Reynolds’ Research Indicates Increased ERA^® Service Price Guides Usage Leads to
Improved Business Results for Dealers

Service Price Guides (SPG) Master Certification Program Aims to Help Dealers
Increase Utilization and Profits

DAYTON, Ohio – Nov. 8, 2012 – Reynolds and Reynolds has broadly launched the Service Price Guides (SPG) Master Certification Program for dealerships whose goal it is to increase their usage of the ERA^® SPG service repair estimating tool as one more strategy to increase profitability for the Service department.

“Our research shows a direct relationship between SPG utilization and gross profit in Service,” said Jon Strawsburg, vice president of Product Planning at Reynolds. “In fact, as SPG utilization increases, dealers typically attain higher profitability in gross labor and gross parts charges per repair order. Dealerships also record higher labor hours per repair order, as well as higher effective labor rates.”

In response to the research findings, Reynolds developed the SPG Master Certification Program to provide dealers with additional training and coaching to help them increase their utilization of SPG, with an eye toward delivering improved business results for their dealership.

The SPG Master Certification Program includes classroom instruction and system specification refinement, led by Reynolds’ SPG experts. In addition, once training is complete, the Reynolds team will monitor the dealership’s performance for one year. To achieve full SPG Master Certification at the end of the 12-month period, the dealer must achieve pre-defined goals for increased SPG utilization and effective labor rate increases.

Nearly two dozen dealerships piloted the SPG Master Certification Program and the results were tracked over a 12-month period. The dealerships achieved measurable increases to critical variables in their service operations, including an average increase in their effective labor rates of $2.75 over 12 months, which equated to an average of nearly $85,000 more per dealership in annual profits.

Dealers should contact their Reynolds Account Manager for more information on the SPG Master Certification Program. For more information on the Reynolds SPG tool, visit www.reyrey.com/SPG.

About Reynolds

Reynolds and Reynolds is the automotive industry’s leading provider of automobile dealership software, services, and forms to help dealerships improve business results.  The company is headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, with major operations in Houston and College Station, Texas, and Celina, Ohio.  (www.reyrey.com)

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Media Contact:
Thomas Schwartz
937.485.8109 (office)
937.269.9569 (mobile)
Thomas_Schwartz@reyrey.com

 

Fort Lauderdale, FL – November 6^th, 2012— AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions (www.autousadealers.com) announced today that Tarry Shebesta, President of DriveItNow^®, will present at the Kain Automotive Training’s 8^th annual “Clients & Friends Workshop” to be held November 13^th – 15^th in Lexington, Kentucky. Shebesta will present “Online Payment Marketing: Convert Online Car Shoppers to Customers and Increase Front & Back-End Profits” on Tuesday, November 13^th at 5:30 p.m.

“Before making a decision to buy a car, consumers need to know the monthly payment they qualify for,” says Shebesta. “In my workshop I’ll demonstrate the benefits that dealerships derive from delivering real payment quoting based on a consumer’s actual credit, dealer’s real finance criteria and a real vehicle on a dealership’s own website.” Shebesta will also show how estimated payment calculators and lengthy online credit applications fail to attract the buyers with good credit that dealerships want.

AutoUSA is a sponsor of the “Clients & Friends Workshop” and co-host of Shebesta’s presentation. AutoUSA recently partnered with DriveItNow to launch Payment Pro^SM, a payment-based conversion tool that delivers pre-qualified, first party leads from auto dealers’ own websites without requiring a customer’s personal information such as a social security number or date of birth.

“Payment Pro is a game-changing tool that shifts the car buyer’s focus from the purchase price to monthly payments,” said Mike Shawd, Vice President Sales, AutoUSA. “That’s a major benefit for dealers—they can now use payment marketing strategies to take control of price negotiations and generate a higher gross per sale while giving consumers information they’re searching for.”

Kain Automotive Training’s “Clients & Friends Workshop” offers advanced processes, tactics, technology and strategies to accelerate Internet sales performance in auto dealerships. For more information, visit http://kaintraining.com/

To download a free white paper titled “Pre-qualified Payment Marketing: Converting Online Car Shoppers to Customers,” visit http://tinyurl.com/PaymentPro

About AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions

AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions brings the best-in-class tools to increase Internet sales and lower costs for automotive dealerships. Leading products include Payment Pro^SM, a payment-based pre-qualification tool for dealer websites; ShowPro^SM incentive program, proven to turn more leads into shows; Leads&Listings^SM, providing the highest quality, new and used car email and phone leads from 100+ sites; PowerListings^SM 2.0, helping dealers increase traffic to—and leads from—their social media sites; and AVA Virtual Sales Assistant, helping dealerships manage more leads at a reduced cost. AutoUSA products are currently benefiting thousands of active dealers all across the U.S.

For more information, visit AutoUSA’s web site, subscribe to our blog at http://blog.autousadealers.com, follow us on Twitter @AutoUSALeads and “Like” us on Facebook at /AutoUSADealers

About DriveItNow® (http://www.DriveItNow.com)

DriveItNow® is a patent pending payment marketing technology service of Automobile Consumer Services, Inc. (ACS). ACS provides a white-labeled version of the DriveItNow service for AutoUSA. ACS leads the industry with innovative proprietary technology, superior customer service, and over twenty years of auto financing and leasing experience.

Re-designed Naked Lime Marketing Website is a One-Stop Shop for
Dealership Services, Employment, and Company Information

KETTERING, Ohio – Nov. 6, 2012 – Naked Lime Marketing, a full-service agency with expertise in traditional and digital marketing, advertising, and web services for automotive retailers, today announced the launch of its enhanced and re-designed website: nakedlime.com.

“Our enhanced website now offers a one-stop shop for dealers who want to know more about the complete set of traditional and digital marketing, advertising, and web services we offer,” said Trey Hiers, who oversees marketing at Naked Lime. “Plus, we’ve also made it easier for dealers to read what others are saying about the results we deliver and to connect with us through our blog and social pages. We pride ourselves on taking a fresh, bold approach to websites and digital marketing for dealerships, and that’s the same approach we took in designing our new site.”

The updated website also makes it easier for motivated, creative professionals to view employment opportunities at Naked Lime.

Naked Lime’s new website, which was designed and developed completely in-house, combines leading-edge web design with industry best practices and customer feedback.

“As marketing and advertising shift more and more from the traditional to the digital, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that people still drive the creative process and successful execution of content, no matter the medium or channel,” said Hiers. “It’s our people that do the heavy lifting for dealers every day and help us deliver on the power of one vendor to handle all of a dealer’s marketing, advertising, and web needs. That’s why, as part of the site re-design, we set out to prominently showcase our marketing and advertising solutions, as well as the experts at Naked Lime behind those solutions.”

Naked Lime Marketing offers services that cover every aspect of a dealership’s retail marketing, advertising, and web strategy, including traditional advertising, digital advertising, targeted marketing, SEO and social media, digital reputation management, mobile marketing, and web. Naked Lime’s services will work for any dealership, regardless of the dealership management system, website host, or other solutions the dealer may be using.

About Naked Lime Marketing

Naked Lime’s Naked Truth: Deliver fresh and innovative full-service marketing, advertising, and web solutions and services that help automotive dealers turn the heads of consumers and inspire consumer loyalty at every point in the retail process. Connect with Naked Lime Marketing on the Web: http://nakedlime.com, Facebook: http://facebook.com/nkdlime, or Twitter: http://twitter.com/nkdlime.

###

Media Contact:
Loretta Good
937.485.1932
media@nakedlime.com

cDemo’s Mi VIDEO wins 2012 Innovation Cup Award; the Development Team for the Walser Automotive Group wins the 2012 Dealer Best Idea Award

Salt Lake City, Utah – November 5, 2012 – DrivingSales today announced the winners of the 2012 Innovation Cup and Dealer Best Idea Awards. The Innovation Cup Award was presented to cDemo’s Mi VIDEO for the most innovative dealership solution of the year; the Development Team for the Walser Automotive Group won the 2012 Dealer Best Idea Award for the most innovative auto dealership strategy. Both awards were presented at 2012’s sold-out DrivingSales Executive Summit (DSES), the most authoritative profit-building event for innovative dealers, held recently in Las Vegas.

All finalists presented their solutions and best idea strategies onstage at the 2012 DrivingSales Executive Summit, which had approximately 1,000 attendees. A panel of dealer judges asked questions of each presenter and scored each solution / strategy. The solution with the highest score was presented with the 2012 Innovation Cup Award. The strategy with the highest score won the 2012 Dealer Best Idea Award. Cash and prizes totaling $10,000 were awarded to the winner of the Dealer Best Idea Award and runners up.

cDemo’s Mi VIDEO – a solution which captures real vehicle video walk-arounds by customers and uploads them to YouTube – received the highest score, winning the Innovation Cup Award. Finalists were: CallSource’s DealSaver with Mobile App; DMEautomotive’s DriverConnect Mobile App; HookLogic’s Lead2Show, and J&L Marketing bLinked^®.

Walser Automotive Group’s development team, represented by Director of Marketing Alan Krutsch, took home the Dealer Best Idea Award, receiving the highest score for their strategy of adding an “I’ll Take It” button to all inventory, allowing customers to begin the purchase process online. First runner up was Matthew Smith, Marketing Manager, Darling’s, followed by Bryan Wilson, eCommerce Director, Ehrlich Group; Daniel Boismier, Internet Director, The Suburban Collection, and Wendy Lowen, Internet Manager, Park Chrysler Jeep.

“The Innovation Cup and Dealer Best Idea Awards are a highlight of the DSES each year, and this year’s finalists personified excellence with their forward-thinking, smart and practical ideas,” said DrivingSales CEO and Founder Jared Hamilton. “DrivingSales is committed to nurturing and encouraging innovation in the industry, and we were proud to showcase cDemo’s Mi VIDEO and Walser Automotive Group’s ‘I’ll take it’ winning solution and strategy, along with a stellar group of finalists, in front of an audience of their peers. Congratulations to our winners and finalists!”

The Innovation Cup and Dealer Best Idea Awards were part of an exciting line up at this year’s sold out DSES, which included high-profile keynotes from Billy Beane of ‘Moneyball’ fame, SEO ‘superstar’ Rand Fishkin, mobile experience expert Luke Wroblewski, renowned leadership trainer Jim Dance,  prominent Northwestern University marketing professor Florian Zettelmeyer, an exclusive presentation from Facebook and Google, and a one-on-one onstage interview between Jared Hamilton and TrueCar Chairman and CEO Scott Painter. 

The DrivingSales Executive Summit is the most authoritative profit-building event for innovative dealers. DSES brings together the most progressive dealers in the country, along with world-renowned speakers, all focused on pushing the auto industry’s ‘innovation boundaries’ and translating the latest trends and business realities into solid 2013 action plans for every dealership department. The summit is 100 percent dealer-driven and has a vendor-neutral policy, meaning no vendor influence on presentation selection and adherence to a strict dealer-to-vendor ratio and is the only automotive conference where dealers decide the agenda, not the vendor sponsors. This translates into the highest level of learning for the dealer attendees versus other events where workshops are little more than glorified sales pitches. 

For more information about the Innovation Cup Award, go to www.drivingsalesinnovationcup.com/. For more information about the DrivingSales Executive Summit, visit: www.DrivingSalesExecutiveSummit.com or contact dses@drivingsales.com. 

About DrivingSales

Founded in 2008 and dedicated to the dealer community, DrivingSales is a business intelligence and performance improvement company that delivers unbiased*, profit-building information to make automobile dealers more successful through three distinct channels: DrivingSales Data, DrivingSales University and DrivingSales Media. DrivingSales Data houses the largest database of cross-vendor, dealership performance data in the North American auto industry and provides dealerships with the most statistically accurate performance benchmarks and metrics for their marketing and technology investments. DrivingSales University is a fully interactive online university that offers advanced profit-building strategies to automotive professionals through hundreds of classes taught by world-leading experts. DrivingSales Media connects dealers to peers and information through its global media assets, including DrivingSales.com, the world’s largest automotive social network; The Dealership Innovation Guide, an industry leading quarterly publication; DrivingSales Executive Summit, the top automotive conference for progressive dealers, and DrivingSalesTV, Web TV covering everything car-dealer related. Approximately one in every three dealerships in the United States has a registered member in the DrivingSales community.

*Vendor Neutral Policy: Dedicated solely to making dealerships more profitable, while also providing benefit to automakers and the industry as a whole, DrivingSales adheres to a strict vendor neutral policy through each of its channels. This means the company only provides unbiased information, not ‘pay-to-play’ follow up services -- and never accepts payment in exchange for media coverage or lets potential advertisers dictate messaging or create bias in any of its channels.

DrivingSales Media Relations:

Melanie Webber (melanie@mwebbcom.com), mWEBB Communications, 424.603.4340

Angela Jacobson (angela@mwebbcom.com), mWEBB Communications, 714.454.8776

The custom automotive website company presented with award from the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce.

DealerFire, a custom automotive website design company and digital marketing agency located in Oshkosh, WI was presented the Small Business of the Year award from the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce during the 105th Annual Meeting on Monday.

Owner/Founder Eric Hoopman accepted the award on behalf of DealerFire. 

"This award means a lot to us and is a great honor," Hoopman said, "we all know these things happen on their own and the great story here is that DealerFire was just a good idea." He continued, "It truly took an inspirational team to make it a great business."

Since its inception in 1999, DealerFire has been building, supporting and marketing custom websites for automotive dealerships.  Throughout these years, they have won numerous industry specific awards showcasing their specialty to successfully merchandise a car dealerships' online inventory and sell more vehicles.   

Each year, the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce recognizes a business that has made a significant impact on the city to win the award of Small Business of the Year.  This business' presence in the city must be a positive one, showing growth, perseverance in its industry, and contributions back to its city. 

DealerFire's employee base has consistently grown every year, which allows the company to be a leader in attracting and maintaining technology jobs in Oshkosh, something that is very important to Hoopman.

"Over the years we've grown a lot,” said Hoopman. “In 2008 we decided to set aside other entrepreneurial ventures and get serious about DealerFire and grow this business.  At that time we were 4 people strong and had about a dozen car dealer clients. Now our full time employee base is over 70 and our dealership base is in the thousands."

The automotive website company's perseverance in the industry was proven with the rollout of its propriety auction platform, which gives dealerships across the country access to an entirely new revenue stream.  Their continued improvement was further exemplified with the update to Ignite, an extensive and complete content management system for their clients.

The DealerFire team guest lectures at the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh, and donates both their time and money to local charities at a very aggressive pace. 

"We are very proud of our Oshkosh roots and enjoy giving back to the people who have supported our growth over the years."  Vice President of Web Services Leif Richards, said. "The Chamber and the city have given us great opportunities for success and we truly thank them for this award. "

For more information about DealerFire and its award-winning products and services for automotive dealerships, please visit www.dealerfire.com.

San Ramon, CA –November 2, 2012 -- MediaTrac, a leading marketing technology company that builds successful automotive loyalty and retention programs, today announced that it is offering complimentary email campaigns to help auto dealers affected by Hurricane Sandy. The free email campaigns are designed to help auto dealers reach out and provide valuable information to their customers about the state of dealership operations, as well as help drive customers back into the dealership.

MediaTrac will create a customizable email campaign that can include an offer to help drive customers back into the dealership for service.  MediaTrac specializes in creating and sending professional email campaigns for dealerships across the U.S. and Canada and would like to aid those dealerships in providing immediate awareness to customers in their time of need.  This complimentary service can be utilized by dealerships through Friday, 11/16/2012.

Jeff Shenk, Director of Operations at MediaTrac, stated “Hundreds of auto dealers have been affected by the storm and we wanted to make this offer to help them reach out to their customers. The emails can be used to inform customers about the operational condition of the dealership and when the dealership can service them.  For those dealerships that weathered the storm and are back up and running, the emails can be used to encourage customers to come in and get their weather-damaged vehicles inspected, repaired or replaced.”

Dealers interested in taking advantage of this free offer should contact Kathy Winslow at 800-608-2080 ext. 207 or kwinslow@media-trac.com.

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About MediaTrac™ 

Established in 2001 and headquartered in San Ramon, California, MediaTrac is a marketing technology company providing customized loyalty, retention, marketing, prepaid services and media tracking programs for the automotive, retail, dining & entertainment and salon, spa & beauty industries.

New case study shows how Auto Sound teamed with AOA and dealerships to drive a 50% increase of in-dealership sales of Auto Sound products in just four months

Las Vegas, NV – October 30, 2012 – One year after launching, izmocars’ AOA Supplier Digital Network is generating accessories sales results for both suppliers and dealerships.  A new case study released today shows how Boston area aftermarket supplier, Auto Sound, helped dealerships selling its products leverage the AOA digital supplier network to create significant increases in sales and efficiencies, including a 50% increase of in-dealership sales of Auto Sound products in just four months.

AOA’s Digital Supplier Network is a first of its kind solution with a mission to bring the nation’s 17,000 franchise dealers and over 5,000 suppliers of accessories together all on one platform.  The network enables better coordination of real-time parts updating, pricing, ordering and installation, while also providing a visually exciting accessories purchase experience for consumers.  AOA generates, on average, $500 a copy for dealerships using the system.

Auto Sound was founded in 1971 and has nearly 300 products in its catalog. The company required dealerships selling its products to implement the AOA system and the case study demonstrates how, by working hand-in-hand with customer dealerships to fully leverage the AOA system, both Auto Sound and its dealership customers reaped significant results. Plus, Auto Sound provided its dealer customers a discount system that incentivized increased sales and made the system cost-neutral for the dealership.  And the results were rapid: within just four months, one in every three Auto Sound products was sold using the AOA system.

“With AOA, we have seen a consistent monthly revenue increase in business, allowing me to hire more staff. I can now spend more time at partner dealerships talking about my products, and training sales teams on the system, rather than creating costly print catalog updates and dealing with endless paperwork,” said Eddie Deao, regional sales manager of Auto Sound. “In a rough economy, AOA has helped my business maintain, and even increase, profit even in the midst of sluggish car sales.”

With the AOA Supplier Digital Network aftermarket suppliers can maintain their parts catalog in real-time and in living color, with up-to-the-minute updates of parts, pricing and images on the network - simply adding their own parts and packages and making them available to their dealer customers with one click. The network also makes it easier for suppliers to maintain multiple price lists for their dealers who are providing discounts on volume based purchases. Dealers use one catalog database to offer a variety of products from various suppliers to their customers, resulting in a much more efficient and effective accessories sales process. The network also offers an online scheduling tool that solves the scheduling challenges associated with complex installation coordination between multiple suppliers and the dealership’s own service center technicians.

“By far, AOA has the greatest user interface on the market. When you pull up AOA for a consumer, a picture of the vehicle comes up, and you simply add on whichever accessories they are interested in. Plus AOA adds a 3rd party element that inspires trust,” continued Deao. “Through AOA I have been able to upload my 287 product catalog to AOA for my dealership customers, and make necessary adjustments in real-time.  It has saved me thousands of phone calls a week because the dealership has everything from full catalog updates to group discounts at their fingertips.”

AddOnAuto is currently the accessories sales solution ranked #1 by dealers at DrivingSales.com, and has produced significant results for hundreds of dealers across the country over the past 3 years.

To read the full Auto Sound Case Study, click here: http://www.izmocars.com/aoa/AOA-Autosound-SuccessStory-02a.pdf

About izmocars
izmocars is a leading provider of Automotive Business Solutions including: Website and Online Marketing Solutions, Enterprise-level Automotive CRM, iConsult - Sales Performance Coaching and AddOnAuto - an In-Store Accessories Sales Solution.

izmocars is also the world's leader in Interactive Media Content for the automotive industry. Founded in 2002, izmocars services some of the most successful eDealers in the country.

izmocars is based in San Francisco, with offices in Long Beach, CA and Brussels in Europe.

CONTACT: mWEBB Communications for izmocars, Melanie Webber, +1-424-603-4340, melanie@mwebbcom.com, or Angela Jacobson, +1-714-454-8776, angela@mwebbcom.com

Free webinar on October 30^th, 2012, at 2 p.m. teaches dealers best practices for compliant marketing

Daytona Beach, FL–October 23, 2012 – DMEautomotive (DMEa), the science-inspired, results-based automotive marketing leader, announces the fourth in a series of webinars the company is hosting with Automotive News. This webinar addresses the critical issues of compliance, including recent FCC rule changes, and provides additional important information and best practices for compliant customer communications. The webinar will take place on October 30^th at 2 p.m. EDT. 

Titled Best Practices for Compliant Marketing, the webinar is moderated by Peter Brown, publisher at Automotive News, and will feature the industry expertise of Mike Martinez, CMO and Eric Sloan, Vice President of Compliance for DMEautomotive. This information-packed webinar will empower participants to protect their businesses and maintain proactive communications with potential and existing consumers in an environment where rapidly changing technology means that both businesses and regulatory authorities are in a race to keep up with how consumers like, and do not like, to communicate.

Key topics covered will include:

• Education on state and federal regulations, and how they directly impact customer communications.
• Tips on creating effective communication in accordance with current law.
• Best practices in managing opt-ins and acquiring prior express written consent.
• Q&A session with compliance and business law expert - DMEautomotive’s Vice President of Compliance.

“The legal landscape for advertising communications is constantly changing,” stated Sloan, “but with evolving technology and a growing body of litigation and regulatory enforcement, businesses must, now more than ever, educate themselves to ensure that a simple communication does not open them up to a costly lawsuit.” The Best Practices for Compliant Marketing webinar is a crash course on the rules of communicating with your customers.”

For more information, or to register for the New Research in Best Practices for Compliant Marketing webinar, click http://e.ccialerts.com/a/hBQfEgcAJFtOlB8umKGAAAAAA-H/dme8.

DMEautomotive / Automotive News webinars have received strong attendance that has generated exceptional feedback. Visit http://www.autonews.com/section/WEBINAR to download previous webinars in this series.

***While informative, the information shared in the Best Practices for Compliant Marketing webinar is for educational purposes only, and should in no way be construed as legal advice. Participants are encouraged to consult the advice of an independent counsel, prior to initiating any tips discussed within the webinar. Participation in the webinar does not create or constitute an attorney-client relationship.***

About DMEautomotive

DMEautomotive (DMEa) is the industry leader in science-based, results-driven automotive marketing, and provides turnkey marketing to the largest and most innovative automotive organizations, from automobile dealerships to many of the largest aftermarket companies in the U.S. DMEa's uniquely panoramic view of the complete automotive sales and service market, combined with its cutting-edge, science-based marketing programs, increases customer yield, conversion and retention.

DMEa does not take marketing performance on faith, and each product and service is measured by a simple, precise scientific approach: Is it true? Prove it. Will it work? Test it. Does it generate results? Show it! Supported by DMEa’s proprietary, cloud-based Red Rocket Technology Platform, the DMEa product suite includes science-based, data-driven, multi-channel customer acquisition and retention marketing programs; best-in-class campaign reporting; data management and analytics; auto-focused Customer Interaction Center solutions, and complete on-site mail and email fulfillment services. Headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida, DMEa also has major operations in Jacksonville, Fla.

About Automotive News

Based in Detroit, Automotive News has been the place for all the news that is happening among automotive retailers, suppliers and manufacturers since 1925.  In addition to the 100% paid weekly print issue that is received by 60,000 subscribers, autonews.com is a vibrant Web site with more than four million page views monthly.  It contains the day's breaking news and features two daily newscasts and webinars.  Daily and weekly e-mails and breaking news alerts keep the industry's top executives up-to-date.

Contact:

DMEa Media Relations:
Melanie Webber, mWEBB Communications, 424-603-4340, melanie@mwebbcom.com 
Angela Jacobson, mWEBB Communications, 714-454-8776, angela@mwebbcom.com 

For more information contact:

Adriana DiFranco
3 Birds Marketing
(919) 627-8784
adriana.difranco@3birdsmarketing.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

3 Birds’ Own Chad Smith Wins Triangle CIO of the Year Award

Smith Recognized As A Leading CIO in Innovation & Transformation

October 23, 2012, [Chapel Hill, NC]…………3 Birds Marketing, a software developer offering an integrated digital marketing platform and professional services to the automotive industry and other business verticals, today announced that its Chief Information Officer Chad Smith, had been named a CIO of the Year by the Triangle Business Journal and the North Carolina Technology Association (NCTA).

The NCTA partnered with the Triangle Business Journal to recognize CIO's who have been an outstanding technology leader for their company. The winners were those who used IT in innovative ways to create competitive advantage, optimize business processes, and enable growth, and were announced at an awards luncheon at the Raleigh Marriott City Center, October 18, 2012.

“I feel honored to be chosen,” Smith said, “especially among such distinguished colleagues. The Triangle’s technology community is a vibrant, active one filled with the brightest and best. It’s one of the reasons 3 Birds chose to locate here. I’m excited that I was recognized, but even more excited that what we’re doing at 3 Birds Marketing was recognized.”

3 Birds Marketing offers a digital marketing platform that helps clients reach and engage customers across many channels, including social media, e-newsletters, e-campaigns, blog posts, and reputation management. The company will unveil the latest iteration of its popular Wire application at this year’s Digital Dealer show in Las Vegas, October 23rd-25th.

“I’m incredibly proud that Chad was selected for this distinction, and I’m equally proud of the work his team had done for our newest software release,” said Kristen Judd, President and Co-Founder of 3 Birds. “With the release of the Wire 1.95, our team has created a comprehensive, fully integrated software solution that has robust functionality and an extensive library of content ranging from articles to images to social media posts to campaign creative,” she noted. “Chad has been able to balance the rapid growth of our platform, against the need for functionality enhancements, and he’s done so while managing to create and foster our outstanding development team. He’s really helped make our dream for this application a reality,” she added.

Smith and Judd will be speaking at the Digital Dealer Conference, presenting a session called “Data Dos and Don’ts: How to maximize your dealership’s most valuable asset to sell and service more vehicles and increase service retention.”

Smith received a BS/BA in computer business information systems from the University of Arkansas. Before joining 3 Birds, Smith held a position at Transamerica Worksite Marketing where he served as business system application manager. His past experience includes two years as a principal consultant at Edgewater Technology, as well as eight years with Acxiom Corporation, a global data management and IT consulting firm. Originally from Arkansas, Smith has also lived and worked in the United Kingdom and Japan during his thirteen years in the industry. He relocated to North Carolina to join the 3 Birds team.

About 3 Birds Marketing                 www.3birdsmarketing.com

3 Birds Marketing is an interactive marketing company based in Chapel Hill, N.C., specializing in email, web, and social media marketing. 3 Birds offers an integrated marketing and communications platform that creates a comprehensive digital marketing loop for clients that promotes customer engagement, delivers better qualified leads, increases conversions, and provides marketing analytics and data. To find out more, visit www.3birdsmarketing.com or call (877) 285-1094.

About NCTA (www.nctechnology.org)

The North Carolina Technology Association's mission is Making North Carolina Number One in Technology and Technology Number One in North Carolina. The organization does this through three main focus areas: executive engagement, public affairs, and knowledge workforce.

About the Triangle Business Journal  (www.bizjournals.com/triangle/

The Business Journals is the premier media solutions platform for companies strategically targeting business decision makers. We deliver a total business audience of over 10 million people via our 42 websites, 61 publications, and over 700 annual industry-leading events. Our media products provide comprehensive coverage of business news from a local, regional, and national perspective. We have more people, publications, and websites covering our nation’s business than any other business media organization.  The Business Journals are a division of American City Business Journals.

DMEautomotive survey reveals auto service customers open to variety of communications platforms; BUT majority of younger demo want contact through ALL platforms

Key Findings:

• Over a third of consumers are open to receiving communications from their automotive service providers via each platform
• Eighty-nine percent of those under 35 welcome contact via email; 85% via mail; 64% via text; 62% via live calls; 59% via mobile apps and 56% via recorded calls
• Under-35 servicers use more forms of media, more intensely: 3 to 6 times more likely to scan QR codes, have a service provider mobile app, and turn to social networking sites, online video, blogs, etc. for maintenance research

Daytona Beach, FL – October 22, 2012 – DMEautomotive (DMEa), the leader in science-based, results-driven automotive marketing, today released its second report on how (and how frequently) auto service customers want to be contacted by dealers/providers, and the resources they’re now turning to in their vehicle maintenance research. The findings show that while all customers are receptive to a diversity of communications platforms, under-35 customers are strikingly receptive - wanting not only more frequent communications, but also wanting communications across all six possible platforms, with 59% welcoming mobile app communication.

“Multi-platform marketing has long been a buzzword, but this data reveals that for dealerships and service businesses, cross-channel communications are now a must,” said Doug Van Sach, Vice President of Strategy & Analytics at DMEautomotive. “Reaching younger customers is a whole new ballgame: they’re thirsting for communication, prefer it across many platforms, and are researching vehicle maintenance in many new digital places.”

Findings are based on a national survey of 2,000+ U.S. vehicle owners conducted by DMEa’s Strategy & Analytics division.

Key Findings:

How Customers Want To Be Contacted: The survey gauged how people want to receive communications from their service providers, how often, and was analyzed by customer age.

To view the graphic, click here: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnfull/20121022/FL96271-INFO

Over a third of consumers are open to receiving communications from their automotive service providers via every platform.  Not surprisingly, email and mail are the top channels preferred with more than 4 in 5 welcoming these methods of contact, and a solid majority wants communications via these channels at minimum every 2-3 months.  It’s critical to note that while consumers may be open to recorded calls and texts, businesses must be cautious when implementing these channels, given the rise in litigation and changes in the regulatory landscape. 

While the percentages of those under 35 and over 35 desiring mail, email and calls are on par, those under 35 are roughly 2.5 times more open to mobile app notifications and almost twice as likely to desire text messages. In addition, across each platform, the under-35 customer desires more frequent communications (more than once every 2-3 months).

Mobile App Usage: Although mobile apps are an emerging technology without the near-universal adoption of email or texting, 59% of those under 35 (and 35% of all customers) welcome mobile app communications from service providers.  To contextualize this eye-opening data, the survey also captured customer usage of mobile apps overall, and the percentage who use an app from a dealer/service provider:

Those under 35 are roughly three times more likely to use mobile apps, use them daily, and have one from a dealer/service provider. And, with 6 in 10 of those under 35 using mobile apps at least every two days – and 3 in 5 of that segment welcoming service providers to reach them in this manner - mobile apps represent a uniquely powerful way to reach the next-generation servicer where they live: on smartphones and tablets. But only a small percentage of dealers/service providers now offer a mobile app.

The Maintenance Research Process: The survey also captured the resources service customers are using in their auto service research process:

While the owner’s manual, family/friends, and service centers remain the top sources of vehicle maintenance info for both those over and under 35, those under 35 research harder, using every traditional and digital resource at higher rates than those over 35, with the exception of the owner’s manual. And the younger servicer is far more likely to use digital platforms: for instance, they’re 4-6 times more likely to turn to social networking sites, online video or blogs in their service info quest.

 “Most service providers’ outreach is focused on mail and email, which the data shows remain imperative channels. But too many other ‘disconnects’ remain, with customers wanting communications through channels that dealers/service providers are not addressing,” said Van Sach. “This is starkly true with the information-hungry, under-35 customer, who is more likely to research service using every available on- or offline resource, and wants communications across more channels. These ‘all-platform’ consumers are trailblazing the behavior that other customer segments will likely– and that service providers must – ultimately follow.”

About DMEautomotive
DMEautomotive (DMEa) is the industry leader in science-based, results-driven automotive marketing, and provides turnkey marketing to the largest and most innovative automotive organizations, from automobile dealers to many of the largest aftermarket companies in the U.S. DMEa's uniquely panoramic view of the complete automotive sales and service market, combined with its cutting-edge, science-based marketing programs, increases customer yield, conversion and retention.

DMEa does not take marketing performance on faith, and each product and service is measured by a simple, precise scientific approach: Is it true? Prove it. Will it work? Test it. Does it generate results? Show it! Supported by DMEa’s proprietary, cloud-based Red Rocket Technology Platform, the DMEa product suite includes science-based, data-driven, multi-channel customer acquisition and retention marketing programs; best-in-class campaign reporting; data management and analytics; auto-focused Customer Interaction Center solutions, and complete on-site mail and email fulfillment services. Headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida, DMEa also has major operations in Jacksonville, Fla.

Media Inquiries
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