In the past 60 days, OEM compliance inspections of dealer blogs, microsites, and press releases have significantly increased.  From the guideline documents that I have reviewed, it is clear that the OEM marketing teams have been poorly advised on how dealers should be leveraging all marketing opportunities on the Internet.

There is a double standard that OEM's have created in regards to advertising strategies.  Let's look at the Boston Massachusetts market, where many dealers serve this large city, but where only one dealer has an actual Boston address.  The other dealers are separated by 10-15 miles and physically located in a smaller suburb, with its own city name.

Dealers in the suburbs can take out print ads in the Boston Herald, which advertises their services to consumers well beyond their PMA.  These ads can use the words "Boston" in the printed text. and can even show driving directions from Boston to their suburbia location.

These same dealers can also take out radio ads or television spots that cross all PMA lines and saturate the greater Boston market. Both of these communication channels are available for co-op funds and can mention the Boston metro area in the ad script.

Dealers can also create Google Adwords campaigns that have advertising radiuses outside their PMA, and these campaigns are also available for co-op money.  These advertising campaigns can also use the word "Boston" as a keyword or any other city in a reasonable driving distance.

When Confused, Kick the SEO Dog

However, some dealers are now being restricted and penalized for implementing SEO strategies that use the same geo-targeting strategies that other approved channels can utilize.  If dealers can appear on radio, television, and print in towns outside a dealer’s official PMA, why not in organic search as well?

Specifically, dealers are being penalized if any of their organic marketing strategies include:

1. Including the name of ANY city outside of where their dealership is located in Title Tags, META descriptions, or in body text.  This applies to any website page with their name on it.
2. If dealers choose to use a city name outside of their physical location in a Title Tag or META Description, it has to be preceded by the word "Serving". 
3. Hyper-linking words in the body of any page that includes ANY city name outside of their physical location is prohibited.  This means you can't hyperlink Boston Toyota Service if your dealership is in Worcester.  You can't even hyperlink 'Serving Boston Toyota Owners" in a sentence.
4. Some OEM's have policies that prevent dealers from owning domains that have ANY city name in it that is not your city.  You can't own it even if there is NO competing dealer in that city.
5. Some OEM's have policies that prevent dealers from owning microsites that don't have your official business name as part of the domain name.

And the list goes on.  So, OEM's have created a virtual marketing wall for the Internet SEO strategies, which in fact only hurts their own franchise dealers.  Someone has an agenda against Automotive SEO strategies at the OEM level and it's only hurting their own dealer base.

Great News For 3rd Party Lead Collectors

This is great news for third party advertising sites and independent used car dealers.  Independents will so have unrestricted access to creating strong used car marketing platforms that are geo-targeted. 

OEM's are forcing dealers to transfer all domains that don't comply into their ownership.  The result of non-compliance is costly.

These OEM policies are GREAT news for third party lead collectors since they do not have any restrictions on domain names, content, or linking strategies.  Third party lead collection vendors must be jumping for joy, and it's even possible that they are the ones advising their OEM community!

These Internet content policies also increases dealer's dependence on inventory advertising sites like Autotrader.com, Cars.com, or Everycarlisted.com or PPC strategies.  These are all valid advertising strategies, but it looks like the OEM marketing teams are trying to limit competition, innovation, and free markets.

For many OEM's, dealers CAN NOT create a second used car inventory marketing site.  They can send their cars to 3rd parties but they CAN NOT do it themselves.  Interesting!  For many dealers, they are told that they can only have one website.  Period.

Since OEM's hold hundreds of thousands of dollars of dealers heads for compliance fines or bonus money, dealers have no choice but to comply. 

Time to crank up those PPC budgets!  Time to hire a few more inventory-advertising partners and increase your ad budgets.  Your days of SEO innovation must move to another area of marketing.

P.S.  SEO still works and dealers need an SEO strategy.  SEO is not dead. Dealers need to have a compliant SEO strategy while we wait for OEM marketing executives to reach out to industry experts on this topic. 

In the past 60 days, OEM compliance inspections of dealer blogs, microsites, and press releases have significantly increased.  From the guideline documents that I have reviewed, it is clear that the OEM marketing teams have been poorly advised on how dealers should be leveraging all marketing opportunities on the Internet.

There is a double standard that OEM's have created in regards to advertising strategies.  Let's look at the Boston Massachusetts market, where many dealers serve this large city, but where only one dealer has an actual Boston address.  The other dealers are separated by 10-15 miles and physically located in a smaller suburb, with its own city name.

Dealers in the suburbs can take out print ads in the Boston Herald, which advertises their services to consumers well beyond their PMA.  These ads can use the words "Boston" in the printed text. and can even show driving directions from Boston to their suburbia location.

These same dealers can also take out radio ads or television spots that cross all PMA lines and saturate the greater Boston market. Both of these communication channels are available for co-op funds and can mention the Boston metro area in the ad script.

Dealers can also create Google Adwords campaigns that have advertising radiuses outside their PMA, and these campaigns are also available for co-op money.  These advertising campaigns can also use the word "Boston" as a keyword or any other city in a reasonable driving distance.

When Confused, Kick the SEO Dog

However, some dealers are now being restricted and penalized for implementing SEO strategies that use the same geo-targeting strategies that other approved channels can utilize.  If dealers can appear on radio, television, and print in towns outside a dealer’s official PMA, why not in organic search as well?

Specifically, dealers are being penalized if any of their organic marketing strategies include:

1. Including the name of ANY city outside of where their dealership is located in Title Tags, META descriptions, or in body text.  This applies to any website page with their name on it.
2. If dealers choose to use a city name outside of their physical location in a Title Tag or META Description, it has to be preceded by the word "Serving". 
3. Hyper-linking words in the body of any page that includes ANY city name outside of their physical location is prohibited.  This means you can't hyperlink Boston Toyota Service if your dealership is in Worcester.  You can't even hyperlink 'Serving Boston Toyota Owners" in a sentence.
4. Some OEM's have policies that prevent dealers from owning domains that have ANY city name in it that is not your city.  You can't own it even if there is NO competing dealer in that city.
5. Some OEM's have policies that prevent dealers from owning microsites that don't have your official business name as part of the domain name.

And the list goes on.  So, OEM's have created a virtual marketing wall for the Internet SEO strategies, which in fact only hurts their own franchise dealers.  Someone has an agenda against Automotive SEO strategies at the OEM level and it's only hurting their own dealer base.

Great News For 3rd Party Lead Collectors

This is great news for third party advertising sites and independent used car dealers.  Independents will so have unrestricted access to creating strong used car marketing platforms that are geo-targeted. 

OEM's are forcing dealers to transfer all domains that don't comply into their ownership.  The result of non-compliance is costly.

These OEM policies are GREAT news for third party lead collectors since they do not have any restrictions on domain names, content, or linking strategies.  Third party lead collection vendors must be jumping for joy, and it's even possible that they are the ones advising their OEM community!

These Internet content policies also increases dealer's dependence on inventory advertising sites like Autotrader.com, Cars.com, or Everycarlisted.com or PPC strategies.  These are all valid advertising strategies, but it looks like the OEM marketing teams are trying to limit competition, innovation, and free markets.

For many OEM's, dealers CAN NOT create a second used car inventory marketing site.  They can send their cars to 3rd parties but they CAN NOT do it themselves.  Interesting!  For many dealers, they are told that they can only have one website.  Period.

Since OEM's hold hundreds of thousands of dollars of dealers heads for compliance fines or bonus money, dealers have no choice but to comply. 

Time to crank up those PPC budgets!  Time to hire a few more inventory-advertising partners and increase your ad budgets.  Your days of SEO innovation must move to another area of marketing.

P.S.  SEO still works and dealers need an SEO strategy.  SEO is not dead. Dealers need to have a compliant SEO strategy while we wait for OEM marketing executives to reach out to industry experts on this topic. 

A promising new feature in Google Analytics will show which combination of websites influenced consumer behavior prior to a conversion action on your website. The feature is called Multi-Channel Funnels.

This new data-reporting tool inside of Google Analytics will give business owners tremendous insights into the top influencing websites or media platforms that yield a website conversion. This data will help dealers fine tune online marketing decisions based on which channels assisted and/or produced more conversions.

In the past, dealers using basic Google Analytics data would only know the last website a consumer visited prior to a website conversion. This is known in Google Analytics as “referring websites”.

Multiple consumer touch points and communication tools influence a conversion. With Multi-Channel Funnels, you will be able to see that your newsletter email was read, which encouraged your customer to click on a link to your blog, where they read an article which encouraged them to click on a link to your website where they decided to submit a lead.

With Multi-Channel Funnels you can see all the “players” that assisted with the conversion. Google has produced a video to describe this new feature. In their first video, they use the analogy of a basketball team. The players will assist the shooter who makes the final goal so when you find the right “team” that makes more goals, you will want to replicate that organization.

In the same way, once you see which communication channels (blogs, videos, press release, Facebook, etc.) are involved in producing the highest conversion paths, you can focus on enhancing that success funnel.

From the Google website:

"Multi-Channel Funnels in Google Analytics will show which channels your customers interacted with during the 30 days prior to converting or purchasing. Conversion path data includes interactions with many media channels, including clicks from paid and organic searches, affiliates, social networks, and display ads.

Multi-Channel Funnels reports are generated from conversion paths, the sequences of interactions (i.e. clicks/referrals from channels) during the 30 days that led up to each conversion and transaction. Conversion path data include interactions with virtually all digital channels. These channels include, but are not limited to:

• paid and organic search (on all search engines along with the specific keywords searched)
• referral sites
• affiliates
• social networks
• email newsletters
• display ads
• any custom campaigns that you’ve created. “

I'm very excited about this new opportunity because it will start to shed light on how your digital marketing investments are influencing your customers. For example, you would be able to see if consumer visited Cars.com or Autotrader.com which introduced your dealership name in the past 30 days prior to coming to your website and submitting a lead.

You would be able to see if consumers watched your videos, visited your Facebook page, or read a press release prior to coming to your website and submitting a lead. With Google Multi-Channel Funnel you will be able to start ranking and rating your top influencing mediums, websites, and advertising partners.

This new opportunity to analyze your website visitors and behavior is being rolled out on a limited basis. You can request early access to Multi-Channel Funnels by visiting: https://services.google.com/fb/forms/AnalyticsFunnelSignup/

Multi-Channel Funnels in Google Analytics Video

This first video is an easy overview:

This is a more detailed video on reports

A promising new feature in Google Analytics will show which combination of websites influenced consumer behavior prior to a conversion action on your website. The feature is called Multi-Channel Funnels.

This new data-reporting tool inside of Google Analytics will give business owners tremendous insights into the top influencing websites or media platforms that yield a website conversion. This data will help dealers fine tune online marketing decisions based on which channels assisted and/or produced more conversions.

In the past, dealers using basic Google Analytics data would only know the last website a consumer visited prior to a website conversion. This is known in Google Analytics as “referring websites”.

Multiple consumer touch points and communication tools influence a conversion. With Multi-Channel Funnels, you will be able to see that your newsletter email was read, which encouraged your customer to click on a link to your blog, where they read an article which encouraged them to click on a link to your website where they decided to submit a lead.

With Multi-Channel Funnels you can see all the “players” that assisted with the conversion. Google has produced a video to describe this new feature. In their first video, they use the analogy of a basketball team. The players will assist the shooter who makes the final goal so when you find the right “team” that makes more goals, you will want to replicate that organization.

In the same way, once you see which communication channels (blogs, videos, press release, Facebook, etc.) are involved in producing the highest conversion paths, you can focus on enhancing that success funnel.

From the Google website:

"Multi-Channel Funnels in Google Analytics will show which channels your customers interacted with during the 30 days prior to converting or purchasing. Conversion path data includes interactions with many media channels, including clicks from paid and organic searches, affiliates, social networks, and display ads.

Multi-Channel Funnels reports are generated from conversion paths, the sequences of interactions (i.e. clicks/referrals from channels) during the 30 days that led up to each conversion and transaction. Conversion path data include interactions with virtually all digital channels. These channels include, but are not limited to:

• paid and organic search (on all search engines along with the specific keywords searched)
• referral sites
• affiliates
• social networks
• email newsletters
• display ads
• any custom campaigns that you’ve created. “

I'm very excited about this new opportunity because it will start to shed light on how your digital marketing investments are influencing your customers. For example, you would be able to see if consumer visited Cars.com or Autotrader.com which introduced your dealership name in the past 30 days prior to coming to your website and submitting a lead.

You would be able to see if consumers watched your videos, visited your Facebook page, or read a press release prior to coming to your website and submitting a lead. With Google Multi-Channel Funnel you will be able to start ranking and rating your top influencing mediums, websites, and advertising partners.

This new opportunity to analyze your website visitors and behavior is being rolled out on a limited basis. You can request early access to Multi-Channel Funnels by visiting: https://services.google.com/fb/forms/AnalyticsFunnelSignup/

Multi-Channel Funnels in Google Analytics Video

This first video is an easy overview:

This is a more detailed video on reports

Car dealers have an increasingly challenging task ahead of them as they have to continue to evaluate the latest digital advertising platforms, services, and related technology.

It is not uncommon for dealer principals to say that they are “sticking to what worked in the past” because they have no patience and specific strategy as they sort through the claims of automotive advertising partners.

Automotive Inventory Syndication & Marketing

PCG has created a whitepaper that will be released today at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp in Orlando and it will be available for download at http://www.automotive-advertising.net.  Also keep in mind that the keynote speakers will be live broadcast on www.DrivingSalesTV.com starting at 7:30 pm tonight.

The PCG whitepaper is entitled "Evaluating Automotive Inventory Advertising Services" and its focus is on inventory syndication, advertising, and how to measure the ROI of these strategies.

Since many car dealers use platforms such as Autotrader.com, Cars.com, UsedCars.com, EveryCarListed.com, and Craigslist this is an important discussion on how to evaluate success with third party advertising strategies.

The whitepaper will be a living document. It will be revised periodically to include new entrants into the inventory advertising and syndication business. It will also be revised from data and commentary provided by the automotive community.

Consider the initial release on April 16, 2011 a starting point for many viewpoints and related discussions on dealer inventory advertising platforms and third party leads.

The goal of this whitepaper is to publish datasets and strategies to compare and contrast automotive advertising platforms. This information contained in this report will provide dealers with new ideas on how to evaluate their advertising and syndication choices.

As this document grows we will also include case study data from dealers who offer to share their results.

Dealer Centricity Scores Introduced

In addition to providing data on pricing models and lead quality we will also take a look at the way in which cars are displayed on the Internet. We will introduce Dealer Centricity Scores (DCS) as a measure of how many ads (potential brand leaks) are displayed on Vehicle Detail Pages (VDP).

We will also introduce one method of evaluating the ROI of popular inventory syndication platforms using a Cost Per Vehicle Detail Page Views formula created by Dennis Galbraith.

This approach is one way that Dennis suggests that a dealer can evaluate the benefits of upgrading from a basic advertising package to a premium package.

So if you would like to download the whitepaper, it will be available after 5:30 pm on April 16, 2011. After you have time to read the document, add your comments and suggestions how this whitepaper can be enhanced.

Sharing Your Data For Future Updates

If you would like to share data from your dealership to be added to future versions of the whitepaper, send me an email to: brian@pcgdigitalmarketing.com. We would love to get actual dealer data from ALL platforms listed in the whitepaper.

Car dealers have an increasingly challenging task ahead of them as they have to continue to evaluate the latest digital advertising platforms, services, and related technology.

It is not uncommon for dealer principals to say that they are “sticking to what worked in the past” because they have no patience and specific strategy as they sort through the claims of automotive advertising partners.

Automotive Inventory Syndication & Marketing

PCG has created a whitepaper that will be released today at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp in Orlando and it will be available for download at http://www.automotive-advertising.net.  Also keep in mind that the keynote speakers will be live broadcast on www.DrivingSalesTV.com starting at 7:30 pm tonight.

The PCG whitepaper is entitled "Evaluating Automotive Inventory Advertising Services" and its focus is on inventory syndication, advertising, and how to measure the ROI of these strategies.

Since many car dealers use platforms such as Autotrader.com, Cars.com, UsedCars.com, EveryCarListed.com, and Craigslist this is an important discussion on how to evaluate success with third party advertising strategies.

The whitepaper will be a living document. It will be revised periodically to include new entrants into the inventory advertising and syndication business. It will also be revised from data and commentary provided by the automotive community.

Consider the initial release on April 16, 2011 a starting point for many viewpoints and related discussions on dealer inventory advertising platforms and third party leads.

The goal of this whitepaper is to publish datasets and strategies to compare and contrast automotive advertising platforms. This information contained in this report will provide dealers with new ideas on how to evaluate their advertising and syndication choices.

As this document grows we will also include case study data from dealers who offer to share their results.

Dealer Centricity Scores Introduced

In addition to providing data on pricing models and lead quality we will also take a look at the way in which cars are displayed on the Internet. We will introduce Dealer Centricity Scores (DCS) as a measure of how many ads (potential brand leaks) are displayed on Vehicle Detail Pages (VDP).

We will also introduce one method of evaluating the ROI of popular inventory syndication platforms using a Cost Per Vehicle Detail Page Views formula created by Dennis Galbraith.

This approach is one way that Dennis suggests that a dealer can evaluate the benefits of upgrading from a basic advertising package to a premium package.

So if you would like to download the whitepaper, it will be available after 5:30 pm on April 16, 2011. After you have time to read the document, add your comments and suggestions how this whitepaper can be enhanced.

Sharing Your Data For Future Updates

If you would like to share data from your dealership to be added to future versions of the whitepaper, send me an email to: brian@pcgdigitalmarketing.com. We would love to get actual dealer data from ALL platforms listed in the whitepaper.

Here is an announcement that I received today from Google:

At Google, we’re always working to innovate and improve ways for small businesses to get online and reach more customers. At times, though, we have to decide where to focus our efforts and which technologies we expect will yield the most benefit to users and businesses like you in the long run.


In that spirit, we are retiring Google Tags for all users on April 29, 2011. No action is required on your part, and your Places account and listing will continue to work as usual. Effective today, no new tags can be created, but all active tags will keep running to the end of April for free.


In your Places account, you’ll be able to see billing history until July 31st. If your tag is active, performance data will be available from now until May 31st. Historical performance data of inactive tags will be available in your dashboard starting May 2nd until May 31st.

This is an interesting development...more to think about. I'll keep you posted on related news once I get back the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp.

Here is an announcement that I received today from Google:

At Google, we’re always working to innovate and improve ways for small businesses to get online and reach more customers. At times, though, we have to decide where to focus our efforts and which technologies we expect will yield the most benefit to users and businesses like you in the long run.


In that spirit, we are retiring Google Tags for all users on April 29, 2011. No action is required on your part, and your Places account and listing will continue to work as usual. Effective today, no new tags can be created, but all active tags will keep running to the end of April for free.


In your Places account, you’ll be able to see billing history until July 31st. If your tag is active, performance data will be available from now until May 31st. Historical performance data of inactive tags will be available in your dashboard starting May 2nd until May 31st.

This is an interesting development...more to think about. I'll keep you posted on related news once I get back the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp.

PCG Digital Marketing is pleased to announce that DrivingSalesTV.com will be live broadcasting the keynote speakers from the 2011 Automotive Marketing Boot Camp (AMBC) in Orlando which starts on Saturday April 16th.

The AMBC conference has attracted top dealers, industry leaders, educators, and motivational speakers for this two and a half day educational event.

The content from the 25+ workshops and educational sessions will not be broadcast live, only the 10 speakers listed below.

Dealers who would like to attend the Boot Camp in Florida can call Renee McGowan at 732.450.8200 ext 5 or you can register online. Deadline for registration is Friday April 15, 2011.

Walk-in registrations will not be permitted.

The schedule of live broadcasts is listed below based on Eastern Standard Time (EST) and you can visit www.drivingsalestv.com to register to view the broadcasts.

Saturday April 16, 2011

7:45 pm Brice Englert from Dominion Dealer Solutions

8:30 pm Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing

Sunday April 17th

8:00 am Best Selling Author Bob Burg – presents “Endless Referrals: The Go-Giver Way”

12:15 pm Daimen Boyd General Sales Manager-Automotive Marketing at NetBiz.com

1:00 pm Tracy Myers, Dealer Principal at Frank Myers AutoMaxx

7:15 pm Egon Smola – VP, New and Used Car Leads Businesses at Dealix

8:15 pm Erin Touponse - Director of Communications for the Harte Auto Group

Monday April 18th

8:00 am Best Selling Authors Jimmy Vee and Travis Miller – “Gravitational Marketing”

12:15 pm Allan Chell - President of cDemo Mobile Solutions

8:30 pm Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing

PCG Digital Marketing is pleased to announce that DrivingSalesTV.com will be live broadcasting the keynote speakers from the 2011 Automotive Marketing Boot Camp (AMBC) in Orlando which starts on Saturday April 16th.

The AMBC conference has attracted top dealers, industry leaders, educators, and motivational speakers for this two and a half day educational event.

The content from the 25+ workshops and educational sessions will not be broadcast live, only the 10 speakers listed below.

Dealers who would like to attend the Boot Camp in Florida can call Renee McGowan at 732.450.8200 ext 5 or you can register online. Deadline for registration is Friday April 15, 2011.

Walk-in registrations will not be permitted.

The schedule of live broadcasts is listed below based on Eastern Standard Time (EST) and you can visit www.drivingsalestv.com to register to view the broadcasts.

Saturday April 16, 2011

7:45 pm Brice Englert from Dominion Dealer Solutions

8:30 pm Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing

Sunday April 17th

8:00 am Best Selling Author Bob Burg – presents “Endless Referrals: The Go-Giver Way”

12:15 pm Daimen Boyd General Sales Manager-Automotive Marketing at NetBiz.com

1:00 pm Tracy Myers, Dealer Principal at Frank Myers AutoMaxx

7:15 pm Egon Smola – VP, New and Used Car Leads Businesses at Dealix

8:15 pm Erin Touponse - Director of Communications for the Harte Auto Group

Monday April 18th

8:00 am Best Selling Authors Jimmy Vee and Travis Miller – “Gravitational Marketing”

12:15 pm Allan Chell - President of cDemo Mobile Solutions

8:30 pm Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing