By Brian Pasch

At the 2013 DrivingSales Executive Summit, Jared Hamilton's opening keynote address challenged dealers to invest in a "Fixed Ops First" strategy.  Jared clearly outlined the opportunities dealers have to increase Fixed Ops revenue and customer retention by implementing a Service BDC. 

Jared also passionately encouraged dealers to invest in a digital marketing strategy for Fixed Operations.  When consumers use Google to find local Fixed Ops services does your dealership show up for oil changes, discount tires, brakes, and alignment?  Take a minute to search a few phrases and see if your dealership is in the first 3 listings on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.  

Consumers are spending hours a day on Facebook, scanning their news feed. Is your dealership using Facebook and Polk vehicle ownership data to present Fixed Ops promotions to local car owners?  Why not?

Fixed Ops Managers Not Invited To The Party

Many dealership budgets omit a comprehensive digital strategy for Fixed Ops by design.  In fact, Fixed Ops Managers are often left out of the "digital party" and rarely are they invited to digital conferences.  Dealers cannot afford to allow this dysfunction to continue.

Jared suggested that dealers need to revise their organizational charts to include a Marketing Manager, which competently serves Variable and Fixed Ops. I would suggest that DrivingSales members request a copy of Jared's presentation to see his proposed org chart and discuss creating a Fixed Ops First strategy at your next managers meeting. 

Framed Solutions Create Blind Spots

When Marketing Managers tackle Fixed Ops marketing, they will quickly learn about one "challenge" that most dealers face. Their service appointment scheduler has a blind spot. Most of the online scheduling tools are "framed in" solutions; the scheduler is not part of the dealer's website.  

In the graphic above, this popular "framed in" solution blends into the dealership website. A consumer visiting the page would not realize it was framed in. Framed solutions can be attractive and effective, but some platforms make it hard to track ROI from a dealer's digital advertising investments.  

When solutions are "framed in" the consumer's activity using the scheduler cannot be seen by Google Analytics.  If a click to the scheduling page does NOT result in a completed service appointment, Google Analytics cannot see how far along the scheduling process a consumer was before leaving.  Your scheduling tool therefore needs advanced analytics!

Even if an online appointment is scheduled, some solutions do not trigger a Google Adwords/Analytics "goal" to show that a successful conversion occurred. Dealers reading this post should reach out to their current vendor to discuss how their scheduler can integrate into Google Adwords and Analytics to track the ROI of their marketing investments.

A 100% Bounce Rate Could Be Awesome

Dealers looking to create a Fixed Ops First strategy need to understand the cost to create a service appointment lead.  If a dealer decided to use Google Adwords to increase service leads, a dealer should calculate the cost per service appointment phone call or online scheduled appointment.

To improve Google Adwords campaigns for Fixed Ops, vendors should be testing ad copy, keywords, and bidding strategies.  But when it comes to landing page optimization, should dealers take the clicks directly to the online sheduling page?  Should a separate landing page be created for each popular service with a button linked to the scheduler?

Take a look at the bounce rate of the online service scheduler page that displayed earlier in the post.  Is a 71% bounce rate good or bad?  Since this is a framed solution, you may not be able to answer that question!  

If every customer that came to the service page actually scheduled his or her service, and left the page, Google would see it as a 100% bounce rate. The campaign would be a runaway success!  Of course, the actual number of visits to conversions is actually very low.

Readers should ask their service appointment scheduling vendor if they can trigger a "conversion" when an appointment is made online so that it can be seen in Adwords and Analytics.

Landing Page Strategies

An entire series of articles can be written on Fixed Ops landing page strategies for digital marketing campaigns.  However, let me give readers a few things to consider when starting a Fixed Ops First strategy:

1. Your best Adwords landing page is rarely the installed "bare bones", framed-in scheduler page that does not educate consumers on your "Why Buy Here" message.  Having ten custom landing pages for the 10 most popular services will increase conversion.  For example, if a consumer searched for "jeep wrangler tires", and clicks on your ad, the "tires landing page" should explain why the dealership is a great place to buy tires.
2. If your online scheduler does not estimate costs online, conversion will be anemic. Why would a new local consumer "commit" to sheduling their service or buying tires wthout knowing the cost?
3. Your landing page should educate the consumer on your service process.  The landing page should explain where a consumer should go when they arrive and how they will be handled.  Outline if the dealership offers loaner cars or a shuttle service.  Explain the ammenities in the service waiting area and if you have WiFi.  A video is a great way to communicate this information passionately.
4. Service page visits should be followed by a short retargeting campaign.  Since a majority of visits to the service page DO NOT result in an appointment, dealers should have a retargeting strategy to get the consumer back in their consideration set. 
5. Visit national franchise websites that offer oil changes, tires, brakes, and alignment and learn from some of the best operators.  Look at the graphics and call to action messages on their websites. Test new ideas and please make your fixed ops pages shine by getting a designer involved. 
6. If you want to take Fixed Ops Marketing to another level, you may want to consider a Fixed Ops microsite.  There are a number of companies that specialize in this strategy, and I have seen great results.

Jared's keynote was a wakeup call for dealers to invest in a Service BDC and a comprehensive digital advertising campaign for Fixed Ops.  It is time to rethink our digital obession with Variable Ops and invite Fixed Ops to the party.

For the record, the campaigns for Fixed Ops have a great ROI and are fun to create since most local franchise dealers are not in the game.  Get in the game! 

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Consulting
732.672.2356
Google

By Brian Pasch

At the 2013 DrivingSales Executive Summit, Jared Hamilton's opening keynote address challenged dealers to invest in a "Fixed Ops First" strategy.  Jared clearly outlined the opportunities dealers have to increase Fixed Ops revenue and customer retention by implementing a Service BDC. 

Jared also passionately encouraged dealers to invest in a digital marketing strategy for Fixed Operations.  When consumers use Google to find local Fixed Ops services does your dealership show up for oil changes, discount tires, brakes, and alignment?  Take a minute to search a few phrases and see if your dealership is in the first 3 listings on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.  

Consumers are spending hours a day on Facebook, scanning their news feed. Is your dealership using Facebook and Polk vehicle ownership data to present Fixed Ops promotions to local car owners?  Why not?

Fixed Ops Managers Not Invited To The Party

Many dealership budgets omit a comprehensive digital strategy for Fixed Ops by design.  In fact, Fixed Ops Managers are often left out of the "digital party" and rarely are they invited to digital conferences.  Dealers cannot afford to allow this dysfunction to continue.

Jared suggested that dealers need to revise their organizational charts to include a Marketing Manager, which competently serves Variable and Fixed Ops. I would suggest that DrivingSales members request a copy of Jared's presentation to see his proposed org chart and discuss creating a Fixed Ops First strategy at your next managers meeting. 

Framed Solutions Create Blind Spots

When Marketing Managers tackle Fixed Ops marketing, they will quickly learn about one "challenge" that most dealers face. Their service appointment scheduler has a blind spot. Most of the online scheduling tools are "framed in" solutions; the scheduler is not part of the dealer's website.  

In the graphic above, this popular "framed in" solution blends into the dealership website. A consumer visiting the page would not realize it was framed in. Framed solutions can be attractive and effective, but some platforms make it hard to track ROI from a dealer's digital advertising investments.  

When solutions are "framed in" the consumer's activity using the scheduler cannot be seen by Google Analytics.  If a click to the scheduling page does NOT result in a completed service appointment, Google Analytics cannot see how far along the scheduling process a consumer was before leaving.  Your scheduling tool therefore needs advanced analytics!

Even if an online appointment is scheduled, some solutions do not trigger a Google Adwords/Analytics "goal" to show that a successful conversion occurred. Dealers reading this post should reach out to their current vendor to discuss how their scheduler can integrate into Google Adwords and Analytics to track the ROI of their marketing investments.

A 100% Bounce Rate Could Be Awesome

Dealers looking to create a Fixed Ops First strategy need to understand the cost to create a service appointment lead.  If a dealer decided to use Google Adwords to increase service leads, a dealer should calculate the cost per service appointment phone call or online scheduled appointment.

To improve Google Adwords campaigns for Fixed Ops, vendors should be testing ad copy, keywords, and bidding strategies.  But when it comes to landing page optimization, should dealers take the clicks directly to the online sheduling page?  Should a separate landing page be created for each popular service with a button linked to the scheduler?

Take a look at the bounce rate of the online service scheduler page that displayed earlier in the post.  Is a 71% bounce rate good or bad?  Since this is a framed solution, you may not be able to answer that question!  

If every customer that came to the service page actually scheduled his or her service, and left the page, Google would see it as a 100% bounce rate. The campaign would be a runaway success!  Of course, the actual number of visits to conversions is actually very low.

Readers should ask their service appointment scheduling vendor if they can trigger a "conversion" when an appointment is made online so that it can be seen in Adwords and Analytics.

Landing Page Strategies

An entire series of articles can be written on Fixed Ops landing page strategies for digital marketing campaigns.  However, let me give readers a few things to consider when starting a Fixed Ops First strategy:

1. Your best Adwords landing page is rarely the installed "bare bones", framed-in scheduler page that does not educate consumers on your "Why Buy Here" message.  Having ten custom landing pages for the 10 most popular services will increase conversion.  For example, if a consumer searched for "jeep wrangler tires", and clicks on your ad, the "tires landing page" should explain why the dealership is a great place to buy tires.
2. If your online scheduler does not estimate costs online, conversion will be anemic. Why would a new local consumer "commit" to sheduling their service or buying tires wthout knowing the cost?
3. Your landing page should educate the consumer on your service process.  The landing page should explain where a consumer should go when they arrive and how they will be handled.  Outline if the dealership offers loaner cars or a shuttle service.  Explain the ammenities in the service waiting area and if you have WiFi.  A video is a great way to communicate this information passionately.
4. Service page visits should be followed by a short retargeting campaign.  Since a majority of visits to the service page DO NOT result in an appointment, dealers should have a retargeting strategy to get the consumer back in their consideration set. 
5. Visit national franchise websites that offer oil changes, tires, brakes, and alignment and learn from some of the best operators.  Look at the graphics and call to action messages on their websites. Test new ideas and please make your fixed ops pages shine by getting a designer involved. 
6. If you want to take Fixed Ops Marketing to another level, you may want to consider a Fixed Ops microsite.  There are a number of companies that specialize in this strategy, and I have seen great results.

Jared's keynote was a wakeup call for dealers to invest in a Service BDC and a comprehensive digital advertising campaign for Fixed Ops.  It is time to rethink our digital obession with Variable Ops and invite Fixed Ops to the party.

For the record, the campaigns for Fixed Ops have a great ROI and are fun to create since most local franchise dealers are not in the game.  Get in the game! 

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Consulting
732.672.2356
Google

One way to build the next generation of leaders and success stories is to start a reading program at your dealership.  At the start of this year I made a commitment to read a book a week and it has been the best decision I made for my personal growth.

Great books will challenge your team to think outside of their direct work experience and see new opportunities for growth, change, and excellence.    Your reading program can be divided into categories like personal growth, sales, time management,  or organizational leadership.

Books are an inexpensive way to grow your existing investment in your team.   So before I list all most favorite books that can assist your team to grow, can you list 5 books that would help members of this community.  

When you list a book, add a quick comment which category the book would fall into like sales, marketing, etc.  It will be great to compile a DrivingSales.com recommend book list and have members add their feedback on specific books after they read them.

Two books that dealership employees can start reading today is "The Go-Giver" by Bob Burg and John David Mann and "Gravitational Marketing' by Jimmy Vee and Travis Miller.  The authors of these two books will be speaking at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp April 16-18th in Orlando.

For vendors in the community, I strongly recommend that you read "Getting Naked" since this short book will change the way you interact with car dealers.

So, what are your top 5 recommendations for book this community should read?

One way to build the next generation of leaders and success stories is to start a reading program at your dealership.  At the start of this year I made a commitment to read a book a week and it has been the best decision I made for my personal growth.

Great books will challenge your team to think outside of their direct work experience and see new opportunities for growth, change, and excellence.    Your reading program can be divided into categories like personal growth, sales, time management,  or organizational leadership.

Books are an inexpensive way to grow your existing investment in your team.   So before I list all most favorite books that can assist your team to grow, can you list 5 books that would help members of this community.  

When you list a book, add a quick comment which category the book would fall into like sales, marketing, etc.  It will be great to compile a DrivingSales.com recommend book list and have members add their feedback on specific books after they read them.

Two books that dealership employees can start reading today is "The Go-Giver" by Bob Burg and John David Mann and "Gravitational Marketing' by Jimmy Vee and Travis Miller.  The authors of these two books will be speaking at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp April 16-18th in Orlando.

For vendors in the community, I strongly recommend that you read "Getting Naked" since this short book will change the way you interact with car dealers.

So, what are your top 5 recommendations for book this community should read?

Did you know that your local competitor just got smarter? You thought that they were behind the ball with digital marketing, social media, and leveraging the Internet but that was yesterday’s news.

Your local competitor did wake up. They realized that they were behind and took action. Good entrepreneurs are not perfect but when they realize that they are losing market share and wake up they can be a fierce competitor once again.

If I were you, I would be looking over my shoulder because your competitor is using their recent knowledge to mount an attack.

Your competitor attended a 20-group meeting, a social media conference, or a digital marketing workshop, and the lights went on. You were too busy to notice this change so I thought I would send a warning shot over the bow.

Keep Working On Last Year's Ideas

I was pleased to know that you got started with social media and digital marketing a few years ago and had an edge in your local market. You exploited that edge and basked in the sun of your success. Congratulations.

You were rewarded with greater sales, website traffic, and market share. Over the past few years you have been busy implementing the things that you learned by engaging in the educational opportunities offered by this industry.

In fact, I’ve noticed that you have been so intent on implementing what you learned you have been too busy to attend any new workshops in the past year. Is it still true that you got so many ideas in 2009 and 2010 that you have decided to skip attending conference this year?

Why pile on more ideas when you haven’t had a chance to implement those from 2009 right?

Your Competitor Wants False Confidence

To paraphrase a famous business book, while you have been busy implementing last years’ digital marketing strategies “the Cheese has moved again”.

Do you need an example?

Today being on Google Page One is not as important as being on Google Page with strong positive review stars. If you are one Page One with bad reviews, your advertising budget is helping to direct more business to your competitors.

If you haven’t focused on a strong IRM process, much of your Automotive SEO work may be actually hurting more than helping your online sales.

Where Are You?

Is this scenario describing your dealership?

• Are you the incumbent that has decided to attend conference every other year?
• Are you the dealership that recently woke-up and engaged?
• Are you the dealer who wants to engage but needs assistance creating a competitive digital marketing strategy?

The dealers who want to remain relevant cannot afford to skip a year of education. The industry is moving faster that most can comprehend yet I hear so many excuses why dealers think they can take a break from learning.

• “I’ve been to that event last year”
• “I can’t take time out of the office.”
• “The speakers and topics are always the same”
• “I’m the only person in my market that gets it.”

The reality is that the best conferences have not only new topics but also important revisions to existing strategies that you are using.

Two years ago little data on consumer behavior on dealer mobile websites was being shared, today we have a wealth of data to discuss.

Two years ago the conversation on reputation management was just starting and today the case studies on the impact of online reviews is chilling.

Google has recently changed their standards for organic search rankings and many dealers were penalized for poor link building processes.

Education Is A Continuous Investment

Since your competitors are heading to conferences, workshops, and online learning opportunities based on the most relevant topics for 2011 I thought you would want to reconsider your lack of action.

You have the power to remain ahead of your competition and find where the cheese has been moved. What will you do?

A suggestion:

I hope to see you in Orlando for starters at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp, April 16-18th. Lock in a $100 discount off Boot Camp Registration by taking advantage of this special registration link.

Did you know that your local competitor just got smarter? You thought that they were behind the ball with digital marketing, social media, and leveraging the Internet but that was yesterday’s news.

Your local competitor did wake up. They realized that they were behind and took action. Good entrepreneurs are not perfect but when they realize that they are losing market share and wake up they can be a fierce competitor once again.

If I were you, I would be looking over my shoulder because your competitor is using their recent knowledge to mount an attack.

Your competitor attended a 20-group meeting, a social media conference, or a digital marketing workshop, and the lights went on. You were too busy to notice this change so I thought I would send a warning shot over the bow.

Keep Working On Last Year's Ideas

I was pleased to know that you got started with social media and digital marketing a few years ago and had an edge in your local market. You exploited that edge and basked in the sun of your success. Congratulations.

You were rewarded with greater sales, website traffic, and market share. Over the past few years you have been busy implementing the things that you learned by engaging in the educational opportunities offered by this industry.

In fact, I’ve noticed that you have been so intent on implementing what you learned you have been too busy to attend any new workshops in the past year. Is it still true that you got so many ideas in 2009 and 2010 that you have decided to skip attending conference this year?

Why pile on more ideas when you haven’t had a chance to implement those from 2009 right?

Your Competitor Wants False Confidence

To paraphrase a famous business book, while you have been busy implementing last years’ digital marketing strategies “the Cheese has moved again”.

Do you need an example?

Today being on Google Page One is not as important as being on Google Page with strong positive review stars. If you are one Page One with bad reviews, your advertising budget is helping to direct more business to your competitors.

If you haven’t focused on a strong IRM process, much of your Automotive SEO work may be actually hurting more than helping your online sales.

Where Are You?

Is this scenario describing your dealership?

• Are you the incumbent that has decided to attend conference every other year?
• Are you the dealership that recently woke-up and engaged?
• Are you the dealer who wants to engage but needs assistance creating a competitive digital marketing strategy?

The dealers who want to remain relevant cannot afford to skip a year of education. The industry is moving faster that most can comprehend yet I hear so many excuses why dealers think they can take a break from learning.

• “I’ve been to that event last year”
• “I can’t take time out of the office.”
• “The speakers and topics are always the same”
• “I’m the only person in my market that gets it.”

The reality is that the best conferences have not only new topics but also important revisions to existing strategies that you are using.

Two years ago little data on consumer behavior on dealer mobile websites was being shared, today we have a wealth of data to discuss.

Two years ago the conversation on reputation management was just starting and today the case studies on the impact of online reviews is chilling.

Google has recently changed their standards for organic search rankings and many dealers were penalized for poor link building processes.

Education Is A Continuous Investment

Since your competitors are heading to conferences, workshops, and online learning opportunities based on the most relevant topics for 2011 I thought you would want to reconsider your lack of action.

You have the power to remain ahead of your competition and find where the cheese has been moved. What will you do?

A suggestion:

I hope to see you in Orlando for starters at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp, April 16-18th. Lock in a $100 discount off Boot Camp Registration by taking advantage of this special registration link.

Is it possible to increase online service appointments by 300%?

I didn't think so but I found out that you can by making some simple changes to your existing website!

Can you increase total service appointments by 10-15% with an inexpensive change to your website? Yes you can.

What would your service business and profits look like if you achieved these improvements over the next 60 days?

Fixed Operations, one of the most significant profit centers for a dealership, is often left behind when digital marketing strategies are discussed. When a dealer realizes this and takes action, the results can be stunning.

Most of the online discussions regarding SEO, Video Marketing, and even Pay-Per-Click strategies deal with marketing new and used cars. It is time to wake up the sleeping giant and take our Fixed Operations marketing game to the streets.

Many dealers use direct mail and email to market to existing customers or purchase third party lists to attract new customers. However, the larger opportunity is the thousands of in market consumers that use the search engines to locate and shop for car service and repair facilities. Does social media play a role? Yes it does! The combination of traditional marketing and innovative digital marketing for Fixed Operations is a game changer.
 

Check Your Fixed Operations Visibility

Google rewards those who act first and publish optimized content on a particular keyword goal. Add to this fact that independent service organizations like Jiffy Lube, Meineke, Pep Boys, and Discount Tire have been left unchallenged by franchise dealers.

You can conduct a simple test in your own market by inspecting your own search visibility.

For example, if your dealership was in Boston, you would type in these searches to test your organic visibility:
 

• > Boston Car Repairs
• > Boston Tire Stores
• > Boston Brakes
• > Boston Oil Change

And type in these phrases to test your Pay-Per-Click (SEM) visibility:

 

• > Tires Stores
• > Discount Tires
• > Oil Change Coupons
• > Brake Stores
• > Muffler Shop

Of course you can also add service searches that include your OEM brand. If you do a search for "Honda Brakes Queens", "Honda Radiator Queens", or "Honda Oil Change Queens" you can see that Paragon Honda is #1 in organic ranking for their service microsite. Fixed operations content publishing strategies can yield an annuity of leads with very low maintenance.

Google Instant will show you suggestions for what consumers are typing in your marketplace. How did your testing go?
 

• > Is your dealership showing in the Paid Search area (SEM)?
• > Is your dealership showing the the Google Places area?
• > Is your dealership showing up for videos, press releases, blog posts, or microsites in the organic SEO area?

If Fixed Operations is a major profit center for dealers why is Google Adwords, Google Places, and Google Organics often a low priority in Fixed Operations budgets?
 

Thinking Out Of The Box

How many search optimized videos have you created to promote your service offerings?

Checkered Flag in Virginia Beach is a dealership that invests in video and their value messaging is strong. Check out their video enhanced landing page for their body shop:

Virginia Beach Body Shop.

When you start to publish videos on Fixed Operations, not only do you service landing pages come alive but your videos can also be found in organic Search. Here are two examples of videos that were created to increase search visibility for oil changes:
 

• > Checkered Flag
• > Rairdon Group

If you search "Virginia Beach Oil Change" Checkered Flag's video is on Google Page One. Search "Jeep Oil Change Seattle" and the same result occurs for Rairdon's video. These were the search phrases that these videos were optimized for.

For fun, search in Google: "Virginia Fiat 500" . You will find a video I recorded last week. Can you see how video marketing can increase the visibility for the cars you sell and the services you offer?

Any single video may be only viewed a few hundred times a year, but what happens when you publish a dozen videos, two dozen videos, each optimized for a particular keyword? The combination of videos, blogs, microsites and content optimization together can yield an annuity of leads and business for your Fixed Operations profit center.
 

Fixed Ops Marketing Workshop

At the 2nd Annual Automotive Marketing Boot Camp I will be leading an extended session on Fixed Operations Digital Marketing. I will be sharing my proven marketing strategies specifically designed for Fixed Operations for the first time!

Attendees are advised to bring their laptop computers and a login to their website and/or microsite because changes that will be implemented right in class will start to improve dealership search visibility. As part of the workshop I will be demonstrating the tool, techniques, and strategies that can be implemented to:
 

• > increase service appointments
• > increase overall service revenue
• > engage the independent service centers in your market
• > Increase the paths to your dealership website for service inquiries

Fixed Operations Directors and Marketing Directors should be attending the Boot Camp and this is just one of the reasons why you should register. Your investment to attend the Boot Camp will be well rewarded in the next 60 days as dealers implement winning marketing strategies for SEO, SEM, Video, and online service appointments. Are you ready to make super-charge your fixed operations business model?

As an added opportunity for Boot Camp attendees, Rob Fontano from John Marazzi Motors in Florida, will be demonstrating his video marketing techniques in a separate presentation during the CAR-MERCIAL Technology Showcase.

Learn from the best and find out why John Marazzi's video publishing strategy is a winning marketing investment. Video search marketing is affordable and scalable once you understand the strategy.

Boot Camp - April 16-18th in Orlando

Make the decision to invest in Fixed Operations Marketing and register for the 2nd Annual Automotive Marketing Boot Camp today. April 16-18th in Orlando. http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com

Is it possible to increase online service appointments by 300%?

I didn't think so but I found out that you can by making some simple changes to your existing website!

Can you increase total service appointments by 10-15% with an inexpensive change to your website? Yes you can.

What would your service business and profits look like if you achieved these improvements over the next 60 days?

Fixed Operations, one of the most significant profit centers for a dealership, is often left behind when digital marketing strategies are discussed. When a dealer realizes this and takes action, the results can be stunning.

Most of the online discussions regarding SEO, Video Marketing, and even Pay-Per-Click strategies deal with marketing new and used cars. It is time to wake up the sleeping giant and take our Fixed Operations marketing game to the streets.

Many dealers use direct mail and email to market to existing customers or purchase third party lists to attract new customers. However, the larger opportunity is the thousands of in market consumers that use the search engines to locate and shop for car service and repair facilities. Does social media play a role? Yes it does! The combination of traditional marketing and innovative digital marketing for Fixed Operations is a game changer.
 

Check Your Fixed Operations Visibility

Google rewards those who act first and publish optimized content on a particular keyword goal. Add to this fact that independent service organizations like Jiffy Lube, Meineke, Pep Boys, and Discount Tire have been left unchallenged by franchise dealers.

You can conduct a simple test in your own market by inspecting your own search visibility.

For example, if your dealership was in Boston, you would type in these searches to test your organic visibility:
 

• > Boston Car Repairs
• > Boston Tire Stores
• > Boston Brakes
• > Boston Oil Change

And type in these phrases to test your Pay-Per-Click (SEM) visibility:

 

• > Tires Stores
• > Discount Tires
• > Oil Change Coupons
• > Brake Stores
• > Muffler Shop

Of course you can also add service searches that include your OEM brand. If you do a search for "Honda Brakes Queens", "Honda Radiator Queens", or "Honda Oil Change Queens" you can see that Paragon Honda is #1 in organic ranking for their service microsite. Fixed operations content publishing strategies can yield an annuity of leads with very low maintenance.

Google Instant will show you suggestions for what consumers are typing in your marketplace. How did your testing go?
 

• > Is your dealership showing in the Paid Search area (SEM)?
• > Is your dealership showing the the Google Places area?
• > Is your dealership showing up for videos, press releases, blog posts, or microsites in the organic SEO area?

If Fixed Operations is a major profit center for dealers why is Google Adwords, Google Places, and Google Organics often a low priority in Fixed Operations budgets?
 

Thinking Out Of The Box

How many search optimized videos have you created to promote your service offerings?

Checkered Flag in Virginia Beach is a dealership that invests in video and their value messaging is strong. Check out their video enhanced landing page for their body shop:

Virginia Beach Body Shop.

When you start to publish videos on Fixed Operations, not only do you service landing pages come alive but your videos can also be found in organic Search. Here are two examples of videos that were created to increase search visibility for oil changes:
 

• > Checkered Flag
• > Rairdon Group

If you search "Virginia Beach Oil Change" Checkered Flag's video is on Google Page One. Search "Jeep Oil Change Seattle" and the same result occurs for Rairdon's video. These were the search phrases that these videos were optimized for.

For fun, search in Google: "Virginia Fiat 500" . You will find a video I recorded last week. Can you see how video marketing can increase the visibility for the cars you sell and the services you offer?

Any single video may be only viewed a few hundred times a year, but what happens when you publish a dozen videos, two dozen videos, each optimized for a particular keyword? The combination of videos, blogs, microsites and content optimization together can yield an annuity of leads and business for your Fixed Operations profit center.
 

Fixed Ops Marketing Workshop

At the 2nd Annual Automotive Marketing Boot Camp I will be leading an extended session on Fixed Operations Digital Marketing. I will be sharing my proven marketing strategies specifically designed for Fixed Operations for the first time!

Attendees are advised to bring their laptop computers and a login to their website and/or microsite because changes that will be implemented right in class will start to improve dealership search visibility. As part of the workshop I will be demonstrating the tool, techniques, and strategies that can be implemented to:
 

• > increase service appointments
• > increase overall service revenue
• > engage the independent service centers in your market
• > Increase the paths to your dealership website for service inquiries

Fixed Operations Directors and Marketing Directors should be attending the Boot Camp and this is just one of the reasons why you should register. Your investment to attend the Boot Camp will be well rewarded in the next 60 days as dealers implement winning marketing strategies for SEO, SEM, Video, and online service appointments. Are you ready to make super-charge your fixed operations business model?

As an added opportunity for Boot Camp attendees, Rob Fontano from John Marazzi Motors in Florida, will be demonstrating his video marketing techniques in a separate presentation during the CAR-MERCIAL Technology Showcase.

Learn from the best and find out why John Marazzi's video publishing strategy is a winning marketing investment. Video search marketing is affordable and scalable once you understand the strategy.

Boot Camp - April 16-18th in Orlando

Make the decision to invest in Fixed Operations Marketing and register for the 2nd Annual Automotive Marketing Boot Camp today. April 16-18th in Orlando. http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com

This week I had the opportunity to visit Wheelers GM in Marshfield Wisconsin and one of the projects we worked on was a digital marketing strategy for their Wheelers Auto Body & Collision Shop.  Unlike their main store, their new Auto Body facility was not listed in Google Places and the basics of online marketing were absent. 

So, I created a Google Places listing, started a WordPress microsite for the shop, and started to research keywords for content development. I was surprised to see how WIDE OPEN digital marketing is for collision repair shops.  In this area of Wisconsin, there were no local shops that really had optimized Google Places listings let alone a content publishing strategy.

When competitors are asleep at the wheel, the first body shop to get it right in the marketplace will have a strong digital marketing advantage. If you own a body shop, how would you rate your SEO campaign for the keywords related to the services you offer?

Auto Body SEO

It got me to think that over the past 5 years I really have not been asked too many times about SEO and digital marketing strategies for Body Shops.  I know that a number of my clients have collision repair facilities but it seems like these areas of revenue are digital advertising orphans.

As dealers look toward 2011 and plan their automotive advertising budgets, I encourage everyone to look at all the profit centers and inspect their digital visibility in the local market.  I have seen an increased interest in dealers for marketing tires, brakes, and oil change services in 2010 but don't ignore the body shop if you have one.

I'm a firm believer that attracting more customers to your service facility or body shop will allow you to connect with more consumers that will eventually need a new or used car. Dealers should not allow independant service centers and body shops to rule the day in their local market.

Fixed Operations SEO and content publishing is a great way to energize revenue, profits, and local consumer engagement in 2011.

This week I had the opportunity to visit Wheelers GM in Marshfield Wisconsin and one of the projects we worked on was a digital marketing strategy for their Wheelers Auto Body & Collision Shop.  Unlike their main store, their new Auto Body facility was not listed in Google Places and the basics of online marketing were absent. 

So, I created a Google Places listing, started a WordPress microsite for the shop, and started to research keywords for content development. I was surprised to see how WIDE OPEN digital marketing is for collision repair shops.  In this area of Wisconsin, there were no local shops that really had optimized Google Places listings let alone a content publishing strategy.

When competitors are asleep at the wheel, the first body shop to get it right in the marketplace will have a strong digital marketing advantage. If you own a body shop, how would you rate your SEO campaign for the keywords related to the services you offer?

Auto Body SEO

It got me to think that over the past 5 years I really have not been asked too many times about SEO and digital marketing strategies for Body Shops.  I know that a number of my clients have collision repair facilities but it seems like these areas of revenue are digital advertising orphans.

As dealers look toward 2011 and plan their automotive advertising budgets, I encourage everyone to look at all the profit centers and inspect their digital visibility in the local market.  I have seen an increased interest in dealers for marketing tires, brakes, and oil change services in 2010 but don't ignore the body shop if you have one.

I'm a firm believer that attracting more customers to your service facility or body shop will allow you to connect with more consumers that will eventually need a new or used car. Dealers should not allow independant service centers and body shops to rule the day in their local market.

Fixed Operations SEO and content publishing is a great way to energize revenue, profits, and local consumer engagement in 2011.