As expected and rightfully so, Toyota is hitting the social media trail to calm recent negative publicity surrounding the recent Toyota recalls. Jim Lentz, President and Chief Operating Officer of Toyota Motor Sales, USA, will be answering questions from the Digg.com community.
There are over 800 questions proposed so far and still over a day to put in questions for the Monday airing.
KPA and TK Carsites announced a strategic partnership today that combines the environmental, health, safety, and HR compliance and risk management services of KPA with the “front end” marketing and website development capabilities of TK Carsites.
Lafayette CO / Orange, CA (PRWEB) January 4, 2010 — KPA and TK Carsites announced a strategic partnership today that combines the environmental, health, safety, and HR compliance and risk management services of KPA with the “front end” marketing and website development capabilities of TK Carsites.
The partnership gives dealers solid options through trusted vendors within their field. KPA is the compliance leader with over 3000 dealers using their services to manage risk and cost, while TK Carsites has established itself as an award-winning automotive marketing platform through which dealers can grow their business.
As part of the partnership, KPA will provide TK with growth capital and inclusion of TK’s web services in the suite of services it markets to its dealer clients.
When I first heard the concepts behind having an Automotive Marketing Boot Camp, I had to shake my head.
“Why didn’t I think of that?”
We’ve always had the luxury of having JD Rucker and his expertise at our disposal. Recently, we’ve had the pleasure of getting more expert advice from both Paul Rushing and Brian Pasch. While we’ve been trying to determine the best way to “bottle, package, and sell” this magic, the three of them came up with it themselves.
Automotive Marketing Boot Camp. It just makes sense.
As the week winds down and let’s talk about the Presentation. In most cases the customer still has to come in to actually sign the papers and complete the transaction, so there will still be a real presentation done at that time. But to really set you apart from the other guys, why not do a killer virtual presentation?
Have one of co-workers follow-you around the car with a small video camera. Remember to keep it to short segments so do a spot at the front and talk about the engine and performance. Then move the passenger side and talk about the safety and styling features and benefits. Read the rest of this entry »
This month I have been talking about how the ten step sales process or road to the sales has transformed. I was going through some boxes and found an article that I wrote in the Spring of 2004 for a workshop I did in Raleigh-Durham, NC. The article was about what I believed to be the ten steps to selling an Internet customer.
So as you read this article keep in mind that it was written in 2004. I will review and see how we can update even more to take advantage of known trends and technological advances since then:
Everyone that’s been in the car business for any length of time has been introduced to the ten steps or road to the sale. It’s fundamental for success. Where the traditional road to the sale was written for and counts on face to face interaction, the Internet process relies on your process and communications skills. Where your image and personality helped to make a good first impression on the lot, the speed and message of your responses set the stage for the Internet process. Read the rest of this entry »
While attending BlogWorldExpo 2009 in Las Vegas last week, Jared Hamilton was able to discuss social media with Ford representative Adam Barrow. While Ford is considered way ahead of most of their competition when it comes to understanding and implementing a proper automotive social media strategy, there are still deficiencies in the way that Ford engages with their dealers to help them achieve the same success.
Barrow described the philosophy at Ford by saying, “As we continue move towards this mindset of empowering users online, saying ‘Give us your thoughts, give us your capabilities and share it’ with us really standing back and staying hands off, being open to let the conversation just flow.”
“I think you guys are doing an incredible job,” Hamilton replied. “I think you guys have really got the right things going, but what I think you guys need to do at this stage now is that you’re nailing over here (on the OEM side), you guys need translate over into the dealers’ side and start giving the dealers more freedom. Start pushing the dealers to share.”
Hamilton continued, “If you start pushing that to the dealers’ side you guys will explode your efforts. You’ll double it overnight.”
Watch the whole video here.
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Read more about Automotive Social Media on this blog.
I talk to dealers every day, even (sadly) when I’m on vacation. The general consensus is that the market is down and it’s time to cut costs. Thankfully, cutting costs doesn’t necessarily mean cutting corners.
Despite how bad it is out there in the automotive industry, the online marketing aspect of the industry is getting a well-deserved spotlight shone on it. Dealers are being forced to take their tremendous television, radio, and newspaper budgets and cut them while still getting the same (or better) bang for the buck.
Economy is where Internet marketing shines. As we develop new technologies to streamline our efforts, automotive vendors are able to offer more exposure for less money then they ever have before. Between websites, microsites, landing pages, search engine optimization, pay per click marketing, and automotive social media, it is easy for a dealer to have a complete presence attacking the market exactly where their customers are waiting for them: online.
Twitter is the now-generation of networking online. It will have more daily users than larger networks such as Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn within months (possibly weeks). As businesses learn how to capitalize on this growing phenomenon that is receiving mainstream press by the minute, what manifestations of marketing will be acceptable and which will not?
According to this article on Adage, Land Rover last week became the first national brand to execute a national Twitter campaign in a bid to promote its newest models’ debuts at the New York Auto Show. They hired a company called Twittad to use their network of 4500 Twitter users to broadcast their branding and start conversations about their new models.
The bashing is coming, but let’s start with a couple of positive things about the two firms in question:
Land Rover is smart enough to recognize the tremendous opportunity that Twitter holds for businesses attempting to build and strengthen their brand. While direct selling is both tabboo and futile, branding and buzz are both effective and relatively safe if done properly. Land Rover has made an attempt, and for that they should be commended.
Twittad - why not? If Twitter is going to allow people to make money off their platform, a company with the drive and vision to do something with it should not be condemned absolutely. I certainly do not agree with the idea of paying people to tweet fake conversations are tweet insincere interest in a particular company, but still, someone is going to do it. Companies like Magpie and Twittad are simply taking advantage of the system.
Now the bashing…
There are a lot of numbers (and names for these numbers) being thrown at car dealers that they "should" monitor to understand the effectiveness of their websites. Conversion rates, indexed pages, bounce rates, stickiness, click thrus - all are being tossed around and used to highlight the prowess of websites and lead providers.
Are they important? Usually, yes. Are they the bottom-line indicator of the health and effectiveness of a website? Absolutely not.
In the end, the only questions that really matter are:
"Am I getting more leads?"
"Am I turning more leads into sales?"
Your dealership could have the greatest conversion rate in the world with 0% bounce and 15,000 indexed pages, but if it isn’t converting MORE leads that turn into MORE sales, it’s all just smoke and mirrors. Here is a breakdown of the subtle techniques used to promote websites and ways to get to the real meat:
I was reading an article recently about some of the differences in the ways the two campaigns operated during this past election and some things really jumped out at me.
From their first meeting in early 2007, the Obama team faced an uphill challenge. They had almost no money and were facing a primary opponent who had a lot of money and a well-established organization. But, they decided to make the Internet the core of their strategy. As a result, they were able to get more local volunteers on the ground in key states than their opponent, which was especially important in smaller states and caucus states.
Next, in the general election, they decided to actively compete in 18 states that no one thought they could win. Instead of focusing on the same blue states that democrats had always focused on, they would use the Internet to raise money and spread their message in those 18 states. No one took their strategy seriously, including the McCain camp.
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