I want to thank Mario Murgado Jr. from Brickell Honda for sharing this latest update to Adwords formatting which he came across today.  

The ad, automatically populated Mario's gmail address in the form shown in the green box below. If he clicked the "Subscribe to Newsletter" button, his email would be sent to the advertiser.

Do you like this ad?  Do you think consumers will want to sign-up for a newsletter before visiting the Honda website?

I would like to get your feedback here on DrivingSales.

Keeping Up With Google

Is anyone else finding it difficult to keep pace with the changes that Google is rolling out each week?  Is their plan to have every marketing person talk about Google so Yahoo and Bing are no longer part of the discussion?

It's been a wild ride over the past few months with changes coming at a rapid pace, so stay tuned because Google is on a roll.  Speaking of changes, have you seen Google+ articles showing up in search results?

Google+ Posts In SERP Results

I was searching today and I saw Google+ posts from Toyota and my "Circle Name" posted in the SERP result for a search on the word "Toyota".

I had previously placed Toyota in the Circle called "Auto Trade", and since I was logged in, it showed me where that connection was categorized in my Google+ account.

Change is Constant So Your Strategies Must be Nimble

I've been writing on the latest updates in Google to keep the automotive community up to date with changes that can impact their digital marketing strategy.  

Don't forget that aside from reading this articles, you can get hands on training with industry experts at the 2012 DMSC and 2012 NADA Conferences in Las Vegas this February.

Invest in what it takes to stay ahead of your competition!   See you in Vegas.

Brian 

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

At times I feel like a newspaper reporter on the Google "beat" just trying to stay up with the latest changes in Google search, Google Places, Google paid search, and their social strategy.  

This week I noticed that Google is exposing the details of the Google Places listing on a search that matches the business name.

This is an important change that dealers and their marketing agencies need to understand.  There are MANY searches a month for a dealer's business name.

Why Care About This Change?

The audits I completed on hundreds of Google Places pages for car dealers show that over 50% are incomplete and many do not have photos, videos, and proper categories selected.  They are not merchandized properly.  It's like having a crappy ad in the Yellow Pages, back in the day when that mattered.

Dealers should login to their Google Places account to see that it is "100% Completed" and also that they have:

• - 5 standardized business categories (needed to optimize impressions)
• - 5 Videos (I recommend three testimonial videos)
• - 10 Photos (Not more than one photo of your building)
• - A Compelling business description on your Home Page META Description
• - Set The Proper Service Area Radius
• - Completed the additional details section of the listing.

Google Places SERP Display

Red Box

In the example above, the basic address, phone number, and reviews are listed in the red box.  I will not rehash the importance of reviews and their impact on direct referral traffic.  Increase your review counts and traffic will increase.   

Your goal should be to have at least 100 more reviews than any competitor in your market.  The more you differentiate your Google Places listing from your peers, the more clicks your listing will receive. 

Green Box

The green box now expands the visibility of the photos that have been loaded on the Google Places listing.

This change should be an immediate call to review your photos.  I do NOT recommend that you load up photos of your building or your OEM logo.  Load photos of HAPPY people getting delivery of cars, your staff, and any photos that draw the consumers to click through to your website.

Orange Box

The orange box lists reviews on 3rd party websites and in this format, the reviews have high visibility.  Once again I will remind business owners that they need to have a comprehensive review strategy that covers the 3rd party websites that appear on Page One or in Google Places as a summary.

For this dealer, they should be actively managing reviews on Insiderpages, Dealerrater, and SuperPages since they are highly visibile on Google Places when a consumer searches for their dealership name.

Google Places Directory Listing Changes

Google has also changed the way it lists businesses on Google Page One.  For example, I did a search for "Toyota Dealers" with my browser set for Plano Texas, and this is what was displayed:

This is a change from the old listing format that looked like this:

The new format also exposes more of the content on your Google Places page so your FIRST sentence in your Home Page META DESCRIPTION now plays a marketing call to action role in Google Places business lists.

Do, you know what this means.  Get to work on making sure that your Google Places data and listing is optimized for connecting with consumers during and after the Zero Moment of Truth.

Did you enjoy this update? If so, please share it and click on the +1 button below.  

And I hope to see many DrivingSales members at the 2012 Digital Marketing Strategies Conference just prior to NADA in Las Vegas. 

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

You may have seen this button on a Google Places page when you attempted to write a review for a business while you were not logged into your Google account.

Up until recently, if you didn't have a Google account you could not post a review on Google Places.  Inside sources are saying that this is going to change!  Read current policy.

For business owners, the current policy meant that only about 25% of their happy customers could post an in-store review if they were asked to share their positive experience online.  

The Google Places App simplifies review collection right at the point of experience for Google account holders but it left many people unable to participate.

In the automotive industry, Google Places is the #1 free source of referral traffic for car dealers.  Our busiest automotive clients have Google Places listings with over 40,000 impressions a month with the average around 15,000 impressions a month.

Properly configured and merchandized Google Places pages drive thousands of clicks per month to the dealer's primary website.  Google Places is an important part of a digital marketing strategy; it is the yellow pages meets consumer reports.

Change In Review Posting Policy

A respected industry source has started telling clients that Google will drop the gmail account requirement and allow anyone to post a review.  

This change, according to this source, will be happening over the next week.

What does this mean for Google Places?  What does this mean for third party review platforms? 

In the automotive industry there are popular platforms that include Dealerrater.com, PrestoReviews.com, and CarDealerCheck.com so what will this change mean for them?

I will have a follow-up article on how this change, when confirmed, will impact 3rd party review platforms.

When this change is confirmed,  it will be a great opportunity for business owners and especially car dealers who have strong customer service processes and have implemented iPads in their store for review collection.

Of course, you don't need an iPad to post a review, any device can be used for Google Places; this was confirmed recently by Scott Falcone with an email from the Google Places team.

Don't Put Your Review Eggs In One Basket

When Google changes their review posting policy to allow non gmail accounts, I still recommend that business owners spread out their posts to the review website that are dominant in their market on Google Page One.

I especially want business owners to identify existing YELP users because Apple's Siri assistant uses Yelp.com reviews in listing local businesses.  

If you have not tested this feature, ask Siri on your Apple 4s this question: "Chevrolet Dealers" and you can see the output Siri gave me in New Jersey.

I also recommend business owners use review platforms that allow the business to own their review content.  These platforms allow business owners to syndicate reviews on their blogs, websites, and even to create custom profile pages for the sales professionals.

A solid reputation marketing strategy must acknowledge that many review sites can impact buyers during the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) and thus you can't just focus on Google Places.

However, if this change in policy is confirmed this week, this will be a big boost for Google Places relevance.   Dealers who want to increase traffic to their website can focus on increasing their total reviews on Google Places.

It will also allow Google to better monetize the Google Adwords Express program which allows business owners to run ads with their current review counts, as shown below for Norman Jeep Chrysler Dodge in Oklahoma City.

These special Adwords Express ads really stand out from the normal Adwords ads and they have some very interesting ROI, which I will cover at the 2012 Digital Marketing Strategies Conference in Las Vegas, Feb 1-3rd.

So I'll keep you posted when we can get an official response this week to this insider tip.

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences

Brian Pasch

I had an great call today with a successful car dealer that was spending over  $150,000 a month on cable TV for three same brand stores in one state.    

Their three store budget had no allocation for PPC, Retargeting, Chat, Reputation Management, Video Marketing, or  Mobile Marketing.

The dealer is leading his market and is profitable so his internal processes and execution are outstanding. This dealer was passionate and a refreshing pleasure to speak with today.

The TV commercials he designed branded the names of the dealerships and their current promotion. The dealer principal has set his TV budget to be omnipresent and it seems that he has achieved his goal for high frequency Cable TV messaging.

Opportunities For Continued Success

The dealer did not see the need to have PPC ads, marketing videos, or retargeting banners in front of consumers during their online ZMOT shopping research.  

I felt that this was an opportunity he was missing for continued and sustainable market leadership. I had a lot of convincing to do..and at times the conversation was heated.  

Why would a successful dealer need to change anything?

One part of the answer is that consumers use broad keyword searches, that are not easily optimized by SEO, paid search (optimized for conversion) should be a part of a comprehensive digital marketing strategy.  

Paid search campaigns should include specifically designed mobile ads and strategies. Retargeting leverages the existing traffic generated by years of stimulus, brand recognition, and amplifies your PPC investments.  

Since this dealer believes in constant name recognition, retargeting banners are the digital equivalent to offline branding. 

Chat is a great tool to allow consumers to engage in a communication channel that they prefer.  Leaving chat off a website minimizes the ROI of stimulus investments.

Great Stimulus Does Not Pave a One Way Road

Stimulus for new and used car sales is constant in the USA.  When a consumer is ready to purchase a car, there is no lack of stimulus on TV, Radio, and print.  

Stimulus will always be needed, however the bigger question is should the dealer by doing it?  And if so, is the budget sufficient to achieve the needed frequency to be effective.

Successful digital marketing strategies have to acknowledge that consumers go to the Internet to research and prepare before they contact a dealership.  

A TV commercial is just one influence of many that drive consumers to look into a particular brand, model, dealership. No matter how strong a TV campaign is designed, it will not bypass the Internet ZMOT process for most people.

No matter how many times a dealer's name is broadcast on TV, consumers do not limit their searches to the dealership name.

A dealer with a strong stimulus investment must have an equally strong digital presence during ZMOT.  If not, competitors will leach off that stimulus for their own benefit.

Dealers need to be omnipresent during ZMOT which includes great online reviews, compelling video assets, social engagement, great website content, and even paid search ads.

It is no surprise that dealers who are heavy on stimulus and light on ZMOT investments can be successful and a market leader today.  

The bigger question is whether that is sustainable.

The good news is that we negotiated a budget for some of the recommended digital strategies which is a great opportunity to build a partnership of success based on testing and measurement.

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences

Brian Pasch

I logged into Google Adwords Express today, which is Adwords on steroids IMHO, and I noticed that a 3rd option has been added for landing pages: Google+ Pages.

Keep in mind, that for car dealers, the best place still may be the dealership main website, but there are some interesting ideas about how this can be leveraged that I have been thinking about.

In any case, I wanted members of the community to be aware of all the options that Adwords Express can have to leverage and monetize your Google reviews.

Here is the revised advertising setup page:

Google Adwords Express Is Powerful

If you have strong reviews on Google Places, you should be using Adwords Express.  If you have any questions about this advertising strategy, ask your questions here.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences

Brian Pasch

Google has made a major upgrade to the Google Analytics Interface and I will be writing a number of articles highlighting some of the most powerful features that can be leveraged by car dealers.

If you have not taken time to work through then new interface and reports, I strongly suggest that you invest some time this month.  Dealers need to make a new commment to running their Internet business using data and new reporting tools.

For this article, you will need to expand the "Conversions" menu on Google Analytics navigation bar to see the features regarding Multi Channel Funnels. (shown on right)

Multi Channel Funnels

Multi-Channel Sales Funnels is a feature that visually displays your TOP CONVERSION PATHS, which is one of the most important discussions you need to have in regards to your primary website.

I wrote about Multi Channel Funnels this earlier in the year, but the new interface finally makes it easier to use and report on this feature for the average user.

Google will show you a snapshot of shopping behavior that leads up to a lead being submitted which they call "Assisted Conversion". This falls right into my recent discussions on knowing which sites influence consumers during the Zero Moment of Truth.

See the description Google provides below:

You need to setup a conversion "goal" in analytics to have the report accurately reflect what you consider a conversion. You can setup a conversion goal for new car leads, used car leads, service leads, parts leads IF your website provider has the ability to differentiate form submissions by page source.

Of course, a conversion does not have to just be a lead, it could be having a video watched or a coupon being downloaded, so you can get very creative.

Channel Groupings

Google has setup some Basic Channel Groupings for users of Google Analytics which can be customized for the Automotive business.  I clicked on "Channel Groupings" from the menu under Multi-Channel Funnels, and used the "Copy Basic Channel Grouping Template" to create a customized automotive rules.

I called this Channel Grouping "Automotive Sales Channels".  Once the group was created, I started to create sales channel rules that apply to car dealers.

For example, you can add a new rule called "3rd Party Classifieds" to track consumer activity on Autotrader.com, Cars.com, EveryCarLiosted.com, GetAuto.com and Craigslist.org.

The purpose of these channels is to see how consumers behavior during the Zero Moment of Truth before they submit a lead.  This will give dealers INSIGHTS into which websites consumers visited prior to visiting your website, as well as the PATTERN of their behavior.

The data will document how some consumers move back and forth between ZMOT influences and your website a number a times before submitting a lead.

Creating a Custom Rule

To Create a Custom Rule, you can copy what Google has already setup for other websites.  For example, when you look at the rules in the Social Network Channel, you can see that one of the dozens of websites listed in the channel rule is Facebook.

You can copy the syntax of what Google calls a "Matching Regular Expression" for any website.

So I created a number of entries for popular third party classified websites, and of course the list is bigger, so go at it!

This rule will allow be to see the "paths" that consumers took prior to submitting a lead or just visiting my website.  This is the start of adding CLARITY to dealers who are tired of not knowing which websites are INFLUENCING consumers during the Zero Moment of Truth. (ZMOT).

Seeing The Assisted Conversion Path

Once this is setup, you can start to see consumer behavior as it relates to your website traffic, as shown below:

Of course, you can really create as many channels and rules that you want to better document your digital marketing strategy.  So if you want to break out your "microsites" from organic traffic, you can easily do that by creating a rule called "Microsites".

Better Visibility into Automotive ZMOT

The takeaway from this post is that for the first time Google is making it EASIER to see which investments in the Zero Moment of Truth are contributing to conversions.

Now, that is exactly what car dealers have been asking for; which online investments are helping to driving traffic and sales via my website.  This upgrade along with data tools from Dataium, which I previously wrote about, will be dramatically impacting advertyising investments and BDC strategies in the years to come.

Dealers can start using the new features in Google Analytics to create effective digital marketing investments driven by data and not a gut reaction or a smooth sales professional.

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences

Brian Pasch

On my recent trip to Italy, my Apple iPhone 4S  started acting funny on Day One and by Day Two I had no cell phone service.  

My Apple iPhone 4s was giving me an error message "No SIM Card Installed".    

I called AT&T and their support team said that nothing in their database reflected this type of problem.  AT&T told me that there was no local support in Italy, so I had to wait till I returned to get the phone repaired.

I was not happy with that message from AT&T!

Apple iPhone ZMOT

I researched online and found that hundreds of people had reported this problem with the iPhone 4S on the Apple Support blog but strangely enough, there was NO official response from Apple.  Why would Apple be silent on a problem of this severity?

I was furious that the "smart" device that I counted on for GPS navigation and emails was not working.  I was blocked out from business calls and even from keeping up with Tim Jackson with Four Square check-ins! :))

When The Shine Comes Off Your Apple

This was the first time I experienced a manufacturing flaw with Apple hardware which previous to this incident was flawless.  The shine has come off my perception of Apple.   When I needed them to come through, they failed.

It turns out that I found a blog post on my LAST day in Italy that showed why this was happening and how to fix it.  I searched the Internet earlier in the week, but it was not until today that I found a fix to the physical hardware.

I followed the instruction on WooServers.com and in 2 minutes it was fixed. 

How Do You Handle Failure?

I'm sharing this experience because it is a great reminder that as hard as we all work to deliver excellence in our endeavors, sometimes we drop the ball.  When we drop the ball, it impacts our credibility and the faith that our customers place in us.

I will not travel to Italy again without a backup GPS unit.  Apple no longer is that perfectly reliable device that I once thought.  I still love my iPhone but will I rush to get the next upgrade before I hear what consumers are saying?  No.

This experience may just temper my Apple buying patterns because obviously a manufacturing flaw exists and Apple is silent on the matter.  That's not good for business and transparency.

How does your business handle customers when you drop the ball?  

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences

Brian Pasch

This is Part Two of a Four Part series on developing a Reputation Marketing Strategy for your dealership.  If you would like to read the previous article, click here for Part One.

This is a DrivingSales.com Exclusive Series

Creating a Reputation Marketing Strategy requires that you have a process in place to survey customer satisfaction and a process that engages the customer based on their feedback.

By creating a culture that values customer service and transparency, dealers will be rewarded by consumers who control the sales process.

Don't Be Afraid To Ask Everyone

Every customer that enters a dealership should be asked about their "experience" before they leave the store. If a customer leaves the dealership without being surveyed, dealers run the risk that the empowered consumer will be very critical to their online communities and on highly visible public forums like Google Places, Yelp, or specific automotive platforms like DealerRater.com and Edmunds.com. 

Review collection processes and word tracts should be customized for each dealership based on marketing strategies and investments in technology.  Dealers that invest in tablet computers like the iPad can leverage user-friendly mobile applications to simplify the review collection process.

The most efficient way to collect a review is when the customer is in the dealership.  Once the customer leaves, their motivation to stop their normal activities to go online a post a review are greatly diminished.

I discourage dealers from sending email "reminders" or to make calls to their customers asking for a review. This may impact the OEM CSI phone and email survey processes. Customers may get confused and  feel that they have already submitted a review to the detriment of CSI scoring.

In-Store Review Collection Workflow

A high percentage of customers will participate with an in-store review process if the engagement questions are handled properly.  During the verbal customer satisfaction survey, the dealership staff can identify which review platform is best matched for each customer.

Once surveyed inside the dealership, customers should be able to post to at least one review platform inside the dealership, as indicated in the InfoGraphic below.

If the customer did not have a positive experience, the issues should be resolved immediately.  Keep in mind that consumers have tremendous power to influence the next car shopper during the Zero Moment of Truth.

If a customer does not want to write a review in the store, you can send them home with a reminder postcard which identifies a website where they can post a review(s).  DealerRater.com was an early pioneer of the postcard reminder process to encourage customers to post reviews from home.

Working With Existing Account Holders

In the workflow above, dealers will be looking to leverage customers with Yelp, Google, Bing, or Yahoo accounts.  If a customer does not have any of these accounts, there are ways to capture a review.

Dealers will find that at least 30% of their customers will have one of the accounts listed in the InfoGraphic. If a dealer identifies customers that have existing accounts, they will most likely have the most reviews in their local market.  

Creating new accounts on behalf of your customers inside the store is discouraged.  There are many reasons for this warning, but for now you will have to trust my advice.

In-Store Review Platforms Create Powerful Content

For those customers that don't have any of these accounts, I strongly suggest that dealers implement an in-store review collection platform.  This will allow dealers to collection 100% of your satisfied customers.  

There are a number of choices on the market, each with their strengths and weaknesses. I will be discussing in-store review platforms in greater detail in Part Four of this series.

The benefits of the in-store review platforms is that the dealership will own the review content.  These platforms allow progressive dealers to syndicate their reviews on blogs, websites, and also to create unique marketing strategies based on their customer reviews.

What About Duplicate IP Addresses?

Dealers must be careful of posting reviews inside the dealership using their WiFi or hard-wired Internet connections.  

Without starting a technical discussion on IP addresses, your in-store Internet connections may reflect a physical address not located near your store.

Case in point, I am writing this article in Florence Italy, yet my IP address at this cafe is being identified as Genoa Italy which is HOURS away from this location.

Many review platforms track IP addresses and reviews can be flagged as spam if they all come from same IP address or an address that does not match the physical location of the business.

Using 3G/4G technology on tablets running mobile apps will eliminate this problem because the GPS systems in mobile devices show that the review is coming from a device at the dealership location.  

Contrary to popular belief, this is good in a mobile world.

Dealers can download mobile free review applications from Google, Yelp, MerchantCircle.com or platform independent review apps from cDemo.com.

Google allows reviews to be placed in the store, restaurant, or dealership using their mobile application or a desktop PC.  This has been confirmed by Scott Falcone from the Google Automotive team; consumers can post a review using the Google Places App or via a web browser using their existing Google account inside the dealership.

As smartphone market share increases, mobile devices will be the primary technology used for posting online reviews because they allow consumers to share the “emotion” of their experience at the point of contact.

Starting Your In-Store Review Collection Process

The workflow presented in the InfoGraphic above can serve most dealers desiring to build their Internet reputation scores.  Dealers will need to invest in mobile tablets and decide where to insert the survey and review collection in the sales process.

In Part Three, I will discuss how dealers are implementing in-store processes.  Dealer solutions will vary so I will document three different in-store processes to choose from.  

After reading Part Three, there should be no reason why anyone would delay starting a review collection process inside their dealership.  

This is the end of Part 2 of the series on developing a Reputation Marketing Strategy.  If you enjoyed the article, please share it with your friends, click on the +1 button, and Tweet it out!

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences

Brian Pasch

This is Part One of a Four Part series on developing a Reputation Marketing Strategy for your dealership.  A DrivingSales community exclusive.

The foundation for any successful reputation-marketing program is a commitment to serve consumers with passion, transparency, and integrity.   Dealers have been trained by OEM’s to focus on CSI scores for years.  Online reviews are the digital equivalent and become the Dealership Reputation Score (DRS), which include more than just customers.  

Every person who contacts a dealership at the First Moment of Truth (FMOT) has the power to enhance or diminish a dealer’s reputation. Online reviews for car dealers are typically seen by thousands of potential customers every month during the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT).  

For example, a BMW in New Jersey receives over 40,0000 impressions a month on their Google Places business listing which includes their Google user reviews.  Now add impressions on websites that include Yelp, DealerRater, and Edmunds and you can see why online reviews are influential when consumers research cars and dealerships online.  

A dealership building a strong online reputation must have clear sales and customer service standards for their employees to read and put into practice.  Training and accountability measures will ensure that consumers have a consistent experience during all contact points.  

Starting a Reputation Marketing Program begins with asking every customer about their experience at the dealership before they leave the building.  The casual scripted survey will allow dealers to identify potential problems before they escalate to a negative online review.  

Asking satisfied customers if they would be willing to post a review online when done properly is never pushy or contrived.  Consumers are well aware of the importance of online reviews, mostly because of the influence of websites like Amazon.com and TripAdvisor.com.  

Millions of dollars on ecommerce transactions each day are influenced during the Zero Moment of Truth based on previous customer reviews placed next to products, hotels, and restaurants.  Car dealers are being viewed through the same lens yet few dealers have taken online reviews seriously.

Dealers Not Prioritizing Reviews

We surveyed 150 dealers in a state recently, as part of our national survey that we will release at DMSC 2012, and found some startling  statistics.  The data showed me that dealers have not taken the impact of reviews during the Zero Moment of Truth seriously.

A Strategy For Different Reviews Platforms

Online reviews are the fuel for accelerating a dealers’ reputation however review websites each have their own strategic value, visibility, and submission processes.  With this in mind, a successful reputation-marketing program must have a comprehensive strategy with a workflow that is based on the overall online strategy for the business.

Reputation marketing processes must also be flexible since changes in the marketplace are inevitable. When Apple introduced the world to Siri in October 2011, it also made waves in world of online review platforms.

When Siri is asked this question “List Honda Dealers” the phone will list them and show their Yelp reviews.

What do you think will happen when your dealership has 20 Reviews on this list and the competitors have none?

Apple’s choice elevated the important of Yelp.com to business owner’s overnight.

With smartphone web traffic on the rise, Yelp must now be part of any review collection process.  

The challenge with Yelp for car dealers is that their user community and editors don’t like One-Yelpers; a consumer who creates an account just to post one review for a business.

For car dealers, this means that customers that are active on Yelp are extremely valuable. Their reviews will be included in the store’s review count so the collection process must ask if the customer is a Yelper.

In Part 2, I will outline the workflow inside your dealership and how to prioritize the many review platforms on the market.

This is the end of Part 1 of the series on developing a Reputation Marketing Strategy.  If you enjoyed the article, please share it with your friends, click on the +1 button, and Tweet it out!

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences Brian Pasch

DrivingSales Exclusive Update

Has anyone on this forum wondered why Microsoft has been so quiet over the past few years?  

They are not in the news like they were in the boom days of personal computing and the Internet.  

They lost their market leadership and their once lofty position as a media darling.

Microsoft the king of business applications is under fire from Google Business Apps.

Rumors say that General Motors is about to switch their workforce from Microsoft Office over to Google Apps.  

That would be a major blow to Microsoft and their cloud based Office Suite. 

Online Advertising Alliance

The sleepy giant,  also known as Microsoft, has made two announcements this week that on the surface seems like they are ready to fight back.  They have the cash to move markets but they don't seem to have a compelling road map. What do you think?

Today Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL announced an advertising alliance which will allow companies to advertise their banner ads across all three networks from a centralized control center.  This alliance is an attempt to stop the Facebook juggernaut.  Facebook, for the first time, is set to pass Yahoo in online advertising revenue.

Dealers who want to have a strong presence during the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) should take note of this alliance because the combination traffic of these three platforms is considerable.  Dealers who are running retargeting campaigns can now expand their reach through this alliance much easier.

As more details on this advertising alliance are made public, I'll keep readers of DrivingSales up to date.

Microsoft Mobile Devices

The second move that Microsoft did was to announce a $50 mobile phone, the Samsung Focus Flash,  to compete with the lowered iPhone 3G, which sells for $69 with a 2 year plan.  The new phone is running Microsoft "Window Phone 7" operating system.

According to a recent USA Today article on this phone:

"Turns out about 70% of the folks in the U.S. haven't taken the leap to a smartphone yet," says Greg Sullivan, senior mobile communications manager at Microsoft. "Over the next few years, hundreds of millions of new smartphone users will come on board, especially at attractive prices like this."

Microsoft may have lost some of the most recent media and marketing battles, but I think they are not going to let the explosive smartphone market pass them bye.  Is it too late?  Not with 70% of the market not connected with smartphone devices.

Do You Have A Mobile Multi-Platform Strategy?

Dealers need to have a strong mobile advertising strategy that spans all search engines.  

Dealers also need to make sure that their business listing on Yahoo and Bing are complete and compelling.  Keep in mind that Google Places is important, but Yahoo and Bing business profile pages need some "review love" from your customers. 

Mobile banner advertising must be tested for your unique selling proposition, IF you have one.

Apple's recent selection of Yelp.com for review based sorting of businesses, is just another example why dealers must have a mobile marketing and IRM strategy.  Things are changing very quickly, and all eyes are going mobile.

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences

Brian Pasch