A new report from Forrester reveals that — finally — marketers are treating digital marketing as part of their overall strategy, with 50% of the executives it surveyed planning to increase digital spending this year. And those expenditures are now equal to spending on traditional marketing.

It’s what we’ve been saying all along. But the survey, as reported in Marketing Daily, also reveals that while most marketers are talking a good game — with 80% agreeing that their company has the skills required to be successful in digital marketing — their confidence falls apart when they need to get specific, such as their ability to recruit digital talent, collaborating across functional areas, or even aligning to-do lists across the organization.

Roughly half plan to increase digital marketing, compared with 12% who intend to increase traditional ad spending. While last year traditional marketing had five percentage points more than digital in its share of budget, “this year found a three-way tie among traditional marketing, consumer response/direct marketing, and digital marketing.” Search, display and email take up almost 60% of the digital budget, while mobile and social account for about 30%. And the marketers say mobile and social are their highest priorities this year.

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The days of ‘black box’ digital advertising packages appears to be coming to a close. Black box refers the idea that you pay your digital vendor or agency a monthly amount to provide a host of online services and they ‘optimize’ it among various digital elements such as paid search through Google and Bing, retargeting ads, banner ads, in banner video, search retargeting, or any of a host of other types of digital advertising. While there are positive points to this approach, it has also presented an opportunity for vendors to provide less than full disclosure regarding the ‘third-party’ fees they are actually charging to manage these services.

Google is about to change all that with two new requirements aimed at increasing transparency and accountability of third-party partners. Starting in November, agencies and other third-party firms and individuals that manage Google advertising for customers will need to conform to new third-party policies. The current policy mandates that third-parties disclose Ad Words media costs, clicks, and impressions at the account level. Now all management fees must be disclosed on invoices and be itemized to show the net cost of the Google portion separate from any management fees or mark-up.

“Management fees. Third parties often charge a management fee for the valuable services they provide. When sharing Google advertising cost data with customers, report the exact amount charged by Google, exclusive of any fees that you charge.

The new policy extends not only to what information needs to be provided, but alsohow: “Share your Google advertising cost and performance reports in a way that makes it easy for your customers to access the reports, such as by email or via your website. Alternatively, you can meet this reporting requirement by allowing your customers to sign in to their Google advertising accounts directly to access their cost and performance data.”

Google has also made it clear what will happen if the third-party partner doesn’t follow the new rules “If a vendor violates this policy corrective action can include disqualifying them from Google Partners, AdWords API Standard Access, AdWords API access, and/or terminating your AdWords accounts if violations of these policies continue.” Notice here the term “your” account, because while Google is referring to the third-party, it is actually your account, your campaigns that could be impacted. Reason enough to ask your vendor for your API number.

To a larger issue, beyond just the new disclosure requirements, is the topic of what will happen to pricing and service now that ‘all the cards’ regarding fees will be on the table. While my boutique digital firm charges a flat 20% fee (which we’ve been disclosing to clients for years), my own research suggests that some of the biggest names in the industry have a fee structure more typically in the 30% to in some cases approaching the 50% fee range.

One would expect these providers are already anticipating huge pushback from individual dealerships, as well as the manufacturers that co-op or reimbursement them, and are already working to re-price their services to either shift the cost somewhere else in the relationship, or reduce the level of service they provide. It’s also a fair guess that manufacturers will further clarify exactly what portion of these fees they are willing, or unwilling, to pay. What will be in impact of these changes? Since AdWords is typically the largest portion of a dealership’s monthly digital spend by far, these new disclosure requirements, and the fee structures they reveal, could prove to be a real game changer in the on line battle for customers. Stay tuned.

Based in Seattle, Ed Steenman owns and operates a full service advertising agency that provides integrated digital and traditional solutions specific to the needs of automotive dealerships.

By now you’ve probably heard about the merger of Google Places and Google + into a new entity called Google+ Local.  

Google touts the release of Google+ Local as “bringing the community of Google+ to local business owners around the world. “ They promote the fact that “with one listing, your business can now be found across Google search, maps, mobile and Google+, and that your customers can easily recommend your business to their friends, or tell the world about it with a review.” While one may agree with the idea of an integrated page, the customer recommendation and review piece has definitely undergone a significant changed and it is this change that has folks buzzing.  

A new look for your Google Places page. But let’s first address changes to the basic look. The first thing you’ll notice is a new layout and design for the listing for your business. All your basic business information is still available.  And as of this writing you’re still able to log in from the google business page, however, this may soon change to a single log-in from your G+ page.

A new ratings and review system. While your basic business information should not have changed, there are some things that look dramatically different.  Most notably the rating ‘Stars’ are gone.  Instead google, which bought restaurant-ratings guide Zagat last year, is integrating that rating service into Google+Local.  The new service will utilize Zagat's "poor-to-perfect" 0-to-30 rating scale and seeks to create pages for all known places, including businesses and even locations such as The Washington Monument  (scored a “23”)

Built to review restaurants, here is guide to the ZAGAT ratings
26-30 extraordinary to perfection
21-25 very good to excellent
16-20 good to very good
11-15 fair to good
1-10 poor to fair


Biggest change: Google is now forcing people to use Google+in order to provide a review. This is the one change that’s most significant in my view.  Starting now, in order to write a review,  everyone needs to sign in to Google + (or create an account if they don’t already have one). This will likely (at least initially) make it harder to get your customers to review you using google (since they have to create a google + account first).  One additional thing to note is that, in order to make a review “public” the reviewer needs to agree to let the review show their real name (tied to their google account).  In addition to writing reviews, google will likely create added emphasis on the use of their ‘Plus 1” button.

Google Circles . Getting into the consideration set of potential customers will also start involving the need to be placed in Social Circles, via the Google Plus Circles feature. The more Plus 1′s, reviews, and circles you are in, the better your site will fare.

What you need to do. If you are a business owner, you should continue to manage your information in Google Places for Business. You’ll still be able to verify your basic listing data, make updates, and respond to reviews. For those who use AdWords Express, your ads will operate as normal as they’ll automatically redirect people to the destination you selected, or your current listing.  Most importantly, make sure your customers understand how to write a review and how to rate your business.  It’s really not all that different from what they are doing now having to sign into Yelp or other services.  You’ll need to have your digital team become more active on Google+ to both monitor and help push the ranking of your new Google+ Local page.
 

Please inject some reality into my life.

I’m in marketing and always have my ear to the ground looking for how dealers promote their stores and brands.  Last night, I heard a radio ad for a local car dealership (Volkswagen Subaru in Bellevue Washington) that disturbed me.  The ad was almost exclusively promoting the idea that this dealership offered what they termed ‘AN UNASSISTED TEST DRIVE’ meaning that they are promoting the fact that you can test drive a cars WITHOUT A SALESPERSON in the car with you.

Here’s why it bothered me.  While I believe that most dealerships would probably offer the same thing if a customer asked for it, or even offer it casually at the time on site as part of the sales process (“hey- take it for a spin without me if you want”) - the idea of promoting NO SALESPERSON as a marketing point of difference bothers me because – by extension-   it promotes the idea that SALESPEOPLE ARE A NEGATIVE in the car buying equation.  I feel the same way about statements like NO HASSLE (equals: buying a car is a hassle that should be avoided), NO PRESSURE (equals: get ready for pressure when you go to shop for a car) or any of the NO’s that try to win at the expense of trashing the industry. 

I would hope the presence of a salesperson during a test drive or any other part of the sales process would be viewed as a POSITIVE customer benefit to explain features, answer questions and (dear god) actually develop a relationship with the customer and dealership.  Isn't that what we in the industry want- the opportunity to break down walls- build relationships- earn a customers business and trust?

Really in this age of TrueCar and all the other ways people can try and AVOID working with dealerships don’t we have enough challenges without adding the idea of NO SALEPERSON to the marketing voice?  Especially when we within the industry use our own voice to do it?

I'd like to hear what you think.

Do you post dealership videos on the web?  If so, new rules could cost you.

Videos your dealership posts on You Tube, Facebook and other unpaid social media and digital platforms could soon face an increased level of scrutiny and monitoring from your brand.  

At least one major manufacturer has announced they intend to begin actively monitoring dealership videos posted on the internet for things like brand standards, logo usage, and possibly MAAP and other standard compliance issues such as the scissors rule. Failure to meet existing standards in these new areas could well begin to result in costly “strikes” to your dealership.

First off, you might be wondering how or why a manufacturer can even get involved in monitoring advertising on a free platform like YouTube.  After all, as it stands today for most brands today, compliance is geared to insure that paid advertising in places like newspaper, direct mail, radio or television are required to comply with a manufacturer’s brand standards and guidelines.  Traditionally, these requirements have NOT been of concerns on ‘free’ platforms like You Tube, Facebook (outside of a paid Facebook ad) or blog sites.  But information we’ve been recently provided indicates this is about to change for some.  Compliance personnel, share their rationale:  “while a social media platform by itself is a ‘free’ vehicle, the act of linking it to a dealership’s website in essence rolls this free asset into a ‘paid’ asset, and therefore makes these platforms subject to the same compliance rules as ‘paid’ advertising”.  

Whether you agree with this rationale or not, we recommend every dealership takes some time to review the status of their social media assets.  

Some of the questions you should be asking are:

(1) What social media platforms are linked in any way to my dealership website (or for that matter any paid advertising you control)?

(2) What videos or other produced elements reside on those social media sites (Ie: YouTube)?

(3) Are the assets current? For example, do you have videos ‘up’ that contain out-dated offers or other content that is out of date?

(4) Are they brand correct? For example, do they contain the proper use of your brand’s logo according to published individual dealer marketing guidelines, one brand to a video, etc?  If you are in doubt on this point, and control the You Tube channel the content appears on, you can go in and change the viewership privileges from public to private.  After that, you can submit the content for approval using your appropriate co-op preapproval compliance network.

Beyond your immediate website, we are also recommending for you to do a search on You Tube or other video share sites to assess what other video or content bearing your dealership’s name exists ‘out there’ and attempt to take appropriate actions as outlined above.

What about content referencing your dealership you suspect violates brand standards but that you didn’t post or don’t have no control over?  While we have been told there will be some considerations here, at least one brand has indicated their likely policy will be to ‘strike’ offending material, then leave the burden of proof to the dealership to show they don’t or can’t control that content.

Painful as it may be, NOW is the time to get a handle on the content that your dealership employees, vendors and even customers have posted on the web.  Because it could well cost you if you don’t.

Fun and informative day at the Seattle PCG Pitstop.  Just as he did in Florida, Brian Pasch and his excellent speakers presented informative, thought provoking tactical advice and examples to improve the digital strategies and tactics at the local dealership level.  Especially interesting was the update on all the changes surrounding Google Places.  Also the google "zero moment of truth". Cobalt presented a nice event for local dealerships the previous evening.  Good number of  local dealers attended and in chatting with some of them, they too felt the event to be worthwhile.  Great to make new connections and thanks all for a good event here in Seattle.

As of September 7, 2011 the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will begin offering .xxx domain registrations. The registry will be operated by Florida-based ICM Registry (ICM), the company that first applied for the .xxx domain in 2004. ICM's intent is to create designated domains for adult content which are operated under its policies which are intended to reduce malware, SPAM, and intellectual property infringement. The .xxx domain also represents the creation of new internet real estate and, because any string ending with .xxx can be purchased, the launch of .xxx represents an opportunity for domain squatters and trademark infringers. In other words, your trademark could become associated with a .xxx domain and website. Fortunately, you have options to prevent this from occuring.

Sunrise B Opt-Out Period

Owners of registered trademarks who are not involved in the adult entertainment industry, and who do not want their trademarks to appear in a .xxx domain owned by a third party will have the opportunity to prevent such domains from being purchased – but only if they act during a limited period of time. ICM Registry has provided an opt-out period called Sunrise B for owners of registered trademarks to block .xxx domains that contain their registered marks. The key facts you should know about Sunrise B:

• The Sunrise B opt-out period will open September 7, 2011 and close October 28, 2011.
• After the opt-out period closes, trademark owners will not be able to block the purchase by third parties of .xxx domains which contain their trademarks.
• Sunrise B only applies for federally registered trademarks which register as of September 1, 2011 and does not pertain to state registrations, common law marks, unregistered marks, business names, or other domains.
• Sunrise B will only allow trademark owners to block their exact marks; similar marks may still be registered by third parties.

Procedure To Block .xxx Domains

ICM's Comprehensive Launch Policies have not yet been published but trademark owners will be able to block .xxx domains, or obtain more information on blocking the registration of their trademarks as .xxx domain, by visiting ICM Registry's Sunrise B page at https://www.icmregistry.com/launch/sunrise-b/. There is a fee, expected to be between $200-$300, to block each .xxx domain and that protection would protect your trademark for up to 10 years.

Defensive Moves for Those Without Registered Marks

For those unable to take advantage of the Sunrise B opt-out period, and after the Sunrise B period ends on October 28, 2011, the next best method to prevent registration by a third party of an .xxx domain containing a trademark is to register the domain defensively. In many instances, owning the .xxx domain for any trademarks or terms likely to be confused with trademarks may be the best defense against abuse of a trademark through a .xxx registration.

Thank you Brian P. Gregg  for permission to reprint this article. Steenman Associates is a Seattle based advertising agency & digital services firm that specializes in serving automotive dealerships and groups.  We welcome your questions & comments ed@steenmanassociates.com

If you publish videos on the YouTube you need to be aware of a change from Google and YouTube that affects who can view, share, or edit your videos.  This change affects any video originally posted to You Tube including any links or embedding content provided from YouTube to your website or social media sites.

Google just recently announced the introduction of Creative Commons licenses for YouTube.  Individual users MUST decide at they time they upload video -whether to publish their content under the new CC license. If they do so, the video then becomes accessible to every YouTube user for use in their own videos via the YouTube Video Editor.  The new feature will give users a large selection of video clips from all types of subject areas.  Adding Creative Commons tags will also help YouTube on the copyright front by clearly distinguishing what clips users can use freely and what they cannot.

Users who want to check out the Creative Commons selection right now can go to  www.youtube.com/editor and select the CC tab.

Should your dealership use the Creative Commons option?

Creative Commons licenses provide a standard way for content creators to grant someone else permission to use their work. By marking your original video with a Creative Commons license, you are granting the entire YouTube community the right to reuse and edit that video. . You retain your copyright and other users get to reuse your work subject to the terms of the license. Remember, you may ONLY mark your uploaded video with a Creative Commons license if it consists ENTIRELY of content made and licensable by you under the CC-BY license.

Unless you have a specific reason to NOT want your content to be shared or reutilized, it is our view that you should choose YES to the Creative Commons license option.  Choosing the ‘standard license’ now means you are NOT granting permission for your work to be shared or re-used.

How to mark your video as Creative Commons

1. Click the radio button next to "Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)" while uploading, or
2. Go to My Videos, select edit next to the video you wish to include in Creative Commons. Scroll down until you reach License under Broadcasting and Sharing Options. Click the radio button next to "Creative Commons Attribution License (reuse allowed)".

Want to Know More?

For more information on the CC-BY license and a summary of the full Legal Code with the full license accessible at the bottom of the page—please visit CreativeCommons.org.

I’m going to tackle a topic certain to raise some eyebrows - our vision for the posting of the ‘daily wall posts” on facebook and daily ‘tweets’ on twitter. This is the part of your social media website that is ever changing, the updated ‘short form’ content - often with links to other websites or areas. What makes this subject controversial is that there are few official ‘rules’, and if you were to sit down with ten social media ‘gurus’ I predict you’d get ten different ‘expert opinions’ on the ‘correct’ things to include.

From my perspective, it’s easy to rush straight to the activity of posting, while glossing over the necessary underlying strategy needed for any advertising or publicity project. In it most base form, ask the question; ‘what is the expected outcome or goal from what we’re doing? But before you bellow out “sell more cars!” let me suggest that the term ‘closing the sale’ reminds us that there is also a beginning and middle to the selling process. We must remember to apply this same kind of metric to our social media programs so as to not short circuit the process.

Now, shift your focus the other way for a minute and ask yourself the million dollar question ‘why would anyone want to ‘fan’ or ‘like’ your business? Simply put, WFIM (what’s in it for me) posed from the perspective of someone choosing to ‘opt in’ to receive your content. Put this question and the ‘sales process’ together and you begin to see where the road leads.

People patronize businesses based on lots of factors. Certainly price, convenience and location are important. Beyond that, people also buy from people they ‘like’, shop at places their ‘friends’ recommend, and choose companies that ‘share’ their values. Note how the words ‘like’, “friend’ and ‘share’ are all common terms in the social media space.

In short, you should be presenting content that will help people to ‘like’ you, show that you ‘share’ their values, and that doing business with you is something their ‘friends’ would approve. This is tough concept for salespeople who only want to focus on the immediate sale in front of them, and is another reason why we advise dealerships to use a combination of internal and external ‘brand ambassadors’ for their social media programs.

Here are some examples of things to post: Information about what your store or your people are out doing in your community; Customer testimonials about what it’s like to do business with you; also relevant brand content your customer will find of interest. In the end, your wall posts or updates should reflect your stores ‘personality’ to compliment all that other ‘hard information’ on product, price, etc. that is available elsewhere. And most importantly in my view, anything that your company or store is doing from a  community, charity or socially conscious perspective.

Think of your daily social media updates as another step in time honored ‘communication process’ and you’ll be on the right track for a successful social media program.