PCG Consulting Inc
Yelp Survey on Relevance of Yellow Pages Books
Today I received an email from Yelp.com that disclosed a summary of a recent poll they conducted on the Relevance of Yellow Pages books. For those of you who grew up with that huge yellow doorstop delivered to your home twice a year, you can wax nostalgically.
It wasn't long ago that my friend told me that he was paying $250,000 a year to have his ad on the back cover the the county edition of the yellow pages. All I could think about was how much advertising using Google Adwords that would buy.
Does your automotive advertising strategy still include the printed Yellow Pages?
Yelp Survey Results
Here is what was contained in the email (in italics) and I thought I would share their findings with this community:
Last week, we presented a survey to gauge how business owners feel about yellow page phone books in the digital age. Only 24% of our 3,500+ respondents said "Yes" to the question, “Are yellow page phone books still relevant?”
That's quite a find. Here are some others:
1) Most business owners don't think yellow page phone books are useful to them:
“Yellow page phone books are useful to me as a business owner.”
Agree - 11%
Somewhat Agree - 17%
Somewhat Disagree - 19%
Disagree - 52%
2) Only about 10% of business owners use yellow page phone books more than once per month; 3 out of 4 don't use it at all:
How many times per month do you rely on a yellow page phone book to find a local business?
“Zero” - 75%
“Once” - 14%
“Between two and four times” - 8%
“Five or more times” - 3%
3) Very few business owners believe customers find them using a yellow page phone book.
Estimated percentage of customers who find me using a yellow page phone book.
“0%” - 43%
“1-25%” - 47%
“26-50%” - 5%
“51-75%” - 3%
“76-99%” - 1%
“100%” - 0.1%
The conclusion (according to Yelp): Business owners have clearly observed the shrinking relevance of yellow page phone books. As we continue to move away from printed phone books, online and mobile directories will continue to grow as the customer's choice for local business information.
My Thoughts
You may be laughing at those who still pay large sums of money to be in the printed Yellow Pages. Before you point the finger, consider what current advertising investments you are making that are in place because they are on auto-pilot?
Are there any advertising channels that are just being used because they worked in the past? Are you in TV, radio, and paper because you are continually testing those channels or is it because there would be a General Manager rebellion if you reduced those budgets.
Could reducing budgets in traditional media be better spent elsewhere? Retargeting? Facebook Advertising? Google Boost? Have you tested these three channels?
There are no simple answers to finding the perfect mix. Getting to the right balance requires a more thorough testing strategy that most dealers are not patient enough to see to the end. That's where I see a great opportunity for my company; helping dealers find that balance.
Innovative dealers are testing new strategies and if the three opportunities I listed above have never been tested at your dealership, your delay may be as silly as a full page ad in the Yellow Pages!
PCG Consulting Inc
Yelp Survey on Relevance of Yellow Pages Books
Today I received an email from Yelp.com that disclosed a summary of a recent poll they conducted on the Relevance of Yellow Pages books. For those of you who grew up with that huge yellow doorstop delivered to your home twice a year, you can wax nostalgically.
It wasn't long ago that my friend told me that he was paying $250,000 a year to have his ad on the back cover the the county edition of the yellow pages. All I could think about was how much advertising using Google Adwords that would buy.
Does your automotive advertising strategy still include the printed Yellow Pages?
Yelp Survey Results
Here is what was contained in the email (in italics) and I thought I would share their findings with this community:
Last week, we presented a survey to gauge how business owners feel about yellow page phone books in the digital age. Only 24% of our 3,500+ respondents said "Yes" to the question, “Are yellow page phone books still relevant?”
That's quite a find. Here are some others:
1) Most business owners don't think yellow page phone books are useful to them:
“Yellow page phone books are useful to me as a business owner.”
Agree - 11%
Somewhat Agree - 17%
Somewhat Disagree - 19%
Disagree - 52%
2) Only about 10% of business owners use yellow page phone books more than once per month; 3 out of 4 don't use it at all:
How many times per month do you rely on a yellow page phone book to find a local business?
“Zero” - 75%
“Once” - 14%
“Between two and four times” - 8%
“Five or more times” - 3%
3) Very few business owners believe customers find them using a yellow page phone book.
Estimated percentage of customers who find me using a yellow page phone book.
“0%” - 43%
“1-25%” - 47%
“26-50%” - 5%
“51-75%” - 3%
“76-99%” - 1%
“100%” - 0.1%
The conclusion (according to Yelp): Business owners have clearly observed the shrinking relevance of yellow page phone books. As we continue to move away from printed phone books, online and mobile directories will continue to grow as the customer's choice for local business information.
My Thoughts
You may be laughing at those who still pay large sums of money to be in the printed Yellow Pages. Before you point the finger, consider what current advertising investments you are making that are in place because they are on auto-pilot?
Are there any advertising channels that are just being used because they worked in the past? Are you in TV, radio, and paper because you are continually testing those channels or is it because there would be a General Manager rebellion if you reduced those budgets.
Could reducing budgets in traditional media be better spent elsewhere? Retargeting? Facebook Advertising? Google Boost? Have you tested these three channels?
There are no simple answers to finding the perfect mix. Getting to the right balance requires a more thorough testing strategy that most dealers are not patient enough to see to the end. That's where I see a great opportunity for my company; helping dealers find that balance.
Innovative dealers are testing new strategies and if the three opportunities I listed above have never been tested at your dealership, your delay may be as silly as a full page ad in the Yellow Pages!
No Comments
PCG Consulting Inc
Get Full Access to Google Webmaster Tools Data
Google doesn't always get things right the first time but eventually they do listen to their user community.
One of those "Amen!" moments came recently when Google decided to allow multiple users to share Google Webmaster Tools data for a single website.
This is a BIG opportunity for car dealers who often have been told by their web hosting company that Webmaster Tools Data was off limits to their staff. This data can be a GOLDMINE for dealers.
Being refused access to this data was common in the past since once a Webmaster Tools account was created, it could only be accessed by the company who setup the account. This is most cases was the dealer's website provider and their Google approved email address.
Today, dealers can call their website hosts and ask for their own Google account to be added to the site configuration so they can see ALL the valuable data Webmaster Tools provides.
Action Item: Call your website host TODAY and have your gmail account added to your Webmaster Tools profile!
It's Easy To Add Multiple Users to Webmaster Tools
From the images below, you can see that your website hosting company can easily click on the "Manage" link and select "Add or remove owners" to any website that is setup in their Webmaster tools account.
In this screen shot you can see that we have many websites in our account, so we just click on a "Manage" link and a menu pops up which now we can add their email account to share data.
Once you click on "Add or Remove Owners" you can add any number of Google email accounts that can see the Webmaster Tools data.
Once this is completed, it will show you the list of verified owners. Your dealership's email address will now be a valid user to see your Webmaster Tools data.
Why Review Webmaster Tools Data?
Dealers need to understand how their websites are performing based on Google search data. Webmaster Tools provides the most accurate data on links, traffic, and top performing keywords for your website.
Webmaster tools will also show important diagnostic data for your website's performance. Don't miss this opportunity to get another viewpoint and data source for your website.
If you need help understanding your Webmaster Tools data, drop me an email to: brian@pcgdigitalmarketing.com and we can setup a call to review the data.
No Comments
PCG Consulting Inc
Get Full Access to Google Webmaster Tools Data
Google doesn't always get things right the first time but eventually they do listen to their user community.
One of those "Amen!" moments came recently when Google decided to allow multiple users to share Google Webmaster Tools data for a single website.
This is a BIG opportunity for car dealers who often have been told by their web hosting company that Webmaster Tools Data was off limits to their staff. This data can be a GOLDMINE for dealers.
Being refused access to this data was common in the past since once a Webmaster Tools account was created, it could only be accessed by the company who setup the account. This is most cases was the dealer's website provider and their Google approved email address.
Today, dealers can call their website hosts and ask for their own Google account to be added to the site configuration so they can see ALL the valuable data Webmaster Tools provides.
Action Item: Call your website host TODAY and have your gmail account added to your Webmaster Tools profile!
It's Easy To Add Multiple Users to Webmaster Tools
From the images below, you can see that your website hosting company can easily click on the "Manage" link and select "Add or remove owners" to any website that is setup in their Webmaster tools account.
In this screen shot you can see that we have many websites in our account, so we just click on a "Manage" link and a menu pops up which now we can add their email account to share data.
Once you click on "Add or Remove Owners" you can add any number of Google email accounts that can see the Webmaster Tools data.
Once this is completed, it will show you the list of verified owners. Your dealership's email address will now be a valid user to see your Webmaster Tools data.
Why Review Webmaster Tools Data?
Dealers need to understand how their websites are performing based on Google search data. Webmaster Tools provides the most accurate data on links, traffic, and top performing keywords for your website.
Webmaster tools will also show important diagnostic data for your website's performance. Don't miss this opportunity to get another viewpoint and data source for your website.
If you need help understanding your Webmaster Tools data, drop me an email to: brian@pcgdigitalmarketing.com and we can setup a call to review the data.
No Comments
PCG Consulting Inc
Franchise Dealers Are Being Transformed Into Internet Eunuchs
As I recently posted, the OEM compliance officers are cracking down on franchise dealers and independent third parties from owning domain names that include OEM names. I think we have a case of Spring fever that is reaching epidemic proportions.
In the case of franchise dealers, the OEM's are holding back real money to force their franchise dealers to turn over "non-compliant" domain names.
For example, if ABC Toyota located in Dallas Texas purchased domains www.dallastoyota.com and www.usedtoyotadallas.com and hosted inventory websites on these domains, these dealers are being forced to take down these sites and turn over the domains to the OEM.
The compliance evangelists as I stated in a previous post are causing third party lead generators and independent websites to rejoice. Why? Because by binding the creative hands of franchise dealers, they must rely on third parties to increase the exposure for the cars the need to sell.
Franchise dealers are screwed unless the dealer advisory board gets united and forces an honest discussion with their OEM's. OEM's have to understand, as I started in my previous post, that dealers can purchase radio, TV, billboards, and print media across PMA lines to increase their visibility but they can't operate a domain www.trentontoyotadealer.com or www.trentontoyotaservice.com even if Trenton is in their PMA?
Am I the only one that sees this crazy double standard? The irony is that an independant service center CAN own www.trentontoyotaservice.com and show up on Page One in Google search as long as the site does not use the Toyota logo or confuse the public that it's a franchise service center!!
I will volunteer to visit any OEM marketing team to discuss their restrictions on multiple dealer owned websites that contain the OEM name. I would love to share my thoughts why current policies are fueling higher marketing costs, aiding their competition, and restricting healthy competition.
There is a balance that I have in mind, however the pendulum is swinging far right at the moment.
Are Independent Dealers Being Attacked?
The caffeine induced OEM lawyers are also going after independent car dealers, advertising portals, and third party lead collectors that use the OEM name in a domain. I just want to make members of this community aware of this attack on free trade and entrepreneurs.
The OEM lawyers are also sending out bullying letters without disclosing the case law I cite below.
For independent dealers and third party lead generation companies, there is good news. There is case law that shows that owning a domain name that includes an OEM word is not against the law.
The key is that the website should NOT have the OEM logo on the website. Also, the website design should NOT confuse the public that the OEM is endorsing the independent website. In simple terms, don't make the site look like the OEM's authorized template design.
Here is a summary of a famous case that made Toyota take a step back in their aggressive attacks on free trade on the Internet. The source of this article is on Traverse Legal's website.
Lexus Domain Lawsuit
In this recent trademark-infringement lawsuit, Plaintiff Toyota brought suit against Farzad and Lisa Tabari for using the Toyota’s mark ‘LEXUS’ in 2 domain names that advertised the Defendants’ auto brokerage services (buy-a-lexus.com and buyorleaselexus.com).
The court of appeals ruled in favor of Defendants’ and against the injunction preventing their use of ‘LEXUS’ anywhere in the domain names used for their auto brokerage service.
Procedural History;
The district court found trademark infringement and ordered the defendants to cease using the domain names (buy-a-lexus.com and buyorleaselexus.com) and enjoined them from future use of the ‘LEXUS’ trademark in connection with any other domain name.
On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated and remanded the district court’s decision. It held that the district court’s injunction was overbroad because the court failed to properly apply the nominative ‘fair use’ doctrine.
As an Internet Lawyer will tell you, the ‘fair use’ doctrine provides that any use of a third party’s trademark does not constitute infringement if; the plaintiff’s product or service is not readily identifiable without use of the mark, no more of the mark is used than is necessary, and the use of the mark does not falsely suggest a sponsorship or endorsement.
Holding;
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held, “at the very least, the injunction must be modified to allow some use of the Lexus mark in domain names by the Tabaris.”
The July 20, 2010 article “Use of another’s trademark in domain name may be permissible as a nominative fair use” provides a useful tip to Website owners wishing to employ the use of a third party trademark without incurring a trademark infringement lawsuit;
“TIP: When using a third party’s trademark to refer to the third party’s goods or describe your own goods, be sure that the goods are not readily identifiable without use of the mark, that you use no more of the mark than necessary, and that you do not falsely suggest a sponsorship or endorsement by the trademark holder.”
For important related articles on the fair use doctrine;
Trademark Fair Use: Some Guidelines When Making a Nominative Use of Another’s Trademark
What is The Takeaway?
If independent dealers and third parties can leverage organic search and test multiple website designs to increase conversion or visibility, why not franchise dealers? Why should franchise dealers not be allowed to own multiple domains that include the OEM name to promote sales, service, parts, and warranty plans that include town names in their PMA? Their state name? Their county name?
To be fair, a Lexus dealer called "ABC Lexus of Dallas" can own and operate "ABC Luxury Cars" but they can't use the OEM name or logo. They can't operate a website called "ABC Certified Preowned Lexus" only their approved name of "ABC Lexus of My Town".
It gets even crazier. Now OEM's are locking down what content dealers can create on their own sites.
This week there has been a flurry of odd activity. One OEM mandated website provider is telling dealers they can not add new content pages, like pages for upcoming 2012 models, because only OEM content can be used.
I thought they were joking but they were not! There was NO ETA on when the "new and approved" content was coming, but they were not going to assist the dealer to create more blank pages for their own website so the dealer's content writers could complete the page build. This is scary stuff.
It seems that unless franchise dealers start to wake up, every franchise dealer will have a cookie cutter online presence with no real creativity in content. I get the impression that OEM compliance teams think that franchise dealers are stupid and will screw up OEM branding so they have decided to clamp down on any online creativity.
I think we should consider calling franchise dealers by a more accurate term: "Internet Eunuch"
The case law suggests that independent dealers can create microsites using OEM names but franchise dealers can not. Go figure. This can really change the online landscape now that OEM's are hammering their eunuch's.
Since I didn't get much feedback from my previous post post, does this get anyone's interest???
No Comments
PCG Consulting Inc
Franchise Dealers Are Being Transformed Into Internet Eunuchs
As I recently posted, the OEM compliance officers are cracking down on franchise dealers and independent third parties from owning domain names that include OEM names. I think we have a case of Spring fever that is reaching epidemic proportions.
In the case of franchise dealers, the OEM's are holding back real money to force their franchise dealers to turn over "non-compliant" domain names.
For example, if ABC Toyota located in Dallas Texas purchased domains www.dallastoyota.com and www.usedtoyotadallas.com and hosted inventory websites on these domains, these dealers are being forced to take down these sites and turn over the domains to the OEM.
The compliance evangelists as I stated in a previous post are causing third party lead generators and independent websites to rejoice. Why? Because by binding the creative hands of franchise dealers, they must rely on third parties to increase the exposure for the cars the need to sell.
Franchise dealers are screwed unless the dealer advisory board gets united and forces an honest discussion with their OEM's. OEM's have to understand, as I started in my previous post, that dealers can purchase radio, TV, billboards, and print media across PMA lines to increase their visibility but they can't operate a domain www.trentontoyotadealer.com or www.trentontoyotaservice.com even if Trenton is in their PMA?
Am I the only one that sees this crazy double standard? The irony is that an independant service center CAN own www.trentontoyotaservice.com and show up on Page One in Google search as long as the site does not use the Toyota logo or confuse the public that it's a franchise service center!!
I will volunteer to visit any OEM marketing team to discuss their restrictions on multiple dealer owned websites that contain the OEM name. I would love to share my thoughts why current policies are fueling higher marketing costs, aiding their competition, and restricting healthy competition.
There is a balance that I have in mind, however the pendulum is swinging far right at the moment.
Are Independent Dealers Being Attacked?
The caffeine induced OEM lawyers are also going after independent car dealers, advertising portals, and third party lead collectors that use the OEM name in a domain. I just want to make members of this community aware of this attack on free trade and entrepreneurs.
The OEM lawyers are also sending out bullying letters without disclosing the case law I cite below.
For independent dealers and third party lead generation companies, there is good news. There is case law that shows that owning a domain name that includes an OEM word is not against the law.
The key is that the website should NOT have the OEM logo on the website. Also, the website design should NOT confuse the public that the OEM is endorsing the independent website. In simple terms, don't make the site look like the OEM's authorized template design.
Here is a summary of a famous case that made Toyota take a step back in their aggressive attacks on free trade on the Internet. The source of this article is on Traverse Legal's website.
Lexus Domain Lawsuit
In this recent trademark-infringement lawsuit, Plaintiff Toyota brought suit against Farzad and Lisa Tabari for using the Toyota’s mark ‘LEXUS’ in 2 domain names that advertised the Defendants’ auto brokerage services (buy-a-lexus.com and buyorleaselexus.com).
The court of appeals ruled in favor of Defendants’ and against the injunction preventing their use of ‘LEXUS’ anywhere in the domain names used for their auto brokerage service.
Procedural History;
The district court found trademark infringement and ordered the defendants to cease using the domain names (buy-a-lexus.com and buyorleaselexus.com) and enjoined them from future use of the ‘LEXUS’ trademark in connection with any other domain name.
On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated and remanded the district court’s decision. It held that the district court’s injunction was overbroad because the court failed to properly apply the nominative ‘fair use’ doctrine.
As an Internet Lawyer will tell you, the ‘fair use’ doctrine provides that any use of a third party’s trademark does not constitute infringement if; the plaintiff’s product or service is not readily identifiable without use of the mark, no more of the mark is used than is necessary, and the use of the mark does not falsely suggest a sponsorship or endorsement.
Holding;
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held, “at the very least, the injunction must be modified to allow some use of the Lexus mark in domain names by the Tabaris.”
The July 20, 2010 article “Use of another’s trademark in domain name may be permissible as a nominative fair use” provides a useful tip to Website owners wishing to employ the use of a third party trademark without incurring a trademark infringement lawsuit;
“TIP: When using a third party’s trademark to refer to the third party’s goods or describe your own goods, be sure that the goods are not readily identifiable without use of the mark, that you use no more of the mark than necessary, and that you do not falsely suggest a sponsorship or endorsement by the trademark holder.”
For important related articles on the fair use doctrine;
Trademark Fair Use: Some Guidelines When Making a Nominative Use of Another’s Trademark
What is The Takeaway?
If independent dealers and third parties can leverage organic search and test multiple website designs to increase conversion or visibility, why not franchise dealers? Why should franchise dealers not be allowed to own multiple domains that include the OEM name to promote sales, service, parts, and warranty plans that include town names in their PMA? Their state name? Their county name?
To be fair, a Lexus dealer called "ABC Lexus of Dallas" can own and operate "ABC Luxury Cars" but they can't use the OEM name or logo. They can't operate a website called "ABC Certified Preowned Lexus" only their approved name of "ABC Lexus of My Town".
It gets even crazier. Now OEM's are locking down what content dealers can create on their own sites.
This week there has been a flurry of odd activity. One OEM mandated website provider is telling dealers they can not add new content pages, like pages for upcoming 2012 models, because only OEM content can be used.
I thought they were joking but they were not! There was NO ETA on when the "new and approved" content was coming, but they were not going to assist the dealer to create more blank pages for their own website so the dealer's content writers could complete the page build. This is scary stuff.
It seems that unless franchise dealers start to wake up, every franchise dealer will have a cookie cutter online presence with no real creativity in content. I get the impression that OEM compliance teams think that franchise dealers are stupid and will screw up OEM branding so they have decided to clamp down on any online creativity.
I think we should consider calling franchise dealers by a more accurate term: "Internet Eunuch"
The case law suggests that independent dealers can create microsites using OEM names but franchise dealers can not. Go figure. This can really change the online landscape now that OEM's are hammering their eunuch's.
Since I didn't get much feedback from my previous post post, does this get anyone's interest???
No Comments
PCG Consulting Inc
Rethinking The ROI On Your Inventory Advertising Partners
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.
No Comments
PCG Consulting Inc
Rethinking The ROI On Your Inventory Advertising Partners
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.
No Comments
PCG Consulting Inc
Bing Rolls Out Major Update to Local Listing Center
Bing has decided to update their sleepy Business Listing product with all the focus that the market has placed on Google Places. Bing has always had an equivalent to Google Places called Bing Local Listing Center but now they have made a major upgrade and renamed it to Bing Business Portal.
New Interface and Features
I'm commonly asked if Bing and Yahoo are relevant and the answer is yes.
Having an updated Business Profile on Bing is an easy and relevant task to complete today. If you have an existing login, like a hotmail account, when you created your Bing Local Listing profile it will work with this new system.
If you have an existing account, use the "Sign In Here" button shown above on the right.
We just moved our office so I had to update our business address but there are additional features with the new product that should be completed. Take time to upload up to 9 great photos of your business. I suggest that you load up happy customer photos, photos of your work in the community, and limit shots of your facility. 
You can also add products that you sell and any special deals or promotions (see graphic on right). Keep in mind that you should keep promotions general unless you have a process to update the deals each month.
Make sure you phone number, address, and website are synchronized with the data on Google Places. This recommendation applies to all business listing websites. Use the same address and phone number to create multiple source that can be used to validate your primary address and phone number.
Bing Business Portal Tools
Once you have completed your profile, make sure you click on the Publish/RePublish Button. (See above) Once published, Bing Business Portal will allow you to print Window Stickers with your store hours, print QR Codes, and it also creates a simple mobile website with your business data.
The idea of a simple mobile website or window stickers may not excite car dealers but think about the thousands of small businesses that don't have website or tools to create POS marketing materials. If you haven't noticed lately, banks and credit car companies are pushing "instant" website products as a value add upsell.
Get Busy
Bing is a relevant search engine and you should take advantage of any free tools to help connect your business with consumers. So get started today and visit http://www.bing.com/businessportal.
Bing Business Portal also has a "review" feature so once your listing is completed, include this site into your managed IRM processes.
No Comments
PCG Consulting Inc
Bing Rolls Out Major Update to Local Listing Center
Bing has decided to update their sleepy Business Listing product with all the focus that the market has placed on Google Places. Bing has always had an equivalent to Google Places called Bing Local Listing Center but now they have made a major upgrade and renamed it to Bing Business Portal.
New Interface and Features
I'm commonly asked if Bing and Yahoo are relevant and the answer is yes.
Having an updated Business Profile on Bing is an easy and relevant task to complete today. If you have an existing login, like a hotmail account, when you created your Bing Local Listing profile it will work with this new system.
If you have an existing account, use the "Sign In Here" button shown above on the right.
We just moved our office so I had to update our business address but there are additional features with the new product that should be completed. Take time to upload up to 9 great photos of your business. I suggest that you load up happy customer photos, photos of your work in the community, and limit shots of your facility.
You can also add products that you sell and any special deals or promotions (see graphic on right). Keep in mind that you should keep promotions general unless you have a process to update the deals each month.
Make sure you phone number, address, and website are synchronized with the data on Google Places. This recommendation applies to all business listing websites. Use the same address and phone number to create multiple source that can be used to validate your primary address and phone number.
Bing Business Portal Tools
Once you have completed your profile, make sure you click on the Publish/RePublish Button. (See above) Once published, Bing Business Portal will allow you to print Window Stickers with your store hours, print QR Codes, and it also creates a simple mobile website with your business data.
The idea of a simple mobile website or window stickers may not excite car dealers but think about the thousands of small businesses that don't have website or tools to create POS marketing materials. If you haven't noticed lately, banks and credit car companies are pushing "instant" website products as a value add upsell.
Get Busy
Bing is a relevant search engine and you should take advantage of any free tools to help connect your business with consumers. So get started today and visit http://www.bing.com/businessportal.
Bing Business Portal also has a "review" feature so once your listing is completed, include this site into your managed IRM processes.
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