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tips (25)

Best Ways to Sell Your Car

Thanks to the Internet, there are more opportunities to sell your car than ever before. Whichever method you choose, you’re often pitting the price against convenience. In other words, the quicker you need your car sold, the less money you’ll likely be getting. On the other hand, if neither time nor convenience are the issue, you can hope for the best price for your car. Also, no matter which method you choose, there are things you need to do to bring your ride into a hot sale condition.
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YouTube Annotations Are Dead

Why?

They don’t work on mobile, and never did. Over 60% of YouTube views are on mobile.

So how can add interactivity to your videos now? And how can you get that same experience on mobile? YouTube Cards and End Slates.

Below is a guide on how to implement end cards in your videos, and drive more subscribers and views to your other videos.

Repost from: 

TUTORIAL: HOW-TO CREATE A CUSTOM YOUTUBE END SLATE / CARD [CREATORS TIP #64]

by: MARK R ROBERTSON

http://tubularinsights.com/outro-end-slate-youtube/

Creating a custom, interactive end slate (A.K.A. tail slate, outro, end screen) for the end of your YouTube videos is something that I recommend in all of my talks and to all my clients looking for best practices in YouTube marketing.  They offer a great way to drive awareness and views to your other video assets, increase engagement and subscribers, and using interactive annotations along with it can also help with rankings in search. Custom end slates can also be used to reinforce your brand or even take the focus away from YouTube’s default related videos end screen.

On this week’s Creator’s Tip, Tim demonstrates how we create our outro slates for videos on the ReelSEO channel.

Benefits: How to Use Custom End Cards for YouTube

Typically the way we use outro slates is to annotate to previous videos we’ve done.  The subscribe button will generally be there and people can listen to the end of the show while it’s fading out.   This is important because, YouTube is paying more and more attention to how much time videos contribute to people’s overall viewing session on YouTube.  If your video can do more to send more views and more traffic to your other videos, then your videos will rank better in search and do better for audience retention.

Additionally, viewers may be more inclined to click on subscribe when they are reading some of the titles.  They may think to themselves, “This channel is making other good content.”  Even if they don’t click on some of the other videos, they’re more likely to subscribe because they have a glimpse of some of the other videos you’ve done.

How to Create a Custom, Interactive YouTube End Slate

Although we use Adobe CS6 Premier Pro to create our outro, you should be able to achieve the same effect with any other decent video editing software with the exception perhaps of iMovie and Windows MovieMaker.

First off, be aware there are numerous different layers. The bottom layer should be the background.  If you turn the visibility off, you will see that the background goes away.  If you turn that visibility back on it appears again.

The next layer can be the titles of all your video clips and continues all the way up to the logo.  The visibility of each layer can be turned on and off.

If you’ve worked with layers before, you know the way it works is it starts with the top layer and you look down through all these layers.  If you want to move the layers around, you can do it until you get each layer in the position you want it.   Now you know what you want on your layers, and you’re ready to start.

  • Use key frames.  You’ll probably want to start with 100% scale for the position to be nice and centered.  Select the frames you want, and key frame them.
  • Find where you want it to end.  This is probably going to be at around 43%.  If you remove these key frames, you would see that it would just stay on top of all of your other stuff.  So you want it to get smaller.
  • Move the frames where you want it to end.  You’ll have them the right size, but in the middle.
  • Move them to the place you want them.
  • Go to your effects.  Keep moving them by dragging them where you want them.  Then zoom them in until they fit in the area.
  • Add your titles underneath.
  • At the end of your video, be sure to freeze about 15 frames so that when you add the pause annotation your video does not look like it jerks.

YouTube End Card Template:

Here’s a link for you to download a template that we’ve created for our YouTube Outro – http://rseo.co/Ubt8xQ

Hopefully this will help you think of some neat ways to create a custom end slate for your videos and increase engagement, views, rankings and more…

QUESTION: What other creative ways can you think of to use a custom outro or end slate on YouTube videos?

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http://www.BradleyOnDemand.com/ 856-546-2440

In this week's Episode of Make Money Mondays Dealer Synergy's President, Sean V. Bradley walks you through what you hold do if a lead bought a car elsewhere. Most sales peoples would dead the lead and never come back. Sean says that you should treat the dead lead as if you where the one who sold them the car. By putting in the time and effort to follow up with this customer, even if they bought elsewhere, would open up opportunities to convert them to your service drive or gain a referral..

Make Money Mondays with Sean V. Bradley - How to Handle Dead Leads That Where Bought Elsewhere

If you like Make Money Mondays, you will love Bradley On Demand: http://www.BradleyOnDemand.com/
856-546-2440

For more information about Dealer Synergy, visit http://www.DealerSynergy.com/

Sign up now for the next Internet Sales 20 Group!
http://internetsales20group.com

If you have any questions, call or text Sean on his cell 267-319-6776.

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Great Leaders Must Let Go...Sometimes

The people who work at Potratz have shaped us into the brand awareness and engagement agency that we are today.

Potratz is comprised of multiple companies that all work together to form one brand. In this week’s Think Tank Tuesday, I introduce you to the people that Potratz is comprised of and give you one important tip that you should be using for your team and business.

I want to hear your ideas! Leave a comment here or connect with me on Facebook and share your thoughts.  You may get a free POTRATZ Coffee Mug Strategy!

Website: http://www.ppadv.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PotratzAdvert...

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Potratz

Instagram: @Potratz

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http://www.BradleyOnDemand.com 856-546-2440
Jim Ziegler's Secret Tips On Avoiding The #1 Mistake Car Salesman Make That Blows Deals & Lowers Gross

Dealer Synergys Video Production Team just completed James A. Zieglers BRAND NEW Training Curriculum for Bradley On Demand. Jim is going to have his complete training system available for you all very soon. Jim's "Alpha Dawg" Channel with cover Showroom Sales (Including the "road to the sale" of course), Sales Management and Full Blown F&I. Karen Uriarte-Bradley and I are very proud and excited to have Jim on Bradley on Demand!
For more information, go to www.BradleyOnDemand.com or call me on my cell 267-319-6776

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CEO of Dealer Synergy, Sean V. Bradley, shows you how your actions lead to rewards or consequences. The number of ups you take has a direct impact on the number of cars you sell. If you up 80 people, you'll sell 20 cars. When you up more people, you will sell more cars. Conversely, when you don't create enough leads and up enough customers, you will not sell enough cars. Check out this edition of Make Money Mondays now and enjoy the automotive tips!

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Do You Understand Search Algorithms?


Google and Bing are constantly fine-tuning their search engine algorithms to provide better results for users. With all the recent changes in search, it's easy to get confused on how search engines work, and how businesses should be using them to get the best results from their search campaigns.On this episode of Think Tank Tuesday, Paul explains how you can take advantage of search in your marketing strategies. Learn what algorithms are, how they work, and what you should know before starting your own search campaigns.
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What Is Your Personal Image?



With everything going digital in recent years, we often forget that some things can use a personal touch. That's why it's important to work on your individual image to increase customer experience. Find out how you can make yourself more marketable.

Get the Hard Facts from Samantha Cunningham at POTRATZ, and learn strategies for improving your own image.

We want to hear from you about how you improve your own personal image. Send your best practice videos to Hardfacts@ppadv.com.
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Vine is a video mobile application that leverages the quick sound-byte social media culture in the same way as Instagram, except that its video feature is “micro” and lasts only six seconds that can play on a continuous loop.

Vine is a platform, but the video clips are more often viewed on Twitter or Facebook. The auxiliary features important to a business using vine social media strategies to promote its product or service are a caption field and a hashtag option.

But how can you use it for your Dealership?

  1. Save money and use vine social media marketing tactics in place of a professional video to develop an obscure, creative six-second clip can present a brand’s face to the youthful Vine demographic.
  2. Tease the audience with a new product or service video and audio preview and compel users to take a further look at the dealership's web site.
  3. Use Vine as a new venue for promoting an offer or coupon or monthly special.
  4. A clever fact campaign similar to Nantucket Nectars or Snapple can convert users to website traffic.
  5. Reveal your business at work with a behind-the-scenes glance into your service process or how you obtain your inventory.
  6. Product placement with a brand ambassador in a humorous setting can help it “go viral,” similar to a popular ad campaign.
  7. Like a YouTube How-To video, use Vine to demonstrate your business product or service.
  8. Show users your staff, moments of success, and images that convey the business’ work culture to engage them with the brand identity.
  9. Leverage Vine features: Include the logo for identification, a caption with a website link and a hashtag that enables search.
  10. Target the specific, youthful demographic using Vine, many of them teenagers and young adults, with clever, spontaneous, action footage that expands your business brand image to illustrate it in a new light.

You can Visit DealerSynergy's Vine here - Vine.co/DealerSynergy

The Original Article Is Here - Using Vine

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Done in 60 seconds!

The biggest blockbuster of the summer has all the dealers ranting and raving:

Done in 60 Seconds...

Forget about Nic Cage and Angelina, the only dynamic duo here is the salesperson and the sales manager. For those of you who have yet to see the trailer, let me set the scene. You just took a customer out for a test drive. The next moments coming back are crucial to finishing the sale, yet it’s a difficult situation to navigate. If the customer hasn’t yet made up her/his mind, being overly aggressive can easily backfire leading to a jaded customer. Or, the customer can have her/his mind totally made up that she/he wants to drive home in that car today, and your own apprehension and weariness could blow the sale. You can make the world of a difference in just one minute, and be Done in 60 Seconds!

Assuming you’re with a customer who crossed over from looking to buying, you must keep up the pace and softly move from showing to selling. The transition comes with increased tension and a bit of fear, on both sides of the bargain. You begin to feel the pressure from fighting back the urge to (prematurely) ask for the sale and the fear of the lost sale (before it even happens) also known as the “I have it but I don’t want to lose it” syndrome. While you’re wondering whether it’s the right time to move forward with the sale, buyers get caught between the fierce desire to buy and the creeping fear of making a mistake.

The next 60 seconds is paramount to making or losing the sale.

First, you need to set the stage. As you approach the dealership on the way back from a test drive, text your manager to be ready to receive you and the customer. The manager can then in position to greet you warmly: “Welcome back! How was it?”

Think of it like you were back in a high school dance. You see someone across the room that you think has been looking back at you too. Your fear of rejection could totally kill your chances of dancing away the night with your high school sweetheart, and at the same time your premature confidence might backfire and ruin it for good. That’s when your buddy saves the day, walks over and tests the waters for you. Let your manager be your wing-man! All your manager has to do is invest a minute to converse with the buyer:

“Welcome back, how was it?”

“Is it the one you like best?”

“If we can work it out to your satisfaction, can wrap it while you are here?”

“Great, let’s start the paperwork and lets see if we can make everyone happy.”

The above should generate an exchange that would give everyone the green light to start the write-up process and would only take an extra 60 seconds but it will keep the salesperson out of the monetary conflict: the source of tension in every buying and selling situation.
It will produce a verbal commitment from the buyer before it goes on paper, and it will make it so much easier to secure the 5 elements of a solid offer:

1.    
Specific car to be delivered.
 
2.    
Specific time to do business.
 
3.     Conditions and contingencies.
 
4.    
Customer consent.
 
5.    
Source of funding and appropriate documentation.


So now that we’ve confirmed that the buyer is ready to buy and we know sellers are always eager to sell… it looks like we’re almost DONE!

Done in 60 seconds: Coming soon to a showroom near you!

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http://www.internetsales20group.com

General Sales Manager Gives Some Advice From His 18 Years In the Automotive Sales Industry.

JP Hocking, the General Sales Manager of Bill Dube Hyundai in Wilmington Massachusetts
was kind enough to sit with Automotive Internet Sales.com and give an interview. JP has been in the automotive sales industry for over 18 years and he shares some of his wisdom and experience with AIS.

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Everyone knows that im a big advocate of all things Google.  Heck, I even rooted my brand new Galaxy s4 so I could get the Google edition ROM.

This morning though, I received an email with a title that I feel may be intentionally misleading.

The email linked to a blog post by Google AdWords Titled:

New research shows that 88% of ad clicks from mobile search are incremental to organic clicks
Posted by +Mark Burke, Google Engage Ireland
(Link is below)

http://adwords.blogspot.ie/2013/07/new-research-shows-that-88-of-ad-clicks.html?m=1

This article basically says that when companoes paused their pay per click campaigns the clicls were not replaced by clicks in the organic search, so basically if you stop your adwords campaign you are in effect losing all those clicks.

It even showed a pretty infographic with Automotive being one of the biggest areas of loss with 86% of adwords clicks not being replaced by organic.

image

Here's why the post is BS

If you have an adwords campaign that gets 100 click per month [random number for easy math] you are usually buying that campaign because you want to be visible on Page One of Google and usually you resort to ppc because you're not on page 1 in the organic results right?

Everyone's research,  including Google research, shows that above the fold page 1 organic results get more clicks than any ppc adwords ad which is why this latest blog post by Google is so offensive.  It shows that even the great Google is willing to mislead us good old automotive industry folks if it will help keep the revenue flowing.

The problem that car dealers have is that companies lile Cars.com amd Edmunds and AutoTrader have millions of dealership vehicles they are using to optimize search for each market, plus they have your dealership name amd address in those listings too [obviously they should so a consumer knows it is your car and that they need to contact you to buy it] but what is happening by listing your cars on these sites is that  organically their links are competing with yours and in many cases you lose.

Well,  you dont necessarily 'lose'because the consumer may go through the third party to contact you but let's face it,  the third party wouldn't be in existence without your inventory and if they didn't exist you're more likely to be visible on page one because you would be a more likely relevant search result. ..I digress.

The other challenge with AdWords is that you are competing with 3rd party sites like Cars.com AutoTrader and Edmunds there too.

When I worked at Cars.com, I was told internally that we were spending as much as $20,000 per day on AdWords / pay per click to make sure we were visible when people searched for cars in local dealer markets.

Of course this was in the dealership's best interest because the more shoppers on Cars.com means more opportunity foror dealers right?

Sort of, except for the fact that they bid to grab the brand names, models and in some cases the dealership names which means dealers have to pay MORE to Google to compete with the 3rd parties that theyre already paying too much for as it is.

I say F that!

Be smart, organize, optimize, visualize and work on conquering organic results and see if you really need that adwords campaign after all.

If you're going to invest inan adwords campaign, Ask your local cars, autotrader and esmunds and CarGurus rep to get you a list of keywords they buy in your market (they have it in their adwords dashboard so their boss can get that list easy enough) and see if they are edging you out by bidding on your own name so b yiure not spending a pile of cash bidding against a company you're paying to advertise with. Heck,  if you're already paying cars.com it doesnt make sense to pay more money to compete with them via ppc.

Obviously If you are visible above the fold on page one in the organic search as it is, with relevant results of course, the chance of consumers clicking someone else's adwords ad over you is greatly reduced anywaybso let the other guys spend their money on PPC while you sneak in and crush them all using organic search. Heck, go click their ads a bunch of times so they waste budget, that'll teach them not to compete against their own dealer customers. [Just kidding, they never learn]

While I spend zero on ppc amd organically dominate my soace, I do believe at the end of the day there are great ways to use adwords as a dealer but I recommend partnering with a company that does more than just spin out an ad for you. The guys at AdSmart Online do a good job and actually create inventory level ads and my clients who use them are happy so you can see their info at www.adsmartonline.com

I would love to hear other thoughts and comments.

Helping the best get better,
Mat Koenig

If you enjoyed this post please share it, tweet it and +1 it

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A few months ago, we confronted one of our dealers that had our website solution about why they were putting a watermark of their logo on irrelevant pictures and posting them to social media. Apparently, their social media vendor had a theory.

It was a process, really, and it went like this:

  1. Find viral images on sites like Reddit, 9Gag, and Buzzfeed.
  2. Slap the dealership’s logo in the bottom right corner.
  3. Get it liked and shared by hundreds of people around the world.
  4. Sell more cars as a result.

The biggest challenge with a strategy like this (and there are many) is that it hurts the brand’s image. Most people on social media have a nice flood of funny and interesting pictures coming through their feeds. The idea that a dealership needs to fit into this is ridiculous. Dealerships have to stand out.

The goal should not be to take an irrelevant picture and get it exposed to tens of thousands of people scattered around the world in hopes that enough of them are locals who can buy a car. The goal is to take truly local, relevant branding messages and get them exposed to thousands of locals only.

Would you rather your brand be associated with an image of a car nicely placed in front of the dealership with a the sign glowing bright on local people’s news feeds, or would you rather have people in Singapore or Tunisia loving a funny image that has made its rounds around the internet?

Social media isn’t like other marketing venues. On search, it doesn’t hurt to have your message reach people who aren’t in your market. On social media, it does. You want to be as localized as possible. You want a bare minimum of 80% of your fans to be within driving distance to the dealership. When you spread out too far, you are no longer able to post high-quality localized messages that the majority of your fans will recognize and care about.

It’s not realistically possible to keep 100% of your fans localized, but you can get close. In the image to the right, you’ll see that this page is small. It had practically zero fans less than two months ago. There are a couple dozen offshore likes; the only way to avoid this completely would be to manually inspect every new like and kick out those who are not helpful to the cause which is a waste of time. If you keep it over 80% localized (and these guys over 90% local) then the out-of-towners won’t do much damage.

Perhaps the biggest reason that dealers and vendors like bulk is that they follow the misconception that you can only reach fans. There has been this confusion that has followed social media sites, particularly Facebook, since they became marketing venues. The thought is that since this page has hundreds of fans, not tens of thousands of fans, they can’t reach enough people. This misconception is completely opposite of reality.

When someone likes, comments, or shares your post, it has the opportunity to be exposed to their friends in their own news feed. When two people in the same circle of friends like, comment, or share a post, it becomes much more likely that their friends will see it. By “much more likely” I don’t mean twice as likely. I wouldn’t go so far as to say the chances increase exponentially, but it’s a dramatic increase.

For example, Bob likes a post on your Facebook page. His friend, Sally, also likes the same post. They each have around 200 Facebook friends and 30 of them are mutuals between them. Their friends have a chance of seeing your post in their news feed, but their mutual fans have a much greater chance. Now, one of their mutual friends likes that post, and the dominoes start falling. The reach potential from Bob’s first like was small. Once Sally liked it, the reach potential increased. When Tom, their mutual friend, also likes the post, now we’re getting into a post with the potential to be seen by hundreds just from the Bob’s like alone. That doesn’t include the other people who are already seeing your posts. For those people, the potential can continue to grow as well.

This localized expansion of exposure is impossible when you have too many fans from outside of the area. Those people outside of the area hurt the potential for locals to see it because they’re less likely to interact with it. This lack of interaction can damage your posts algorithmically. In other words, by having too many distant fans, you hurt the chances of Bob ever seeing the post in the first place, which means Sally would never have seen it, which means Tom would have never seen it, which means those hundreds of locals who might have seen the post never had the opportunity.

It’s a little confusing. That’s why it’s just easier for dealers and vendors to think along the lines of accumulating as many fans as possible regardless of why they liked the page in the first place or where they actually live. Perhaps the easiest way to understand it is to see the actual reach of the page example above.

These numbers are decent for a page that was reaching nobody less than two months ago. They’re not fantastic; localized reach should be sustainable at five-digits with spikes in the six-digit range at times depending on the area targeted. Still, it’s a good illustration that a properly managed page with hundreds of local fans can still reach thousands of of people within driving distance to the dealership.

The bottom line is this: social media strategies in general and Facebook strategies in particular fall victim to misconceptions about fans and reach. You want to reach locals. You want to post content that is relevant. You want to brand the right way. You don’t need to employ tricks or schemes to become the most popular kid in school. You only need to employ sound strategies to reach potential consumers who can actually make a difference to your bottom line.

* * *

Article originally appeared on AutomotiveSocialMedia.com.

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Have You "EMI'd" Lately?

Have You "EMI'd" Lately?

Rickyyyyyyyy!

Calling for my hero, my mentor, my first manager.

Way back when, on Dec 19th 1980, I got my first start. It was with Kearney Mesa VW & Peugeot in sunny San Diego, California. Rick Rodriquez, or “Rickyyyyyy” as I called him every time I needed help, jumpstarted my career in the auto industry.

Rickyyyy! Do we have this?

Rickyyyy! Do we have that?

Rickyyyy! Where is this? How much is that? What do I do now?

You get the point.

But Rick never ignored my persistent requests. Not only that, he was always there with a smile, always polite, and always to the rescue.

Of course my customers always appreciated me calling for Rick’s expertise. Granted, some were a little frustrated with my broken English, but Rick’s willingness to help me always impressed them.

“Yes, Danny” he would say, and then immediately greeted the customer:

“Hello and thank you for coming in! You are in excellent hands with Danny.” The customers and I could both tell this was to build my confidence, which had an excellent effect on the customers, and an even better one on me. “Danny will show you around and hopefully find you exactly what you are looking for.”

And that was my cue! I promised to take care of the rest, and after a couple trials and errors…

“Rickyyyy! They like this one!”

I sold my first car! A 1980 Dasher Diesel, earning me my first commission of $132.00.

From there, it only went up. My English got better, my commissions got higher, and Rickyyyy got a whole lot busier trying to keep up with me.

EMI (Early Manager Introduction) was a cornerstone in my foundation as a young salesman, and continues to be a cornerstone in every sales environment I am involved in.

Would you try EMI today?

Shortly after meeting a new prospect on your showroom floor, after personal connection and before going to product selection, just wave to your manager and call for your “Rickyyy”!

…Or whatever his or her name may be!

Note: If you are going to try EMI, be sure to:

-       Look for/create the perfect moment.

-       Don’t make an announcement, Just do it.

-       Invite the manager to come to you. Don’t go to him/her.

-       Introduce the customer first & the reason for the visit.

-       Introduce the manager and pay him/her a compliment.

For more information on this or any other RBI strategy:

Email me directly  danny@odoclub.com

RBIPRO

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SEO Keyboard

One of the keys to being a true dealership partner amongst a sea of vendors is having the willingness to “share the playbook” with our clients and prospects. This is much more important today than ever before in the world of automotive internet marketing because the changes are happening too rapidly. Marketing professionals and companies must stay on top of these changes from day to day and adjust accordingly, something that the vast majority of dealers simply do not have time to do.

Search engine marketing has been in a state of constant flux for nearly a year now. It has always been a challenge keeping up with the changes, but today the changes are coming at us so rapidly that we have to stay tuned in at all times. This is good for those who truly do stay on top; dealers and vendors who have the right plans up front but who also keep them fluid enough to change on the fly are the ones that will have the most success in 2013.

Thankfully, there are certain rock solid activities that have staying power. Google and Bing love quality, so understanding the activities that will work today and that will continue to work tomorrow act as a wonderful hedge against the nuanced changes that happen constantly. Minor course corrections on a solid strategy is the key to sustained success (for us and for dealers).

Here are some of the things that we know work today and that will continue to work in the foreseeable future. There are risky moves that make rankings go up quickly and watch them fall even faster, then there are safe bets that play the SEO market with a steady hand. These are some of those things. The best part – you don’t need a vendor to make these things happen for you. The power is well within your grasp. Pick any one of these activities and do it right now. Bookmark this page and come back to it in a couple of days, a week, or whenever you have time to push forward. Search rankings move with or without your input. Take more control of the outcome by doing these simple tasks regularly.

  1. Build a Content Page – I’ve harped on this point many times but it will never get old. Assuming you have a proper CMS that allows for it, you should build a content page. This isn’t a conversion page. It’s not a page that will compel visitors to buy a car. It’s a page with interesting content that only you can supply that supports your conversion pages. By bringing value to the table, you’ll be able to give Google and Bing what they want: quality. For example, you can build a page that lists five key components the 2013 Toyota Camry has that other makes and models do not have. Of course, you’ll be sure to add contextual links to conversion pages such as inventory search pages for the Camry, specials, or anything else that this page can support.
  2. Get Social Signals to your Pages – This is much quicker than you might think as far as activities go. People at your dealership are on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ right now. Take a stroll around the dealership with a particular important URL or two in mind and ask them to share the page on their social profiles. Some will not want to “pollute” their feed with what they may consider workplace spam, but this is another reason why you will want to have strong content pages (see tip #1) handy. They might not want to share the inventory pages directly, but who wouldn’t want to share an interesting piece of content such as this?
  3. Write a Guest Post – You or someone at your dealership has expertise in cars and the ability to write about it. Find this person. Send out an email to the company and ask if anyone is interested in doing some writing on the side for the dealership. You don’t need much – a couple of pieces of content a month will suffice for now. Once you have some story ideas, pitch them to appropriate blogs and local websites. Some will not be responsive. Others welcome the opportunity to get fresh, unique content for free. This one actually requires a much longer article to describe in detail, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get started today.

Content, social signals, and links. These are the three key components to search engine optimization that are within your power even if you’re not a website developer. Remember to hold quality at the highest level when planning your strategies. A focus on quality over quantity is what has helped us stay on top of the game for so long. Tricks come and go. Quality optimization principles have staying power. Use them.

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There are tools. Tools are great if used properly. The biggest challenge with tools is that they can be turned into a crutch that actually takes away from the exposure of the post. In other words, you can "tool yourself out of the message" by overusing them or by using them improperly.

Today's webinar was about tools and we discuss many of them, but I think the big takeaway for dealers is the portion around the middle where I go through the actual posting process. Here's what I do, step by step:

Find the Content

First and foremost, you don't have to post cats. I know that there is a strategy that involves posting funny pictures and trying to be entertaining, but the internet is loaded with many people and businesses more entertaining than you or your social media provider. It was a semi-effective strategy a couple of years ago. Today, it simply isn't necessary.

People want experts. You're probably not an expert on shaved dogs or hipster fashion. You're an expert on cars. Post cars. Lots of them. Old cars. New cars. Concept cars. Take what you know as a car dealer and apply it to your social media.

With that said, finding the right content can be easy. You probably have something really cool on your lot right now. Nissan dealers, for example, have a huge advantage if they have a GT-R on their lot. Social media LOVES the GT-R, particularly Tumblr and Pinterest. This translates nicely on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter as well. Instagram can go crazy over it.

Use what you have, but you don't have to stop there. Services like Shutterstock are excellent for finding images of particular vehicles, skylines of your metro, or interesting events in the local area. Taking pictures is best, but if you are constrained on time (who isn't?) then the good ol' stock photo works just fine, particularly if you have some interesting information to go along with it.

Post to Facebook and Google+

Once you have your content, get it up on Facebook and Google+. Try not to use a posting tool whenever possible - Facebook gives preferential treatment to posts from Facebook.com itself and Google+ tools like Hootsuite post the images as links, not images. If you've already posted or it's not the ideal time and you have to schedule it, that's fine, but avoid whenever possible.

Post it on Tumblr

If you don't have a tumblog yet, you should. It's super easy to post to Tumblr and we've covered it in past automotive webinars.

Get the image up on Tumblr as an image; too often I see businesses posting as links or text and adding the image which doesn't get the same amount of coverage. You have an option to include a click-thru link. If the image is on your website, you can plug that page in. You can also plug in your Google+ post. Neither is required but it's a benefit to do so.

Take it from Tumblr to Pinterest and Twitter

Go to the post itself (not your Tumblr homepage) and Pin it onto your Pinterest board. While pinning, be sure to select the "Post to Twitter" option so that it goes onto Twitter as well.

That's it. Four minutes. Quality post created and shared. Time to get back to other business. Here's the full webinar...

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Building Customer Relationships

Building Customer Relationships

Training Tips from Dealer Synergy

One of the biggest keys to remember about automotive sales is building the relationship with the customer. From the first email to the first phone call, to the keys in their hands...it all builds the relationship. We all know that buying a vehicle is one of the most significant purchases in a person's life. If we are going to get someone to buy from us, we must earn their trust. We could have the best prices, best service departments, earn more awards, and give away the most to charity, but if we don't work on building a good relationship with our customers, it all goes to waste. When you greet someone on the phone or on the lot, the customers tie you to the entire dealership. Treating customers with respect will go a long way. Think of them as family (if you get along with your family). How would you want your parents, grandparents, or siblings to be treated if they contacted your dealership? Would you want someone to answer the phone and rush to the next call...blowing off most of what they said to rush to make their quota? No. You would want their experience to be pleasant. You would want their concerns heard and addressed. You would want them to feel comfortable and know they are getting the best vehicle to fit their needs and the best deal on that vehicle. Think about these things on the next customer you encounter. What kind of impression are you making on them? What are they going to tell all of their friends and family about you and the dealership? 

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