A decade ago we fought through an economic recession that drove an automotive depression. Dealers across the nation refashioned their business models as Internet departments developed into Internet dealerships.

Much time, energy, and teeth-gnashing abounded as old-school met new-school and an industry that can be decades behind in technology (CRM’s anyone?) came crashing into a brave new world of smart phones and instant information.

Back then dealers moved monies from newspaper and magazines into digital very slowly and very cautiously until they realized it worked. Then the monies moved fast and furious as dealers sought to exploit a competitive, albeit temporary, advantage.

I now hear stories of dealers claiming to be “100% digital.” It’s a good sound bite; however, it may miss the mark.

TV, radio and billboards are critical. Good creative matters. Retail messaging and integrated marketing helps consumers to flip the switch from off to on in the buying cycle.

Working with OEM’s and associations to know where Tier 1 and Tier 2 dollars are being spent can help insure that your advertising dollars are either supplementing or complementing those buys and maximizing your ROI-oriented spend for your makes, your models, and your markets.

At the end of the day, 100% digital does not equal 100% coverage.

In this video blog, CEO & Founder of Local Search Group Jim Flint shares why dealers shouldn't confuse their digital efforts with its effectiveness.

The Fundamental Attribution Error reminds us that people tend to unduly emphasize internal character, rather than external factors when trying to understand people’s motives. We tend to believe that others do bad things because they are bad people. The oft-overlooked reality is that the environment matters more, if not most.

A thief steals an upscale car from the valet at your favorite upscale restaurant while you’re enjoying your steak dinner. Is the thief a bad person? Or does he have a family too to feed at home? External factors.

A car shopper doesn’t show up at a dealership until they are ready to buy. Are they a bad person? Are they even a good person? Or do they have everything they need for shopping completely and painlessly at home? External factors.

As more and more of today’s information moves online, as more and more of today’s transactions move online, and as more and more of society’s interactions move online, a good bet is to know the external environment the consumer is in and to start bringing the products closer and closer to them.

It’s more than digital retailing, too. Anyone can see that coming. It’s humbly beyond the concept of a transaction. It’s to a place of completing the transaction on your phone and having the car delivered to you at your home, at your place of work or wherever is most convenient to you—steak dinners or otherwise.

CEO & Founder Local Search Group Jim Flint explains Impression Share Bidding in this video.

The time is now. Spring selling season is upon us. When your inventory, personnel and plans are in the right spot on February 20th, your 2019 is set up to work to your maximum advantage. Five of the best six seasonally-adjusted sales months over the years happen between March and August.  Working the details and making sure that you’re taking care of them makes the difference.

Stay out of the “Automotive Bermuda Triangle” in March and each and every month by checking three key measures: Personnel, Product and Pace.

Pace is best summed up by your Moneyball Factor. Do you know where you are with your Moneyball Factor: your total vehicle sales divided by your total dealership website sessions, for your store?

Driving your performance well past a Moneyball Factor of 1.0 helps drive advertising productivity as well as dealership profitability. Looked at another way, are you selling at least one vehicle for every 100 visitors that come to your website?

If you’re not, you should re-evaluate your sales plan and resource allocation starting with these 4 details:

• * Check your Mobile Page Speed scores and recognize that it affects your advertising expenses.
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• * Set up Google Analytics and place values on your conversions.
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• * Set up Google Alerts to monitor activity for your dealership as well as for your competitors.
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• * Know your dealership website’s Keyword Quality Scores; it’s just as important as knowing your Cost-Per-Click.

Additionally, know that Google is bringing an enhanced emphasis to Impression Share. Staying up to speed with your Auction Insights will help you know how you are doing while also helping you to see what your competitors are doing in your backyard.

Take some of the guesses and wishes out of your dealership’s decision-making. Make this a more productive and profitable year by establishing your Moneyball Factor and updating the Google metrics that you track for your dealership.

Google and Facebook, Watch Out! There’s someone approaching in the rear-view mirror, and it’s Amazon.

Don’t worry about Amazon pursuing automotive retail--think expensive land and expensive cattle (aka cars). As far as the desire to pursue automotive advertising--think cloud ready and margin friendly.

The duopoly of Google and Facebook will fast become a triopoly as Amazon joins the mix.

Quick thinking retailers will follow fast in the footsteps of Dean Evans and the team at Hyundai as they set the pace. As an extremely experienced digital marketer with a resume that includes Chief Marketing Officer at Dealer.com and Subaru, CEO & President at Lotlinx and, currently, CMO at Hyundai, Evans knows what is going on in the digital space. In fact, he recently received the accolade of Automotive News’ All-Star for Marketing which was in large part because of his work with Amazon.

Hyundai is presently connected with Alexa. Amazon’s smart speaker, to help consumers start their car, turn on their AC and even charge their electric car through the Amazon Alexa home device. Separately, the Hyundai Shopper Assurance program –delivered via the Amazon platform--provides consumers with a place to review Hyundai products, view inventory and to schedule in home test drives.

https://www.amazon.com/adlp/hyundai

It’s just the beginning. Are you and your dealership ready?

Local Search Group CEO & Founder Jim Flint shares his advice on Super Bowl advertising and how dealerships can best take advantage of that audience without breaking the bank.

A key to implementation and execution in Google Ads’ space is to secure no less than 80% impression share for your name in the geographies where you sell and service vehicles.

Many dealers ask what would happen if I didn’t buy my name. Or better yet what would happen if I didn’t spend any advertising money or, more often than not, what if I stopped advertising on Autotrader or any other listing services?

The reason most dealerships don’t take the risk isn’t because of cost savings but rather because of the competition in our industry.

Check out your Google Auction Insights and see which of your competitors are riding your name already. It is more expensive for your competitor to “pretend” to be you for searching consumers than it does for you to dominate brand searches.

Don’t rest on your laurels, however, as choosing not to participate simply means that you are making it that much easier (and less expensive) for your competitor to succeed in their conquest campaign and win customers that could have been yours.

Relevance takes the prize in the Google machine. Better ROI at a lower cost in a crowded category wins every time.

A cold turkey test is not for the faint of heart and, if you’re bold enough to take the chance, there is no doubt you will still sell cars. However, in a competitive landscape like automotive retail, it makes common and good financial sense to protect and keep what’s yours -- your dealership brand name

Try the cold Turkey Test in February if you’d like, then get ready for March. With 5 Fridays and 5 Saturdays in March, it sets up to be a big sales month!

$5 million for a Super Bowl spot in 2019. That’s what the big brands are paying for huge visibility. There is arguably no better way to reach 100+ million people.

All in, there were 5 automotive OEM’s in the mix. Audi delivered details on their upcoming line of electric vehicles (EV). In the next three years they will bring three new EV’s to market.

Speaking of 3’s. How could or--better yet— should a Tier 3 dealership play in the Super Bowl advertising space?  At the right price and with the right message and support, they arguably should.

First things first: 2019 is over. Start planning for 2020 now.

Fox will televise Super Bowl LIV from Miami. Fox televised Super Bowl 2017 from Houston, and Local Search Group placed regional spots on mobile devices. The efficiency was stunning on a CPM basis, which some argue should be common currency for Automotive Marketing. Valuations for marketing ultimately level out as the number of viewers are determined; however, you won’t know until you ask about the regional Fox over-the-top solution and determine how 2020 looks to be coming together. Certainly, the growth in over-the-top and App Utilization will continue to drive media spends and cost.

The goal for any agency’s dealer clients should be to get them exposure to where the people are. In an environment where local advertising matters, there will be decidedly different advertisements that work to deliver their message during THE most watched EVENT of next year.

The reach is comparatively less, but so is the cost.

When talking about the right people at the right time on a CPM basis, it all of a sudden makes sense for a dealership to deliver a local Super Bowl spot. In the end, knowing that the audience you are efficiently spending the money to reach is yours makes all the difference.

We’re known for knowing the value of advertising, and through the years, we’ve become very familiar with our values.

Value and Values. Two different things.

Local Search Group’s values do much more than establish the monetary worth of something. Our Values--summed up in the 7 C’s below--help govern our thoughts and beliefs-- and these are values that any organization or dealership can adopt to improve their dealership’s efficiency as well as their company culture.

Communication

As an agency we communicate on behalf of our clients to consumers. It’s the most important thing we do.

Change

The world moves quickly. Google, Facebook and other technologies move exceedingly faster than the automotive industry does. What are we doing to keep up without changing for change’s sake?

Coat of the Armadillo

Thick skin applies just as much to digital strategies as it does to communicating in real-time, whether that be with managers, colleagues or consumers. The car business can be stressful. Good interpersonal relationship skills are imperative to maintaining happy employees and customers.  

Consistency

Look for the repeatability of an event and a way to improve the event in the future. One of the most watched events, the Super Bowl, contains elements of consistency from our perspective. Each year there’s a host city; there’s a halftime performer, and there’s two teams that play. Sure those things might be different--but the process for the NFL remains the same.

Competition

It’s a out there. How do we recognize our environment and gain an edge for our dealer clients?

Clients

Focus first and foremost on customers. Respond quickly. Be the “now” part of a “now” business and be results driven.

Charity

The largest generation of current consumers choose businesses that support what is important to them. What is your dealership doing to “give back?” Our charity of choice is the SPCA.

At the dealership we can spend so much time working on the value of the products and services  we provide that we can lose sight of our values. Knowing both will help you hire, attract and retain more of the right employees to help you take care of your customers.