The Digital Marketing Strategies Conference in Napa is off to an amazing start. Following our presentation from Glenn Pasch, we moved to watch Alex Snyder from Dealer.com and DealerRefresh. We will be reviewing all 6 workshops over the next 2 days.

People Are Looking For Someone They Can Like or Trust

Quoting prices? Alex says no. There are so many prices out there that the need to quote a price every time is bogus. 97% of customers don't really need a price to get going. They simply want to know and like you.

Sean Stapleton from VinSolutions brought up a good point that giving at the very least a range of pricing to get it out there on the table ahead of time. Can you sell a car online? Stapleton says, "Yes."

The volley back and forth between the two auto-industry giants is extremely entertaining. They both seem right. It really depends on the personality of the dealership and the sales person, but not matter what, everyone agrees that people buy from other people who they like and trust.

No exceptions.

An Experiment

Alex told a story about how he moved to Vermont and became an avid snowboarder. He was interested in getting the stiffness rating on a Burton T7. He sent us on a mission to find the stiffness, which we did. After some time, several people found it.

Then, he asked, "What specials were on the homepage?"

Nobody knew.

The point (brilliantly made) was that when people visit websites, they're going to use navigation or a search box to find what they want. As an industry, we tend to overthink the front page of our websites and we don't take into account that simpler is often better. Give the consumer exactly what they want as quickly as they can by giving them search functionality and very few dropdown menu options. Otherwise, we're just confusing them.

CRM Architecture

The Internet manager should be a "CRM Architect." Having the control over what is happening at the dealership, how the leads come in, and where the sales eventually get listed will help put sanity into the Internet manager's job, particularly at month-end.

The industry is often stuck making "CRM excuses," blaming the software rather than the process. If you can architect the right process and test it to make sure the CRM is getting the information properly, there should be no way that poor (or no) information is plugged in.

The Simplest Way to Make a Change

Everything is tied into pay plan. If you want a change, you change it. It's that simple.

If your goal is to get more appointments, you set the appointment-setters' pay plan based around the number of appointments set, confirmed, and showed. Having bonuses tied into these numbers can help a dealership make things more efficient.

Note: Snyder mentioned that 2-3 minutes is optimal for these calls. Why not longer? "The art of talking yourself out of a deal" definitely applies.

The Inventory Workflow

Snyder put together an excellent visual depiction of how inventory flows from the floor to the Internet.

Visit the full review on our blog.

Wait, what? It's still 2010.

Next week is, for those who are strategically minded and who understand how marketing works realize that next week is the last full week that we can dedicate completely to putting together our plans for 2011. The following week is Thanksgiving, the beginning of the crazy season we know as "The Holidays".

What normally happens in our industry is this: we know that we as Internet Managers, General Managers, and Dealer Principals must make some decisions about our marketing budgets for 2011. We think, "It's mid-November, so I have to get on that soon."

Then, every year, so many go through knowing that with over a month until 2011, they will be able to sit down and make it happen in an hour, maybe two. Others think they can put a full-day effort in sometime in December.

For most, it doesn't happen, at least not the right way. Thanksgiving happens, then the end-of-the-month push, then the beginning-of-the-month push, then the end-of-the-year push, then Christmas, then the end-of-the-month push, and all of a sudden it's 2011.

Next week (this week if you're reading this on Monday), spend time every day evaluating and planning. If you don't, there's a strong chance you will go into 2011 with a poorly laid plan (or no plan at all). Here's what you should do:

Call Every Vendor You Have

Find out what's coming down the pipe. Have a conversation and discuss contract dates, new things in 2011, pricing changes... anything that will influence your decision about whether to keep them, spend less with them, or spend more with them. Estimate how much you'll be spending with them on a monthly basis (even if you don't pay them monthly) and put it on a spreadsheet.

Call Every Vendor You're Considering

Starting social media in 2011? What about mobile marketing? Expanding your budget? Need more lead providers? Make a list of everything that you are considering for 2011 and call them. You don't have to make decisions next week, but if you have an idea that you will be expanding your classified listings beyond Autotrader.com and Cars.com, for example, then make a list and start calling the options. Get a proposal. You may not have time to take a pitch this week, but at least get a proposal and have an understanding of them as an option. Be sure to let them know that you're looking at them for the following year so expectations are set up front.

Read. A Lot.

After next week, you will have limited time until 2011 to start reading about the different marketing options out there. You're on Driving Sales now - we can assume that here and in other places you will be able to find information, testimonials, and peer opinions about different tactics, vendors, and styles.

Ask. A Lot.

You have access to forums and social networks that have other dealers and vendors willing to answer questions. Get the opinion on this vendor, that marketing venue, and other emerging strategies that you may want to consider.

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This process takes a couple of hours a day, but if you don't do it this week, there's a good chance that you won't be able to do it in one continuous motion the rest of the year. Marketing technologies are emerging while others are dying. Techniques that worked in 2010 won't work next year, while others that were blips in 2010 will be huge in 2011.

We will be posting more about a 2011 Automotive Internet Marketing Strategy in the days and weeks to come, but don't wait for us. Start your research now. It may not happen at all if you don't.

During a recession, most will tighten their spending and hold off on large purchases whenever possible. As a result, industries such as real estate and automotive tend to feel the effects more than smaller retail businesses.

Used car sales is the exception. In the Infographic below, you'll see that the trends over the last year are pointing to stronger sales than ever before in the pre-owned market. This can be attributed to "smart need buying" patterns that coincide with the tightening of spending during a recession.

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(Via: UsedCarsChicago101 through Automotive SEO)

For over a year, I've worn two hats. As Director of New Media for TK Carsites, it's my job to make sure that our marketing products that support websites for dealers (namely SEO and Social Media) are supercharged and kicking tail. My team is stronger than it's ever been and things have been rocking along for some time now.

As President of Hasai, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of TK Carsites, we've worked with major companies and publications to spread their content virally, sending around 11 million pageviews per month to just under 25 websites.

Hasai hit a "tipping point" recently where it is able to run well without much of my personal bandwidth being spent on it. As a result, I've been focusing nearly all of my time on analyzing and breaking down the automotive industry's needs and "feel the pulse" of dealers as a whole.

A couple of  weeks ago, I came to a conclusion that was (thankfully) wrong.

During October's string of conferences, social media was the message that many were spreading. It's big. It's growing. Dealers need it.

For their own part, most dealers that approached us were asking about Power Social more than our other two core services (SEO and Websites). I came to the conclusion that dealers may be losing sight of the most important parts of their marketing strategy in favor of the "sexy" potential of social media.

Then, Google made their changes. We held an emergency webinar to discuss how dealers can take advantage of these changes, and I was shocked. Rather than have to convince very many that they cannot take their eye off the SEO ball, HUNDREDS of dealers reached out and contacted us about the webinar and actions they needed to take. Despite having less than 24 hours notice (we didn't want to wait for the next scheduled webinar so we announced it the day before), this was our most discussed and attended webinar and the discussion points keep pouring in.

We will be breaking down the webinar (it turned into a 2-hour discussion with questions flying in throughout) and posting the highlights and action points here on Driving Sales. I was so tremendously encouraged that despite all of the hype surround social media, despite all of the vendors pushing social, social, social, that dealers haven't forgotten that SEO is still the meat and potatoes.

I'm a social media guy. As such, I know that it can be a tremendous tool and I've seen dealers do some incredible things with it. Still, SEO is the key to long- and short-term success. SEO is the "must have" and social media is the "should have". The hype from vendors (us included) at October's conferences made me question whether or not that message was still being heard.

Thankfully, dealers answered that question last week.

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Read more about Automotive Digital Marketing

Many will call me crazy. Some will say that I'm recommending "bending the rules". Some will say that it's too risky.

You may be right, but we're recommending it anyway. When individual employees such as Internet Managers, Sales Managers, and Salespeople utilize their Facebook profiles to enhance dealership exposure and engagement, there are many benefits that can happen. There are risks, yes, but a properly trained staff given the tools to succeed can help a dealership go to the next level in social media marketing.

Below is a video tip that is part of the TK Power Social package. We made this one visible to the public because I really want to hear feedback on whether the benefits of direct Facebook engagement between employees and customers is something that should be encouraged.

The debate has raged since the dawn of search engines as a dramatic traffic source for websites: SEO vs PPC.  DrivingSales offers a venue for this debate to continue in the automotive arena, and despite attempts to spark a panel, nothing has transpired.

Thus, I'll put down my own thoughts on the matter and hope that others confirm or deny what I say.

PPC: Renting Your Search Engine Home

Being flexible, nimble, and in control of your message and where it is placed is the biggest selling point for PPC. While most agree that sponsored listings only account for about 1/4th of the clicks on search engines, there are those who are willing to sacrifice the bulk in favor of that control.

It's like renting a home. You aren't stuck in one place for 15-30 years (or in the case of the search engines, for months at a time). Renting search engine space means that you get to move in quickly and have an instant impact on your traffic.

The bad part about renting search listings through PPC is that the investment is contingent on you continuing to pay. The biggest reason that many vendors push dealers towards PPC over SEO is because it's the gift that keeps on giving. Dealers who rely on PPC must rely on it indefinitely. Once the money stops getting spent, the listings stop sending traffic. Vendors know this. You could spend $20,000 a month for 3 years, but if you ever decide to stop "paying rent" your search results disappear.

SEO: Buying Your Search Engine Home

SEO has many setbacks. It isn't instant (even though it delivers much faster results than most would have you believe). It isn't guaranteed. With PPC, you pay your money and get listed. With SEO, you may pay your money and never really get what you expected (if you pick the wrong SEO firm or web provider).

There are really only 2 clear benefits to "buying" your search engine home:

1. The investment lasts (sometimes indefinitely). If you are ranked at the top for particular keywords and you turn off your SEO service, your listing does not disappear. If your SEO was strong enough, you may retain those positions long after you've stopped spending money getting them.
2. 3/4th of searchers click on organic rather than paid ads (and I would assume that at least a good portion of those clicks that do go to PPC ads are click fraud from competitors or even vendors).

Automotive SEO is more of a commitment. It is more challenging. It is also more rewarding if you select a provider that knows what it's doing.

Rent AND Buy

For those who have the budget to handle both PPC and SEO, you're in a great position. The best strategy is to use organic listings as the base and then utilize PPC to go after keywords that are either too small to "mess with" organically or too large to rank at the top through SEO.

Many like to use PPC as a method of getting more exposure, to "double up" on important search terms. Budget permitting, this isn't a bad idea. If you're like most dealers, having the luxury of extra budget that can be spent doubling up is unlikely.

Footnote on Social Media

Some people have been trying to lump automotive social media into the debate. While social media is something that can be used in SEO as well as search engine reputation management, the type of marketing associated with social media is nothing like search engine optimization or PPC. If anything, social media marketing is closer to television advertising than search advertising, but that's a blog post in the future.

This may not be able to help dealers in their quest of increasing sales, but it certainly can be entertaining. This infographic would make a nice conversation piece printed out and placed at someone's desk.

Research by Home Security.net

In case you missed our webinar on Driving Traffic (and Likes) to Your Facebook Page, you may not be aware that many apps on Facebook pages across the Interwebs will be cut off on the right side starting August 23rd.

Last year, Facebook announced on their development blog that they would be reducing the width allowed on tabs. Many developers scrambled to fit their apps into the right size. Oddly, months after the announcement, no change had been made.

The change is finally here. On August 23rd, Facebook will cut the size allowed on tabs to 520 pixels - 200 pixels shorter than before. Some apps auto-size nicely to fit. Most, however, cut off on the right side, leaving no way for people to see what is displayed there.

The effect will be felt as the right side is where many buttons, links, and other calls to action are placed. Even if the apps do not put their buttons there, it still makes many pages look, well, weird.

If you are the page admin, you can get a preview of all of your tabs with the new format simply by logging in and visiting each.

Facebook has been moving in the direction of increasing their relevance as a business tool since 2008. This is another step in that direction as more ads will be served, more tools will be available, and the massive integration into as many sites as possible is underway. All of this is being done in the name of "streamlining".

The "boxes" feature will also be removed with the change.

In this case, at least everyone got plenty of notice.

We will be launching our Power Social tools shortly after Facebook makes its switch.

So, you have a Facebook page for your dealership. You have apps, inventory, photos, and status updates galore. All you need now are a few eyeballs reading it and profiles liking it.

The question is, "How?"

Our webinar last week on Driving Traffic and Likes to Your Car Dealer Facebook Page goes into detail about many different ways to drive traffic, but one of the most relevant ways is to use straight-forward Facebook advertising.

Advertising is simple, but here are few tips that may answer some of your questions.

1) Compel wiht your Ad Thumbnail and Copy

In the example above, there are two major points. It's common to use the dealership logo for the thumbnail. It works just fine and is excellent for exposing your brand. I prefer to use a geo-targeted image whenever possible.

The text should also be compelling but ONLY to the point of being realistic. Do not promise more than you can deliver. Tell people exactly why they should like your page, then deliver on those expectations.

2) Targeting Your Location

There is a debate going on behind the scenes between several vendors, dealers, and OEMs. On one side, the thought is that anyone liking your page is good, regardless of demographic. Getting thousands of people to like your page is the goal.

The other side of the debate says that only local, relevant visitors and likes are needed.

Both sides have valid arguments. It's a matter of strategy preference. For this article and for Facebook advertising in general, we'll focus on lower-volume local traffic only.

Above, you'll see that we targeted the entire state of Oklahoma and that it gives us just over a million potential profiles to which we can advertise. It seems like a lot, but in Facebook numbers it really isn't.

If your local metro is large enough, you can stick with that. In many cases, targeting your state makes more sense, especially for geographically small states such as Massachusetts or states with lower populations such as Oklahoma.

3) Decide on Your Budget

The goal of Facebook advertising is 2-fold: generating engagement and branding. Running a campaign for branding is an entirely different strategy from what I'm about to demonstrate. If your goal is branding, check back in a couple of weeks for that article.

With visitors and getting more "likes" as the goal, you should use a CPC format. In other words, you pay for every click through to your page regardless of how many impressions are served.

On average, you will be able to generate a click for $.55-$1.45 depending on your market. We will assume that you have a custom Facebook landing page created through FBML, in which case your conversion from visitor to Like should be over 40%. If you don't have a custom landing page, work on that part first. Advertise only when this is done.

You daily budget is simply a matter of determining how much you want to spend monthly and dividing it by 30. If you want to spend $300 a month on Facebook advertising, then your budget would be $10 a day. Unless you intend to get really, really aggressive, there is no need to go over $30 a day.

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Getting people to visit your page is one thing. Making it compelling enough for them to like it is another. Facebook can be relatively time-consuming, but at least it normally doesn't cost a lot.

In future articles, we will discuss other methods of driving traffic and likes. We will also be discussing ways to truly use your Facebook page to have an impact on your business. This article is just the start. More to come soon.

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Read more about Car Dealer Internet Marketing on Driving Sales.

Last month, we posted a request to put together an SEO vs. PPC vs. Maps Panel. As we wrap prepare to launch, I wanted to do one last sweep through to see if anyone else was interested in being on the panel. I know there are several vendors who are here on Driving Sales that offer one or more of these products - it would be amazing to have as many involved as possible.

So far, we have a potentially VERY strong panel including Brian Pasch, Paul Rushing, Eric Miltsch, Jared Hamilton, Ralph Paglia, Dave Erickson, and Volker Jaeckel, with several others chiming in and (hopefully) wanting to participate as well.

Is there anyone else? I would like to get this together and make it available prior to the Driving Sales Executive Summit in October. There are many format options, but as a whole I would love to have a comprehensive discussion through video panels and articles that can assist every car dealer in America in making their choices between the 3 options.

As Adam Stone from Toyota mentioned, dealers today need "to come up with a comprehensive and balanced Marketing plan that includes online and offline strategies that focus directly on improving the customer experience."

Where will the most successful dealers during the rest of 2010 and beyond focus their search marketing budgets? If you have an opinion or would like to be involved with the panel, please comment here or contact me directly.

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Read more about Car Dealer Internet Marketing at Driving Sales.