers who are or are not customers subsequently post comments stating that what the posting supplier has written is bull shit... In many other automotive professional communities this would not be tolerated... Here at ADM it is encouraged... Viva la' differance!

So, what are some of the most generally accepted rules of behavior and community etiquette that are usually appropriate across most social networks and online communities? What are some of the universally accepted Best Practices that dealers could use as tactics to execute their social media marketing strategies? And, conversely what are the definitive blunders and Worst Practices that dealers should avoid in almost any social network of online community?

Social Media Best Practices:

1. Define and Document Your Strategy - Let me start #1 by quoting something that Michael Keranen, Vice President of Digital Marketing at American Honda Motor Company said to me a couple of weeks ago "I see a lot of dealers and car companies engaged in social media tactics that are obviously being used without any cohesive strategy or integration with their other marketing objectives..." (I am paraphrasing from memory, so forgive me Michael) What Mr. Keranen states confirms what I recommend to all dealers and car companies, before getting into this social media space: Define what your dealership strategy is going to be by getting professional guidance! This is a new and powerful marketing communication medium, don't screw it up with a bogus strategy! If you do not want to pay the typical $2,000 (or more) daily rate that most social media proficient automotive consultants charge to come in and help you craft an effective social media marketing strategy, then you are screwed! (Just kidding, relax...) If you need to do the Dollar Central or TJ Maxx version of getting professional assistance, then use your own head and go buy "The Social Media Bible" by Lon Safko and David Brake (my personal favorite) or some other credible book like "Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide: Business thinking and strategies behind successful Web 2.0 implementations" by Amy ShuenStart. Whatever you do, despite what many people think, Social Media Marketing si neither free nor is it easy, so you better do your homework if you are not going to get professional assistance. But, most importantly, you need to start by planning and strategizing, avoid jumping into tactics and creating stuff inside of social networks and online communities until you have a plan... Do your research and take a flip chart to map out what your Social Media Blueprint is going to look like... Define the customers and the local communities you want to reach. List your objectives and desired outcomes, but make sure they are realistic and based on what can actually be done with social media. When you get done, your strategy is what guides your tactics, your objectives are based on what your strategy prioritizes, and your Tools and Technologies will determine the performance metrics you are able to track and measure as a component of your objectives. There are plenty of places you can get professional assistance with almost any level of budget. Online guidance is the least expensive, followed by various webinars and videos. Being a recovering consultant, I am biased and would recommend that you hire any one of dozens of good automotive social marketing consultants to come in for two days with the agreement that they don't get paid until they deliver a clearly written and documented strategy that was developed in collaboration with you and your management team.

2. Conversation is Marketing – Successful social media marketing programs are best characterized by listening, acknowledging, exploring and responding (LAER). Your response should be focused on delivering value before expecting anything in return. Social media marketing is not “car sales” as usual, you will "Sell Cars By Accident" before too long, and dealers who "get it" will start selling cars sooner than those that try to sell cars too aggressively in this space. .

3. People and Time is the New Currency - Dealers will need to commit resources by dedicating employee hours each day to their social media marketing strategy. Regardless of whether you use an outside supplier like Brian Pasch, J. D. Rucker, Paul Rushing or my own team at ADP Digital Marketing, you will need to assign employee time in order for your social media marketing startegy to be successful... Otherwise, it will definitely fail. It is important as part of your "Social Media Tactical Blueprint" you allocate hours to each assigned employee, define what they will be required to do, when it must be completed by on a recurring schedule, how it is to be done and where the work will be done. Your Tactical Blueprint needs to be built around what it takes to succeed, and not some sort of half-assed experimental marketing pilot. If your social media marketing implementation is successful, scalability will become an insurmountable issue without knowing the match around the hours of resources required. For example, by now you probably know that the strategy i developed for the ADP Social Marketing and Reputation Management solution centers around building a dealership sponsored social network site that we call an "Automotive Community". Well, that community needs to have a manager that works for you. But, the hours your Community Manager must commit will be greatly reduced when you use ADP, or any other supplier as part of your social media monitoring program. Either way, the roles and responsibilities of the dealership's Community Manager should be defined and documented, regardless of whether it is outsourced or managed inside your dealership..

4. Transparency Sets You Free to Succeed - Dealers should not try to pretend they are not car dealers (doh)! Be transparent by clearly stating who you are and what your intentions are within your online community profiles. To do otherwise is to risk far more than you can gain... Getting caught lying within a social network by using false information in your profiles will alienate the customers you are seeking to connect with. The Ancira Auto group in San Antonio has over 120 social media accounts and profiles. Their objective is to drive membership and activity in theoir employee sponsored online community at www.AnciraCommunity.com and they say so in every one of their 120+ social network and online community profiles, along with a link to their own community! As you set up profiles, hopefully on a daily basis, in various online communities, make sure you know what the community is all about and what types of commercial messages are considered appropriate. Being transparent includes stating your intentions as a mission statement or purpose, such as:

"Please visit and join the San Antonio Automotive Community at www.AnciraCommunity.com. The Ancira Auto Group in San Antonio, Texas is seen by most as a dealership, a business enterprise.... Yet when you get to know the people that work there, you soon see that the 14 Ancira Auto Group dealerships are communities of people who are committed to their customers and believe in the products and services they provide. With so much happening online that involves consumer uploaded content and various social networks the employees of the Ancira Auto Group wanted to create an open online community for Ancira customers, employees, suppliers and people who work for our partners at Ford, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Nissan, Kia, Mercury, Pontiac, Buick, GMC, Volkswagen and Smart to share their experiences, collective wisdom, insights and information about how to better enjoy the ownership of the cars, trucks, SUVs and RVs that Ancira Auto Group dealerships sell and service... We look forward to welcoming you to our community and we hope you will join, participate, enjoy and gain from it!"

”CardinaleWay Mazda in Mesa, Arizona sponsors an online community for Mazda owners, enthusiasts and fans at http://www.MazdaCommunity.org please become a Facebook fan and show your support for CardinaleWay Mazda's sponsorship of this free resource.”... It’s fine if your social media marketing objectives are to increase sales, but do you remember what the first rule of selling cars is? Build a relationship first! Your dealership's participation in social networks and online communities should be driven by finding ways to deliver the kind of value that facilitates relationships, which lead to sales. Attempting to hit people with head on sales pitches on Facebook, or almost any social network accomplishes the opposite of what you intend.

5. Give Up Control - Let's face reality, most of us in the car business are control freaks... Or at least we think we are. It is difficult to let go of the old school way of think and dealers naturally want to treat social media marketing like advertising... And, who controls what is said in advertising? Dealers do. In advertising the control of messaging and content is a lot of what dealers are paying for. Like it or not, when you put information on social networks, or upload photos and video files into the social web, customers, competitors and a variety of people will inevitably download it, comment on it, meld it together with other stuff, distort it, take it out of context and repupose it according to their own motives. Dealers need to protect their identities, copyrighted materials and any intellectual property they put to use, but rather than seeking complete control of all message content at all times, dealers should upload the files and content they choose to allow and encourage people to create mashups and express themselves.

6. Employee, Supplier and Consumer Participation, Commentary and Content Creation - Every dealer I have worked with on social media marketing starts off with a certain level of paranoia and concern over content creation. Eventually, every single dealer I have worked with becomes more comfortable with social web participation. In fact, without the content creation and contributions from a wide variety of people in a dealer's community, social media marketing would be pointless. The best social marketing dealers will see opportunities to encourage participation with communications, especially with enthusiasts and other brand evangelists who have the ability to influence people. Developing relationships and community within social communities on the web can facilitate buy in, provide business development opportunities and the types of viral marketing and networking that effectively grows a dealership's customer base and sales volume..

7. Performance Metrics and Tracking Systems Based on Objectives - These objectives should be relevant to the social media property. More than a few dealers see the results of national social media efforts ranging from World Series highlight commercials on YouTube to social participation during and after the Driving Sales Executive Summit and the J. D. Power Automotive Internet Roundtable and say to me “I want that too”. Actual sales attributed to social media marketing is the singular outcome that many social media efforts are first evaluated with... There is a tendency to focus on "The Ad was placed here on Monday" resulting in “Mr. Smith saw the ad and came into the dealership on Wednesday to buy the car" as an outcome. Social media marketing seems like the intersection of digital marketing and public relations, more than direct selling. It’s more like providing "Social Marketing" resources results in “Accounts, Profiles and Blogging Activity” that influences “Mr. Smith to ask if the dealer has any trade-ins that might work for his daughter who is going away to school in a week.". Performance Metrics used to measure social media marketing success need to consider the value of unencumbered communication channels with every consumer who becomes a “friend”, "fan", "subscriber", "follower", "connection", "contact" or whatever that social media channel calls it..., Plus, blogs, forum discussions, comments, links, etc as well as commercial outcomes influenced by dealer participation in social media, networks and communities.

Social Media Worst Practices:

1. Creating Fake Identities and Profiles - This is simply bad, bad, bad... Hey, I'm no angel and i have tried it, but it never works out and is a pain in the ass to manage... Cookies are everywhere, IP and MAC addresses are logged by evey type of social media channel and false identity in any way isn’t good for your dealership or anyone else using the social web. You have probably heard about companies like Walmart and Sony who used their PR firms to attempt faking their way into getting consumers to believe sites like the "Sony PSP" blog or the "Walmarting Across America" blog were actually authored by independent non-employee fans and brand evangelists, when in fact the authors had been hired by the companies and given the material to post as written by the PR teams. These companies, like Sony and Walmart have learned expensive lessons from their mistakes. Each of them, as well as every car company, now have social media sites that follow many of the best practices above. Regardless of what many experts seem to suggest, failure with social media is not some sort of “rite of passage” that dealers need to experience... Keep it real!.

2. Not Setting Up Listening and Monitoring Systems - How can you learn anything if you are only pushing information out and not receiving it? Set up several social media listening systems, such as the widgets that Twitter makes available for such purposes, Google alerts and several other tools that allow you to see whenever your dealership is mentioned online. Listening is one of the most valuable returns from a social media marketing program. And, listening is the most important step in learning about social communities on the web. Listening and monitoring the buzz is important when starting out and on an ongoing basis to monitor conversations, identifying disgruntled customers quickly, and identifying the key automotive influencers in your dealership's marketing area. It is amazing how many social media monitoring tools that dealers have to choose from... And, most of them are amazingly inexpensive. :-)

3. Not Knowing BOTH the Formal and Unwritten Rules - With every social network or online community it is wise to be an online lurker for awhile before participating ior contributing content. Especially when you are a car dealer or salesperson. Learn to “speak like they do” when getting engaged in these social networks, applying subtle gestures of etiquette will improve your dealership visibility and encourage people to build relationships. An example is within our own ADM community I have noticed it has become common practice to identify previous commenters who a statement is directed towards with an "@" symbol, as in "@Ralph"... Social networking, news and media sharing sites all have Terms of Service guidelines, but all online communities have guidelines for behavior that can only be understood by observing and participating. Ignoring these guidelines risks alienation by the community, and the customers who are members.

4. Leave the Turn to Earn High Pressure Sales Philosophy Behind - Being blatantly aggressive or constantly trying to sell in messaging and communications, then expecting traditional sales process outcomes are common behaviors by dealers that see social networks and online communities simply as content distribution channels for existing advertising campaigns. Overtly commercial messaging and sales solicitations violate terms of service in most social networks and online communities... After all, that why they sell advertising space! An automotive community sponsored by a dealer as a social network for “friends” and "like-minded People" isn’t going to accept interruption based messaging. Think of crashing a party and then trying to sell something to people who are talking about their favorite cars and sharing off-road driving pictures, and the disgust that a car salesman using high pressure sales tactics would generate. Provide information that facilitates relationships that lead to sales, and you’ll get better results.

5. Not Having a Documented Dealership Social Media Policy - Too many dealers seem to want to approaching social media marketing channels on a one at a time basis... Other dealers approach social media by placing links on their eCommerce sites rather than as a collaborative effort. An example would be a dealership where an employee starts a blog for the parts department and a service advisor starts something on Facebook, while a sales person creates a group on LinkedIn... While the Internet Sales Manager creates a dealership sponsored community using the Ning platform. Yes, I am not making this up! Not having a cohesive dealership policy and strategy that requires employees to work together is inefficient and almost always sends mixed messages to customers that participate in more than one social media destination or online community.

6. Starving Your Social Media Strategy for Resources - Such as not assigning staff after somebody leaves their job at the dealership. Actively listening and building relationships with communities is a full-time job. Also, its imperative to ensure community managers have the skill sets needed to articulate their objectives for social media in addition to utilizing tools that will resonate with their audience.

7. Not having a mechanism to assess ROI - Dealers that give the green light to pursue social media marketing are concerned with the bottom line. Its essential that a social media strategy includes mechanisms to assess business value. It might be a value placed on increased product awareness, solid sales leads or cost savings due to a reduction in support staff due to social media tools. ROI is easier to obtain if there is a stated goal for the social media campaign. Regardless of how value is determined, social media needs to be validated as a profitable marketing channel.

Learning from dealers what they think of social media as a topic and opportunity over the past few years has been enlightening. ADP's Digital Marketing and Digital Advertising teams get to talk to a substantial number of dealers each month that need help making sense of where social media marketing might fit within their overall marketing and advertising strategies. Those conversations vary, but an increasing number of dealership marketing managers clearly are aware of the social media marketing fundamentals.

In many cases, dealers want help from someone that has the experience to guide them in creating a social media strategy, execute some of the supporting tactics and provide tracking and measurement... Other dealers really have no idea how to proceed and need a focus on education and to take inventory on their existing social media profiles to help them create a social media strategy, tactical blueprint and assign tasks before getting into any additional tactical implementations.

What’s encouraging is that more dealers are looking more seriously at the challenges and opportunities of social media participation. Others understand that social media marketing is not the same thing as advertising, but rather an indication of consumer behaviors aided by technology. Successful social media marketing isn’t about the software and technology, it is about the people, both employees and customers! Personally, I am getting really worn out over the repeated use of the word "Social"... We should just replace it with the word "People", as in "People Media Marketing"....

If nothing else, remember that social media is like buying diamonds, you have got to focus on the C’s: Conversation, Connections, Community, Consumer, Control, Creative, Collaboration and Content. Success requires that dealers and their staff listen, and be transparent about intentions, “Deliver Value” and have a strategy. Do Not: fake, interrupt or focus only on short term sales.

This changes everything

2009-11-19T17:55:14.000Z

http://www.automaxblast.com/About-Inventory-Blaster.htm

AdAgencyOnline.Net Reviews IntelliTerms, Inc. For Automotive Advertising Agencies On Blog Talk Radio

2009-11-18T15:04:32.000Z

Automotive advertising agencies are challenged to keep up with the explosion of new Internet based automotive advertising applications designed to maximize their R.O.I. for their digital marketing campaigns. AdAgencyOnline.Net was formed as an automotive advertising social networking site to platform and review new automotive advertising vendors and the many applications that profess to help automotive advertising agencies do more for less. Philip Zelinger, the President of Ad Agency Online, L.L.C. and host of the blog talk radio station featured on AdAgencyOnline.Net – WAAOL, All Automotive Advertising News All The Time, will be interviewing Peter O’Neil, the President and CEO of IntelliTerms, Inc., to review IntelliTerms for consideration as a preferred automotive advertising vendor for his affiliated automotive advertising agencies, auto dealer clients and site visitors to AdAgencyOnline.Net.

Philip will interview Peter on his popular blog talk radio show, Lunch With Phil Discussing Automotive Advertising, that will air live today, Wednesday, November 18th 2009 from 12:00 Noon EST to 12:30 PM EST. The show is an open business meeting for the automotive advertising agencies, auto dealers and automotive advertising insiders that support the portal. The online community has enjoyed an explosive growth of its own built on an earned reputation as “The One Stop Site For All Of Your Automotive Advertising Needs.”

Previous automotive advertising vendor reviews aired on WAAOL suggest that Philip will first introduce Peter as the founder of IntelliTerms to credential his professional experience. Philip is often quoted as stating that he “prioritizes people over product and price.” According to Philip, “Even the best automotive advertising application needs personal support before, during and after its implementation and that priority must be established from the top down.” After the initial introductions the online audience of automotive advertising professionals will be invited to call in questions of the pair of auto industry experts to discuss the application and share best practices in solving common issues addressed by IntelliTerm’s marketing platform.

About IntelliTerms, Inc.

Peter O’Neil provided the following description of the products and services offered by IntelliTerms in advance of today’s show. “IntelliTerms, with headquarters in Golden, Colorado, automates and optimizes the daily posting of an automobile dealership’s inventory to a wide selection of Web sites, especially the consumer classified Web sites. We employ both a proprietary marketing technology – that converts prices to payments – and innovative account management. Our approach is unparalleled in the automotive industry today. IntelliTerms connects prospective buyers with vehicles that are in a dealer’s inventory as available-to-sell, and generates an enormous volume of real-time, in-bound phone calls and e-mails, which express a qualified interest in those vehicles. At about $10 per real-time prospective buyer, we deliver a much greater ROI than a traditional “lead.” Our solution impacts the bottom line by reducing a dealer’s days in stock, and in return decreases a dealer’s floor plan expense. And our on-line reporting helps in turning over inventory in 60 – 90 days. We drive the showroom traffic. Auto Dealers just sell it. We over-deliver on what we promise, and we guarantee our results.”

About Peter O'Neil, President and CEO, IntelliTerms, Inc.

Mr. O’Neil joined IntelliTerms full time in August of 2009 to continue his track record as a successful serial entrepreneur. Prior to IntelliTerms, Mr. O’Neil served for five-plus years as Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing at CenterStone Technologies, a privately held, VC-funded company that provides B-2-B e-commerce solutions to well-know, national consumer brands. At CenterStone, Mr. O’Neil developed an understanding and appreciation of the incredible value proposition provided by Web-based applications and software-as-a-service (SaaS). He joined CenterStone Technologies in 2004 after spending ten years building successful companies in the direct marketing industry, including five years with Experian in a variety of capacities including Senior VP and General Manager, Cooperative Databases and Senior VP, Self Reported Data. In 1993 Mr. O'Neil joined Atlantes Corporation and was instrumental in building the Atlantes customer base through his aggressive sales and marketing efforts. Atlantes was acquired by Metromail in 1997 which in turn was acquired by Experian in 1998. Mr. O'Neil assumed management of Experian's self-reported data group in 1999. Prior to Atlantes Mr. O'Neil held senior level positions with a variety of firms including Salt Investment Fund, Resorts Marketing, Inc., Vail Valley Foundation and The Executive Ventures Group. Mr. O'Neil holds a BA in Psychology from Colorado College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

About Philip Zelinger

Philip Zelinger is the President of Ad Agency Online, LLC and founder of AdAgencyOnline.Net. He invested 25 years as a General Manager and Dealer Principal followed by his last ten years in the automotive advertising industry learning from the teams that he built so he can now presume to teach on forums like AdAgencyOnline.Net. His role as a “Dealer Coach” is enhanced by his hosting a nationally recognized auto industry social networking portal and blog talk radio station – WAAOL, All Automotive Advertising News All The Time. As the author of two books on the auto industry, including “How To Sell A Car – a Career Guide to The Automobile Industry,” he is a recognized authority on market trends and developing technologies with the responsibility of selecting key vendors and applications for his dealer clients as well as forming strategic partnerships for his vendor clients to leverage their shared resources to help them bring their products and services to market.

About AdAgencyOnline.Net and Ad Agency Online, L.L.C.

AdAgencyOnline.Net reviews automotive advertising vendors and new technologies on several blog talk radio shows in addition to the Lunch With Phil Discussing Automotive Advertising. Other shows include “Lunch With Ralph Discussing Automotive Advertising” and “Automotive Advertising Experts.” The shows attract automotive advertising agencies, auto dealers, auto industry vendors and O.E.M. representatives that listen to WAAOL to find vendors, applications and technologies to maximize the R.O.I. for their automotive advertising dollars.

AAOL is a national network of independent affiliated automotive advertising agencies linked by an online communication / distribution system developed by Philip Zelinger. The proprietary operating system that powers AAOL was designed to reduce fixed and semi-variable expenses for full service automotive advertising agencies. The developing technologies that enhanced the performance of the independent automotive advertising agencies linked by AAOL has served as the role model for the solutions suggested on AdAgencyOnline.Net and represented by AAOL to their affiliated automotive advertising agencies when serving their auto dealer clients.

Ad Agency Online L.L.C is focused on discovering and representing new automotive advertising vendors not yet recognized by the mainstream automotive advertising industry. Recent automotive advertising vendors represented by AAOL include; Argistics - AutoTransaXion, EveryCarListed.Com, DealMaker.Com, CityTwist.Com, Bulldog Marketing Technologies, LeadConverter, Gumiyo, Kihon Media, CarFolks.Com, Ai Dealer, NeoSynergy, Laser Stream Video and Winked-In.Com; to name a few.

Previous guests interviewed on WAAOL include a growing number of automotive advertising experts. Past guests included, Clayton Stanfield from EBay Motors, Mark Boyd and Mark Dubis from CarFolks.Com, Jared Hamilton from DrivingSales.Com, Dale Pollak from vAuto, David Wassmann from NeoSynergy, Jerry Daniels from Automotive Broadcasting Network, (ABN), Terry Alling from Kihon Media, David Marod from LeadConverter, Brian Ferris and Spencer Sterling from DealMaker.Com, Mike Parsons from Laser Stream Video, Brian Hoecht from Ai Dealer, Ralph Paglia from ADP and host to the auto industry social networking community ADM, Len Critcher from ecarlist.com, Tim Zierden from AAX, Jim Ziegler, motivational speaker and consultant to the auto industry, Jeff Kershner, ecommerce director for The Mile One Automotive Group and host of the auto industry social networking forum DealerRefresh.Com, Jeff Raab from the Detroit Trading Company, (DTX), Mike DeCecco from Dealer.Com, Ken Schwartz from CityTwist, Michael R. Spadafore from R. L. Polk & Co., Kevin Schwartz and Rick Rochon from AdSymetrix, Bruce Cerbone from Argistics, Scott Davis from Bull Dog Marketing Technologies, Matt Watson and Douglas Kinney from VinSolutions, Hal Howard and Don Pollock from New Wave Automotive, LLC, (NWA), Michael T. Fay from Colliers Abood Wood-Fay Real Estate and their C.A.R.S. division, Matt Brown and Zack Powell from TheDealerDashBoard.Com, Mark Burack from Liquid Motors, Pat Ryan, Jr. from FirstLook, Al Cantarella from AutoWebsitePlus.com, Michael Roscoe and Cliff banks from Dealer Communications and Steven Munyan from HireTheWinners.Com.

For more information on Philip Zelinger, Ad Agency Online, L.L.C., IntelliTerms, Inc. or any of the preferred automotive advertising vendors previously reviewed on WAAOL auto dealers and automotive advertising agencies should contact Philip through AdAgencyOnline.Net. Automotive advertising vendors, automotive advertising agencies and auto dealers that would like to be considered as a “preferred automotive advertising vendor” on AdAgencyOnline.Net and/or to hire/join Ad Agency Online, L.L.C. to represent them can contact Philip Zelinger at pzads@bellsouth.net, call him at 888-796-2228 or visit AdAgencyOnline.Net at http://adagencyonline.net. To quote Philip Zelinger, “Help is only a click away!” ##

Can You Help Raise Awareness for PJs For The Cure?

2009-11-18T14:30:00.000Z

November is Juvenile Diabetes awareness month and my company is conjunction with one of PCG's clients is seeking to raise $1 million dollars for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).

The "PJs For The Cure" program is the idea of Charles Komar, CEO of Charles Komar & Sons which is one of America's largest manufacturers and suppliers of nightwear and intimates to the major retail chains.

Charles Komar and Pasch Consulting Group have donated their time and money to raise money for JDRF by selling special PJs For The Cure pajamas for women, girls and boys. Our goal is to sell 40,000 pairs of pajamas at $25 each.

Komar and their suppliers are donating the pajamas and covering the shipping costs, so your $25 purchase goes directly to JDRF. If we sell all 40,000 to consumers across the USA, we will raise the awareness of Juvenile Diabetes as well as help to find a cure.

Can You Add This Campaign in Your Next Dealership Newsletter?

The pajamas are high quality and come in fun designs. Some patterns allow for Moms and Daughters to have matching patterns. These are great gifts for the upcoming holidays. $25 is a great price for high quality pajamas.

Can you add mention of the PJs For The Cure campaign to your Facebook and Twitter pages?

40,000 pairs of pajamas may seem like a high goal but not if we can unite all the members of ADM and ask them to Tweet about the program, write a blog post, or add some photos in their next newsletter.

The website that has additional information about the program is at : www.pjsforthecure.org

Thanks for your consideration. If you need anything from us to promote the event, let me know. 732-450-8200

wow!

2009-11-17T22:23:23.000Z

Please get this info to decision maker at your store!Today at 4:46pmAutoMax is announcing the Most Advanced,Turn Key,Low Fee,Guaranteed....LEAD PROVIDER in the WORLD[AUTOMAX BLASTER tm]...yes I said lead provider,some companies waltz around that word and pretend to be everything but....perhaps one of the reasons that they CAN"T COMPARE to what we have!...Sorry about the CAPS....but we are PUMPED....we have a dealer 404 leads,27 deals,$2425 per car 2123% R.O.I......oh....ONE MONTH!!!!!!!!!...Thats real math friends...NOBODY CAN DO THIS BUT AutoMax Blaster .........800-878-5090 press 2

Domain Renewal and Registration Scams

2009-11-17T00:30:00.000Z

As car dealers start buying dozens of domain names as they embark on a microsite strategy, they will also see an increase is domain renewal scams appearing in your postal mailbox and email box.

They look like legitimate invoices for a domain name. I have attached one that we received today that my office that was about to approved by my assistant. I have also included copies of scams from other organizations that have mailed me invoices.

As my consulting company has grown, I don't see all the mail first hand so it reminded me that many ADM members and executives are in the same boat. So, please send out a memo to all people that handle your Accounts Payable to remind them that any domain renewals or registration "invoices" must be reviewed prior to payment.

Web Listings Inc.

The invoice I received today was from a company called Web Listings Inc. and this is just one of the scams that exist. They send people an invoice for a domain that THEY DON'T OWN, and if you pay the bill they MAY buy it and then get you on a renewal scam.

Depending on the offer, these companies also promise to register the domain in valuable directories or even optimize some keywords. It's all a scam. Other companies that are also scams include:

Domain Registry of America
EU Registry Services
Domain Registry of Canada
Domain Listing Center Inc.

These companies are making millions of dollars each year by sending business owners invoices for domain names that they may or may not own. Please spread the word to all business owners about these scams.

Tip: This article is also a good post to place on your car dealer Facebook page because it applies to all businesses and it shows that you care about your customers.

Here are some other sample invoices that are all scams:

THINK OUTSIDE THE (BLACK) BOX

2009-11-15T16:30:00.000Z

It seems to me that, as a community of Internet Retail Car Sales professionals, we devote a lot of discussion to the success or failure of the online software tools and services that we employ. However, very little is said about the success or failure of our dealer websites to successfully merchandize our products and services.

Yikes, was that a dry opening paragraph or what? OK, let me phrase it another way. I want to talk about the first thing prospective customers encounter when they seek to know us: the front end of our websites. The architecture, navigation, text content and graphic design. The part that does the selling.

I'll be blunt; I think (most) car dealer websites suck.

CONFORM TO THE NORM
When confronted with something new, original, uncharted and undefined (and does that not describe the Internet ten year ago?) early adopters revel in it, stand in awe of it, and then let their imaginations soar as they discover its unexplored opportunities and potential. Following this brief initial development period a second wave of people come onto the scene: those who find ways to harness this new and wonderful thing by putting it into identifiable boxes, categorizing it, defining it and setting recognizable parameters for it. This is a necessary second step for growth, unfortunately, it also has the unwanted aftereffect of pretty much snuffing out the newness and originality of the thing. Overnight, what was once amazing and new and unlimited becomes charted, prescribed and defined. Conformity sets in.

I don't know when or where the playbook was written, but sometime in the past 10 years, the industry collectively agreed that car dealer websites must pretty much follow a look-alike and behave-alike formula. Why? Who says a car dealer website has to look like A Car Dealer Website?

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION
Any discussion of dealer websites' merchandising capabilities has to start with a discussion of the sites' pure functionality. The medium may be the message, but this medium must also deliver the retail goods.

By now pretty much everyone agrees that the mechanical features and qualities below are can't-live-without items for a car dealer website.
1). Easy to find merchandise.
2). Photos of the actual merchandise for sale (not renderings)
3). Features and specifications of each car, including any options/upgrades particular to that vehicle.
4). Prominently displayed dealership department phone number(s) and email addresses.
5). Easy to find dealership hours and directions
6). Some type of posted price for each vehicle (MSRP, "Suggested price," "Internet price", whatever)

What else makes for a good dealer website? IMHO the following additional items are also essential:
7). "Wish List" (car locator) feature
8). Live chat (for sales and service)
9). Online credit application
10). A panel or panels synched to the manufacturer's current month incentive programs. (New car dealers only, obviously).
11). Ability for customers to make service appointments online (and not just appointments for 2 weeks or more in the future - duh)
12). A robust "About Us" page. (This one item could be an entire essay in itself. See related Dealer Refresh story here: http://www.dealerrefresh.com/dealership-website-about-page/)

BUT FORM AND FUNCTION ARE OF EQUAL IMPORTANCE
Now that the agreed upon mechanical functions are in place we must turn our sights to the merchandizing aspects of the site. When people go to your site for the first time you've probably got 1, maybe 2 seconds at most to impact them with that all-important first impression. What emotional messages does the site deliver? What does it "say" about your store exclusive of the words on the page? What kind of car shopping experience is your site promising to deliver when it first greets their eyes?

In that regard I'm going to add what I feel is the all-important 13th item to the above list:
13). Bright, friendly and attractive color scheme and graphics.

Hey, I never said this piece wasn't subjective.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF COLOR
Let's go shopping online. What are you in the mood for? Clothing? Jewelry? Household items? Electronics? Discounted merchandise? OK, let's visit some sites. Try these for starters:
www.neimanmarcus.com,
www.dillards.com,
www.zales.com,
www.target.com,
www.bestbuy.com,
www.wal-mart.com,
www.macys.com,
www.nordstrom.com,
www.bedbathandbeyond.com.

That's nine major retailers' websites. What one thing did all these retail sites have in common? (Other than items 1 - 6 above). Anybody? OK, here's the answer: each site's page background color is white! Nice, clean, bright, cheerful, optimistic, easy-on-the-eyes white.

Now let's go car shopping:
http://www.napletonmercedesbenz.com/,
http://www.vwoncentral.net (my employer),
http://www.thinkewing.com/,
http://www.checkeredflag.com/index.htm (sorry, Alex),
http://buffwhelan.com/indexhome.html
to name but five selected at random.

What one thing did all these retail sites have in common? You got it: they are dark. Moribund. Somber. Some are almost funereal. Really gets you in an upbeat mood to go buy a car, eh?

Granted, not all dealership websites are dark and dreary like the examples above. And some of the sites above have commendable layout and functionality. And I know some of the younger guys in my office claim to prefer sites with dark color schemes. (The Goth or heavy metal band influence?) But it remains a basic principle of color psychology that extremely dark blues, grays and blacks suggest power, authority, humorlessness and conservatism. While bright colors (whites and pastels) suggest happiness, optimism and relaxation.

When polled, most Americans admit that they love cars but dread going into a dealership to buy one. As an industry we have a public image comparable to that of personal injury attorneys, bill collectors and Bernie Madoff cohorts. So why do we publish dark, authoritative websites when our goal should be to cheerfully entice people into our stores? I'm flummoxed.

My personal theory is that most dealership websites (those not provided or forced upon the dealer by the manufacturer) look the way they do because they personally please the eye of the dealership principles. Little thought is given to what message (apparent and subliminal, surface and subtext) the site delivers and whether the general public will respond favorably to it!

COLOR IS BUT THE BEGINNING
Obviously, simply painting a website white or in a cheerful pastel does not alone make it a great site. But once you agree that upbeat, positive color schemes are essential to creating a great dealership website first impression, then we can examine how graphics, text and ease of navigation combine with color to deliver the total website message.

To be continued....

Automotive Professional Blogs, Communities and Digital Dealer Magazine: Compete Site Traffic Reports for October 2009 Are In

2009-11-15T10:30:00.000Z

The chart shown above is a larger and slightly easier to read and view image of the Website Traffic Tracking widget provided by Compete, Inc. that is shown on the ADM Showroom page about halfway down...

Click Here to See the 12 Month Traffic Report on Compete's website.

Top 10 people to follow on twitter (and blogs) and why...

2009-11-14T18:45:38.000Z

As the automotive dealer body works to catch up with the social media express (yes I said it: the dealer body is behind in another technology wave again) industry leaders, dealer principals, and vendors are working hard at trying to learn, catch-up, and turn new found knowledge in to "an unfair competitive advantage" (Roy Busse @ ronsmap loves phrase). So in that spirit - as well as the holiday spirit, I'd like to share what Jack Humphrey has graciously provided us in his blog post below It's about the Top 10 people to follow in Twitter and why - enjoy!

If you have any others that you'd like to add please share them.

http://www.fridaytrafficreport.com/10-bloggers-you-should-follow-on-twitter/

You can also tweet me back @ronsmap - We'd love to hear from you!

AdAgencyOnline.Net Considers New Automotive Advertising Vendors For Affiliated Automotive Advertising Agencies

2009-11-13T19:31:49.000Z

AdAgencyOnline.Net is an automotive advertising resource / networking portal supported by the affiliated automotive advertising agencies of Ad Agency Online, L.L.C., (AAOL). Philip Zelinger, the President of AAOL, hosts the blog talk radio station – WAAOL, All Automotive Advertising News All The Time – that is featured AdAgencyOnline.Net. Philip recently attended The 7th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition to research new cutting edge automotive advertising technologies and vendors that exhibited at the conference for consideration by his automotive advertising agencies. In addition, a number of auto industry experts - including Philip - conducted sessions to discuss best practices in digital marketing and sales/service systems which surfaced new automotive advertising applications and processes that can be implemented by the automotive advertising agencies, auto dealers and site visitors to AdAgencyOnline.Net.

Philip has already invited several new automotive advertising vendors that he discovered at the conference on his blog talk radio show, Lunch With Phil Discussing Automotive Advertising, with many more scheduled in the coming weeks. Steven Munyan, the President and National Sales Manager for Hire The Winners, was interviewed on the show that aired last Monday, November 9th 2009 and an encore of the show is scheduled for this Monday, November 16th 2009 to air between 12:00 Noon EST and 12:30 PM EST. The encore show was scheduled to allow the affiliated automotive advertising agencies of AAOL to determine if Hire The Winners will be added as a preferred automotive advertising vendor on AdAgencyOnline.Net. Philip commented that he has been looking for a scalable online solution to assist his auto dealer clients with their Human Resource needs and based on the feedback from the initial review of Hire The Winners they appear to fit the bill.

Another new vendor being considered by AdAgencyOnline.Net is IntelliTerms, Inc. with an interview of their C.E.O. scheduled for Wednesday, November 18th 2009 at the usual 12:00 Noon EST to 12:30 PM EST time slot. Philip selected IntelliTerms for review in response to requests by his affiliated automotive advertising agencies to find a third party lead provider with a more proven R.O.I. that they can suggest to their auto dealer clients. In a preliminary conversation, Jenny S. Cherocci, the Director of Business Development for IntelliTerms, corrected Philip when he described their service as a “lead provider.” Jenny suggested that they call their inbound traffic “prospective buyers” based on their proprietary process that ties the car shopper to a particular vehicle from the auto dealer’s inventory with a payment quote included in the initial contact.

Philip referenced several vendors that he had discussions with at The 7th Digital Dealer Conference during last Friday’s blog talk radio show, Automotive Advertising Experts. In an interview with Cliff Banks, the V.P. and Editorial Director for Dealer Communications that hosted the conference, Philip referenced conversations that he had with John Giamalvo and Sean Peoples from Edmunds.Com, Rob Lange from KelleyBlueBook.com and Andrew Price from RLPolk.Com that suggested that new expansions of their products and services would require their increased consideration for his affiliated automotive advertising agencies in 2010.

According to Philip, other vendors that he met at the conference that are being considered to appear on WAAOL for the first time or in a follow up of previous interviews based on new products or services include DealerCentric, DealerUps LeaseTrader, Dealer.Com, Align Research, HookLogic, CarThink, HomeNet, FirstLook, SiSTeR Technologies, Argistics, AdVantaStar, ClickMotive and WideStorm.

About Philip Zelinger

Philip Zelinger is the President of Ad Agency Online, LLC and founder of AdAgencyOnline.Net. He invested 25 years as a General Manager and Dealer Principal followed by his last ten years in the automotive advertising industry learning from the teams that he built so he can now presume to teach on forums like AdAgencyOnline.Net. His role as a “Dealer Coach” is enhanced by his hosting a nationally recognized auto industry social networking portal and blog talk radio station – WAAOL, All Automotive Advertising News All The Time. As the author of two books on the auto industry, including “How To Sell A Car – a Career Guide to The Automobile Industry,” he is a recognized authority on market trends and developing technologies with the responsibility of selecting key vendors and applications for his dealer clients as well as forming strategic partnerships for his vendor clients to leverage their shared resources to help them bring their products and services to market.

About AdAgencyOnline.Net and Ad Agency Online, L.L.C.

AdAgencyOnline.Net reviews automotive advertising vendors and new technologies on several blog talk radio shows in addition to the Lunch With Phil Discussing Automotive Advertising. Other shows include “Lunch With Ralph Discussing Automotive Advertising” and “Automotive Advertising Experts.” The shows attract automotive advertising agencies, auto dealers, auto industry vendors and O.E.M. representatives that listen to WAAOL to find vendors, applications and technologies to maximize the R.O.I. for their automotive advertising dollars.

AAOL is a national network of independent affiliated automotive advertising agencies linked by an online communication / distribution system developed by Philip Zelinger. The proprietary operating system that powers AAOL was designed to reduce fixed and semi-variable expenses for full service automotive advertising agencies. The developing technologies that enhanced the performance of the independent automotive advertising agencies linked by AAOL has served as the role model for the solutions suggested on AdAgencyOnline.Net and represented by AAOL to their affiliated automotive advertising agencies when serving their auto dealer clients.

Ad Agency Online L.L.C is focused on discovering and representing new automotive advertising vendors not yet recognized by the mainstream automotive advertising industry. Recent automotive advertising vendors represented by AAOL include; Argistics - AutoTransaXion, EveryCarListed.Com, DealMaker.Com, CityTwist.Com, Bulldog Marketing Technologies, LeadConverter, Gumiyo, Kihon Media, CarFolks.Com, Ai Dealer, NeoSynergy, Laser Stream Video and Winked-In.Com; to name a few.

The list of previous guests interviewed on WAAOL include many of the most recognized automotive advertising experts in the industry as well as some new entries into the exploding automotive advertising technology sector. Past guests included, Clayton Stanfield from EBay Motors, Mark Boyd and Mark Dubis from CarFolks.Com, Jared Hamilton from DrivingSales.Com, Dale Pollak from vAuto, David Wassmann from NeoSynergy, Jerry Daniels from Automotive Broadcasting Network, (ABN), Terry Alling from Kihon Media, David Marod from LeadConverter, Brian Ferris and Spencer Sterling from DealMaker.Com, Mike Parsons from Laser Stream Video, Brian Hoecht from Ai Dealer, Ralph Paglia from ADP and host to the auto industry social networking community ADM, Len Critcher from ecarlist.com, Tim Zierden from AAX, Jim Ziegler, motivational speaker and consultant to the auto industry, Jeff Kershner, ecommerce director for The Mile One Automotive Group and host of the auto industry social networking forum DealerRefresh.Com, Jeff Raab from the Detroit Trading Company, (DTX), Mike DeCecco from Dealer.Com, Ken Schwartz from CityTwist, Michael R. Spadafore from R. L. Polk & Co., Kevin Schwartz and Rick Rochon from AdSymetrix, Bruce Cerbone from Argistics, Scott Davis from Bull Dog Marketing Technologies, Matt Watson and Douglas Kinney from VinSolutions, Hal Howard and Don Pollock from New Wave Automotive, LLC, (NWA), Michael T. Fay from Colliers Abood Wood-Fay Real Estate and their C.A.R.S. division, Matt Brown and Zack Powell from TheDealerDashBoard.Com, Mark Burack from Liquid Motors, Pat Ryan, Jr. from FirstLook, Al Cantarella from AutoWebsitePlus.com, Cliff Banks from Dealer Communications and Steven Munyan from HireTheWinners.Com.

For more information on Philip Zelinger, Ad Agency Online, L.L.C., Hire The Winners, IntelliTerms or any of the preferred automotive advertising vendors previously reviewed on WAAOL auto dealers and automotive advertising agencies should contact Philip through AdAgencyOnline.Net. Automotive advertising vendors, automotive advertising agencies and auto dealers that would like to be considered as a “preferred automotive advertising vendor” on AdAgencyOnline.Net and/or to hire/join Ad Agency Online, L.L.C. to represent them can contact Philip Zelinger at pzads@bellsouth.net, call him at 888-796-2228 or visit AdAgencyOnline.Net at http://adagencyonline.net. To quote Philip Zelinger, “Help is only a click away!” ##

Automotive Microsites Using WordPress

2009-11-13T16:00:00.000Z

I thought that I would start a conversation on automotive microsites and why they should be a part of an automotive marketing strategy. Microsites are not to be confused with landing pages or doorway websites.

Landing pages are an optimized web page that dealers use in a pay-per-click campaign like Google Adwords. The landing page can be on your website or on a third party website. If a dealer was running a tent sale and created an optimized page about the event and directed clicks from Google Adwords to this page, it would be considered a landing page.

Doorway websites are a landing page placed on its own domain name. They are normally a one page website used to capture leads from traffic generated by pay-per-click campaigns, affiliate marketing programs, or in some cases, direct traffic. These doorway websites are not content rich and often are more graphically weighted with attractive designs or even flash technology to add pizzazz.

My definition of an automotive microsite, up until last month, was 10-15 pages of targeted content placed on a targeted domain name with blogging enabled but without live inventory. This base content would be supplemented by 2-3 articles per month.

A theoretical example is a BMW dealer that wanted to increase their service business in Atlanta.

If they purchased www.bmwserviceatlanta.net and created content about all their service offerings and common BMW service procedures, that would get hundreds of hits to this site organically each month. Google indicates that at least 400 people a month type the phrase “BMW service Atlanta” and this domain would be an exact match for that phrase. With good content, this microsite would be #1 in organic search results because the “.com” version is being redirected to another website.

The question for service managers is this: “Would you like to attract another 25, 50 or 100 service customers a month from your PMA?” With the right call to action, services specials and offers you can expect to capture some of those 400 customers each month who search that phrase.

WordPress Microsite Technology

The tool that I like to use for creating microsites is WordPress. This popular “open source” content management system (CMS) tool is recommended because:

There are no licensing fees
It is easy to setup a website and blog
It can be hosted inexpensively (<$100 a year)
There are thousands of developers around the world improving the platform every year
There are thousands of free software enhancements to make the website more attractive
It is easy to maintain
Anyone with Microsoft Word equivalent skills can create and add web pages
You can drop in video, audio and images easily to any page
It’s an SEO consultant dream

New Plug-In Technology

At the 7^th Digital Dealer Conference my definition of a WordPress microsite changed. DealerTrend unveiled the industry’s first commercially available plug-in for WordPress that displays a car dealer’s new and used car inventory. The plug-in creates an SEO optimized website page for every car you have in stock.

This plug-in has changed the rules for automotive microsites because it takes what was once a 20 page microsite with rich content to a microsite with a few hundred highly optimized model specific pages. Taking WordPress microsites to this level turns WordPress into a robust automotive inventory marketing tool. I applaud DealerTrend for being the first to offer such a tool and taking the risk to offer it to car dealers.

The Pasch Consulting Group was the first Automotive Marketing Company to integrate the DealerTrend WordPress plug-in to our Automotive WordPress microsites. We have hundreds of microsites that are operating for lead generation, Internet Reputation Management, and branding. Having this tool available to our customers can transform these sites into more effective tools for car sales.

This plug-in creates dealer inventory microsites in minutes, once the feed is setup, and allows dealers to add content themselves or hire a consultant to write content which will make the microsite effective for organic search marketing. For more information on the plug-in, visit www.dealertrend.com .

Can I Boot My Existing Website Vendor?

Some dealers have been quick to ask me if the WordPress plug-in will change the industry website landscape by offering open source website platforms that can replace the traditional leased website platforms. The answer is no; at least for the near term. Also, the DealerTrend plug-in is not free since it requires your inventory feed to be hosted and fed to your microsite.

Adding inventory to a WordPress website is not a replacement for a full service automotive website platform offered by companies such as eBizAutos, TK Carsites, Dealer.com, DealerFire, DealerOn or Dealer eProcess. Dealers need to have a solid infrastructure for Internet Marketing which includes tools for CRM, ILM, Newsletters, Video and SEM. Dealers need to find a core web infrastructure that gives them a set of robust tools for search marketing, sales process management and customer support.

Data integration and analysis will only get more important in months to come and the majority of dealer marketing budgets will move to online spending. Until companies come up with WordPress Plug-ins for CRM, ILM and other functions that dealers need to run their businesses, WordPress will still be a complimentary platform.

A number of people are working on WordPress tools, so in a year from now my answer could very well change. For small independent used car dealers, the WordPress platform and an inventory plug-in may be just the trick to give them the SEO marketing tools that they need at an affordable price tag.

Third Party Inventory Marketing Platforms

The WordPress enhanced microsites can feed into a dealer’s main website system as an affiliate marketing source. Just as companies like Cars.com and Autotrader.com place dealer inventory on their marketing platforms and send leads to a dealer’s CRM system, enhanced microsites with live inventory will perform a similar function. This plug-in allows you to create targeted, in-state inventory marketing platforms; the possibilities are just endless.

The WordPress open-source development environment and this type of plug-in makes it affordable to deploy live inventory on multiple domain optimized microsites. According to DealerTrend, dealers who implement five microsites would end up spending about $200 a month per microsite.

Automotive Microsites New?

Car dealer platform providers have the ability to offer microsites as part of a marketing strategy using their proprietary website software. From my viewpoint, most vendors in the website space do not see the need or the economics for such an offering.

What makes the WordPress option interesting is that it allows for unlimited content creation and hundreds of free software enhancements. The counter argument is that car dealer platforms are just now integrating blogs and content on-the-fly so they can now compete with the content creation element of WordPress.

The rules of marketing and consumer engagement are changing. The 2009 ASMA study of 34 website platforms revealed that nine automotive website platforms have industry leading platforms for search marketing. This includes content on the fly and fully optimized inventory pages.

We will wait to see, however, if automotive website providers have the insight to create a microsite marketing model within their existing offering. The marketing data that we have collected would suggest that microsite marketing is here to stay and it is an untapped marketing opportunity for car dealers.

OEM Guidelines on Domain Names

Let me conclude by saying that some OEM’s have been discouraging their dealers to own domains for web marketing that do not include their business name. I have witnessed car dealers being forced to consolidate or shutdown their microsites that have state or city names plus their OEM brand.

Restrictive marketing guidelines that forbid a Boston dealer from creating a microsite like www.toyotacamryboston.com are a lucrative opening for third party lead collectors and automotive marketing platforms to dominate local search and force car dealers to pay for leads or advertising.

To be fair to OEM concerns, car dealers should not be allowed to deploy domains that include their competitor’s brand name. However, city names in or around their PMA should be open game if consumers are willing to drive to their dealership.

A strict crackdown on dealer domain marketing will be a boom for third party lead collectors and would restrict car dealers who are innovative and aggressive online marketers.

PMA Maps Are Invisible To Internet Shoppers

For years, TV stations and newspapers in Metro areas like Boston have run ads from competing OEM dealers in downtown Boston and its suburbs. Those were the rules of engagement since the media outlets crossed PMA lines. Treating the Internet in terms of PMA boundaries is a naïve thought.

Dealers should be able to innovate automotive online marketing with a microsite strategy that uses high value domain names. Otherwise, it would be like telling car dealers that they can’t advertise on TV because someone outside of their PMA might see their ad and cause an unfair marketing advantage.

The first Toyota dealer in the Boston suburbs who is smart enough to purchase a domain like www.usedtoyotaboston.com should be able to market their cars on that domain. OEM’s already endorse car inventory advertising from multiple dealers in one state on Cars.com and Autotrader.com. The hypocrisy is amazing. Let’s hope that cooler heads prevail in the coming years otherwise dealers lose significant tactical advantages.

What is Your Microsite Strategy?

Microsites are extremely effective tools for online marketing and they will increase in value as the evolution of blogging and social media turns car dealers into content marketing engines. Having the right website assets to place that content will determine who wins the competition for high value keywords in your local PMA and state.

2009-11-11T21:26:30.000Z

Google Local Listing Ads (LLA); Beta Advertising Solution Update

2009-11-11T19:00:00.000Z

Mike Blumenthal has a nice update on Local Listing Ads (LLAs).

He points out that there’s an extensive help/FAQs area now, with questions such as:

* Why does Local Listing Ads offer a free trial? What’s the catch?
* Who qualifies for Local Listing Ads?
* What’s the difference between Local Listing Ads and Google AdWords?
* How much do Local Listing Ads cost?
* What are Local Listing Ads? Why should I use them?

From Google:

"Why does Local Listing Ads offer a free trial? What's the catch?
There really isn't any catch. We're confident that Local Listing Ads will be able to drive results that you'd like to see, and we want to let you try it risk free. So you'll pay nothing for the first 30 days, and we'll show your ad just as we would if it were paid for. You can see how your ad performs in the online report, and hear a voice announcement - 'this caller brought to you by Google' - whenever a call is driven by your ad (learn about call tracking).

You can cancel your ad by deleting it anytime during the first 30 days after it was created. There's no further obligation.

After your 30-day free trial ends, if your ad stays active, we'll charge you at the beginning of each month thereafter. Your first bill will be based on a pro-rated monthly fee depending on when your free trial ends. For example, if your free trial period ends on the 20th of September, you'll only be billed for the 10 days from September 21st through September 30th. You'll be billed this pro-rated amount within the first 7 days of the following month."
--End Quote--

Here are the benefits bullets of LLAs:

* Ads shown on Google.com and Google Maps
* A flat monthly fee based on your location and business category
* First 30 days free
* No bid or keyword management
* Free call-tracking, announcing each forwarded customer call (‘This caller brought to you by Google’)
* Full report on the number of calls, clicks to your ad, requests for driving directions, and clicks to your info window on Google Maps
* The option to cancel your ad at any time

Here’s a discussion (from the link above) of the differences between LLAs and AdWords:

Google Local Listing Ads are designed for small local businesses. It’s a low budget, low maintenance, flat monthly fee ad solution that fits the tight spending and busy schedule of local small advertisers. By claiming or creating your business listing for free on Google Maps through Google Local Business Center (learn more), you can promote your listing on Google.com and Google Maps by creating Local Listing Ads.

Unlike Google AdWords, Local Listing Ads require no management of ad creative, keywords, bidding or budget management. After you select a standard category that best describes your business, Google determines the cost that ensures the ad is seen by the highest number of people looking for businesses like yours in your location. You will be given the chance to confirm the monthly flat fee that is unlikely to change frequently or be notified of the change 30 days in advance via email and your LBC account message.

In addition to providing full performance report on Local Listing Ads-driven calls, clicks, and requests for driving directions, Local Listing Ads also offers free call tracking with a short announcement (‘this caller brought to you by Google’) before each forwarded call. That way, you know precisely when and how often the ad makes your phone ring.

Mike also offers some interesting dashboard shots from one of the LLA advertisers (an SF atty) he contacted.

All of this beefing up of help pages and FAQs is in anticipation of a broader rollout at some point in the next couple of months I’ll guess. It appears that you’re not going to be able to get access to LLAs if you’re not associated with a verified business in the LBC.

I think that as LLAs roll out we’re going to have an answer to the self-service question. Because if there’s any product that could attract self-serving SMBs it’s going to be this one — provided Google promotes and supports it of course.

This entry was posted on November 10, 2009 at 1:14 pm and is filed under Local Search, Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
One Response to “Google Local Listing Ads Update”

1. Devin Davis Says:
November 10, 2009 at 5:31 pm | Reply

We’re testing this service for a number of our clients in both of the regions where it’s being tested. Our numbers are telling us that this is, overall, a pretty good opportunity – with our verticalized approach – we’re seeing more success in one vertical (Self Storage) than in the other (Senior Housing) on a cost-comparison basis with adwords.

That being said – it’s an interesting opportunity – but it also doesn’t offer the ‘breadth’ of adwords with some actual space for verbage – it’s purely a location-based play.

SOURCE: Written by Greg Sterling and originally posted at: http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/local-listing-ads-update

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SECTION 2 SOURCE; MIKE BLUMENTHAL BLOG
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Google Maps LBC Local Listing Ads: Additional Details & Interface Review

The Help Pages for the Local Listing Ads have been “beefed up” and now total 32 pages of instruction with ad policy details, and payment timing and much, much more. Several of the help pages did answer previous questions and provide some nuggets of interest :

Will my monthly fee change?
Your flat monthly fee is unlikely to change. In the event that we need to change it, you’ll be given 30 days notice of this change both via email, and on the homepage of your Local Business Center account

What is call tracking? Is it optional?
In order to drive calls to your store and help you keep track of them, Google Local Listing Ads offers free call tracking to all Local Listing Ads advertisers. We will offer each ad listing a unique call tracking number that will forward calls to your listed business phone.

The number of calls you receive is listed in your online report. Additionally, each time a customer calls, you’ll hear a voice announcement – ‘this caller brought to you by Google’- before the call connects. That way, you get a better sense of what kind of customers are being driven to your business by your ad. This can help you make more informed decision about your advertising spend. For now, this call tracking feature is an integral part of Local Listing Ads. We’ll be listening to your feedback on how useful this feature is, and whether or not we should make it optional.

Will my ads show less often as more advertisers join?

Yes. This reflects the fact that as more advertisers sign up for the same business type in your location, on average each advertiser will get less user attention. That said, our team is working on ways to make sure the spread of user attention stays within reasonable range, we’ll update this topic to reflect these.

Brett Burlison, a San Francisco Personal Injury Attorney, agreed to share some screen shots of his Local Listing Ad interface.

In the main list view a third tab has been added that provides access to the Local Listing Ad details. (Click any of the images below to see them larger.) The interface is clean and very easy to use.

One you have chosen the tab you are brought to a summary page of the ad where you can see the ad statistics and have links to edit the ad or to view the billing history.

Note the low click thru rates…

It will be interesting to track these over time. I think initially at least, some of the low rates are due to low ad inventories and poor initial targeting. It has been noted that ads have been showing in the wrong categories. There may also be some user familiarization and trust issues.

The screen to edit the ad provides link to the Local Listing Ads Help Pages, attempts to sell you on the benefits of using your Places Page and shows the call tracking number that will be used. The interface dims out any custom categories that you have in your business listing and only allows you to select from existing categories. The verbiage on these is interesting noting that custom categories are “Not supported by ads at this time”, leaving the impression that they might be in the future.

The interface shows what the ad will look like on both the main and Maps pages.

If you attempt to change your basic information of your business listing you are given this warning. If you go ahead and make the change you need to recreate the ad.

Clearly the interface is simple, and the product functional and easy to deploy the question now is will it provide a return for those using it?
« Photo Experiment with the iPhone – the path to widespread mobile local adotion – Get a keyword stuffed Google Map listing with a virtual office thrown in for free! »

SECTION 2 SOURCE: http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/11/10/google-maps-local-business-center-new-warning
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SECTION 3; SOURCED FROM GOOGLE:
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Who qualifies for Local Listing Ads?
We are currently in a limited Beta in San Diego and San Francisco while we refine and test Local Listing Ads.

For these two cities, Local Listing Ads is available for business owners who have verified their free listings in Google Local Business Center in a limited set of categories based on advertising policy, and other considerations.

What's the difference between Local Listing Ads and Google AdWords?
Google Local Listing Ads are designed for small local businesses. It's a low budget, low maintenance, flat monthly fee ad solution that fits the tight spending and busy schedule of local small advertisers. By claiming or creating your business listing for free on Google Maps through Google Local Business Center (learn more), you can promote your listing on Google.com and Google Maps by creating Local Listing Ads.

Unlike Google AdWords, Local Listing Ads require no management of ad creative, keywords, bidding or budget management. After you select a standard category that best describes your business, Google determines the cost that ensures the ad is seen by the highest number of people looking for businesses like yours in your location. You will be given the chance to confirm the monthly flat fee that is unlikely to change frequently or be notified of the change 30 days in advance via email and your LBC account message.

In addition to providing full performance report on Local Listing Ads-driven calls, clicks, and requests for driving directions, Local Listing Ads also offers free call tracking with a short announcement ('this caller brought to you by Google') before each forwarded call. That way, you know precisely when and how often the ad makes your phone ring.

How much do Local Listing Ads cost?
Payment for Local Listing Ads is a flat monthly fee. This fee varies by the location of your business, and the business category you choose. Google determines the cost that ensures your ad is seen by the highest number of people looking for businesses like yours in your location. You'll pay the same each month no matter how many times people click or view your ad, so it's OK to click and view your own ad, and you can tell your friends to do the same.

What are Local Listing Ads? Why should I use them?
Using your business information and the descriptive category that you choose, Local Listing Ads are targeted ads that display when users search for businesses like yours in your local area. They require no ongoing maintenance, and are the easiest way to advertise your business to local customers on Google.com and Google Maps.

Local Listing Ads provide you with:

* Ads shown on Google.com and Google Maps
* A flat monthly fee based on your location and business category
* First 30 days free
* No bid or keyword management
* Free call-tracking, announcing each forwarded customer call ('This caller brought to you by Google')
* Full report on the number of calls, clicks to your ad, requests for driving directions, and clicks to your info window on Google Maps
* The option to cancel your ad at any time

Shown below are how Local Listing Ads will appear on Google.com (main Search) and Google Maps to promote a business listing (e.g., Princeton Surf T-shirts):

The Magic Bullet

2009-11-11T17:44:55.000Z

I recently attended the Digital Dealer conference and also had a friend of all of yours, Joe Webb, over to the house for a discussion about the event.
Interesting train of thought went to the idea of the Magic Bullet. In my talks with dealers at the conference, Joe and I found that everyone wanted that Key - that magic bullet that would propel them toward the promised land of sales of previous years. Joe made special note of this himself.
As a side note: Today I am also reflecting on the news of a Dealer principle here in Indianapolis taking his life yesterday. This is two in one year here. Major players in this market. The most recent, Richard Burd was running a great operation here(4th Largest Ford dealer in State). Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife and 4 kids.

Our magic bullet thought went in the same direction at the same time. The reality that this is a people business no matter what technology you throw at it. We can "Digital it" all we want or throw ourselves in all the directions we have to run toward at the moment, but if we lose track that people sell and people buy, we lose everything.
There is so much we need to do to make ourselves and our product stand out - that we many times do not focus on the most important part. Even in the marketing message we can lose that connect that is so important.

I guess there are many Magic bullets. You know of most of them if you follow Ralph and all the great stuff here.
But I bet most all of us would agree that the real Magic Bullet that stands as the Killer Bullet would be,
Treat the people who interact with your prospects and customers Right, and they will take care of your business.
How do we treat them Right?
Beyond the obvious ways to treat people right you can -Empower them with the modern tools that will make them and yourself successful. How do you empower them? Help them with the gift of knowledge. Send them to the conferences - or buy your own way ( I even had to buy my own way to be a speaker). Encourage them to read all these blogs here and everywhere. One of the tools I use to save and categorize these is Evernote.com. I save all the best in 400 notebooks I have on evernote,. They all update to my iPhone, work computer, and home computer.
Also, when empowering them with this knowledge thing, show you are passionate about this. This is contagious. And I feel that passion is a big missing part of the equation.

I don't know how you could have a chance today without adding on knowledge daily. It can even be fun if you start knocking on that door.

ReachLocal - 146,050% growth.

2009-11-11T12:20:17.000Z

ReachLocal ranks No. 1 on the 2009 Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 – an annual ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, and life sciences companies in North America based on percentage revenue growth over five years (2004 – 2008).

http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-UnitedStates/Local%20Assets/Documents/TMT_us_tmt/us_tmt_Fast500winnersbyrank_101509.pdf

Be careful if you are using photos from Flickr- Lawsuits waiting to happen

2009-11-11T01:21:26.000Z

Advertising Age just featured and article in which Toyota's ad agency "grabbed" a rights protected photo from Flickr and used it on their website without asking permission. With easy ability to grab images off various sites, we need to be aware of the legal issues and elements involved.

I suggest you read this article to get some better insights on how to protect yourself.

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=140384

Google Caffeine Release Imminent

2009-11-10T13:29:07.000Z

Those of you who have been testing the Google Caffeine technology using the sandbox feature to compare the new search technology with the current system, you can't play in the sandbox any more! Some will be heart broken.

When you visit the Caffeine Sandbox you now see this message:

We appreciate all the feedback from people who searched on our Caffeine sandbox. Based on the success we've seen, we believe Caffeine is ready for a larger audience. Soon we will activate Caffeine more widely, beginning with one data center. This sandbox is no longer necessary and has been retired, but we appreciate the testing and positive input that webmasters and publishers have given.

So it looks like Google will be implementing the Caffeine technology very soon. I had been doing testing on the Caffeine technology and the good news is that my work did not decrease in position but in many cases saw an increase.

Some have suggested that sites with strong linking strategies and title tags as well as good content relevance will be rewarded in Google Caffeine. Time will tell but since I'm a content SEO advocate, I would say that it is a path that dealers should pursue.

Content SEO Strategies

In the coming weeks I will be posting some platform specific tutorials on how to add effective search marketing content to your car dealer website platforms since many companies how now added blogs or pages on the fly. During my review of 34 website platforms for the 2009 ASMA study, I was glad to see that adding unlimited content pages in now becoming a standard feature.

Now that content creation is made easier, dealers need to have a road map on how to create content that increases their visibility and first party leads on their own platforms. So I'll cover how to add effective content pages on platforms such as Dealer.Com, DealerOn, EbizAutos, XI Group, Clickmotive, TK Carsites, etc.

Car Dealer Social Media Basics: Facebook

2009-11-10T08:45:10.000Z

As car dealers become more interesting in using social media to promote their web presence, the first site that normally comes to mind is Facebook. With nearly 300 million users worldwide and close to 25% of ALL page views on the Internet attributed to Facebook, it's easy to see why businesses see it as a lucrative online venue for driving traffic, leads, and sales.

This is one part of a five part series that will be posted on various sites. It covers the basics: a 30,000 foot view of the various social media sites as well as easy, practical ways that the sites can be used.

Why Do Car Dealers Need Facebook?

Beyond the obvious upside of an amazing user-base, Facebook offers something that no other website in history has ever offered: truly personal connectivity. While other sites have tried to get the masses to universally accept and promote their sites, Facebook is the first to succeed at getting users to be truly passionate advocates in the millions. Many who gets started on Facebook become instantly surprised at the connections they are able to make with former acquaintances, old friends, and lost family members.

What does that have to do with the car business? I'll explain shortly.

Accounts vs Pages

An entire class could be held regarding the best ways to use Facebook to promote your dealership. For now, we'll focus on the basics. If you don't have a personal Facebook page now, it's important for you to create one now. You may feel the urge to create a profile for the dealership only. This would be a mistake.

One important rule that Facebook tries to enforce is that profiles are for real people only. Pages are for businesses. It's that simple. You register an account for yourself and you use this account to create a page for your dealership.

There are those who have registered their account as their dealership. These accounts will eventually be deleted and banned. It can happen in days or it could take months, but eventually someone will report these accounts and have them banned.

The other thought that crosses many minds is the idea of creating a business "version" of yourself and a personal "version". Facebook does not allow this either. If caught, both could be lost.

Friends, Fans, and Logistics

A blog post is not enough space to discuss the strategies behind building fans, finding friends, and the logistics involved with putting together a strong fan page. These advanced topics are best discussed one on one (feel free to contact me with questions) or in a classroom setting (such as at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp described below).

Rather than discuss these mundane topics, let's go straight into the important aspects...

Strategies on What to Post and How to Engage

The personal nature of Facebook is both a liability and a strength for Facebook as a marketing tool. Spam is not tolerated and will result in a loss of fans. If your goal is to flood your page with inventory and specials, you won't be very successful.

Your goal should be to promote the quality of your dealership and highlight news, events, and most importantly PEOPLE. If people want to see your inventory, they know exactly where to find it. When they go to your Facebook page, they want to see humans engaging with other humans. They want to know that you are communicating with your fans, that you are posting interesting information regarding your dealership and community, and that you are offering things that are related to the humanity of your dealership.

In other words, they want to see engagement.

For some people, that makes total sense. For others, it's often difficult to get them to understand the dynamic that happens on Facebook. The best advice that anyone can get is to learn by experience. Look at what other Facebook fan pages are posting. Check out car dealers, local businesses, large corporations, publications -- those who have successful fan pages are engaging their fans.

You can and should do the same. Luckily, engagement is easier to see in practice and understand through application than most would know. There are thousands of ways to engage with your fans. Find whatever fits best with your personality and the personality of your dealership in real life.

If you are known for funny, offbeat commercials, stick with that concept. Post these videos, images, and quirky posts on your page regularly. If you're an upscale dealership and want a more corporate engagement, there's nothing wrong with that either. Just try to not let your page get too dry or your fans won't be impressed.

Reply to those who comment, like, or dislike what you post. Remember, engagement requires more than one person.

Upcoming events, industry or OEM news, local area news -- it's all fair game and can help you participate with sincerity.

Facebook is More than Just Your Page

The biggest mistake any business can make is focusing strictly on their own fan page. Remember, chances are strong that many of the people buying a car from you today are active users on Facebook. Don't miss the opportunity to let them do the marketing for you. How?

It's called pride. When people buy a car, they are usually proud of their purchase and want their friends and family to know about it.

When your sales team delivers a vehicle, they should (almost) always ask if their customer is on Facebook. Have a camera ready and ask, "If you'd like we can let your friends see your new car. I can take your picture if you want to post it to your wall!"

Guess what. Most won't, That's okay. Some will.

The goal is to get Sally to post a picture of herself smiling ear to ear standing next to her new Altima Coupe (hopefully with your sign int he background if you can easily arrange it) with the message, "I just bought this at [dealership name]. How do I look?"

When the conversation centers around Sally, when the focus is on her and her new Altima, your dealership is getting free advertising. Most dealers have heard of "word of mouth" marketing. Everyone has heard this statistic or that one about how reputations are made or broken based upon experiences and conversations.

Facebook is the new "word of mouth" that very few dealers are taking advantage of, sadly.

So Many Other Strategies

Again, this post is not the venue for the amount of data that needs to be discussed regarding Facebook. We still need to discuss getting fans, setting up a proper page, engaging with customers, advertising directly, and a slew of other strategies. The best time and place will be the day prior to NADA 2010 in Orlando during the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp being held by me, Paul Rushing, and Brian Pasch.

For now, you can continue to the next part of this series, Car Dealer Social Media Strategies.

News!!!!!!!

2009-11-09T15:27:45.000Z

((( 9 ))) days remaining until the new AutoMax platform will be launched. ALL car dealers will want this in place at all of their stores. Anyone without it will be eaten alive by Dealers that are in! It cannot be copied,, duplicated or stolen. Once you got it, you will control your market area. ALL others will be locked out wishing they could even look in through the impenetrable bars that serve profit and protect the 1st ones on board. NO HYPE ALL FACT!

5 Take Aways from Digital Dealer 7

2009-11-08T18:20:50.000Z

1) Keep it simple
It’s easy to come away from a conference like this with information overload and a sense of being overwhelmed and asking yourself where do I start? Keep it simple. This was certainly the underlying message at many of the most recent sessions. Stay focused. Remember to Crawl, Walk, Run (thanks VJ). Stop Chasing Shiny Objects (thank you Mr. Stauning) get the basics under control first. Don’t go it alone. Remember your team mates within your dealership (Waldo), recognize them, support them and work with them.

2) Have a foundation
Make sure you have a foundation to build your success upon. Start by making sure your store or group has a clearly defined and mapped out Lead Management Process (LMP). Identify who is responsible for this and how it is managed. What happens after day one? Be sure to have a long term follow up plan in place (90 days or more). Done properly this will nurture your leads, and seemingly out of nowhere, you will have customers walk into the showroom, insist on working with you and then buy when they are ready to buy. All this while members of the sales floor watch wondering why you get all the lay downs. Having a defined Lead Management Process in place will help you to have the support and buy-in of upper management. Their support and buy-in is essential because without it your foundation will have a hole in it.

3) Time Management and Goal Setting
In order to keep it simple, while maintaining a solid foundation, time management is critical. Look at your day, your week, your month, map out what you want to accomplish and when will be the best time to accomplish it. Now you can block these times out and set out to accomplish your goals. Keep track of how you are doing and make the needed adjustments to stay on track.

4) Manage and Cultivate your On-line Reputation
We are all sharing on-line more and more everyday. Are your customers sharing their experience with your store? Set up a Google alert so that you can stay on top of the conversation as it happens. Be a part of it. Do not sit back and watch it happen. This is today’s CSI and just like any sale you have to ask for it. Be proactive, reach out to build and cultivate your stores positive reputation. Determine which review sites will work best for you and direct your customers there. You can leverage this content by posting these positive testimonials on your site. This content will enhance your SEO, generate more page views, extend a visitors time on your site and give your sales team an excellent tool to use while selling future prospects. Sound good to you?

5) Participate and Be a Student
I don’t know if it’s ever been truer than today but you can never stop learning. Be a student of the game. Read magazines like Digital Dealer consistently and, as Tim Jennings pointed out in his sessions, make sure you find your take away with every read. Join our professions on-line forums and communities, such as Automotive Digital Marketing, Dealer Refresh and Driving Sales, and participate in them. Share your knowledge.

What are your take aways?

EthicalCarSalesman.com is really starting to take off!

2009-11-08T04:11:22.000Z

Hello my name is David Watkins,

EthicalCarSalesman.com is a source for viral marketing leads and referrals for car sales consultant. Prospects will choose to do business with you based upon the quality of your ratings and reviews from your clients and the information you provide on your profile page.

There are several new features that members benefit from:

Your clients can now easily share their support for you by linking your profile to their Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and 30 other networking sites.

Your clients can easily email everyone in their contacts list a link to your page inviting them to visit your profile and encourage them to do business with you.

You can easily add a link to your page from your Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and many other social networking sites.

Your clients can write a review of their experience with you and submit a rating to share with outside visitors and those they invite. The posts are moderated and verified before they are posted live on your page.

The reviews from your clients will help you gain credibility, trust and build rapport with new and prospective clients that you direct to your page on the site. Visitors to the site will see the reviews and contact you as one they know they can trust to do business with.

There are several other features I will be adding over the next few weeks that will help you secure more prospects as a result.

Thank you for your time,
David Watkins

My First Video on youtube!

2009-11-07T17:49:35.000Z

Mercedes Ladies and Women's Automotive Association International invite you to attend: "Strategies for Success" Montvale, NJ

2009-11-07T03:32:46.000Z

Mercedes Ladies and Women's Automotive Association International invite you to attend: "Strategies for Success"

Monday, November 16th, 2009
Mercedes-Benz USA, One Mercedes Drive Montvale, NJ
Star Cafe

Please RSVP to http://meetings.mbusa.com/conference

DRESS FOR SUCCESS
We're partnering with "Dress for Success," a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive and work in life.

If you would like to donate interview-appropriate women's clothing, shoes, jewelry and handbags that you no longer wear or use, you can donate these items to Dress for Success to provide professional clothing to low-income women who are trying to enter the workforce. Please bring your professional clothing or monetary donation to the Strategies for Success conference on Monday, November 16th, where they will be collected at the door.

Only job-appropriate women's suits, skirts, pants, shoes, jewelry, and handbags that are in good condition will be accepted. Attire should be appropriate to wear to work and something you would still feel comfortable wearing to an interview yourself. The donations must be dry-cleaned and pressed, on hangers, and ready to wear. All sizes are needed and appreciated! Dress for Success will also accept monetary donations of $5, $10, $20 or $50 to help support their Career Center and Professional Women's Group.

CONFERENCE AGENDA
2:30-3:00 Registration / "Dress for Success" Clothing Drive
3:00-4:00 Key Note Speaker: Kim Kadlec, Worldwide VP, Global Marketing Group, Johnson & Johnson
4:00-5:30 "Women in Automotive" Panel (Moderator: Jody DeVere, President WAAI)

Panelists:
Nichole Braggs: Sales Operations Manager, MB
Trudy Hardy: Manager, MINI Marketing
Rory Hepner: Manager, Field Operations, MB
Judith Schumacher: Owner, Schumacher Chevrolet, Gearheart Chevrolet

AutoMax/Auto Dealer People magazine Salesperson of the Month

2009-11-06T22:35:16.000Z

http://autodealermonthly.epubxpress.com/link/ADM/2009/nov/28?s=0

AdAgencyOnline.Net Reviews “Hire The Winners” For Automotive Advertising Agencies

2009-11-06T17:58:29.000Z

In today’s shrinking auto industry auto dealers are being forced to reduce staff to keep expenses in synch with reduced sales and profits. AdAgencyOnline.Net is an automotive advertising resource/networking portal that reviews cutting edge automotive advertising applications for consideration by their affiliated automotive advertising agencies, auto dealer/vendor clients and site visitors. Philip Zelinger, the President of Ad Agency Online, L.L.C. and host of the blog talk radio station – WAAOL, All Automotive Advertising News All The Time – featured on AdAgencyOnline.Net, will be reviewing a new Internet based Human Resource platform, “Hire The Winners” on his Lunch With Phil Discussing Automotive Advertising show scheduled for this Monday, November 9th 2009 from 12:00 Noon EST to 12:30 PM EST.

Philip explained why he selected Hire The Winners to be considered as a preferred automotive advertising vendor on AdAgencyOnline.Net after being questioned as to why an employment screening and training application would be of interest for an automotive advertising agency. “The areas of responsibility for full service automotive advertising agencies have been expanded to satisfy the needs of auto dealers with reduced budgets, staff and sales in our shrinking economy. Auto dealers are demanding more for less on all levels from their staff and key vendors and automotive advertising agencies are no exception. It is not enough for an automotive advertising agency to simply deliver sales traffic to the front door for their clients. If the leads in the auto dealer’s real world showroom and their virtual one online aren’t processed correctly by a professional sales staff, and they don’t result in increased sales or service, then the agency will share in the blame so they better share in providing the solution!”

“A reduced sales staff puts pressure on the remaining sales people and managers to produce more sales per person. The solution lies with improved processes that start in the hiring procedures and continue into ongoing training and monitored performance. Hire The Winners attracted my interest due to their scalable and cost effective HR services that rely on the Internet to provide communication and distribution efficiencies in the delivery of their products and services. The key to developing, monitoring and maintaining a professional sales staff is to have a consistent hiring and training program focused on individual performance and accountability on an ongoing basis. That process must start at the employee screening stages and then continue with ongoing training and support. Based on my preliminary review of Hiring The Winners they are the first vendor to provide a comprehensive online solution.”

Philip will be discussing Hire The Winners during an interview with Steve Munyan who will be representing Hire The Winners during the blog talk radio show. The affiliated automotive advertising agencies and auto dealer/vendor clients of Ad Agency Online, (AAOL), will be calling in questions to the pair of automotive advertising professionals to determine their level of interest. After the show, the comments will be discussed with the current preferred automotive advertising vendors featured on AdAgencyOnline.Net and the final decision to approve them as a preferred vendor will be announced to the affiliated automotive advertising agencies of AAOL followed by a public announcement posted on AdAgencyOnline.Net.

About Steve Munyan

Steve Munyan is the President and National Sales Director of Hire the Winners. He has 32 years of successful Auto Retail experience, 9 years as a sales consultant, 4 years as a sales manager, 3 years as President of Team Builders Consulting, traveling the nation working with some of the finest most productive dealers in our country and 16 years as a General Manager, Executive Manager or Partner. Experienced with 19 manufacturers (10 Domestic and 9 Import) along with having attended Center for Creative Leadership and the Kellogg School of Business, Steve brings the experience and leadership necessary to attack the real life challenges of today's market to improve dealer profitability. Steve possesses a passion to help people succeed through proper Assessment/Planning/Developing/Training and Measuring performance. He enjoys his 4 children, 5 grandchildren, exercise and golf. Steve's faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation of his life. He has been privileged to study and teach God's Word for the past 35 years.

About Hire The Winners

Lee Kemp, the founder of Hire the Winners and creator of “The Car Sales Simulator,” birthed the idea for the simulator in the 90’s. As a Ford Dealer, Lee experienced incredible frustration in hiring and retaining sales consultants. In the midst of his frustration, he saw simulators in other fields that he thought could work well in the automotive industry. Lee started by involving dozens of experienced automotive experts in the designing and writing of realistic simulations involving sales consultants and customers interacting when attempting to purchase a vehicle. Lee’s vision was to create a tool that would measure the dominant traits necessary to be an effective auto sales consultant. After a significant time and financial investment, “The Car Sales Simulator” was born. In 2004, Hire the Winners launched its new creation at the NADA Convention in New Orleans. Over the past 5 years, thousands of people have experienced the Car Sales Simulator and over 40 dealers have integrated this unique tool into their business model.

Lee continued to improve the simulator with feedback from numerous experienced automotive experts, most recently updating and fine tuning the program in January 2009 after Steve Munyan partnered with Hire the Winners as the President and National Sales Director. Steve brings more than 32 years automotive retail experience and has focused on Lee’s vision of “creating a world class simulator that helps dealers hire and retain better auto sales consultants, so they can be more profitable in today’s economic climate”. Steve possesses a passion for excellence and a belief that all auto dealers need a world class hiring process. There’s no question that “The Car Sales Simulator” has become the best automotive sales aptitude assessment/training tool on the market today.

So much is on the line these days and automobile companies cannot afford to take the incredible risks they have been taking as they hire sales consultants. Dealers across the country continue to struggle with high turnover and low production on their sales teams. As part of the comprehensive hiring process, Hire the Winners has the answer to today’s auto dealers needs. Knowing that every person hired is critical to the dealer’s success, Hire the Winners helps them assess the risk before spending large amounts of time and money.

Hire the Winners is committed to helping dealers build strong teams by implementing effective processes and we believe that together we will help the dealers bring on and RETAIN the best talent available.

In November of this year, Hire the Winners will roll out a new division. They will assist dealers by finding, screening and serving up qualified candidates. This eliminates advertising costs and the time to weed through would be applicants. When dealers calculate the costs associated with all that goes into finding a qualified candidate, the distraction to the sales and management teams and the time off the floor, this service makes economic sense and allows the manages to do what they do best….Sell Vehicles!

About Philip Zelinger

Philip Zelinger is the President of Ad Agency Online, LLC and founder of AdAgencyOnline.Net. He invested 25 years as a General Manager and Dealer Principal followed by his last ten years in the automotive advertising industry learning from the teams that he built so he can now presume to teach on forums like AdAgencyOnline.Net. His role as a “Dealer Coach” is enhanced by his hosting a nationally recognized auto industry social networking portal and blog talk radio station – WAAOL, All Automotive Advertising News All The Time. As the author of two books on the auto industry, including “How To Sell A Car – a Career Guide to The Automobile Industry,” he is a recognized authority on market trends and developing technologies with the responsibility of selecting key vendors and applications for his dealer clients as well as forming strategic partnerships for his vendor clients to leverage their shared resources to help them bring their products and services to market.

About AdAgencyOnline.Net and Ad Agency Online, L.L.C.

AdAgencyOnline.Net reviews automotive advertising vendors and new technologies on several blog talk radio shows in addition to the Lunch With Phil Discussing Automotive Advertising. Other shows include “Lunch With Ralph Discussing Automotive Advertising” and “Automotive Advertising Experts.” The shows attract automotive advertising agencies, auto dealers, auto industry vendors and O.E.M. representatives that listen to WAAOL to find vendors, applications and technologies to maximize the R.O.I. for their automotive advertising dollars.

AAOL is a national network of independent affiliated automotive advertising agencies linked by an online communication / distribution system developed by Philip Zelinger. The proprietary operating system that powers AAOL was designed to reduce fixed and semi-variable expenses for full service automotive advertising agencies. The developing technologies that enhanced the performance of the independent automotive advertising agencies linked by AAOL has served as the role model for the solutions suggested on AdAgencyOnline.Net and represented by AAOL to their affiliated automotive advertising agencies when serving their auto dealer clients.

Ad Agency Online L.L.C is focused on discovering and representing new automotive advertising vendors not yet recognized by the mainstream automotive advertising industry. Recent automotive advertising vendors represented by AAOL include; Argistics - AutoTransaXion, EveryCarListed.Com, DealMaker.Com, CityTwist.Com, Bulldog Marketing Technologies, LeadConverter, SiSTeR Technologies - Video CarLot, Gumiyo, Kihon Media, CarFolks.Com, Ai Dealer, NeoSynergy, Laser Stream Video and Winked-In.Com; to name a few.

The list of previous guests interviewed on WAAOL include many of the most recognized automotive advertising experts in the industry as well as some new entries into the exploding automotive advertising technology sector. Past guests included, Clayton Stanfield from EBay Motors, Mark Boyd and Mark Dubis from CarFolks.Com, Jared Hamilton from DrivingSales.Com, Dale Pollak from vAuto, David Wassmann from NeoSynergy, Jerry Daniels from Automotive Broadcasting Network, (ABN), Terry Alling from Kihon Media, David Marod from LeadConverter, Brian Ferris and Spencer Sterling from DealMaker.Com, Mike Parsons from Laser Stream Video, Brian Hoecht from Ai Dealer, Ralph Paglia from ADP and host to the auto industry social networking community ADM, Len Critcher from ecarlist.com, Tim Zierden from AAX, Jim Ziegler, motivational speaker and consultant to the auto industry, Jeff Kershner, ecommerce director for The Mile One Automotive Group and host of the auto industry social networking forum DealerRefresh.Com, Jeff Raab from the Detroit Trading Company, (DTX), Mike DeCecco from Dealer.Com, Ken Schwartz from CityTwist, Michael R. Spadafore from R. L. Polk & Co., Kevin Schwartz and Rick Rochon from AdSymetrix, Bruce Cerbone from Argistics, Scott Davis from Bull Dog Marketing Technologies, Matt Watson and Douglas Kinney from VinSolutions, Hal Howard and Don Pollock from New Wave Automotive, LLC, (NWA), Michael T. Fay from Colliers Abood Wood-Fay Real Estate and their C.A.R.S. division, Matt Brown and Zack Powell from TheDealerDashBoard.Com, Mark Burack from Liquid Motors, Pat Ryan, Jr. from FirstLook, Al Cantarella from AutoWebsitePlus.com and Cliff banks from Dealer Communications.

For more information on Philip Zelinger, Ad Agency Online, L.L.C., Hire The Winners or any of the preferred automotive advertising vendors previously reviewed on WAAOL auto dealers and automotive advertising agencies should contact Philip through AdAgencyOnline.Net. Automotive advertising vendors, automotive advertising agencies and auto dealers that would like to be considered as a “preferred automotive advertising vendor” on AdAgencyOnline.Net and/or to hire/join Ad Agency Online, L.L.C. to represent them can contact Philip Zelinger at pzads@bellsouth.net, call him at 888-796-2228 or visit AdAgencyOnline.Net at http://adagencyonline.net. To quote Philip Zelinger, “Help is only a click away!” ###

HUGE........I mean HUGE........Truly HUGE.....NEWS!!!!!!!!

2009-11-06T15:45:22.000Z

ATTENTION JUST (((12))) DAYS LEFT BEFORE THE BIGGEST NEWS IN THE LAST 20+ YEARS IN THE AUTO INDUSTRY WILL BREAK FROM AUTOMAX>>>>> STAY TUNED...

8th Digital Dealer Conference Set for April 20 - 22, 2009 in Orlando, FL

2009-11-06T06:30:00.000Z

Find more photos like this on Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community (ADM)
Mike Roscoe and Cliff Banks of Dealer Communications, Inc. have announced that the 8th Digital Dealer Conference will be in Orlando Florida starting on April 20 and going through April 22, 2010. Additional information and details will be posted continuously between now and then on the official Digital Dealer Conference website.
You can visit the website at: Digital Dealer Conference

The 7th Digital Dealer Conference and Exhibition was recently completed and ran from Sunday November 1 through Tuesday November 3, 2009 in Nashville. Despite the lengthy recession of 2008-2009 the 7th Digital Dealer Conference was attended by over 600 automotive digital marketing professionals, with over 500 dealerships represented by the actual attendees at Digital Dealer #7....

When looking at the final digital dealer conference sign ins from Nashville, there were over 800 people who picked up there badges at the Digital Dealer Conference registration desk. The math tells us that there were over 200 suppliers and various associated personnel at the event. With a Supplier/Dealer ratio of 1/4 the Digital Dealer Conference is one of the least supplier-to-dealer heavy conferences of the year... NADA is characterized by more suppliers than dealers, and I saw that the J. D. Power Automotive Internet Roundtable was decidedly NOT a dealers-in-the-majority crowd.

Digital Dealer Orlando Conference

As long as we can convince Roscoe and Banks to give me a speaking slot again, I am eagerly anticipating a great conference in Orlando. By then we will have much more to report on in regards to Automotive Social Marketing and Reputation Management for Car Dealers.

I recommend that we all agree to set the Twitter hash tag for Digital Dealer 8 in Orlando as #DD8 and avoid some of the confusion that seemed to happen at Digital Dealer 7... You can follow all the latest activities on the ADM Professional Community at http://Twitter.com/ADMcommunity and my own personal Twitter account, which has no automation is at http://Twitter.com/RalphPaglia

I want to personally thank those of you who attended my General Session on Tuesday at 8:30 AM during the 7th Digital Dealer Conference... It meant so much to me and to Gilbert Ancira and Elizabeth Barrera that so many people showed up, and I was simply amazed! Beyond all the hype and theory being thrown around about Social Media Marketing and dealers using social networking and UGC sites to promote themselves, there are those of us, like Gilbert, Ernesto and April Ancira, as well as over 200 of their employees, as well as myself and the ADP Digital Marketing team that works so hard at all this stuff I throw at them, who live the actual day to day "working it" of social marketing... When Gilbert, Elizabeth and I went to lunch after Tuesday's session and the enormous response we all received from the hundreds of people who attended the session, all we could talk about was how much we felt like all our hard work had been recognized by our peers... And, that there was so much more we want to do!

I love it when a plan comes together and we not only sell a bunch more cars and trucks, but we also have MORE fun doing it! When I first started selling cars it was the people and the fun that played such a major role in getting me hooked on the car business... Sure, we all like making money, and we certainly would not discount the importance of the Golden Rule, but when it comes to social marketing, the relationships happen first, then the cars get sold... And somehow, all that fun and happy customers generate a lot more gross.... Remember Gross?!?!

SSSssshhhhhh.... Don't tell anyone, but the "Secret Sauce" in social marketing and reputation management is an extra amount of gross profit added in! Happy customers who look forward to coming into your dealership and buying cars from people they already know, with the purchase process taking less time and generating less stress, while producing higher CSI and more profits PVR...

Is it complicated? Not really, we use technology to simplify the processes.

Is it hard work? Yup, damn straight it takes some time and effort.

Are there any guarantees? Only that some day you and I will both be dead.

Will we sell more cars? Well... Do people generally tend to like you when they get to know you? If the answer is yes, then you will sell more cars. If the answer is no, then you need to go become a computer programmer. Classes start next week at ITT Technical.

Do I need to be really good with computers? Nope, but you will need to be able to use a phone and a keyboard to tell stories...

Every ten years or so, the car business seems to evolve, and that's when it starts to get more interesting, and a lot more fun!

I learned a lot at Digital Dealer 7 and am looking forward to seeing our ADM Professional Community members at the 2nd Annual ADM Member Reception on the evening of April 20, 2009 after the conference activities are done for day 1.

8th Digital Dealer Conference in Orlando