Dealer Authority
If You Build It, They Won't Come (unless you support it)
In the movie Field of Dreams, a ghostly voice tells Kevin Costner's Ray Kinsella character, "If you build it, he will come."
The first question you'll want answered is, "What is it?" In the movie, the 'it' was a baseball field, but it was actually so much more than that. In reality, the 'it' in the movie was the dream of baseball itself from a bygone era when the game was pure and joyful.
The second question you'd want answered is "Who are they?" In the movie, the question wasn't about 'they' but rather 'he.' We go through the movie (spoiler alert) thinking that 'he' is Shoeless Joe Jackson, but it isn't until the end when we realize that Jackson was the voice guiding him and 'he' was Ray's father who was broken as a man but happy when he was young and playing baseball.
This isn't a post about symbolic movie analysis. Let's talk about your dealership's digital marketing. There has been a semi-true notion that 'content is king' for some time. In the world of SEO and social media, it's a fact that content is the cornerstone of success, but things have been changing. Today, building content alone is not enough to help it stand out.
Many dealers (dare I say most) are building content of some sort. They're either doing it themselves or paying a vendor to do it for them. This is great and has been a much-needed element in automotive digital marketing, but it's not the end of it. With so many building content, the true key to success is supporting the content with external elements.
From a search engine optimization perspective, the outside elements are links and social signals. They are the support mechanisms that give content validation in the eyes of the search engines. If you're building content on a topic and your competitors are building content on the same topic, Google and Bing must choose which to serve for their searches. Links, despite the negative press they've received here and on other forums since the rise of the Penguin algorithm update, are still the most powerful way to help your content stand out from your competitors'. The important thing to know is that high-quality contextual links from strong sources are the only types of links you want. Low-quality, spammy, or purchased links can be the kiss of death.
In social, the outside force propelling great content is money. Some think it's unfortunate that sites like Facebook and Twitter have pretty much become 'pay to play' if you want exposure due to the decrease in organic reach. Twitter is doing something about it with 'while you were away', but even in a best case scenario the 140-character social network has minimal organic reach.
Ads work wonders when done properly. Most companies and dealers are throwing money away in social media because they're not handling their ads appropriately. However, when you mix strong content with proper social advertising management, the result are miraculous.
Building content on your dealership's website is extremely important, but don't let your marketing efforts end there. Do the things that are necessary to support the content and it can work wonders on traffic, leads, and sales.
Dealer Authority
Build a Marketing Plan Around Funneling Car Shoppers to Your Website
Targeting is the name of the game. Most dealers (and even some vendors) are really starting to embrace this concept. Gone are the days of illogically spent marketing budgets and shotgun techniques...
...at least we wish those days were gone. Unfortunately, they're not. Many vendors still promote bulk marketing practices and many dealers are still buying into it. Producing favorable numbers is easy. Taking qualified buyers and getting them to engage in a meaningful way with your dealership is harder, but there's a silver lining: you have tools available to you to target the right people and get them to the right venues.
The Right Venue
First and foremost, the best venue for producing more sales is your website. That's not to say that there's anything wrong with AutoTrader, Cars.com, or any of the other places where your inventory can be seen. However, any opportunity you have to take them to your website will yield more favorable results.
Between social media advertising, search engine marketing, LotLinx, and display advertising, you can take prospective car shoppers to your website where they're more likely to convert and buy. In most cases, you can take them directly into your inventory, specials pages, or specific landing pages.
You don't have to drive everyone to your website. That's a mistake that some dealers are making that's taking the concept of "1st party leads" to the extreme. Some people simply won't visit your website no matter what you do and they may still buy a car from you if they see your listings elsewhere. However, it's important to keep it to a minimum. Only use the services that actually work.
The Right People
The amount of data available about car buyers is exceptional. That may not be a good thing in certain arenas (yes, I'm talking about you, NSA), but when it comes to helping people buy a car, there's no better way to do it than to target real buyers who are in the market today.
Facebook has the data that they get from Polk. You can also plug in data from your DMS, Experian, and other data services.
Google Analytics can track most of it, so plugging in the data you receive from these data services or even you OEM can guide where and how to do your marketing. It's creating a cottage industry within the data arena for companies like String Automotive or ZMOTAuto to utilize for assisting dealers.
We are firm believers in the idea of letting the data guide your actions.
What it All Means
I'll admit that there's a little self-serving happening in this article. No, we're not promoting our products. We want dealers to become aware of the importance of bringing peope to your website. I cannot stress enough that there are plenty of good expenditures that have nothing to do with website traffic, but our opinion is firm that the primary focus of any digital marketing campaign should be to drive shoppers to the place where they're most likely to turn into a valid car shopper pulling into your dealership.
When you're looking at a marketing option, ask yourself one important question: will this put buyers on my website? It's not about bulk traffic. It's about quality traffic. It's not about leads, though some may argue that point. To us, it's about sales.
Sell more cars. That's the goal, right? The easiest way is by driving the shoppers to you directly so they're more likely to drive away in one of your vehicles.
6 Comments
Autofusion Inc.
Well Said! I agree 100%. Its' not about bulk traffic. One more point to keep in mind is bringing the user to the right page to maximize conversions. Having highly targeted pages that not only take into account the ad that was clicked on (in Paid Search) but also demographic data can increase conversions. Many vendors treat the landing page as an after-thought because by the time the user lands on your website, you have already paid the vendor for that click.
Dealer Authority
Absolutely, Carl! It's much better to advertise smarter than harder. Make it easy for the traffic to do what it takes to buy the car. Excellent point!
Remarkable Marketing
Carl I couldn't agree more! The landing page is the butter on the bread. Without a page that converts forget the click in the first place.
Autofusion Inc.
Grant, Exactly! Don't waste that click. You paid for it, now make sure you maximize the chances of converting the user into a lead.
Auto Know
#Automotiveinbound ....the future is NOW & a BIG piece is #Social done right. Most don't and miss opportunity month in and month out.
I'll take quality vs quantity all day long on the sales side. Service is another animal.
Dealer Authority
Build a Marketing Plan Around Funneling Car Shoppers to Your Website
Targeting is the name of the game. Most dealers (and even some vendors) are really starting to embrace this concept. Gone are the days of illogically spent marketing budgets and shotgun techniques...
...at least we wish those days were gone. Unfortunately, they're not. Many vendors still promote bulk marketing practices and many dealers are still buying into it. Producing favorable numbers is easy. Taking qualified buyers and getting them to engage in a meaningful way with your dealership is harder, but there's a silver lining: you have tools available to you to target the right people and get them to the right venues.
The Right Venue
First and foremost, the best venue for producing more sales is your website. That's not to say that there's anything wrong with AutoTrader, Cars.com, or any of the other places where your inventory can be seen. However, any opportunity you have to take them to your website will yield more favorable results.
Between social media advertising, search engine marketing, LotLinx, and display advertising, you can take prospective car shoppers to your website where they're more likely to convert and buy. In most cases, you can take them directly into your inventory, specials pages, or specific landing pages.
You don't have to drive everyone to your website. That's a mistake that some dealers are making that's taking the concept of "1st party leads" to the extreme. Some people simply won't visit your website no matter what you do and they may still buy a car from you if they see your listings elsewhere. However, it's important to keep it to a minimum. Only use the services that actually work.
The Right People
The amount of data available about car buyers is exceptional. That may not be a good thing in certain arenas (yes, I'm talking about you, NSA), but when it comes to helping people buy a car, there's no better way to do it than to target real buyers who are in the market today.
Facebook has the data that they get from Polk. You can also plug in data from your DMS, Experian, and other data services.
Google Analytics can track most of it, so plugging in the data you receive from these data services or even you OEM can guide where and how to do your marketing. It's creating a cottage industry within the data arena for companies like String Automotive or ZMOTAuto to utilize for assisting dealers.
We are firm believers in the idea of letting the data guide your actions.
What it All Means
I'll admit that there's a little self-serving happening in this article. No, we're not promoting our products. We want dealers to become aware of the importance of bringing peope to your website. I cannot stress enough that there are plenty of good expenditures that have nothing to do with website traffic, but our opinion is firm that the primary focus of any digital marketing campaign should be to drive shoppers to the place where they're most likely to turn into a valid car shopper pulling into your dealership.
When you're looking at a marketing option, ask yourself one important question: will this put buyers on my website? It's not about bulk traffic. It's about quality traffic. It's not about leads, though some may argue that point. To us, it's about sales.
Sell more cars. That's the goal, right? The easiest way is by driving the shoppers to you directly so they're more likely to drive away in one of your vehicles.
6 Comments
Autofusion Inc.
Well Said! I agree 100%. Its' not about bulk traffic. One more point to keep in mind is bringing the user to the right page to maximize conversions. Having highly targeted pages that not only take into account the ad that was clicked on (in Paid Search) but also demographic data can increase conversions. Many vendors treat the landing page as an after-thought because by the time the user lands on your website, you have already paid the vendor for that click.
Dealer Authority
Absolutely, Carl! It's much better to advertise smarter than harder. Make it easy for the traffic to do what it takes to buy the car. Excellent point!
Remarkable Marketing
Carl I couldn't agree more! The landing page is the butter on the bread. Without a page that converts forget the click in the first place.
Autofusion Inc.
Grant, Exactly! Don't waste that click. You paid for it, now make sure you maximize the chances of converting the user into a lead.
Auto Know
#Automotiveinbound ....the future is NOW & a BIG piece is #Social done right. Most don't and miss opportunity month in and month out.
I'll take quality vs quantity all day long on the sales side. Service is another animal.
Dealer Authority
Why 'Irrelevant' Content on a Dealer's Website is Relevant
Once you get over the beauty of the 1970 Dodge Charger in the picture, you might ask yourself, "What does a 45-year-old muscle car have to do with automotive content?"
We've been asked the same type of question multiple times pertaining to content we publish on dealer websites. Sometimes, it's dealers asking. Other times, it's other vendors wondering what we're doing or "tattling" to the dealer about it. The funny part is that when compared to the automotive marketing "gurus" who question it, the dealers tend to understand the philosophy much more quickly than the vendors.
I'm not here to insult anyone. I totally understand why it's hard for many vendors to get, especially the larger ones who have mechanized content, search, and social strategies. The reality is that based upon the most modern algorithms for Google, Bing, and Facebook (amongst others), robust and potentially popular content influences the visibility of standard lead-generating pages, inventory, and landing pages.
This will seem to be relatively in-depth based upon the size of the article, but it's not. To get in-depth would be to write an eBook on the subject. Here, we're just going to touch on the basics, specifically why dealers should act on the strategy to differentiate themselves from the competition.
A Dealer's Responsibility
Before I get into the what, why, and how, it's important to establish something up front. Just because your website, content, search, or social company isn't using this strategy doesn't mean they're bad. We've looked at dozens of providers and have found very few that do it, mostly because it's pretty labor-intensive and not scalable at all. A nimble company like ours can do it, even specialize in it, but I couldn't imagine anyone with more than a couple hundred clients being able to pull it off without getting redundant.
In other words, don't use this as a criteria of quality when viewing your vendors. I don't want to get calls from CEOs telling me that I poisoned their dealers with unachievable expectations. It's not the easiest strategy in the world to do properly, which is why we strongly recommend hiring a niche player or doing it yourself. If you don't have the budget to afford a company like us or the time to learn and do it yourself, there's no reason to go deeper into this article.
What It Is
For the sake of giving "it" a name, we'll go with the popular term outside of the automotive industry, "Viral Content Marketing." It's a misnomer in all actuality since they rarely go viral; internally we simply call them "blog posts." Unfortunately, most dealership blogs are filled with content that has spammy SEO titles like "Drivers at Virginia GMC Dealership Gear Up for Winter". These SEO heavy posts are really "splog" posts instead of blog post, so for the sake of differentiation we'll just call them what marketers outside of the industry call them - viral content posts.
Here's the thing. There's a big difference between relevancy and all-in targeting. A post on a Dodge dealer's website about a 1970 Dodge Charger is relevant because it's about Dodge and helps to establish the dealership as an authority on that subject. It's not targeted at all, of course, unless you actually have a '70 Charger on your lot for sale (in which case, call me, I want it!). The problem is that dealers and vendors have been so hammered with the concept of all-in targeting that they focus 100% of their content on it, leaving no room for the type of supporting viral blog posts that can dramatically improve the overall marketing of the target posts.
Why It Works
Here's the thing. There's a big difference between relevancy and all-in targeting. A post on a Dodge dealer's website about a 1970 Dodge Charger is relevant because it's about Dodge and helps to establish the dealership as an authority on that subject. It's not targeted at all, of course, unless you actually have a '70 Charger on your lot for sale (in which case, call me, I want it!). The problem is that dealers and vendors have been so hammered with the concept of all-in targeting that they focus 100% of their content on it, leaving no room for the type of supporting viral blog posts that can dramatically improve the overall marketing of the target posts.
Think of it like this. In a roast beef sandwich, most people think that the best part of it is the roast beef. Using the all-in targeting mentality, it would make sense to sell a roast beef sandwich that had nothing else to it - no bread, no condiments, no tomatoes, no pickles. Just beef. If you ordered a roast beef sandwich and the server handed you a plate with roast beef and nothing else, you'd probably be disappointed.
Now, apply that to content on your website. Google, Bing, and Facebook are your customers. You know that you want to get people to the pages that generate leads (the roast beef pages) so that's all you produce for them to eat. Unfortunately, they also want the things that enhance the experience of eating the roast beef, namely viral content. When you give them all of the information they want and enhance it with other ingredients, it makes the roast beef pages taste better to them. Thus, they'll be happier and more willing to serve your pages to their customers (those on search and social looking for cars).
Viral content can earn more powerful inbound links. It can generate much more in the way of social shares. These things improve your domain authority which elevates the ability of your lead-generating pages like inventory and landing pages to rank organically in search and get more exposure on social.
How To Do It
Not to be too simplistic, but if I try to expand it much we'll end up with a 5000-word article. Therefore, here's a small step-by-step mini-guide.
- Build content that people want to see. If it's the type of content that you would enjoy reading in Car and Driver, then you're on the right track.
- Relevance supersedes popularity. It's not hard to write content that people would love to see - a top 10 list of funny cat pictures would be popular, but it's not relevant. Think about top 10 features of the Honda Odyssey instead. Less popular, much more relevant.
- Make sure there's at least one vivid image over 600 pixels wide with a 2:1 size ratio on the page. This will give it much more attention when shared on social media.
- Once you have the content, get it out there. Send it to the appropriate publications who might find interest in it. This is particularly useful when the content is about a local event or organization.
- Share it on your social media pages and profiles. Put effort into the content - no automation. Hand-craft the description on Facebook and Google+. Give it an interesting lead-in or title on Twitter and Pinterest and make sure to use a hashtag or two.
- Get some of your friends or coworkers to do the same. You don't want to "manufacturer" popularity by having the same people doing the same thing every time. Mix it up!
This is a very basic roadmap, I know, but it's enough to get you started. Feel free to reach out if you have in-depth questions.
4 Comments
AutoStride
Content Marketing for Blogs, Press Releases, Client Case Studies, How-To Guides, Video, etc. Another spot-on article by Mr. J.D. Rucker. I will say, additionally, I use Research & Analysis on keyword manipulation for sake of search traffic. I do much of this at the blog level, for example: http://baierlchevrolet.com/blog/2015/01/cranberry-heres-a-first-look-at-gms-latest-entry-in-the-ev-industry.cfm http://baierlchevrolet.com/blog/2015/01/wexford-take-note-of-the-chevy-cruze-recall.cfm http://baierlchevrolet.com/blog/2015/01/meet-part-of-the-new-chevy-lineup-for-pittsburghs-efficient-and-stylish-car-lovers.cfm http://fuccillododge.com/blog/2014/12/easy-performance-tips-on-a-2013-dodge-charger-sxt.cfm http://stuckeyforyou.com/blog/2014/08/food-for-car-home-tricks-to-keep-your-ford-explorer-xlt-in-shape-for-altoona-driving.cfm http://fuccilloimports.com/blog/2014/03/the-worlds-best-selling-convertible-mazda-miata-makes-its-way-to-watertown-adams-and-syracuse-ny.cfm http://stuckeyforyou.com/blog/2015/01/several-key-features-make-a-used-ford-escape-perfect-for-small-families-in-johnstown.cfm http://findlaytoyota.com/blog/2014/08/be-a-smart-driver-when-you-are-behind-the-wheel-of-your-toyota-camry-in-henderson.cfm http://fuccillododge.com/blog/2014/04/worried-about-hauling-furniture-from-watertown-to-syracuse-and-adams-upgrade-your-hauling-power-with-a-used-ram-1500.cfm http://fuccilloimports.com/blog/2014/11/preparing-for-the-syracuse-road-with-your-used-hyundai-santa-fe.cfm http://findlaytoyota.com/blog/2014/08/henderson-why-is-your-toyota-corolla-not-starting.cfm http://stuckeyforyou.com/blog/2014/09/get-rid-of-the-rust-on-your-used-ford-explorer-in-altoona.cfm Taking popular stories and turning them into your own version of them and sharing them (Content Sharing through Social -- Extremely important to get content popularized, whether or not Matt Cutts admits to social signals or not) is a simple, yet effective strategy. What you see Cobalt / ADP and Dealer.com doing, they tend to avoid blogging (albeit Dealer.com puts out Video blogs, with very little textual content within them), with R&A, because it's a TON OF WORK, but that's how it goes. Cookie cutter SEO, does not work! Repeat, does not work and even more so today. However, I am stepping away from http://www.worlddealer.net on the 30th of January.
AutoStride
Additionally, unless you have hacked WordPress, the way we have, you had better have a blog system in place that enables for the generation of an RSS Feed. Example: http://baierlchevrolet.com/dealer/baierlchevrolet/blog.xml Feed the robots, the way they want to be fed.
AutoStride
Here are a few others. Although, the geolocation, probably unneeded. Used Cadillac Brougham Review, Timeless Style and Class in Cranberry http://baierlcadillac.com/blog/2014/12/used-cadillac-brougham-review-timeless-style-and-class-in-cranberry.cfm Our Review of the Used Cadillac Deville, Classic Luxury for Pittsburgh http://baierlcadillac.com/blog/2014/12/our-review-of-the-used-cadillac-deville-classic-luxury-for-pittsburgh.cfm
AutoStride
Still holds true What are 10 Addictive Types of Content? http://www.jeffbullas.com/2011/11/08/what-are-10-addictive-types-of-content
Dealer Authority
Why 'Irrelevant' Content on a Dealer's Website is Relevant
Once you get over the beauty of the 1970 Dodge Charger in the picture, you might ask yourself, "What does a 45-year-old muscle car have to do with automotive content?"
We've been asked the same type of question multiple times pertaining to content we publish on dealer websites. Sometimes, it's dealers asking. Other times, it's other vendors wondering what we're doing or "tattling" to the dealer about it. The funny part is that when compared to the automotive marketing "gurus" who question it, the dealers tend to understand the philosophy much more quickly than the vendors.
I'm not here to insult anyone. I totally understand why it's hard for many vendors to get, especially the larger ones who have mechanized content, search, and social strategies. The reality is that based upon the most modern algorithms for Google, Bing, and Facebook (amongst others), robust and potentially popular content influences the visibility of standard lead-generating pages, inventory, and landing pages.
This will seem to be relatively in-depth based upon the size of the article, but it's not. To get in-depth would be to write an eBook on the subject. Here, we're just going to touch on the basics, specifically why dealers should act on the strategy to differentiate themselves from the competition.
A Dealer's Responsibility
Before I get into the what, why, and how, it's important to establish something up front. Just because your website, content, search, or social company isn't using this strategy doesn't mean they're bad. We've looked at dozens of providers and have found very few that do it, mostly because it's pretty labor-intensive and not scalable at all. A nimble company like ours can do it, even specialize in it, but I couldn't imagine anyone with more than a couple hundred clients being able to pull it off without getting redundant.
In other words, don't use this as a criteria of quality when viewing your vendors. I don't want to get calls from CEOs telling me that I poisoned their dealers with unachievable expectations. It's not the easiest strategy in the world to do properly, which is why we strongly recommend hiring a niche player or doing it yourself. If you don't have the budget to afford a company like us or the time to learn and do it yourself, there's no reason to go deeper into this article.
What It Is
For the sake of giving "it" a name, we'll go with the popular term outside of the automotive industry, "Viral Content Marketing." It's a misnomer in all actuality since they rarely go viral; internally we simply call them "blog posts." Unfortunately, most dealership blogs are filled with content that has spammy SEO titles like "Drivers at Virginia GMC Dealership Gear Up for Winter". These SEO heavy posts are really "splog" posts instead of blog post, so for the sake of differentiation we'll just call them what marketers outside of the industry call them - viral content posts.
Here's the thing. There's a big difference between relevancy and all-in targeting. A post on a Dodge dealer's website about a 1970 Dodge Charger is relevant because it's about Dodge and helps to establish the dealership as an authority on that subject. It's not targeted at all, of course, unless you actually have a '70 Charger on your lot for sale (in which case, call me, I want it!). The problem is that dealers and vendors have been so hammered with the concept of all-in targeting that they focus 100% of their content on it, leaving no room for the type of supporting viral blog posts that can dramatically improve the overall marketing of the target posts.
Why It Works
Here's the thing. There's a big difference between relevancy and all-in targeting. A post on a Dodge dealer's website about a 1970 Dodge Charger is relevant because it's about Dodge and helps to establish the dealership as an authority on that subject. It's not targeted at all, of course, unless you actually have a '70 Charger on your lot for sale (in which case, call me, I want it!). The problem is that dealers and vendors have been so hammered with the concept of all-in targeting that they focus 100% of their content on it, leaving no room for the type of supporting viral blog posts that can dramatically improve the overall marketing of the target posts.
Think of it like this. In a roast beef sandwich, most people think that the best part of it is the roast beef. Using the all-in targeting mentality, it would make sense to sell a roast beef sandwich that had nothing else to it - no bread, no condiments, no tomatoes, no pickles. Just beef. If you ordered a roast beef sandwich and the server handed you a plate with roast beef and nothing else, you'd probably be disappointed.
Now, apply that to content on your website. Google, Bing, and Facebook are your customers. You know that you want to get people to the pages that generate leads (the roast beef pages) so that's all you produce for them to eat. Unfortunately, they also want the things that enhance the experience of eating the roast beef, namely viral content. When you give them all of the information they want and enhance it with other ingredients, it makes the roast beef pages taste better to them. Thus, they'll be happier and more willing to serve your pages to their customers (those on search and social looking for cars).
Viral content can earn more powerful inbound links. It can generate much more in the way of social shares. These things improve your domain authority which elevates the ability of your lead-generating pages like inventory and landing pages to rank organically in search and get more exposure on social.
How To Do It
Not to be too simplistic, but if I try to expand it much we'll end up with a 5000-word article. Therefore, here's a small step-by-step mini-guide.
- Build content that people want to see. If it's the type of content that you would enjoy reading in Car and Driver, then you're on the right track.
- Relevance supersedes popularity. It's not hard to write content that people would love to see - a top 10 list of funny cat pictures would be popular, but it's not relevant. Think about top 10 features of the Honda Odyssey instead. Less popular, much more relevant.
- Make sure there's at least one vivid image over 600 pixels wide with a 2:1 size ratio on the page. This will give it much more attention when shared on social media.
- Once you have the content, get it out there. Send it to the appropriate publications who might find interest in it. This is particularly useful when the content is about a local event or organization.
- Share it on your social media pages and profiles. Put effort into the content - no automation. Hand-craft the description on Facebook and Google+. Give it an interesting lead-in or title on Twitter and Pinterest and make sure to use a hashtag or two.
- Get some of your friends or coworkers to do the same. You don't want to "manufacturer" popularity by having the same people doing the same thing every time. Mix it up!
This is a very basic roadmap, I know, but it's enough to get you started. Feel free to reach out if you have in-depth questions.
4 Comments
AutoStride
Content Marketing for Blogs, Press Releases, Client Case Studies, How-To Guides, Video, etc. Another spot-on article by Mr. J.D. Rucker. I will say, additionally, I use Research & Analysis on keyword manipulation for sake of search traffic. I do much of this at the blog level, for example: http://baierlchevrolet.com/blog/2015/01/cranberry-heres-a-first-look-at-gms-latest-entry-in-the-ev-industry.cfm http://baierlchevrolet.com/blog/2015/01/wexford-take-note-of-the-chevy-cruze-recall.cfm http://baierlchevrolet.com/blog/2015/01/meet-part-of-the-new-chevy-lineup-for-pittsburghs-efficient-and-stylish-car-lovers.cfm http://fuccillododge.com/blog/2014/12/easy-performance-tips-on-a-2013-dodge-charger-sxt.cfm http://stuckeyforyou.com/blog/2014/08/food-for-car-home-tricks-to-keep-your-ford-explorer-xlt-in-shape-for-altoona-driving.cfm http://fuccilloimports.com/blog/2014/03/the-worlds-best-selling-convertible-mazda-miata-makes-its-way-to-watertown-adams-and-syracuse-ny.cfm http://stuckeyforyou.com/blog/2015/01/several-key-features-make-a-used-ford-escape-perfect-for-small-families-in-johnstown.cfm http://findlaytoyota.com/blog/2014/08/be-a-smart-driver-when-you-are-behind-the-wheel-of-your-toyota-camry-in-henderson.cfm http://fuccillododge.com/blog/2014/04/worried-about-hauling-furniture-from-watertown-to-syracuse-and-adams-upgrade-your-hauling-power-with-a-used-ram-1500.cfm http://fuccilloimports.com/blog/2014/11/preparing-for-the-syracuse-road-with-your-used-hyundai-santa-fe.cfm http://findlaytoyota.com/blog/2014/08/henderson-why-is-your-toyota-corolla-not-starting.cfm http://stuckeyforyou.com/blog/2014/09/get-rid-of-the-rust-on-your-used-ford-explorer-in-altoona.cfm Taking popular stories and turning them into your own version of them and sharing them (Content Sharing through Social -- Extremely important to get content popularized, whether or not Matt Cutts admits to social signals or not) is a simple, yet effective strategy. What you see Cobalt / ADP and Dealer.com doing, they tend to avoid blogging (albeit Dealer.com puts out Video blogs, with very little textual content within them), with R&A, because it's a TON OF WORK, but that's how it goes. Cookie cutter SEO, does not work! Repeat, does not work and even more so today. However, I am stepping away from http://www.worlddealer.net on the 30th of January.
AutoStride
Additionally, unless you have hacked WordPress, the way we have, you had better have a blog system in place that enables for the generation of an RSS Feed. Example: http://baierlchevrolet.com/dealer/baierlchevrolet/blog.xml Feed the robots, the way they want to be fed.
AutoStride
Here are a few others. Although, the geolocation, probably unneeded. Used Cadillac Brougham Review, Timeless Style and Class in Cranberry http://baierlcadillac.com/blog/2014/12/used-cadillac-brougham-review-timeless-style-and-class-in-cranberry.cfm Our Review of the Used Cadillac Deville, Classic Luxury for Pittsburgh http://baierlcadillac.com/blog/2014/12/our-review-of-the-used-cadillac-deville-classic-luxury-for-pittsburgh.cfm
AutoStride
Still holds true What are 10 Addictive Types of Content? http://www.jeffbullas.com/2011/11/08/what-are-10-addictive-types-of-content
Dealer Authority
How can Dealers Discern Between Automotive SEO Pitches?
You have two cars. They both have 4 wheels, a transmission, a four-cylinder engine, red paint, and a sporty feel to them. To someone just hearing about it and who didn't know much about cars, they might seem to be pretty much the same.
One is a 1957 Ferrari TRC Spider with the rare inline-4 and the other is a 1993 Geo Storm GSi. If someone knows nothing about cars, they might pick the latter since it's 36 years newer, but here on Driving Sales it's safe to say that everyone knows which one would go for $4 million at auction.
The problem with SEO in 2015 is that everyone is describing their product the same way. I was on a presentation last week when a prospect told me that our description of SEO matched with another company's. I know for certain that this particular company does very little in the way of actual SEO, but looking at the brochure they left and reading about it on their website made me feel like I just showed up at a party wearing the same outfit as someone else.
There are universal buzzwords being tossed around in our industry right now. Content. Links. Social signals. Schema.org. Unique title tags. The list is pretty long, just as the list of similarities between a Ferrari and a Geo Storm would be long. How can dealers discern?
Unfortunately, I've come to the conclusion that there's really no way to truly differentiate unless quality is checked. If a dealer receiving a pitch for SEO doesn't closely examine the quality of the work being performed, there's no way to tell the difference between good SEO and bad SEO.
I know what you're thinking. All a dealer has to do is ask for examples of results. The work is only as important as the results, right? The sad reality is that every SEO or website company with more than 20 clients can come up with great examples of SEO prowess. There are plenty of dealers across the country that don't even have SEO but who are ranked well for their keywords.
If everyone has examples, we're back to having to judge the quality of the work. It's a pain because it means reading through content, testing that content out in searches on Google or Copyscape, and even asking for conversion numbers to see if the page was effective at actually driving leads.
Plenty of people have written about the questions one could ask their prospective SEO firm to see if they know what they're talking about, but I am going to go back to the beginning on this one and focus on getting examples of work. It's actually contrary to what many post, but there are a couple of dynamics at play here. First, most companies have someone on staff who can talk intelligently about SEO even if they aren't actually doing it right. Second, the "right" answer might not be so easily explained.
An example for the second dynamic at play would be looking at links. PageRank is dead, so that's no longer an indicator of the quality of the site. Page and domain authority are decent indicators, but even those are slow to update and don't always paint the right picture, particularly if a page is loaded with outbound links that dilute the effectiveness.
So, it comes down to the one universal truth that every great SEO service I've ever seen can hold as sacred: quality of content. Thankfully, you do have the ability to discern this because you can tell the difference between good content and bad content. There's really no such thing as "SEO content" anymore. If it's good for SEO, it will be a great read for a human as well.
Get examples. See what they're posting on your site as well as anything being posted offsite. If it's stuffed with keywords, sounds robotic, or generally makes you feel like rushing through to get to the end, it's probably poor content. If you can read it and get engaged with what's written, Google and Bing will likely like it as well.
It's not a perfect science, but there's an art to SEO as well. If it makes sense to you, it will make sense to the search engines.
8 Comments
Kijiji, an eBay Company
SEO is a hard thing to grade in terms of quality. It would be similar to judging if one magic elixir worked better than the other. There are so many ways to spin the data, that it is near impossible to determine which vendor performs better. If anyone is headed to NADA next week, make sure to ask these vendors the tough questions. Ask them for quantifiable data that shows their product working. Ask to see full analytics data to ensure the increase/decrease isn't being caused by something else. Claiming you are the best at SEO is no different than saying you have "The Best Coffee in Seattle" or the "Best Pizza in New York". Everyone says it, and there really is no easy way to prove them wrong.
Dealer Authority
Thats exactly the point of the article Robert. We have a lot of vendors claiming to be the best, tailoring their "pitches" to talk the talk but fail to deliver the goods. Hiring an SEO is really about trust. A vendor could jump through every hoop you put them through and still in the end not deliver. If a vendor doesn't pass the simple indicators of quality that Tyson has provided you have now found a way to avoid the noise. Month to month agreements and no setup fees are another great indicator of the vendors confidence in their ability to maintain your satisfaction.
Stateline Sales LLC
The determining factor for SEO success is pretty straightforward: Has organic traffic increased and have organic leads increased. Content, links, social mentions or any of the other factors do not matter. SERP rankings are immaterial, actual results are the only factor. If you cant show a client how you you are helping them generate more opportunities to sell more cars or service you are just participating in the Automotive SEO cash grab that is slowly moving to obsolescence.
Automotive Group
How many SEO experts do you need to change a lightbulb lightbulbs buy light bulbs neon lights sex porn
Remarkable Marketing
Ive always concentrated on great content. Its never done me wrong. If your SEO isn't providing your "to-be aggregated audience" enjoyable, relevant, valuable reading forget it. I truly don't believe the SEO battle is ALGORITHM TRICKERY, the battle is great content. If Google didn't make GOOD CONTENT the highest ranking aspect of their algorithm, we would all be using Yahoo...
AutoStride
Quality Content Production (on a Quality Platform) + 3rd Party Quality Content Site Links = New World SEO I'll say it even again: What does Google want? They want relevant, real content on the internet that people want to read and tell other people about. If Google doesn’t bring you the most relevant content when you search, they aren’t doing their job. So by definition, even the word Search Engine Optimization (SEO) means to “game” the Google search engines (and others) to get your valuable content ranked higher than it would be if left alone to the forces of the Web. The bottom line is that all external SEO efforts are counterfeit other than one: Writing, designing, recording, or videoing real and relevant content that benefits those who search. SEO of any kind is pursued by gaming the system. There is nothing “natural” about any form of SEO. The fundamental concept of SEO is exploiting a flaw in a search engine’s ranking algorithm. The difference between white and black hat tactics is merely a function of where Google decides to draw a line, and this line is at least somewhat arbitrary. Google's goal is to confuse search engine optimization (SEO) efforts and to uncover aggressive SEO techniques through delaying, or obfuscating results from SEO changes being made.
AutoStride
We can sit here and talk SEO and keyword rankings all day and night. It's great to rank for high search traffic keywords and measure them for their conversion prowess. However, and this is a MASSIVE HOWEVER, if you've a site that ranks well, but isn't usable, failing to perform on all devices, etc. you're doing it incorrectly. SO THINK, "HMMMMM... WHY WOULD I WANT TO USE AN SEO SERVICE IF MY WEBSITE SUCKS, IN TERMS OF USABILITY!" I know, I'm a broken record... We've not touched base on the User Experience aspect, which many ignore or fail to test. It's all about the user experience to Google and that includes the manner in which a site displays and easy access to all content, plus speed. Responsive design has been around for ages, it's just now catching fire in the web world. User Experience (UX) involves a person's behaviors, attitudes, and emotions about using a particular product, system or service. User Experience includes the practical, experiential, affective, meaningful and valuable aspects of human-computer interaction and product ownership. Additionally, it includes a person's perceptions of system aspects such as utility, ease of use and efficiency. User Experience may be considered subjective in nature to the degree that it is about individual perception and thought with respect to the system. User Experience is dynamic as it is constantly modified over time due to changing usage circumstances and changes to individual systems as well as the wider usage context in which they can be found. Instructional Design (also called Instructional Systems Design (ISD)) is the practice of creating "instructional experiences which make the acquisition of knowledge and skill more efficient, effective, and appealing." The process consists broadly of determining the current state and needs of the learner, defining the end goal of instruction, and creating some "intervention" to assist in the transition. More broadly: Human–computer interaction (HCI) involves the study, planning, design and uses of the interaction between people (users) and computers. It is often regarded as the intersection of computer science, behavioral sciences, design, media studies, and several other fields of study. Through RWD (Responsive Web Design), it's easy for Google to crawl a great amount of data with the same URL, whereas more mobile site platforms make it much more difficult, just in general. The indexing aspect as well as being able to manipulate many aspects of content marketing, such as using a variety of plugins to accelerate Mobile SEO, which is NOT Global / National or Local (this should be highly noted).
Dealer Authority
How can Dealers Discern Between Automotive SEO Pitches?
You have two cars. They both have 4 wheels, a transmission, a four-cylinder engine, red paint, and a sporty feel to them. To someone just hearing about it and who didn't know much about cars, they might seem to be pretty much the same.
One is a 1957 Ferrari TRC Spider with the rare inline-4 and the other is a 1993 Geo Storm GSi. If someone knows nothing about cars, they might pick the latter since it's 36 years newer, but here on Driving Sales it's safe to say that everyone knows which one would go for $4 million at auction.
The problem with SEO in 2015 is that everyone is describing their product the same way. I was on a presentation last week when a prospect told me that our description of SEO matched with another company's. I know for certain that this particular company does very little in the way of actual SEO, but looking at the brochure they left and reading about it on their website made me feel like I just showed up at a party wearing the same outfit as someone else.
There are universal buzzwords being tossed around in our industry right now. Content. Links. Social signals. Schema.org. Unique title tags. The list is pretty long, just as the list of similarities between a Ferrari and a Geo Storm would be long. How can dealers discern?
Unfortunately, I've come to the conclusion that there's really no way to truly differentiate unless quality is checked. If a dealer receiving a pitch for SEO doesn't closely examine the quality of the work being performed, there's no way to tell the difference between good SEO and bad SEO.
I know what you're thinking. All a dealer has to do is ask for examples of results. The work is only as important as the results, right? The sad reality is that every SEO or website company with more than 20 clients can come up with great examples of SEO prowess. There are plenty of dealers across the country that don't even have SEO but who are ranked well for their keywords.
If everyone has examples, we're back to having to judge the quality of the work. It's a pain because it means reading through content, testing that content out in searches on Google or Copyscape, and even asking for conversion numbers to see if the page was effective at actually driving leads.
Plenty of people have written about the questions one could ask their prospective SEO firm to see if they know what they're talking about, but I am going to go back to the beginning on this one and focus on getting examples of work. It's actually contrary to what many post, but there are a couple of dynamics at play here. First, most companies have someone on staff who can talk intelligently about SEO even if they aren't actually doing it right. Second, the "right" answer might not be so easily explained.
An example for the second dynamic at play would be looking at links. PageRank is dead, so that's no longer an indicator of the quality of the site. Page and domain authority are decent indicators, but even those are slow to update and don't always paint the right picture, particularly if a page is loaded with outbound links that dilute the effectiveness.
So, it comes down to the one universal truth that every great SEO service I've ever seen can hold as sacred: quality of content. Thankfully, you do have the ability to discern this because you can tell the difference between good content and bad content. There's really no such thing as "SEO content" anymore. If it's good for SEO, it will be a great read for a human as well.
Get examples. See what they're posting on your site as well as anything being posted offsite. If it's stuffed with keywords, sounds robotic, or generally makes you feel like rushing through to get to the end, it's probably poor content. If you can read it and get engaged with what's written, Google and Bing will likely like it as well.
It's not a perfect science, but there's an art to SEO as well. If it makes sense to you, it will make sense to the search engines.
8 Comments
Kijiji, an eBay Company
SEO is a hard thing to grade in terms of quality. It would be similar to judging if one magic elixir worked better than the other. There are so many ways to spin the data, that it is near impossible to determine which vendor performs better. If anyone is headed to NADA next week, make sure to ask these vendors the tough questions. Ask them for quantifiable data that shows their product working. Ask to see full analytics data to ensure the increase/decrease isn't being caused by something else. Claiming you are the best at SEO is no different than saying you have "The Best Coffee in Seattle" or the "Best Pizza in New York". Everyone says it, and there really is no easy way to prove them wrong.
Dealer Authority
Thats exactly the point of the article Robert. We have a lot of vendors claiming to be the best, tailoring their "pitches" to talk the talk but fail to deliver the goods. Hiring an SEO is really about trust. A vendor could jump through every hoop you put them through and still in the end not deliver. If a vendor doesn't pass the simple indicators of quality that Tyson has provided you have now found a way to avoid the noise. Month to month agreements and no setup fees are another great indicator of the vendors confidence in their ability to maintain your satisfaction.
Stateline Sales LLC
The determining factor for SEO success is pretty straightforward: Has organic traffic increased and have organic leads increased. Content, links, social mentions or any of the other factors do not matter. SERP rankings are immaterial, actual results are the only factor. If you cant show a client how you you are helping them generate more opportunities to sell more cars or service you are just participating in the Automotive SEO cash grab that is slowly moving to obsolescence.
Automotive Group
How many SEO experts do you need to change a lightbulb lightbulbs buy light bulbs neon lights sex porn
Remarkable Marketing
Ive always concentrated on great content. Its never done me wrong. If your SEO isn't providing your "to-be aggregated audience" enjoyable, relevant, valuable reading forget it. I truly don't believe the SEO battle is ALGORITHM TRICKERY, the battle is great content. If Google didn't make GOOD CONTENT the highest ranking aspect of their algorithm, we would all be using Yahoo...
AutoStride
Quality Content Production (on a Quality Platform) + 3rd Party Quality Content Site Links = New World SEO I'll say it even again: What does Google want? They want relevant, real content on the internet that people want to read and tell other people about. If Google doesn’t bring you the most relevant content when you search, they aren’t doing their job. So by definition, even the word Search Engine Optimization (SEO) means to “game” the Google search engines (and others) to get your valuable content ranked higher than it would be if left alone to the forces of the Web. The bottom line is that all external SEO efforts are counterfeit other than one: Writing, designing, recording, or videoing real and relevant content that benefits those who search. SEO of any kind is pursued by gaming the system. There is nothing “natural” about any form of SEO. The fundamental concept of SEO is exploiting a flaw in a search engine’s ranking algorithm. The difference between white and black hat tactics is merely a function of where Google decides to draw a line, and this line is at least somewhat arbitrary. Google's goal is to confuse search engine optimization (SEO) efforts and to uncover aggressive SEO techniques through delaying, or obfuscating results from SEO changes being made.
AutoStride
We can sit here and talk SEO and keyword rankings all day and night. It's great to rank for high search traffic keywords and measure them for their conversion prowess. However, and this is a MASSIVE HOWEVER, if you've a site that ranks well, but isn't usable, failing to perform on all devices, etc. you're doing it incorrectly. SO THINK, "HMMMMM... WHY WOULD I WANT TO USE AN SEO SERVICE IF MY WEBSITE SUCKS, IN TERMS OF USABILITY!" I know, I'm a broken record... We've not touched base on the User Experience aspect, which many ignore or fail to test. It's all about the user experience to Google and that includes the manner in which a site displays and easy access to all content, plus speed. Responsive design has been around for ages, it's just now catching fire in the web world. User Experience (UX) involves a person's behaviors, attitudes, and emotions about using a particular product, system or service. User Experience includes the practical, experiential, affective, meaningful and valuable aspects of human-computer interaction and product ownership. Additionally, it includes a person's perceptions of system aspects such as utility, ease of use and efficiency. User Experience may be considered subjective in nature to the degree that it is about individual perception and thought with respect to the system. User Experience is dynamic as it is constantly modified over time due to changing usage circumstances and changes to individual systems as well as the wider usage context in which they can be found. Instructional Design (also called Instructional Systems Design (ISD)) is the practice of creating "instructional experiences which make the acquisition of knowledge and skill more efficient, effective, and appealing." The process consists broadly of determining the current state and needs of the learner, defining the end goal of instruction, and creating some "intervention" to assist in the transition. More broadly: Human–computer interaction (HCI) involves the study, planning, design and uses of the interaction between people (users) and computers. It is often regarded as the intersection of computer science, behavioral sciences, design, media studies, and several other fields of study. Through RWD (Responsive Web Design), it's easy for Google to crawl a great amount of data with the same URL, whereas more mobile site platforms make it much more difficult, just in general. The indexing aspect as well as being able to manipulate many aspects of content marketing, such as using a variety of plugins to accelerate Mobile SEO, which is NOT Global / National or Local (this should be highly noted).
Dealer Authority
It’s All Going Mobile. We Get It. Now What?
Compared to a couple of years ago, the number of dealers who have some sort of mobile strategy is exponentially higher. As an industry, we're starting to really understand just how important mobile is, but there needs to be more action and less discussion, in my humble opinion.
Here's an article I wrote on one of my blogs. It was originally meant for a general business audience but I adjusted it slightly so we can apply to the car business as well.
Enjoy:
When I finally stopped counting, I found 43 articles posted this week on various publications proclaiming that everything was going mobile and that marketers and businesses need to make the appropriate adjustments. All of the articles had two things in common: they gave reasons why we needed to market to mobile users and they didn't give very good ways other than the basic or generic methods for doing so.
Well, I'm here to give you some good ways to do it. That's all. No need to convince you that you need to do it. If you're reading this article, you already know. If you're not reading this article, you probably already know. Now, let's get away from why and start really digging into how.
Build Everything for Mobile
Everything. I didn't say most things. I didn't say "everything digital" or "all of your advertising". I said "everything" and I mean it.
Signs. Billboards. Television commercials. Radio spots. Newspaper ads. PPC campaigns. Social media posts. Your website. You employees' apparel.
Pretend like people will be carrying around smartphones and tablets with them everywhere they go. Pretend like their primary method for interacting with businesses is not the phone, not their email, not their laptops, and not coming to see you in person. Pretend like they're on the verge of using their mobile device even when they're in your store. Now, stop pretending because all of that is already a reality.
Watch your customers at the store. How many of them check their phones during the visit? Check your analytics. Look at the devices through which they're viewing your website.
Now, give them the opportunity to have a mobile experience with everything you have. Once you have the opportunities in line, give them the reason to act. For example:
- Forget about paper coupons for parts or service. Put virtual coupons at your store if they download your app or go to the "In-Store Customer Discount Page" on your website.
- Post unique videos and articles about specific vehicles. I'm not talking about stitched videos. I'm referring to sending a salesperson or someone else out to that new model that just came off the truck and giving it a good, short walkaround. Lots of dealers and vendors are talking about video, but few are investing into the medium properly. It doesn't cost much if anything. It takes time and commitment.
- Let customers post to your site, community, or social profiles. In fact, encourage them. Give them incentive to do so. Tell them if they post a selfie with your sign in the background, they'll get 10% off. Images posted to Facebook or Twitter are much better than checkins on Yelp.
I could spit out ideas for hours, but we're writing an article, not a book. Think of ideas for yourself. What can you do with everything you have to make it part of the mobile experience.
A Mobile-Only Website Would Work
All too often, we build a website for the company and make it really pretty on a desktop, but we neglect to put the same effort in for mobile. Whether you're using responsive, adaptive, mobile-ready, or full-site only platforms, make sure that your website is designed specifically for mobile.
My personal recommendation is to go with responsive, but this article is not the place for that debate.
If your primary website mimicked a mobile experience, you're better off than if your mobile website mimics a desktop experience. At some point in the near future, we will begin to see more websites that appear like mobile websites even when viewed on desktops. This is a good thing. Those who start doing it early will be ahead of the curve.
Social is Mobile
For a while there, it was looking as if Facebook would be able to become the only web presence. They faltered, then interest dropped off, but they got close. Now, we're still stuck with our standard online presence and a separate social presence.
But wait! It doesn't have to be so partitioned. Social media sites, Facebook in particular, have very powerful mobile connections. By drawing as many people in as possible to engage with you through their mobile devices on social media, you can start to bridge the gap and work towards a unified web presence. This is much trickier than what I can explain in a short article, but the strategy is one that we're implementing for clients now.
If you think social, think mobile. If you think mobile, make it work with social. Both can be made local, thus we hear about the SoLoMo concept that has been so popular at marketing conferences for a few years now.
Erase All Desktop and Analog Thinking from Your Mindset
This is the most important thing to do. We've hammered it so far in this article with everything we've said. Now we're going to push it all the way through to the other side.
You don't have a mobile website and a desktop website. You have a website. You don't have social media fans on mobile and social media fans on desktop. They're all on mobile (or will be eventually). You don't have customers walking through your doors who aren't seconds away from having their phone in their hand. Embrace it.
Buzzwords like "showrooming" and "competitive shopping" are real but pretty much meaningless until you have a purely mobile strategy for everything you do. Keep that in mind next time you're looking at your advertising and marketing budgets. If an expenditure doesn't assist in taking advantage of a mobile society, consider letting it go.
No Comments
Dealer Authority
It’s All Going Mobile. We Get It. Now What?
Compared to a couple of years ago, the number of dealers who have some sort of mobile strategy is exponentially higher. As an industry, we're starting to really understand just how important mobile is, but there needs to be more action and less discussion, in my humble opinion.
Here's an article I wrote on one of my blogs. It was originally meant for a general business audience but I adjusted it slightly so we can apply to the car business as well.
Enjoy:
When I finally stopped counting, I found 43 articles posted this week on various publications proclaiming that everything was going mobile and that marketers and businesses need to make the appropriate adjustments. All of the articles had two things in common: they gave reasons why we needed to market to mobile users and they didn't give very good ways other than the basic or generic methods for doing so.
Well, I'm here to give you some good ways to do it. That's all. No need to convince you that you need to do it. If you're reading this article, you already know. If you're not reading this article, you probably already know. Now, let's get away from why and start really digging into how.
Build Everything for Mobile
Everything. I didn't say most things. I didn't say "everything digital" or "all of your advertising". I said "everything" and I mean it.
Signs. Billboards. Television commercials. Radio spots. Newspaper ads. PPC campaigns. Social media posts. Your website. You employees' apparel.
Pretend like people will be carrying around smartphones and tablets with them everywhere they go. Pretend like their primary method for interacting with businesses is not the phone, not their email, not their laptops, and not coming to see you in person. Pretend like they're on the verge of using their mobile device even when they're in your store. Now, stop pretending because all of that is already a reality.
Watch your customers at the store. How many of them check their phones during the visit? Check your analytics. Look at the devices through which they're viewing your website.
Now, give them the opportunity to have a mobile experience with everything you have. Once you have the opportunities in line, give them the reason to act. For example:
- Forget about paper coupons for parts or service. Put virtual coupons at your store if they download your app or go to the "In-Store Customer Discount Page" on your website.
- Post unique videos and articles about specific vehicles. I'm not talking about stitched videos. I'm referring to sending a salesperson or someone else out to that new model that just came off the truck and giving it a good, short walkaround. Lots of dealers and vendors are talking about video, but few are investing into the medium properly. It doesn't cost much if anything. It takes time and commitment.
- Let customers post to your site, community, or social profiles. In fact, encourage them. Give them incentive to do so. Tell them if they post a selfie with your sign in the background, they'll get 10% off. Images posted to Facebook or Twitter are much better than checkins on Yelp.
I could spit out ideas for hours, but we're writing an article, not a book. Think of ideas for yourself. What can you do with everything you have to make it part of the mobile experience.
A Mobile-Only Website Would Work
All too often, we build a website for the company and make it really pretty on a desktop, but we neglect to put the same effort in for mobile. Whether you're using responsive, adaptive, mobile-ready, or full-site only platforms, make sure that your website is designed specifically for mobile.
My personal recommendation is to go with responsive, but this article is not the place for that debate.
If your primary website mimicked a mobile experience, you're better off than if your mobile website mimics a desktop experience. At some point in the near future, we will begin to see more websites that appear like mobile websites even when viewed on desktops. This is a good thing. Those who start doing it early will be ahead of the curve.
Social is Mobile
For a while there, it was looking as if Facebook would be able to become the only web presence. They faltered, then interest dropped off, but they got close. Now, we're still stuck with our standard online presence and a separate social presence.
But wait! It doesn't have to be so partitioned. Social media sites, Facebook in particular, have very powerful mobile connections. By drawing as many people in as possible to engage with you through their mobile devices on social media, you can start to bridge the gap and work towards a unified web presence. This is much trickier than what I can explain in a short article, but the strategy is one that we're implementing for clients now.
If you think social, think mobile. If you think mobile, make it work with social. Both can be made local, thus we hear about the SoLoMo concept that has been so popular at marketing conferences for a few years now.
Erase All Desktop and Analog Thinking from Your Mindset
This is the most important thing to do. We've hammered it so far in this article with everything we've said. Now we're going to push it all the way through to the other side.
You don't have a mobile website and a desktop website. You have a website. You don't have social media fans on mobile and social media fans on desktop. They're all on mobile (or will be eventually). You don't have customers walking through your doors who aren't seconds away from having their phone in their hand. Embrace it.
Buzzwords like "showrooming" and "competitive shopping" are real but pretty much meaningless until you have a purely mobile strategy for everything you do. Keep that in mind next time you're looking at your advertising and marketing budgets. If an expenditure doesn't assist in taking advantage of a mobile society, consider letting it go.
No Comments
Dealer Authority
Robot Bulk Personal Messaging and Social Media Should Never Mix
Look, I get it. Building a social media program for car dealers that is scalable, effective, and affordable requires choices. In many cases, vendors have to pick two of the three in order to maintain their business.
With that said, it still appalls me to see "personal" messages from the dealership being broadcast in bulk. One can make a valid argument that bulk messaging around the release of a new vehicle or an upcoming program is acceptable. There's an OEM strategy that we've been working on that plays with this concept in certain circumstances. However, when a message is supposed to be heartfelt from the dealership, please turn automation off.
The two dealerships above were part of a batch of personal messages sent simultaneously to dealers across the country. It's a generic as can be and makes the risky assumption that people will never follow more than one dealership, therefore they'll never know it's an impersonal bulk social media post. That assumption is incorrect and dangerous.
Let me end this mini-rant by saying that if you cannot put forth enough effort to make "personal" messages for your clients that are actually personal, you should consider a different verticle. The automotive industry deserves better.
(Thanks for reading my rant and sorry for sounding like a scrooge but this stuff really chaps my khakis.)
1 Comment
Apple Chevrolet
Bravo! As a GM dealer, I get these all the time, and though they may give ideas for my own message, I never use what they send me. What you wrote shouldn't even HAVE to be said. I believe it is too obvious but for some reason, too many dealers don't get it until it's explained to them. For the manufacturer, it makes sense because there are too many dealers who "have no clue" and need that help. This is better than no message at all. Maybe... Thank you!
No Comments