A social network like Driving Sales has the power to allow marketers and brands to have conversations with potential customers about products and services.  But according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau in the U.K., social networkers are starting to tire of the constant barrage of brands asking them to join groups etc.  The study says that 31% of the users studied said they get too many invites to install applications etc.  Others said they were inundated with advertising that was not relevant to them. 

The moral of the story here is that marketers need to be very careful about how they approach members of a social network.  Most members are seeking valuable exclusve content and information they can use in their job or life. For more of a perspective on this, try this link and read a story in Advertising Age by Emma Hall titled "How to get the most out of social networks and not annoy users."  http://adage.com/digital/article?ar...

 
In the latest issue of Advertising Age, Land Rover has announced it is the first national auto brand to use Twitter to promote its new models.  If you are not sure what Twitter is, it is kind of a mass network of connected people who text each other (called tweeting) to talk about things of interest to both parties.
In the article, written by Ad Age writer, Jeremy Mullman, Land Rover's ad agency, WPP-owned PR firm, Wunderman, put together the Twitter campaign and paid a Twitter network to spread the news about Land Rover.  While it is too early to tell how the campaign will turn out, the new Twitter paid network called Twittad has about 4,500 members.  To read more on the story visit:
 
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=136090...

 
If you're a car dealer that has done direct mail in the past, you know it is a never ending quest to get the price down.  If you went thru a direct mail vendor, they probably provided the creative for the piece and then had it printed at their own printer.  Somewhere in there you paid a markup to the person selling the direct mail.  They buy it from the printer and mark it up to you.  There is nothing wrong with that - its just capitalism in action, but in these days of tight budgets you may want to consider an alternative.  I ran across a company called BuyersDirectNetwork.com.  They have a very simple business model. They have negotiated low rates with a giant printer in the south and will hook you up directly with the printer for a simple monthly membership fee. Once a member, you get their negotiated, low printing prices.  BuyersDirectNetwork.com will help you with the creative you need for the direct mail piece and will allow you to buy d...

 
If you are familiar with search engine marketing (SEM) you know it is the process of buying keywords and having your ad pop up when people search those words.  This is also called pay-per-click advertising.  What you may not know is that dealers across the country are buying their competitor's names so that their ad will come up if a consumer searches for the competitor's name.  For example if you are ABC Chevy, and you buy your competitor, Main Chevy's name, if a car shopper types in "Main Chevy" into Google, your ad will come up.  Pretty nasty huh?  I suggest you type in your own dealership name right now and see if another dealer's name comes up in the paid section of the search results.  (Paid section is on the top or right hand side of the page.)

If another dealer's name comes up in the paid section, they are buying your name in an attempt to steal customers that are looking for you.  Ouch.  So what do you do about this?...

The Seattle Post Intelligencer began publishing in 1863.  Yesterday it closed down, never to print again. While we still have the Seattle Times in this market, you will find more and more markets losing their big city paper.  The Rocky Mountain News just died, the San Francisco Chronicle is done.  Obviously the Internet killed the local newspaper with help from television and other immediate sources for news.  As an old school ad agency guy, I watched over the last few years as they lost their audience and then lost their advertisers.  Few auto dealers were still using the local paper.  Most dealers would say it hadn't really worked for them in years.  Craigslist killed the newspaper classifieds, and even the newspaper's own website took part in the demise.  In large cities with big circulations, the cost of paper, the cost of production, large editorial staffs and the press workers made the overhead overwhelming. 

The interesting th...

 
If you have been watching the demise of the local newspaper recently, you have seen a number of major newspapers in the country either close, or go up for sale (which means they will close soon.)  Most dealers who have been around for a while can remember when running a big ad in the paper was a great way to reach customers.  There is a valid replacement for those newspaper ads in the form of banner ads on the local media websites in your market.  However, there are some differences in the way you should use banners that can affect the campaign's success.  Unlike print advertising, where you might run one ad in the paper, banner campaigns require multiple sites to be effective.  You need multiple sites because the consumers in your market are using various sites for their news and information.  One person might use the local newspaper's site, another may use the local tv station's site and yet another may depend on their favorite radio station's si...

I am sure there are more than a few auto dealers out there right now who are sitting at their desk in the showroom, staring out at an empty lot, wishing they had gone into the insurance business.  It is a daunting time right now with most of the public suffering from analysis-paralysis, afraid to buy anything.  The good news is that the country runs on cars, and cars wear out.  The question is how to hang on until things turn around. 
Having spent the last twenty years planning advertising for auto dealers, I can make a few suggestions for this downturn.  Take this time to revamp your operation and learn the ins and outs of using online to marketing your dealership and products.  We all have to grasp that the world has changed and things are different in all parts of the car-buying process.  The newspapers are on their last legs because the Internet and local media websites, like the newspaper site, the television station sites, and radio station sit...