PCG Digital Marketing today announced that Lizelle Landino has joined their digital marketing agency as a Dealer Advocate.

Lizelle is an active member of the automotive industry where she has held numerous roles in management, operations, and sales.

Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing, commenting on the news said,

“Lizelle’s energy, passion, and knowledge are perfectly matched to serve auto dealers. Our new Digital Marketing Assessment service is a perfect compliment to Lizelle experience in finding successful vendor independent solutions for dealers.”

As a Dealer Advocate, Lizelle will be assisting dealers with creating effective digital marketing and operational strategies with help from the PCG team. Lizelle will serve both in the field as well from PCG’s corporate offices in Eatontown, NJ.

Asked why she chose PCG, Lizelle responded,

“PCG has a strong reputation for high quality marketing, training, and consulting services for car dealers. I wanted to work with a company that was focused on serving dealers with customized solutions. PCG will enable me to flourish and extend their brand to dealers who want to grow their business online.”

PCG is expanding their national sales and marketing team to meet the needs of the automotive marketplace.

Lizelle will be attending the PCG Pit Stop conferences to meet with dealers in each local market, so make sure you check out the updated conference schedule at http://www.pcgpitstop.com.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Does This Impact Independent Used Car Dealers?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

May Brings New Announcements & Technology

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

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

Part of me does not want to write this post because I have written about the importance of Google Places in the past.  Part of me says that I need to send another reminder out because of my experience at a 20 Group presentation today.

This article is not specifically about Google Places but a mirror into the failure of OEM dealership education in regards to digital marketing.

Of the 20 dealers in attendance at today's meeting:

• - Over 50% of the dealers had less than 10 reviews posted on Google Places
• - One dealer did not have a Google Places listing
• - Three dealers had yet to claim their Google Places listing
• - Over 60% of the dealers did not include the "Used Car Dealer" category
• - Over 70% of the dealers were missing appropriate photos and videos.
• - Over 90% of the dealers had the wrong geo-targeting setting

Google Places is Significant

I'm not listing these statistics to embarrass anyone but Google Places is the #1 free source of online traffic and leads for a car dealership.  For example, a Miami Honda dealer's Google Places page shows 37,000 times a month. 

Guess what?  What appears on Google Places impacts ALL of a dealer's advertising dollars because when someone searches for a dealership "name", Google Places is right at the top of the search results with "a story". 

What is the story your Google Places page is showing?   Consumer reviews have a big part in how this story is played out.

Dealers in The Dark

My experience today is a reflection of the state of our industry.  The rate of change in digital marketing strategies has not been matched with OEM education.  In fact one dealer executive named Chris asked me:

"Brian, our OEM has not informed us on the importance of Google Places, consumer reviews, or showed us how to leverage Google for advertising.  Is any other OEM doing a better job at educating their dealers?"

I did not have an answer for Chris.  Most every time I speak at 20 Group meetings, the very basics of today's digital marketing strategies are NEW revelations to dealer principals and General Managers.

The fact that most dealers in the room had no training on inspecting their #1 source of free traffic, Google Places, is an indictment of delayed or broken OEM educational processes. 

Is Google Places important?  Would you like thousands of free advertising impressions and visitors to your website each month?

I Decided To Be Part of The Solution

I love speaking at conferences and 20 Group events because I want to be a part of the educational solution.  I love the fact that organizations like DrivingSales and PCG Digital Marketing have great conferences scheduled throughout the year to assist dealers build knowledge and strategies to leverage the Internet.

But Chris's question was sincere and demands further thought. 

My candid presentation may have made him feel exposed, uncomfortable, and uninformed.   He was one of the dealers who had a Google Places listing that was not claimed.  I think he was very glad that I brought it to his attention.

But it's not just Google Places that had dealers looking cross eyed!

Google Boost?  What's that?  Bounce Rate?  What's a good percentage?  Google Webmaster Tools? What?  Retargeting?  What's that?

You get the idea.  Dealer's in attendance were puzzled at some of these phrases and they should not be.

The more I travel the more I am convinced that dealers are READY to learn and READY to change but the OEM's are not nurturing their franchise dealers in a TIMELY manner.

OEM Education Has Failed

It's time for our industry to admit that our educational processes have failed to keep the dealer community up to date with leveraging the #1 source of advertising and branding; the Internet.

That's why I continue to beat the drum; dealers need to invest in educating their entire executive team.  That includes Dealer Principals,  Fixed Operations Managers, Internet Sales Managers, Marketing Directors, and of course the common acronyms GSM and GM.

I should be attending 20 Group meetings to address more than the basics but I can't because the basics are NOT being covered.

Dealers who want to invest in education will be rewarded.  Where should Dealer Principals and General Managers start?  

• 1.  Visit www.drivingsalesexecutivesummit.com and book your executive team for October 9-11th in Las Vegas.
• 2. Visit www.pcgpitstop.com and send your tactical team to a regional training event in great cities like Chicago, Dallas, St. Louis, Huntington Beach, Seattle, Vancouver, and Toronto.

Waiting for your OEM to provide training that is timely is like waiting for the Easter Bunny.  If you want chocolate, go out and get it.

If you want cutting edge, timely education, register and engage at places that offer what you need.

Car dealers are standing at a fork. The fork is deciding which path to take to bring their business the the next level of success and prosperity.

For some, this next level is new car sales and others it is used car sales.

Yet for other dealers it may be accelerating their Fixed Operations revenue but let me suggest that all dealers are standing at a fork in the road.

The path to take at this fork in the road for many dealers is not clear.

In fact, many dealers are coming to realize that what they have been doing for the past 10, 20, or 30 years is NOT working any more.

The lack of clarity comes in many forms. One humorous theme, which is actually not funny aside from its commonality with dealers across the country, is that Dealer Principals are looking at their monthly CRM sourcing reports and wondering why their "walk-ins" and "drive-by" sales counts continue to increase while they move portions of their traditional media budgets to digital strategies.

Didn't digital marketing promise greater accountability and tracking?

Can anyone same Amen to this phenomena? Is something broken here?

Dealers Are Standing At The Fork

If you don't recognize you are at the fork in the road to success, can you identify with any of these statements?

1. Is the car business not fun for you anymore and you are frustrated on how
   to attract more traffic to your dealership without spending a ton of money.
2. Your website gets thousands of visitors but you convert a small amount
   into leads and sales.
3. You can't seem to reach the next level of Fixed ops and your not sure what
   else to do besides direct mail.
4. You are not sure how to manage your reputation online or why it is so
   important.
5. You're not really sure what SEO, SEM or Social media is and you are not
   sure how to implement any one of these.
6. You continue to buy more leads for a lot of money and you are getting very
   few sales from them.

It's Time To Make A Change

I want to thank Tracy Myers, CEO of Frank Myers Auto Maxx, for recommending Jimmy Vee and Travis Miller as keynote speakers for the 2011 Automotive Marketing Boot Camp.

Their presentation was the single most eye-opening messages that I have heard at any automotive conference in the past two years. Jimmy and Travis are the founders of www.Richdealers.com.

Their best selling book "Gravitational Marketing" should be a must read for all car dealers. But my accolades mean nothing if car dealers did not connect with their message. But they did.

Some of the most respected dealers in attendance at the Boot Camp were either clients of their firm or signed-up shortly after the conference. Why? Because these two thought leaders encouraged dealers to look at their business in a different way.

These two men made it very clear which path dealers should take for their business. At first I was not sure if their message was truly innovative but on further inspection they are truly brilliant marketers. You owe it to yourself to be able to make that judgement call.

How Are You Looking At Your Business?

• - Are you a victim or a victor?
• - Are you an authority on cars in your market or a just another car dealer?
• - Are you leading your marketing strategy or is it outsourced to OEM approved vendors?

The message I have for dealers is to step back and be honest with their vision for their dealership. I believe the solution for deciding which fork to take is education. Dealers need to invest in education and consult with industry leaders to help guide their success, which means they have to set aside their egos.

Dealers need to feel comfortable with asking for help.

Dealers do not have to call me. They don't have to call Jimmy or Travis. They need to admit that things are changing much faster than they can handle. They need to find people that they like and trust to lead them to the next level of success.

Outstanding Dealer Education

Where can dealers get the type of education that can lead them to the next level? Let me give you two suggestions:

1. DrivingSales Executive Summit - October 9-11th in Las Vegas.

• - Premier event for Dealer Principals and Executive Managers
• - The Conference Attracts World Class Thought Leaders
• - Invaluable Networking With Solution Providers Not Bullshitters
• - Details: http://drivingsalesexecutivesummit.com

2. PCG Pit Stop Conferences, with dates in these cities:

• - June 11th and 12th Chicago
• - July 9th and 10th Dallas
• - July 16th and 17th Huntington Beach
• - August 13th and 14th St. Louis
• - September 10th and 11th Toronto
• - September 17th and 18th Vancouver

To register for any regional Pit Stop Conference, visit: http://www.pcgpitstop.com . Special discounts are available for multiple employee registrations from same dealership.

The DrivingSales Executive Summit (DSES) and PCG Pit Stop conferences provide both education and access to industry leaders which is exactly what dealers need to succeed. If the ONLY input they get is from vendor sales professionals, they could be lead down the wrong fork in the road.

Closing Thoughts

1. Regardless on how busy you think you are at your dealership, the MOST expensive decision you can make is limiting your direct educational exposure and getting your team out to high quality educational workshops.
2. The MOST disastrous mistake you can make when creating a marketing strategy is to COPY what all the local dealers are doing.
3. If running your dealership is not fun any more, call Travis and Jimmy and see how you can experience an Enjoyable, Simple & Prosperous (ESP) business once again.

You are at a fork in the road.

If you need advice on which path the take just ask. I'll be the first to offer my personal assistance to gain that clarity that you need and there will be other on this forum that will offer assistance.

You just need to ask.

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
http://www.pcgdigitalmarketing.com
brian@pcgdigitalmarketing.com
732.450.8200

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! 

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.  

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

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???

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

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

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

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

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

When Confused, Kick the SEO Dog

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

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

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

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

Great News For 3rd Party Lead Collectors

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From the Google website:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Multi-Channel Funnels in Google Analytics Video

This first video is an easy overview:

This is a more detailed video on reports