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?

Every day there are opportunities to learn, grow, and serve. I want to thank Paul Potratz for indirectly reminding me the power of remarketing campaigns. How did this learning take place you may ask? Well, all I had to do is visit his website. So before I continue, take a minute to visit http://www.ppadv.com so you can better understand the lesson I learned.

You see once you visit his website, you will be "haunted" by banner ads from Potratz Advertising on websites that you surf. Haunting is a good adjective in this case. Paul's remarketing campaign keeps the Potratz brand message in front of consumers (and me) who visited his website. These haunting banners are displayed on thousands of third party websites in a remarketing network.

His smiling face was on his banner ads that followed me around the Internet which forced me to dig into the subject of remarketing once again. For this, I have to thank Paul because the opportunities I discovered for my own business and automotive advertising is significant.
 

Leveraging Your Existing Website Traffic

Have you ever wondered how you could leverage the thousands of visitors that come to your website every month in a new way? Have you ever asked how you could market to the mystery shoppers that view your vehicles but never call or submit a lead?

The average car dealer get's between 3,000 - 5,000 unique visitors a month so wouldn't you like to automatically follow these consumers as they shop on competitive websites? How about having your ads show up on review websites, metro information websites, and popular automotive websites to people who already visited your site?

If you are answering yes to any of these questions, then continue reading.

Re-Marketing Campaigns Leverage Visitor Traffic

If you have never taken time to learn about remarketing which is also known as retargeting, I'll provide a simple summary. Remarketing campaigns are offered by many companies including Reach Local, Cobalt, as well as Google Adwords.

Since many readers are using Google Adwords already, let me review how you can add re-marketing lists to your existing Adwords Ad Groups.

• - Google Adwords groups keywords and ads into Ad Groups. Let's assume a dealer has an Ad Group setup to market the 2011 Ford F-150. In this Ad Group a dealer would include keywords associated with the Ford F-150.
• - The dealer would also create text ads and banner ads which have a call to action message to purchase or test drive a Ford F-150 from their dealership.
• - These ads, when clicked go to a landing page. In this case, let's assume it goes to an optimized landing page for the Ford F-150 on the dealer's website. This landing page has clear calls to action and engages the consumer.
• - Even the best landing pages do not convert high percentages of visitors into leads or calls. Re-marketing allows you to get a few more tries at winning over this PPC visitor. (see graphic above)
• - What you need to do is to create a "tag" that will track anonymous visitors to this F-150 landing page. You do this by going to the "Audience Tab" on your Ford F-150 Ad Group, and click on the "Add Audiences" button.

• - Once you click on "Add Audiences" you will be asked to select a "remarketing list" but you will not have any. This means you need to create a remarketing list. In this example, your remarketing list will be all people who visit your F-150 landing page.
• - To create your remarketing list, click on "Create and Manage Lists" on the page and you can now define your list.
• - Then click on the button "New Audience" and select "Remarketing list" from the drop-down menu. Notice that I have created two other remarketing lists which can each have a membership duration.

• - We'll pick a name for our list as "Ford F-150 Landing Page Visitors". (see below)
• - You will add a description to remember what this tag was created for and set the duration. Since car shoppers may be in the market for a 90 day cycle, I have set the membership duration to 90 days. If the consumer re-visits your website in 10 days, the clock will be reset.

• - Once you click on the "Save" button, you can retrieve the HTML code for this tag.
• - To get the code, click on the hyperlink for your remarketing list under the column "Tag/Rules".
• - You then need to place place this HTML tag (aka HTML Code) on the Ford F-150 landing page. You may need help from your website provider to insert the code if you are not comfortable with working in the HTML editor mode.
• - This code sets a cookie on the consumers web browser. Every visitor to your F-150 landing page is tracked via a cookie.
• - Once this cookie activated by a visit you can take advantage of the millions of websites in the Adwords Display Network that will show Google Ads. These websites need to have content that matches your Ford F-150 Ad Group keywords.
• - So for example, any website that allows Google Ads that has articles on the Ford F-150 can pop up your ads to consumers who visited your website.
• - By the way, if your keywords include "Ford Dealer" for "Ford" then you can expect your ads to show on popular review sites and business directories for competing Ford dealers in your market.
• - This includes review websites like Yelp.com, Dealerrater.com, InsiderPages.com, MerchantCircle.com, and popular automotive websites like Motortrend.com.
• - Which websites your ad will appear on will be determined by your automatic and manual placement setting in the display network and your bids.

Does ReMarketing Interest You?

It should. You should consider testing it for your dealership but there are many strategies to consider and options in this advertising medium. Questions? Well the good news is that at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp, April 16-18th in Orlando, there will be a special workshop on Automotive Remarketing Strategies lead by Jeff Kershner.

Secondly, the man that inspired me to write this post, Paul Potratz, will be speaking at the Boot Camp on effective mobile advertising strategies and of course you can chat with him on remarketing. You'll have ample time to speak with Cobalt Remarketing Experts, Paul Potratz, Jeff Kershner, and the other industry experts that have experience with remarketing.

Get registered and save $100 off your registration fee by visiting this link; Boot Camp Registration Offer. I hope to see many DrivingSalesmembers at the Boot Camp, which is coming up fast!
 

Google Remarketing Video

Here is a summary video that Google created on the same topic of remarketing.

Every day there are opportunities to learn, grow, and serve. I want to thank Paul Potratz for indirectly reminding me the power of remarketing campaigns. How did this learning take place you may ask? Well, all I had to do is visit his website. So before I continue, take a minute to visit http://www.ppadv.com so you can better understand the lesson I learned.

You see once you visit his website, you will be "haunted" by banner ads from Potratz Advertising on websites that you surf. Haunting is a good adjective in this case. Paul's remarketing campaign keeps the Potratz brand message in front of consumers (and me) who visited his website. These haunting banners are displayed on thousands of third party websites in a remarketing network.

His smiling face was on his banner ads that followed me around the Internet which forced me to dig into the subject of remarketing once again. For this, I have to thank Paul because the opportunities I discovered for my own business and automotive advertising is significant.
 

Leveraging Your Existing Website Traffic

Have you ever wondered how you could leverage the thousands of visitors that come to your website every month in a new way? Have you ever asked how you could market to the mystery shoppers that view your vehicles but never call or submit a lead?

The average car dealer get's between 3,000 - 5,000 unique visitors a month so wouldn't you like to automatically follow these consumers as they shop on competitive websites? How about having your ads show up on review websites, metro information websites, and popular automotive websites to people who already visited your site?

If you are answering yes to any of these questions, then continue reading.

Re-Marketing Campaigns Leverage Visitor Traffic

If you have never taken time to learn about remarketing which is also known as retargeting, I'll provide a simple summary. Remarketing campaigns are offered by many companies including Reach Local, Cobalt, as well as Google Adwords.

Since many readers are using Google Adwords already, let me review how you can add re-marketing lists to your existing Adwords Ad Groups.

• - Google Adwords groups keywords and ads into Ad Groups. Let's assume a dealer has an Ad Group setup to market the 2011 Ford F-150. In this Ad Group a dealer would include keywords associated with the Ford F-150.
• - The dealer would also create text ads and banner ads which have a call to action message to purchase or test drive a Ford F-150 from their dealership.
• - These ads, when clicked go to a landing page. In this case, let's assume it goes to an optimized landing page for the Ford F-150 on the dealer's website. This landing page has clear calls to action and engages the consumer.
• - Even the best landing pages do not convert high percentages of visitors into leads or calls. Re-marketing allows you to get a few more tries at winning over this PPC visitor. (see graphic above)
• - What you need to do is to create a "tag" that will track anonymous visitors to this F-150 landing page. You do this by going to the "Audience Tab" on your Ford F-150 Ad Group, and click on the "Add Audiences" button.

• - Once you click on "Add Audiences" you will be asked to select a "remarketing list" but you will not have any. This means you need to create a remarketing list. In this example, your remarketing list will be all people who visit your F-150 landing page.
• - To create your remarketing list, click on "Create and Manage Lists" on the page and you can now define your list.
• - Then click on the button "New Audience" and select "Remarketing list" from the drop-down menu. Notice that I have created two other remarketing lists which can each have a membership duration.

• - We'll pick a name for our list as "Ford F-150 Landing Page Visitors". (see below)
• - You will add a description to remember what this tag was created for and set the duration. Since car shoppers may be in the market for a 90 day cycle, I have set the membership duration to 90 days. If the consumer re-visits your website in 10 days, the clock will be reset.

• - Once you click on the "Save" button, you can retrieve the HTML code for this tag.
• - To get the code, click on the hyperlink for your remarketing list under the column "Tag/Rules".
• - You then need to place place this HTML tag (aka HTML Code) on the Ford F-150 landing page. You may need help from your website provider to insert the code if you are not comfortable with working in the HTML editor mode.
• - This code sets a cookie on the consumers web browser. Every visitor to your F-150 landing page is tracked via a cookie.
• - Once this cookie activated by a visit you can take advantage of the millions of websites in the Adwords Display Network that will show Google Ads. These websites need to have content that matches your Ford F-150 Ad Group keywords.
• - So for example, any website that allows Google Ads that has articles on the Ford F-150 can pop up your ads to consumers who visited your website.
• - By the way, if your keywords include "Ford Dealer" for "Ford" then you can expect your ads to show on popular review sites and business directories for competing Ford dealers in your market.
• - This includes review websites like Yelp.com, Dealerrater.com, InsiderPages.com, MerchantCircle.com, and popular automotive websites like Motortrend.com.
• - Which websites your ad will appear on will be determined by your automatic and manual placement setting in the display network and your bids.

Does ReMarketing Interest You?

It should. You should consider testing it for your dealership but there are many strategies to consider and options in this advertising medium. Questions? Well the good news is that at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp, April 16-18th in Orlando, there will be a special workshop on Automotive Remarketing Strategies lead by Jeff Kershner.

Secondly, the man that inspired me to write this post, Paul Potratz, will be speaking at the Boot Camp on effective mobile advertising strategies and of course you can chat with him on remarketing. You'll have ample time to speak with Cobalt Remarketing Experts, Paul Potratz, Jeff Kershner, and the other industry experts that have experience with remarketing.

Get registered and save $100 off your registration fee by visiting this link; Boot Camp Registration Offer. I hope to see many DrivingSalesmembers at the Boot Camp, which is coming up fast!
 

Google Remarketing Video

Here is a summary video that Google created on the same topic of remarketing.

Google recently announced changes to their search algorithm and included in those changes were efforts to lower the visibility of spammy websites.  One of the secondary conversions was will Google lower the weighting of keyword rich domains like "www.buyviagra.com".

Matt Cutts addressed this specific question in a video below:

I want to thank Anirban Das for bringing this video to my attention.

All car dealers have their primary domains set and locked for most cases so buying extra domains would be used for marketing microsites for lead collection, brand awareness, or to capitalize on popular search phrases. 

Matt Cutt's video and his examples are really misleading because car dealers would not be investing the millions of dollars needed to create large technology or marketing portals like Twitter, Tech Crunch, Zappos, etc.  Branded websites do not become popular for non-match keyword searches magically, which is a large omission from Matt's video message.

Regardless if Google turns down the dial slightly for exact matching domain names, they are still the fastest way for a dealer to gain page one visibility in their local market for long tail keywords.

Buying non-exact matching domains still works, like Matt said, but what he didn't disclose is that non-exact matching domains needs significantly more external links with anchor text on the targeted keywords.

Example, search Google for "Automotive Microsites" and you will see www.dealerbytes.com on Page One.  It does not have either phrase in the domain name but it ranks on page one.  Why?  Because Paul Rushing, domain owner, has content on his website and links on the phrase "automotive microsites" directed to that domain.

For dealers, exact matching domains are the better match because dealers have smaller budgets for SEO projects. There are hundreds of automotive microsites that I have build that demonstrate that exact matching domains with great unique content are still the fastest way to hit Page One.

Need some examples, post Google update:

1. ToyotaRecall - ranks on page one for "Toyota Recall" over most major giant news sources
2. MiamiUsedCars.org - ranks well on Page One for "Miami Used Cars" in a very competitive market
3. ChevroletFortWorth.com - DFW is a very competitive market for Chevy dealers, Jerry's gets more awareness.
4. SeattleJeep.com - Seattle has a number of choices for Jeep dealers, Rairdon get more visibility.
5. BuffaloCars.net - A popular search phrase in Buffalo is "Buffalo Cars" and this site get the brand out there.

So, as many writers have said in the past, content is King and great content on a keyword rich domain can deliver an annuity of page one placements. Then the focus has to be switched to testing designs that increase calls, leads, and floor traffic.  In the end, a poorly converting microsites is a waste of time.

Microsites are a great tool for car dealers and regardless of what Google may signal, the proof is that SEO marketing strategies on a small budget can benefit from exact matching, keyword rich domains.

Microsite Education

If you are looking for advice and strategies to build effective microsites, PCG is offering  two classes at the upcoming Automotive Marketing Boot Camp that will show you everything you need to succeed.  You can register for the April 16-18th event by visiting http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com.

I will be conducting a workshop on Automotive SEO Strategies and two members of the PCG team will be conducting a workshop on WordPress microsites and optimization strategies.  The combination of these two workshops will empower you to launch, test, and improve your microsite marketing campaigns.

Bring your laptop to these workshops since you will be jumping in and doing hands-on work for these sessions.  If you have microsites that have not been doing well, bring your logins and passwords so you can optimize them during the boot camp with help from the experts.

Google recently announced changes to their search algorithm and included in those changes were efforts to lower the visibility of spammy websites.  One of the secondary conversions was will Google lower the weighting of keyword rich domains like "www.buyviagra.com".

Matt Cutts addressed this specific question in a video below:

I want to thank Anirban Das for bringing this video to my attention.

All car dealers have their primary domains set and locked for most cases so buying extra domains would be used for marketing microsites for lead collection, brand awareness, or to capitalize on popular search phrases. 

Matt Cutt's video and his examples are really misleading because car dealers would not be investing the millions of dollars needed to create large technology or marketing portals like Twitter, Tech Crunch, Zappos, etc.  Branded websites do not become popular for non-match keyword searches magically, which is a large omission from Matt's video message.

Regardless if Google turns down the dial slightly for exact matching domain names, they are still the fastest way for a dealer to gain page one visibility in their local market for long tail keywords.

Buying non-exact matching domains still works, like Matt said, but what he didn't disclose is that non-exact matching domains needs significantly more external links with anchor text on the targeted keywords.

Example, search Google for "Automotive Microsites" and you will see www.dealerbytes.com on Page One.  It does not have either phrase in the domain name but it ranks on page one.  Why?  Because Paul Rushing, domain owner, has content on his website and links on the phrase "automotive microsites" directed to that domain.

For dealers, exact matching domains are the better match because dealers have smaller budgets for SEO projects. There are hundreds of automotive microsites that I have build that demonstrate that exact matching domains with great unique content are still the fastest way to hit Page One.

Need some examples, post Google update:

1. ToyotaRecall - ranks on page one for "Toyota Recall" over most major giant news sources
2. MiamiUsedCars.org - ranks well on Page One for "Miami Used Cars" in a very competitive market
3. ChevroletFortWorth.com - DFW is a very competitive market for Chevy dealers, Jerry's gets more awareness.
4. SeattleJeep.com - Seattle has a number of choices for Jeep dealers, Rairdon get more visibility.
5. BuffaloCars.net - A popular search phrase in Buffalo is "Buffalo Cars" and this site get the brand out there.

So, as many writers have said in the past, content is King and great content on a keyword rich domain can deliver an annuity of page one placements. Then the focus has to be switched to testing designs that increase calls, leads, and floor traffic.  In the end, a poorly converting microsites is a waste of time.

Microsites are a great tool for car dealers and regardless of what Google may signal, the proof is that SEO marketing strategies on a small budget can benefit from exact matching, keyword rich domains.

Microsite Education

If you are looking for advice and strategies to build effective microsites, PCG is offering  two classes at the upcoming Automotive Marketing Boot Camp that will show you everything you need to succeed.  You can register for the April 16-18th event by visiting http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com.

I will be conducting a workshop on Automotive SEO Strategies and two members of the PCG team will be conducting a workshop on WordPress microsites and optimization strategies.  The combination of these two workshops will empower you to launch, test, and improve your microsite marketing campaigns.

Bring your laptop to these workshops since you will be jumping in and doing hands-on work for these sessions.  If you have microsites that have not been doing well, bring your logins and passwords so you can optimize them during the boot camp with help from the experts.

There are many passionate dealership employees that attend conferences, read books, develop a strategy, and them implement it perfectly.

One such shining star in Rob Fontano from John Marazzi Nissan. There have been many articles on this community website about Automotive SEO but few have been focused on Conquest Marketing using Search Engine Optimization strategies.

Rob Fontano is one of the few people who could be called The King of Conquest Marketing. Rob has published hundreds of videos that are optimized on competing brands in his local market.

Ft Myers Toyota Camry

Need an example? Go to Google and type in "Ft Myers Toyota Camry" and this is what you will see:

You will see that there is a local Toyota dealer in Ft Myers and right under their website are two videos that challenge consumers to consider purchasing a Nissan Altima instead of the Toyota Camry. Are people clicking on this video? See the view counter on the first video:

Toyota Camry Naples

How about in John Marazzi Nissan's own home town of Naples Florida. Yes, there is a Toyota Dealer in Naples and they are not getting a break. Type into Google: "Toyota Camry Naples" and you will see:

Take a minute to watch this video on www.metacafe.com. (Watch Video) Rob does a great job of talking to the consumer and the videos are being watched!

This one video on MetaCafe was watched over 800 times. Videos are just one way to implement a conquest search marketing strategy but Rob does an outstanding job with video.

Join Rob's Video Marketing Workshop

If you have not started a conquest marketing strategy, consider implementing one since with SEO it is very low cost. If you would like to learn more about Rob's strategy, he will be conducting a 2 hour technology workshop at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp, April 16-18th in Orlando.

The workshop is sponsored by automotive video experts Car-Mercial. Rob will be candidly sharing his strategy, process, and the results of his video marketing investments. I'm really looking forward to his workshop. Listen to what Rob has to say about his workshop:

There are many passionate dealership employees that attend conferences, read books, develop a strategy, and them implement it perfectly.

One such shining star in Rob Fontano from John Marazzi Nissan. There have been many articles on this community website about Automotive SEO but few have been focused on Conquest Marketing using Search Engine Optimization strategies.

Rob Fontano is one of the few people who could be called The King of Conquest Marketing. Rob has published hundreds of videos that are optimized on competing brands in his local market.

Ft Myers Toyota Camry

Need an example? Go to Google and type in "Ft Myers Toyota Camry" and this is what you will see:

You will see that there is a local Toyota dealer in Ft Myers and right under their website are two videos that challenge consumers to consider purchasing a Nissan Altima instead of the Toyota Camry. Are people clicking on this video? See the view counter on the first video:

Toyota Camry Naples

How about in John Marazzi Nissan's own home town of Naples Florida. Yes, there is a Toyota Dealer in Naples and they are not getting a break. Type into Google: "Toyota Camry Naples" and you will see:

Take a minute to watch this video on www.metacafe.com. (Watch Video) Rob does a great job of talking to the consumer and the videos are being watched!

This one video on MetaCafe was watched over 800 times. Videos are just one way to implement a conquest search marketing strategy but Rob does an outstanding job with video.

Join Rob's Video Marketing Workshop

If you have not started a conquest marketing strategy, consider implementing one since with SEO it is very low cost. If you would like to learn more about Rob's strategy, he will be conducting a 2 hour technology workshop at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp, April 16-18th in Orlando.

The workshop is sponsored by automotive video experts Car-Mercial. Rob will be candidly sharing his strategy, process, and the results of his video marketing investments. I'm really looking forward to his workshop. Listen to what Rob has to say about his workshop:

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.