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The 2011 Digital Marketing Strategies Conference (DMSC) scheduled February 1-3, 2011 just prior to the 2011 NADA Convention has exceeded its pre-registration goals. Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing, who is organizing the conference, attributed the pre-registration success to dealers focusing on education.

“In a recent survey conducted by PCG, 45% of car dealers said that their staff was not adequately trained to lead a competitive digital marketing and social media strategy for their dealership. With the outstanding lineup of speakers and educators at the DMSC, it is no surprise the dealer principals, managers, and eCommerce directors have registered.”

The Digital Marketing Strategies Conference is conveniently schedule prior to the popular NADA Convention, which is held this year in San Francisco. Attendees of the conference who are planning to attend NADA will be transported to San Francisco on Friday February 4^th and will not miss any of the scheduled events at NADA.

Attendees of the Digital Marketing Strategies Conference will also benefit from the conference format. All meals are included in the registration fee so that attendees will have ample time to build lasting friendship over mealtime. Since the conference is being held in the Napa Valley, dinners will feature award-winning wines introduced by the winemaker/owners of the vineyards.

Conference Handbook Exceeds 150 Pages

Pasch added, “This year we have also created a 150 page digital marketing and social media handbook. The book is packaged with articles, resources, and tips from the speakers and educators at the conference. The handbook will be a great resource to review and leverage all year round since there are few books in print specifically targeting automotive digital marketing.”

Automotive educators and speakers include Jared Hamilton, Sean Wolfington, JR Rucker, Alex Snyder, Gary May, Matt Murray, Glenn Pasch, Christy Roman, Joe Webb, Scott Falcone, and Christine Rochelle.

Sponsors of the DMSC include Dealer.com, VinSolutions, TK Carsites, Smart Web Concepts, Presto Reviews, DealerFire, CAR-MERCIAL, and DealerTrend.

Registration for the 2011 Digital Marketing Strategies Conference closes on January 28, 2011. Dealers interested in attend can visit http://www.digitalmarketingstrategies.org to register.

Hotel rooms can be booked at http://www.marriot.com since the event is being held at the Napa Valley Marriot Hotel.

ADM Members Invited to Superbowl Party

For dealers attending the 2011 NADA Convention in San Francisco, PCG extends an invitation to join their Superbowl Party, which is billed as the largest Superbowl Sunday party at the NADA, show. Dealers can register by contact Carrie Hemphill at 732.450.8200 ext 2.

As I sit down to write this post, I’m reminded of a situation where I once had to break the news to the owner of a dealership that he needed $1 million cash infusion to keep his store running. He’d been doing things the same way for years and it cost him dearly. The signs of demise were always there, predictions were made, but he chose not to act.

It’s a similar story with Social Media and online reputations for dealerships today. Doing things the same old way will not cut it in this new economy. The following is a list of my top 6 Social Media predictions for dealerships in 2011.  Some points could be considered wishes but hey, a girl’s gotta dream, right?:

1. There will be more Adopters and less Adopt-Laters.  Dealerships will buy into the fact that a well-defined strategy for Social Media generates leads. It’s not about waiting for the customer to come through the door anymore. It’s about meeting the customer where they are and listening.  Everyone will become better for this.

2. Dealerships will realize they can’t do it alone. Social Media is part PR, part marketing, part advertising, part geek…with a twist.  The futility will become clear in the thought that Social Media and online reputations can be managed in someone’s spare time.  They’ll see that the Internet Sales Dept is there to field the leads that come from Social Media and that those sales professionals can’t do that when they’re struggling to find content to attract new buyers.

3. Dealerships will allocate 25% of their advertising/marketing budget to Social Media and Online Reputation Management. Ford did it in 2010 and they’re now the leader on Social networks.

4. Dealerships will stop “blocking” Social Media sites from their staff’s workstations. They’ll establish a clear Social Media policy and fear will no longer blind management’s ability to see the value in having employees–their ‘brand advocates’–share cool things about the store to their trusted networks. Management will understand that staff is already using Social Media on their phones and laptops so blocking is pointless. Sure, it’s a shift in the way we measure productivity but by using positive reinforcement and recognition, management will be able to drive employee enthusiasm. The benefit will be that when the staff shares their enthusiasm with customers, it’s contagious.

5. Dealerships will recognize that content rules. Social Media is not only about a new medium, it’s about new and more meaningful marketing messages. Here’s what killer content does:

• Attracts customers
• Educates buyers
• Establishes credibility and trust
• Builds buzz throughout Social Networks
• Inspires customers to love you
• Increases your PageRank in SEO

….and it generates word-of-mouth and quality leads!

6. Dealerships and managers will have the patience it takes to build a following on Social Media. We all remember how comfortable it was to sit with the print advertising rep each week, design our ads and watch the customers come in the door. Dealerships in 2011 will see that today’s customer wants to buy or service their car from someone they know, like and trust. They’ll accept that Social Media relationships take time to build and this will encourage more dealerships to start using Social Media and integrate it into their budgets for 2011.  The payoff is Customers for Life!

John Wannamaker, often considered the father of the modern department store and modern advertising was quoted about 90 years ago as saying “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half.”

Unfortunately, this problem holds true for many car dealerships (perhaps not as dramatic as quoted by John Wannamaker). However, there is no question that advertising seepage and waste is one of the most pressing concerns for advertisers and reducing that ALONE should dramatically improve your advertising ROI without additional investments.

Therefore, as you plan your advertising strategy for 2011 what plans are you implementing to:

• Reduce the percent of advertising seepage?
• Find out which ‘half’ of your advertising investment is being wasted?
• Measure and track your advertising channels to determine which is NOT meeting your minimum advertising ROI requirements?
• Cost benefit analysis to determine how much say a 5% reduction in advertising seepage will mean to your bottom line?
• What specific strategies you can put in place to reduce advertising seepage?
• What specific strategies can you put in place to stay in touch and engage your existing customers?
• How do you plan to increase your parts, service and maintenance revenue with your existing customer base? 
•  Have you claimed Your FREE Google Local Places Listing and is it adequately optimized and mobile device enabled?
• Are you still advertising in the Yellow Pages? Do you know your marketing ROI for this channel?

Now, before we move on, let’s discuss WHY advertising seepage occurs. Let’s assume that you advertise only in the newspapers and Yellow Pages. You place your full page ad, with pictures of the cars you want to promote, your financing options, your phone or vanity #, address and website address. While this well and good, unless you have a short code keyword  or something that tie the two channels together, you will miss the % of your potential customers who prefer to use a mobile device to communicate and you are ignoring the largest growing segment of your potential target population.

According to EMarketer (Nov 2009), the % of mobile phone users is expected to increase at a rate of about 20% EACH year between 2008 and 2013 and as % of total US population, increase from about 16.7% in 2008 to 39.5% in 2013. In addition, according to Center for Media Research (Sept 2009), “80% of local media execs believe mobile will be the main distribution to consumers within 3 years”.

The New Multi-media Environment Calls For An Integrated Advertising Strategy.

Fortunately, there is a way for auto dealers to adopt this trend quickly, inexpensively and seamlessly into their current online and offline advertising strategies. The use of short code text messaging is already widespread. Adding this ONE keyword to all your advertising channels will vastly improve your response, leads and conversion rates.

Note that widely popular television shows such as “American Idol” and “Dancing With The Stars” give their viewers the option of calling or texting a vote to their favorite performer.

A catchy and memorable keyword in addition to a vanity # are a powerful combination to get your dealership’s name and brand message to consumers.

The multi-media car dealer will use their keyword, in the words of Thomas Hensey (Rhino Marketing), to “identify, find, touch and thrill” the target customer by offering them an incentive to text to their database. The dealer will then send the customer to their mobile website ad, featuring their specials, while at the same time sending that ad to YouTube and Social media.

In the process, the dealership builds a text messaging database of inquiries, leads, and customers for ongoing, periodic follow up. So long as the dealer continues to “touch and thrill” their database, they will be able to increase new sales, service and maintenance revenues.

The key to reducing advertising seepage and increasein sales and revenue is the ability to integrate ALL your advertising channels, and the short code keyword provides the dealer an inexpensive, quick and seamless way to do so. 

Michael Ofori is President of MVO & Associates, LLC, a multi-media advertising agency and can be reached at 978-631-0363  email mike@multimediaadvertising.biz

I was finally able to get caught up on some facebook data that was released earlier in the month. It really helps to identify what people are talking to others about and when they are talking! ... if you use facebook for business purposes,this is an article you really should review even though it might take more then just a few minutes of your day.

Check it out here and let me know what you think.

"

Jesse Thomas is the CEO and Founder of JESS3, a Creative Interactive Agency. JESS3 designs products and experiences for brands like Google, Nike, Facebook, MySpace, C-SPAN, Microsoft and NASA.

“Likes,” views and followers were all the rage in 2010. Despite the social media community emphasizing engagement instead of reach, media agencies quickly learned that engagement doesn’t scale easily, making it difficult to sell. Enter Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. As consumer use of social media spiked, the leading social networks retooled their advertising products to satisfy the newfound demand from brands. Instead of fizzling out like the popular online communities of yesteryear, they are driving toward profitability after several years of trying to figure out what they wanted to be when they grew up.

On the flip side, as consumers incorporate social media more into their daily lives, alternatives to the “big three” in the form of niche and location-based social networks have increased in appeal. Advertisers willing to experiment with media campaigns on these networks will have a distinct advantage moving forward as consumers become desensitized to text, display and even rich media ads. Whether they choose to go big or small, the social web equips advertisers with significantly more consumer data points than ever before to improve the targeting and relevance of online advertising.

Below are six predictions for digital advertising in 2011."

Read the rest of the article and watch the videos here!

http://www.dealersyenrgy.com

http://www.internetsales20group.com

Automotive Social Media Marketing Statistics, Facts and Figures / Re-Post from Ralph Paglia of Automotive Digital Marketing...

Automotive Social Media Marketing Statistics, Facts and Figures published by reliable resources for December 2010

•  

• Social network usage by Americans aged 65 and up grew 100% in 2010 from 13% to 26%, and is expected to continue to increase (Pew Research Center)

•  

• Facebook passed Yahoo in August 2010 to become #2 video site in America (58,600,00 users) behind #1 YouTube (146,300,000 users) (comScore)

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• Twitter now gets more visitors than MySpace, becoming 3rd most trafficked Social Network. Twitter.com had 96 million unique visitors in November 2010 up 76% from November 2009. #1 visited social network is Facebook with 598 million unique visitors. (comScore)

•  

• 29% of Twitter users 18-24 years old use Twitter to follow their favorite companies and brands

•  

• 60% of web users visit social networks (PC Advisor)

•  

• Two thirds of comScore’s U.S. Top 100 websites and half of comScore’s Global Top 100 websites have integrated content sharing with Facebook.

•  

• The average Facebook user is connected to 60 pages, groups and events (Facebook press office)

•  

• Twitter adds more than 300,000 new "Tweeps" (users) every day (Twitter)

•  

• There are more than 600 million searches on Twitter every day (Twitter)

•  

• YouTube receives more than 2 billion video views per day (YouTube press center)

•  

• 77% of Automotive Internet Users (AIU) read blogs (Technorati)

•  

• 60% of bloggers are aged 18-44 (Technorati)

•  

• Male/Female distribution ratio of Twitter users is 47/53%

•  

• 51% of active Twitter users follow companies, brands or products on social networks

•  

• Women aged 55 and up are the fastest growing Facebook demographic in America

•  

• Two-thirds of bloggers are male:
• 65% are age 18-44.
• Bloggers are more affluent and educated than the general population:
• 79% have college degrees / 43% have graduate degrees
• 1/3 have a household income of $75K+
• 1/4 have a household income of $100K+
• 81% have been blogging more than 2 years.
• Professionals have an average of 3.5 blogs.
• Professionals blog 10+ hours/week.
• 11% say blogging is their primary income source.

http://www.dealersynergy.com

http://www.internetsales20group.com  

Facebook appears to be on the verge of launching a new design of its Fan Pages. This change seems to include the site’s location-based Places checkin functionality, enabling “likers” of the page to check in to it. Although

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is said to be giving a sneak peak at the new Profile Pages design on 60 Minutes tonight, it seems that more change is in store; you can already see the new Pages design in action on select pages, such as Ellen DeGeneres’s Fan Page. On Ellen’s page, you will notice a count for the number of checkins the Page has. According to Facebook spokesperson Meredith Chin, the Ellen Page is a merged page that includes the functionality for checkins available shortly after the feature launched a few months ago. Basically, your brand page will then take on the Places page designs, which appears to be the inspiration for the new profile pages that are to be released as well.

“As long as the address of the official page and the place page match, it should show you a prompt and ask you if you want to merge them,” Chin said.

You can see screenshots of the new design below.

Current Pages Design -----------------

The current Pages design, similar to Profile Pages, has the Page navigation tabs (Wall, Questions, Photos) at the top.

New Pages With Checkins

The new Pages design includes checkins, profile information (which includes some basic information about the page and the Wall postings below it), a narrower left column and more.

New Tabs

The new Pages also feature the navigation tabs on the left-hand side.

First, let’s look at the media advertising landscape for 2011; then determine how your strategy fits into that and more importantly, how you are going to maximize your advertising ROI within these parameters.

According to Carat, a leading independent media communications agency, total ad spend in the US is expected to increase by 1.7% in 2011. “All media are expected to return to growth, except for the newspaper sector, which, along with magazines, is expected to be the weakest performer. The two biggest areas of growth are internet and television, followed by radio, outdoor and cinema… Online continues to capture a bigger percentage of the media spend in 2010 at 11.3%, increasing to 12.1% in 2011”.

The trend towards mobile smart phone devices to reach people on the move cannot be over-emphasized.

Now, given this landscape let me ask you the following questions:

• What is your advertising strategy for 2011?
• Do you have a plan to minimize advertising leakage or waste?
• Do you have an integrated multi-media advertising strategy across ALL your media channels to maximize advertising message, leads and conversion?
• Do you have a rigorous tracking mechanism in place know which channel provided the best ROI, and more importantly, to quickly adapt to changing response, leads and conversion patterns?

Despite the changing demographic and ad spend landscape many automobile dealers continue to devote the majority of their ad budgets to TV, newspapers and radio. It is true that the internet is getting a larger share of today’s ad budget, however, there is NO INTREGRATED strategy yet in place to minimize advertising leakage or waste.

Every month, the average automobile dealership spends about $50,000 in advertising and the average dealership will use a combination of  TV, newspaper and magazines, radio, direct mail and the internet to advertise.  The critical question is WHETHER all of these channels are integrated in a way where EACH channel provides input into the other that validates the dealer’s brand message.

In my opinion, the most ROI effective, integrated advertising strategy MUST encompass the following and include an appropriate, affordable, easy to implement online platform to enable seamless execution:

• TV: You are already spending money here so make sure you include your toll free #, website info and provide an incentive for your watchers to respond to your shortcode keyword.
• Newspapers & Magazines, Radio & Direct Mail: A contact phone #, website and shortcode keyword are critical here. Note that a response to your shortcode keyword will allow you to direct your customers by smart phone to your mobile website, YouTube and  Social Media sites.
• Your Online Website: Must be well planned, easy to navigate and SEO optimized. Do not forget a call to action to your shortcode keyword.
• SMS Text Marketing Platform (Opt-in): If you do not have this, you are missing a HUGE part of your potential audience. For people on the go, you can push through instant coupons, discounts, contests and gratification.
• Automated Submission Of Ads On YouTube & Social Media: Your presence in this space without a lot of effort and resources is key. Tie in with the other strategies produces maximum results.
• Automated Mobile Website Capacity: This is critical in today’s smart phone environment and to reach the Y generation.
• Tracking & Measurement: Having a separate shortcode keyword for each advertising channel will allow you to track responses, leads, conversions and ongoing customer lifetime value. This will also show you over time which channel represent you most effective ROI and potentially reduce your ad spend.

 Once you have your prospects and customers’ keycode contact #, you can now send your prospects periodic new sales specials and coupons, and for existing customers, reminders and/or coupons for maintenance and other services.

Now, you are wondering HOW you could do all that without substantial incremental expense. First, doing this for 6 - 9months should show you which channels have the smallest or even negative ROI for possible elimination. Second, the potential incremental sales from this strategy should more than make up for any additional expense with this strategy.

You can position your company today to capitalize on the new advertising landscape by incorporating these multi-media advertising strategies to improve your ROI. Many of your competition are already doing it.

If you want to find our how other automobile dealerships are using this strategy, please contact me.

Every year, people start lining up on Wednesday to take advantage of $3 appliances and $1DVDs, 80% off electronics and deeply discounted appliances. I know that I comb the mail Sunday, looking for deals that can't-be-beat. If you plan on playing the Black Friday game and don't utilize direct mail, you are missing out. It gives you the perfect opportunity to showcase your deals and your merchandise; don't worry about being lost in the crowd. Focus on designing a unique piece and your mailer can be the difference between boom or bust. Check out www.blackfriday2010.com to further understand why mailers are so critical to Black Friday success; these blogs are scanning in your mailer for people so that they know what your deal is. No mailer = no awareness. However, in times where information flows freely, your mailer has an even bigger impact than the audience you targeted. It's just another example of direct mail's added value.

http://automotivevideosearchengineoptimization.com/

http://www.internetsales20group.com

http://www.internetsales20group.com

http://www.dealersyenrgy.com

I wanted to wish everyone a VERY Happy Thanksgiving from me, my family and the entire Dealer Synergy Team. I personally have a tremendous amount to be Thankful for. As you might or might not know, I was in a horrific, near fatal Jet Ski accident in Puerto Rico this past summer. It was a sureal experieince to say the least, I was in Puerto Rico for 2 months and out of work for over 3 months due to the accident. I had a lot of time to think, reflect and truly appreciate what I have. Sometimes when you are going at "warp" speed everyday things might get taken for granted. I am Thankful for my life, to be able to breathe. As simple as that may sound I am sincere. I am blessed and Thankful for my family, friends, company, clients and the ability to do what I love each and every day.

Life is WAY Too Short!! BeThankful that you have life and the opportunity to be and do anything you want to do. Reflect... Soak it all in... Enjoy it!

God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving

Sean V. Bradley-

http://www.dealersynergy.com

"Googolopoly" The BEST & Most Powerful Automotive Digital Marketing & Social Media Strategy for your Dealership

This Graphic sums it ALL up... This is Exactly what your dealership should be thinking with the Internet & with Digital Marketing / Social Media... The best analogy I can give you all is that I want you to think of Google as a Monopoly board or bettter yet a "Googolopoly" LOL! Google says that ONLY .5% (LESS than 1%) of people go past the First Page of Google. So, your strategy is SIMPLE... LIKE in Monopoly you try to get as many PROPERTIES as possible... That is what you want to do with the First Page of Google! you want to get as many positions as humanly possible. For example:

· You want to DOMINATE the First page EVERYWHERE... Starting with your MAIN www.abcmotors.com site.

· You want your Focus Sites / Micros Sites to show on the first page in the TOP 10.

· You want your Face Book...

· You want your Twitter...

· You want your NING...

· You want your Flicker...

· You want your You Tube...

· You want your Dealer Rater / Reputation Management etc...

· Videos, videos, Videos... AKA Video Search Engine Optimization!

· You want your Vertical Search... Google Business / google Maps...

· You want your REAL TIME Search (LIVE News Feeds on First Page Google)!

*** Why...? Simple... The MORE you are on the 1st PAGE the LESS EVERYONE else is... 3rd party providers, competition etc... And we all know that you have a FASTER gestation period generating your own leads, you have a higher gross and a higher closing ratio.

THE NEW Phrase to Remember is "Googolopoly"

http://www.dealersynergy.com

"Googolopoly" The BEST & Most Powerful Automotive Digital Marketing & Social Media Strategy for your Dealership

This Graphic sums it ALL up... This is Exactly what your dealership should be thinking with the Internet & with Digital Marketing / Social Media... The best analogy I can give you all is that I want you to think of Google as a Monopoly board or better yet a "Googolopoly" LOL! Google says that ONLY .5% (LESS than 1%) of people go past the First Page of Google. So, your strategy is SIMPLE... LIKE in Monopoly you try to get as many PROPERTIES as possible... That is what you want to do with the First Page of Google! you want to get as many positions as humanly possible. For example:

· You want to DOMINATE the First page EVERYWHERE... Starting with your MAIN www.abcmotors.com site.

· You want your Focus Sites / Micros Sites to show on the first page in the TOP 10.

· You want your Face Book...

· You want your Twitter...

· You want your NING...

· You want your Flicker...

· You want your You Tube...

· You want your Dealer Rater / Reputation Management etc...

· Videos, videos, Videos... AKA Video Search Engine Optimization!

· You want your Vertical Search... Google Business / google Maps...

· You want your REAL TIME Search (LIVE News Feeds on First Page Google)!

*** Why...? Simple... The MORE you are on the 1st PAGE the LESS EVERYONE else is... 3rd party providers, competition etc... And we all know that you have a FASTER gestation period generating your own leads, you have a higher gross and a higher closing ratio.

THE NEW Phrase to Remember is "Googolopoly"

"Internet Sales 20 Groups"

Mercadeo Digital

Algunas veces subestimamos el poder que tiene el mercadeo digital. Es interesantes saber que ya no solo existen dos o tres formas de mercadeo digital sino decenas de maneras de hacerlo y con resultados impresionantes. Una de las principales herramientas que podemos utilizar es "SEO, VSEO". El poder utilizar esta herramienta para atraer clientes y futuros compradores de nuestros servicios a nuestro sitio "web" hace del mercadeo digital unas de las cosas mas importantes para hacer negocios.

No hay duda de que el taller de "Internet Sales 20 Group" esta llenando todas las expectativas. Mucho se ha aprendido y mucho queda por aprenderse.

Se han eliminado los acentos para evitar errores de interpretacion de motores de busquedas.