I recently had the pleasure to sit in on a workshop Joe Webb presented at the Chicago PCG Pit Stop conference.  Joe gave attendees a number of solid processes to help increase the effectiveness of responding to email prospects.

One of the tips Joe gave attendees was how to reverse engineer lead data and how to research a customer online BEFORE responding. 

I like Joe's comment that taking ONE extra minute to do some simple research would NOT impact the opportunity measurably. 

I could not agree more since research will create a more intelligent and more engaging response.

In the past month, I've been exploring new ways to reach out and connect with "prospects" which in my case is car dealers.  As I travel around the country speaking at conferences and 20 Group I normally meet dealers who need assistance with their online reputation, SEO, SEM, or social media strategy.

But what has been a challenge recently is contacting dealers in a specific local market and inviting them to attend one of the regional PCG Pit Stop events.  This is where I have been testing new contact methodologies since email, cold calls, and direct mail really are weak.

Leverage LinkedIn For Your Dealership

One marketing tool that I have found effective is LinkedIn.  There are a number of effective ways to leverage your existing customers, friends, and business associates to create a targeted marketing list to sell more cars. If your sales team is not leveraging LinkedIn, they should be.

With email delivery rates dropping, LinkedIn has very impressive email delivery rates that are many times higher than normal email.  Also, keep in mind that your customers change email addresses on a regular basis but will update their LinkedIn profile with their current contact information.  This means you can stay connected with your customers much longer than your current DMS will allow.

I know that there is high turnover in car sales but seasoned sales professionals that use LinkedIn properly will be way ahead of their peers.  In just 60 days, I have added over 500 targeted dealership employees to my network. 

Imagine what your sales professionals could do with developing lists that include local teachers, doctors, lawyers, business owners which all can be created off their EXISTING customers.  LinkedIn has rules that "govern" how fast you can build your network, but adding 20 people a day is very reasonable.

Once sales professionals build their lists, LinkedIn can allow them to "tag" the contacts with keywords that can be used to create targeted email messages or tips each month.  So people who purchase a Honda Civic can be tagged with keywords like "Honda", "2011 New Car Buyer", "Family With Kids", etc.  

Sales professionals can search these tags to create targeted email lists or invitations to special events.

Developing a Digital Networking Strategy

I will be adding a workshop on leveraging digital networking tools for automotive sales professionals at the upcoming PCG Pit Stop Conferences .  I will also work with Jared to get a workshop of innovative digital sales networking strategies at the DrivingSales Executive Summit starting October 9th in Las Vegas. 

Paul Potratz and I have been brainstorming on this type of workshop which I think car sales professionals will love.

LinkedIn email is not the only method that is working.  LinkedIn Groups also shows great promise along with Facebook which many conversations have already covered.  

I have also been very pleased on the ROI of creating better quality promotional videos for PCG events and services.  Video marketing for sales professionals is an green field opportunity for progressive dealerships. 

So any sales professionals that would like a workshop of digital branding and network strategies should check out the upcoming schedule of conferences at http://www.pcgpitstop.com and Paul Potratz and I will show you the ropes!

P.S.  Please join me on LinkedIn!  I would love to connect with you.

I recently had the pleasure to sit in on a workshop Joe Webb presented at the Chicago PCG Pit Stop conference.  Joe gave attendees a number of solid processes to help increase the effectiveness of responding to email prospects.

One of the tips Joe gave attendees was how to reverse engineer lead data and how to research a customer online BEFORE responding. 

I like Joe's comment that taking ONE extra minute to do some simple research would NOT impact the opportunity measurably. 

I could not agree more since research will create a more intelligent and more engaging response.

In the past month, I've been exploring new ways to reach out and connect with "prospects" which in my case is car dealers.  As I travel around the country speaking at conferences and 20 Group I normally meet dealers who need assistance with their online reputation, SEO, SEM, or social media strategy.

But what has been a challenge recently is contacting dealers in a specific local market and inviting them to attend one of the regional PCG Pit Stop events.  This is where I have been testing new contact methodologies since email, cold calls, and direct mail really are weak.

Leverage LinkedIn For Your Dealership

One marketing tool that I have found effective is LinkedIn.  There are a number of effective ways to leverage your existing customers, friends, and business associates to create a targeted marketing list to sell more cars. If your sales team is not leveraging LinkedIn, they should be.

With email delivery rates dropping, LinkedIn has very impressive email delivery rates that are many times higher than normal email.  Also, keep in mind that your customers change email addresses on a regular basis but will update their LinkedIn profile with their current contact information.  This means you can stay connected with your customers much longer than your current DMS will allow.

I know that there is high turnover in car sales but seasoned sales professionals that use LinkedIn properly will be way ahead of their peers.  In just 60 days, I have added over 500 targeted dealership employees to my network. 

Imagine what your sales professionals could do with developing lists that include local teachers, doctors, lawyers, business owners which all can be created off their EXISTING customers.  LinkedIn has rules that "govern" how fast you can build your network, but adding 20 people a day is very reasonable.

Once sales professionals build their lists, LinkedIn can allow them to "tag" the contacts with keywords that can be used to create targeted email messages or tips each month.  So people who purchase a Honda Civic can be tagged with keywords like "Honda", "2011 New Car Buyer", "Family With Kids", etc.  

Sales professionals can search these tags to create targeted email lists or invitations to special events.

Developing a Digital Networking Strategy

I will be adding a workshop on leveraging digital networking tools for automotive sales professionals at the upcoming PCG Pit Stop Conferences .  I will also work with Jared to get a workshop of innovative digital sales networking strategies at the DrivingSales Executive Summit starting October 9th in Las Vegas. 

Paul Potratz and I have been brainstorming on this type of workshop which I think car sales professionals will love.

LinkedIn email is not the only method that is working.  LinkedIn Groups also shows great promise along with Facebook which many conversations have already covered.  

I have also been very pleased on the ROI of creating better quality promotional videos for PCG events and services.  Video marketing for sales professionals is an green field opportunity for progressive dealerships. 

So any sales professionals that would like a workshop of digital branding and network strategies should check out the upcoming schedule of conferences at http://www.pcgpitstop.com and Paul Potratz and I will show you the ropes!

P.S.  Please join me on LinkedIn!  I would love to connect with you.

The yellow banner ad that may appear on this website advertising the PCG Pit Stop is not a remarketing advertisement, but if you have visited the PCG Pit Stop website, (http://www.pcgpitstop.com) you may have noticed that our ads are following you around the web.

If you have seen our yellow ads popping up on website, rest assured that I did not win the lottery; my online advertising budget for the Pit Stop Conferences is very small. Since dealers do not make decisions immediately on educational investments, I decided to remind them about the opportunities they have throughout the year for education.

It all comes down to leveraging website traffic.

Do you know how many unique visitors come to your dealership website each month? Have you ever wondered how you could increase the conversion of that existing traffic? How about increasing the conversion of showroom and service visitors?

As dealers look for new ways to leverage their existing traffic into greater leads and sales, there are three strategies that business owners should embrace and test. These strategies are inexpensive and very effective. The three strategies that we are most excited about today are:

• - Remarketing campaigns
• - Website chat
• - Text marketing campaigns.

All three marketing strategies will leverage your existing traffic (website and/or dealership) in new ways to increase your connection with in market consumers.

Automotive ReMarketing Defined

Today, I'll address the topic of remarketing and I have created a video that demonstrates how remarketing works. Remarketing is inexpensive and is similar to running a pay-per-click campaign with one exception; consumers have to re-visit your website by clicking on the banner for you to be charged.

There is an art to creating remarketing banners. I won't go into a long dissertation on banner design, keep in mind that the banners should address why they should come back to your website.

Having a banner that says in effect, "We add hundreds of cars a month to our website" is an example of a message that might bring a car shopper back to your site who was looking for a specific vehicle.

ReMarketing Video Demonstration

Take a minute to watch this video on how remarketing works and I think you will agree that it is a novel way of maximizing the existing traffic that you have coming to your website.

See For Yourself

See remarketing in action by visiting http://www.pcgpitstop.com or http://www.cardealersale.com and watch how our remarketing campaigns follow your web surfing behavior to keep us top of mind.

Remarketing is one of the topics we will be teaching at the Pit Stop Conferences as well so if you want to leverage your existing website traffic in new ways, we will be addressing all three strategies at each conference.

Stay tuned for part II and III of this article as I discuss chat and text marketing campaigns with DrivingSales members.

The yellow banner ad that may appear on this website advertising the PCG Pit Stop is not a remarketing advertisement, but if you have visited the PCG Pit Stop website, (http://www.pcgpitstop.com) you may have noticed that our ads are following you around the web.

If you have seen our yellow ads popping up on website, rest assured that I did not win the lottery; my online advertising budget for the Pit Stop Conferences is very small. Since dealers do not make decisions immediately on educational investments, I decided to remind them about the opportunities they have throughout the year for education.

It all comes down to leveraging website traffic.

Do you know how many unique visitors come to your dealership website each month? Have you ever wondered how you could increase the conversion of that existing traffic? How about increasing the conversion of showroom and service visitors?

As dealers look for new ways to leverage their existing traffic into greater leads and sales, there are three strategies that business owners should embrace and test. These strategies are inexpensive and very effective. The three strategies that we are most excited about today are:

• - Remarketing campaigns
• - Website chat
• - Text marketing campaigns.

All three marketing strategies will leverage your existing traffic (website and/or dealership) in new ways to increase your connection with in market consumers.

Automotive ReMarketing Defined

Today, I'll address the topic of remarketing and I have created a video that demonstrates how remarketing works. Remarketing is inexpensive and is similar to running a pay-per-click campaign with one exception; consumers have to re-visit your website by clicking on the banner for you to be charged.

There is an art to creating remarketing banners. I won't go into a long dissertation on banner design, keep in mind that the banners should address why they should come back to your website.

Having a banner that says in effect, "We add hundreds of cars a month to our website" is an example of a message that might bring a car shopper back to your site who was looking for a specific vehicle.

ReMarketing Video Demonstration

Take a minute to watch this video on how remarketing works and I think you will agree that it is a novel way of maximizing the existing traffic that you have coming to your website.

See For Yourself

See remarketing in action by visiting http://www.pcgpitstop.com or http://www.cardealersale.com and watch how our remarketing campaigns follow your web surfing behavior to keep us top of mind.

Remarketing is one of the topics we will be teaching at the Pit Stop Conferences as well so if you want to leverage your existing website traffic in new ways, we will be addressing all three strategies at each conference.

Stay tuned for part II and III of this article as I discuss chat and text marketing campaigns with DrivingSales members.

Google has always enabled you to track what people say about you online with Google Alerts but they have now made it easier for anyone to track their online reputation with a new feature in the Google Dashboard called "Me on the Web".

I've stated this many times but it is worth repeating.  All your advertising dollars that drive consumers to search your business name are impacted by your online reputation.  Google has socialized the web experience and your "stars" will impact whether a consumer will engage with your business or call a competitor.

Free IRM Tools

The new set of tools makes it easier for anyone to see what is posted on the web using their name. The dashboard also has features that includes a link entitled "How to Remove Unwanted Content" which will assist companies dealing with their online reputation management.

Here is an exerpt from that page:

"If you find content online--say, your telephone number or an embarrassing photo of you--that you don't want to appear online, first determine whether you or someone else controls the content. For example, if the photo you want to hide is part of your Picasa account, you can simply change your photo visibility settings. If, however, the unwanted content resides on a site or page you don't control, you can follow our tips on removing personal information from the web and removing a page from Google's search results."

Me On The Web

The Google Accounts dashboard, shown below, has the "Me on the Web" summary and helpful links:  

To access this feature, login to your Google Account Dashboard and it will be active.

The introduction of this feature is a clear signal to any business that Internet Reputation Management is a mandatory business process that should be part their standard operation procedures manual.

This feature will also help to educate the general public on reputation management.  In fact, on XM and local radio, you may have been hearing commercials from a company called "Reputation Defender".  Reputation Management is going mainstream and our phone has been overheating with companies asking for help with their online reputation management.

So, check out the new features and I am confident that this will be expanded in the year ahead to make it easier for people to check what people are saying about them online.

Google has always enabled you to track what people say about you online with Google Alerts but they have now made it easier for anyone to track their online reputation with a new feature in the Google Dashboard called "Me on the Web".

I've stated this many times but it is worth repeating.  All your advertising dollars that drive consumers to search your business name are impacted by your online reputation.  Google has socialized the web experience and your "stars" will impact whether a consumer will engage with your business or call a competitor.

Free IRM Tools

The new set of tools makes it easier for anyone to see what is posted on the web using their name. The dashboard also has features that includes a link entitled "How to Remove Unwanted Content" which will assist companies dealing with their online reputation management.

Here is an exerpt from that page:

"If you find content online--say, your telephone number or an embarrassing photo of you--that you don't want to appear online, first determine whether you or someone else controls the content. For example, if the photo you want to hide is part of your Picasa account, you can simply change your photo visibility settings. If, however, the unwanted content resides on a site or page you don't control, you can follow our tips on removing personal information from the web and removing a page from Google's search results."

Me On The Web

The Google Accounts dashboard, shown below, has the "Me on the Web" summary and helpful links:  

To access this feature, login to your Google Account Dashboard and it will be active.

The introduction of this feature is a clear signal to any business that Internet Reputation Management is a mandatory business process that should be part their standard operation procedures manual.

This feature will also help to educate the general public on reputation management.  In fact, on XM and local radio, you may have been hearing commercials from a company called "Reputation Defender".  Reputation Management is going mainstream and our phone has been overheating with companies asking for help with their online reputation management.

So, check out the new features and I am confident that this will be expanded in the year ahead to make it easier for people to check what people are saying about them online.

Ford has joined with Google to protect the use of the Ford trademarks in Google Adwords campaigns. 

Ford joins other OEM's like Toyota who have created whitelists for ads that use the word "Toyota" in the text of an ad.

Ford's memo also outlines that dealers can not use competing dealer names in their keyword purchasing strategy nor in their SEO meta tag strategy.

Here is an excerpt from a memo that went out to dealers dated May 12th:

In response to a recent increase in conquest advertising by Ford’s competitors using Ford trademarks in Google AdWords advertising, Ford has instituted a “whitelist” policy concerning Google AdWords advertising.

Under the whitelist policy, which Ford has instituted with Google, Google has agreed to reject AdWords advertising that uses Ford trademarks in ad text, unless Ford has specifically approved the advertiser in advance by placing the advertiser on a whitelist with Google.

In order to minimize disruption to legitimate dealer advertising that uses Ford trademarks in Google AdWords text, Ford provided Google an initial whitelist containing Ford’s authorized dealer advertisers.

However, some authorized dealers advertisers were certainly omitted from the initial whitelist. As a result, Google may reject ads submitted by legitimate dealer advertisers. In that case, you may contact Scott Pruett at Team Detroit, who administers the Google whitelist on Ford’s behalf. Scott can add your dealership to the whitelist of approved Google AdWords advertisers.

PLEASE NOTE THAT MOST DEALERS ARE ALREADY ON THE GOOGLE WHITELIST, SO THEIR ADS WILL NOT BE DISRUPTED BY THE NEW FORD POLICY. PLEASE CONTACT SCOTT PRUETT ONLY IF YOU FIND THAT GOOGLE REJECTS YOUR ADS.

Please note as well that any multibrand dealers who are “dualled” with competitive vehicle makes may use Ford trademarks in advertising only to promote Ford and Lincoln products, and not otherwise.
ADVERTISING POLICY FOR USE OF FORD TRADEMARKS BY DEALERS

Ford has noticed instances of authorized dealers using Ford trademarks in Internet advertising to target other Ford or Lincoln dealers (collectively, “Ford dealers”).

Ford objects to use of Ford’s intellectual property in this manner . Under Paragraph 15(b) of your Dealer Sales and Services Agreement (“DSSA”), you agree that you will use Ford’s trademarks only as approved by Ford. This communication puts all Ford dealers on notice that Ford does not approve of the following uses of Ford trademarks by Ford dealers:

- Purchase of another dealer’s dealership name as an Internet keyword (a Google AdWord or keywords sold by other search providers such as Bing and Yahoo);

- Use of another dealer’s dealership name in hidden text (e.g., “white text”), metatags, or for similar purposes on or in connection with Internet websites;

- Use of another dealer’s dealership name in advertising text or other promotional material
Adherence by dealers with the above policy will assure that Ford’s longstanding intellectual property rights are used only as approved by Ford, as the rights owner, and not by dealers seeking to target one another.

Does This Impact Independent Used Car Dealers?

What is interesting about this whitelist is that an independent car dealer can no longer use the words "Ford" or Lincoln" in their Adwords campaign.  I wonder if this will impact their ability to effectively use Adwords to market their cars.

I also wonder how this will impact automated tools like Dealer.com's TCD product which creates Adwords ads on the fly from used car inventory.   So a Honda dealer that has a used Ford F150 in stock will not be authorized to create a used car ad that includes the word "Ford" in the ad.

This digital marketing environment is always changing and I'll do my best to keep the community informed.  I hope to see many of you at one of our regional education events on the PCG Pit Stop tour as well as at the 2011 DrivingSales Executive Summit.

Education and strategy will be your best defense to stay ahead of the curve.

Ford has joined with Google to protect the use of the Ford trademarks in Google Adwords campaigns. 

Ford joins other OEM's like Toyota who have created whitelists for ads that use the word "Toyota" in the text of an ad.

Ford's memo also outlines that dealers can not use competing dealer names in their keyword purchasing strategy nor in their SEO meta tag strategy.

Here is an excerpt from a memo that went out to dealers dated May 12th:

In response to a recent increase in conquest advertising by Ford’s competitors using Ford trademarks in Google AdWords advertising, Ford has instituted a “whitelist” policy concerning Google AdWords advertising.

Under the whitelist policy, which Ford has instituted with Google, Google has agreed to reject AdWords advertising that uses Ford trademarks in ad text, unless Ford has specifically approved the advertiser in advance by placing the advertiser on a whitelist with Google.

In order to minimize disruption to legitimate dealer advertising that uses Ford trademarks in Google AdWords text, Ford provided Google an initial whitelist containing Ford’s authorized dealer advertisers.

However, some authorized dealers advertisers were certainly omitted from the initial whitelist. As a result, Google may reject ads submitted by legitimate dealer advertisers. In that case, you may contact Scott Pruett at Team Detroit, who administers the Google whitelist on Ford’s behalf. Scott can add your dealership to the whitelist of approved Google AdWords advertisers.

PLEASE NOTE THAT MOST DEALERS ARE ALREADY ON THE GOOGLE WHITELIST, SO THEIR ADS WILL NOT BE DISRUPTED BY THE NEW FORD POLICY. PLEASE CONTACT SCOTT PRUETT ONLY IF YOU FIND THAT GOOGLE REJECTS YOUR ADS.

Please note as well that any multibrand dealers who are “dualled” with competitive vehicle makes may use Ford trademarks in advertising only to promote Ford and Lincoln products, and not otherwise.
ADVERTISING POLICY FOR USE OF FORD TRADEMARKS BY DEALERS

Ford has noticed instances of authorized dealers using Ford trademarks in Internet advertising to target other Ford or Lincoln dealers (collectively, “Ford dealers”).

Ford objects to use of Ford’s intellectual property in this manner . Under Paragraph 15(b) of your Dealer Sales and Services Agreement (“DSSA”), you agree that you will use Ford’s trademarks only as approved by Ford. This communication puts all Ford dealers on notice that Ford does not approve of the following uses of Ford trademarks by Ford dealers:

- Purchase of another dealer’s dealership name as an Internet keyword (a Google AdWord or keywords sold by other search providers such as Bing and Yahoo);

- Use of another dealer’s dealership name in hidden text (e.g., “white text”), metatags, or for similar purposes on or in connection with Internet websites;

- Use of another dealer’s dealership name in advertising text or other promotional material
Adherence by dealers with the above policy will assure that Ford’s longstanding intellectual property rights are used only as approved by Ford, as the rights owner, and not by dealers seeking to target one another.

Does This Impact Independent Used Car Dealers?

What is interesting about this whitelist is that an independent car dealer can no longer use the words "Ford" or Lincoln" in their Adwords campaign.  I wonder if this will impact their ability to effectively use Adwords to market their cars.

I also wonder how this will impact automated tools like Dealer.com's TCD product which creates Adwords ads on the fly from used car inventory.   So a Honda dealer that has a used Ford F150 in stock will not be authorized to create a used car ad that includes the word "Ford" in the ad.

This digital marketing environment is always changing and I'll do my best to keep the community informed.  I hope to see many of you at one of our regional education events on the PCG Pit Stop tour as well as at the 2011 DrivingSales Executive Summit.

Education and strategy will be your best defense to stay ahead of the curve.

In December of 2010 I shared with the automotive community on blog post which detailed my first impressions on my meeting with the combined BZ & Cobalt website development and marketing team in Seattle. My December meeting was shortly after ADP completed their purchase of Cobalt and after a few key decisions were made on their product strategy.

Rewinding my mental tapes, I recall conversations from industry peers, which basically said, “Any potential benefits this acquisition would deliver to customers would be delayed by internal politics and egos.”

My meeting with the team in Seattle however gave me a very different impression. I wondered if my optimism would be disappointed by another historical acquisition gone badly. The streets of the automotive industry are littered with failed mergers.

I commented in my blog post that the egos were in check and that everyone wanted to get this merger of technology and process “right” the first time. The energy in the room was very positive and the team candidly asked for my feedback on what dealers needed and where their products could be improved. I left Seattle optimistic.

May Brings New Announcements & Technology

Fast-forward to this past week where I had the opportunity to see the results of the new combined ADP team. I was not disappointed. The decision to create a unified platform for BZ and Cobalt customers was made immediately after the merger and work started shortly afterwards.

I put down my thoughts in a 13 page whitepaper that you can download at http://www.dealer-seo.com. Let me know what you think about my observations and if you are a Cobalt dealer, you should check out the new software interface.

In December of 2010 I shared with the automotive community on blog post which detailed my first impressions on my meeting with the combined BZ & Cobalt website development and marketing team in Seattle. My December meeting was shortly after ADP completed their purchase of Cobalt and after a few key decisions were made on their product strategy.

Rewinding my mental tapes, I recall conversations from industry peers, which basically said, “Any potential benefits this acquisition would deliver to customers would be delayed by internal politics and egos.”

My meeting with the team in Seattle however gave me a very different impression. I wondered if my optimism would be disappointed by another historical acquisition gone badly. The streets of the automotive industry are littered with failed mergers.

I commented in my blog post that the egos were in check and that everyone wanted to get this merger of technology and process “right” the first time. The energy in the room was very positive and the team candidly asked for my feedback on what dealers needed and where their products could be improved. I left Seattle optimistic.

May Brings New Announcements & Technology

Fast-forward to this past week where I had the opportunity to see the results of the new combined ADP team. I was not disappointed. The decision to create a unified platform for BZ and Cobalt customers was made immediately after the merger and work started shortly afterwards.

I put down my thoughts in a 13 page whitepaper that you can download at http://www.dealer-seo.com. Let me know what you think about my observations and if you are a Cobalt dealer, you should check out the new software interface.