For those with a tendency to make things more complicated than things really are “Keep It Simple, Stupid” served as a consistent concept that kept Advertising meetings from turning into Geek Speak aka Information Technology (IT) sessions. Instead of discussing advertising we would have been discussing pixels and code on web pages.

However, with the advent of Big Data, there’s a whole new advertising strategy for advertising that’s come to market. Keep it Simple, Stupid has a new best friend who’s now sitting at the table.

A few years after the surge in Big Data faux agencies are now introducing what I call the KICK concept. 

“Keep It Complicated, Kid” could be the new, fashionable approach to closing confused clientele.

It’s confusing, difficult, and speaks with magical, mystical unicorn-like catchphrases. It’s unfortunate and understandable all at the same time.

Have you seen any of the testimony with Facebook or Google whiz kids in front of congress? Memes everywhere as Zuckerburg patiently explained technological concepts to congress.

Owners beware of those that want to Keep It Complicated. At the end of the day, the business model still has to work.

Turning on and off. Starting and finishing. Each on your own terms. What’s not to like about that?

If you ever wonder where the appeal of Instant Gratification exists in the transportation industry, look no further than Uber. And then wonder whether your sales team would rather drive cars or sell them. How many of the below elements exist in your dealership.

(1)   An ability to turn on or turn off at your whim. Need a little extra cash to put someone through college or to pay for an engagement ring? Turn on your Uber sign. 

(2)   Make what you want. If you want to work all day Saturday and Sunday and in the evening you can. Or get to your hustle early in the morning. How about driving a little each morning or evening before or after you go to your day job?

(3)  You are your own boss. Start and end your day when you want to. Again, turn it on or off when you feel like it.

Despite recent notoriety for a poor culture in their corporate offices, the reality of Uber’s cultural impact is more positively engineered outside of those walls in today’s mainstream society. Uber delivers in an age of Instant Gratification on key freedoms that employees are looking for in today’s Gig Economy.

The Shibuya Crossing holds the title of the world’s busiest intersection. Based in Tokyo, the intersection claims that more than 3,000 people cross in one traffic light cycle. A quiet, motionless countdown quickly consumes the street as a chaotic experience which some like to the equivalent of marbles falling into and then out of a box happens over and over again. 

The situation is similar to the electronic experience at your dealership. No, not the number of people coming into and out of your dealership. Floor traffic is undeniably down as consumers shop more and more online and come into fewer stores for transactions.

The Shibuya Crossing in your dealership is your data.

Do you know who is receiving and sending your data? Consumer data is priceless and each dealership should know who, when, and how often they send information. Your inventory is equally as important. 

A new age contracts in transit meeting should involve knowing where your data is going at all times.

In a business where speed wins, first steps can lose.  

Reasoning being—the distinct possibility—like is the case in any race—that you could jump the gun. Sure, creating a market sounds exciting, but in today’s fragmented, isolated marketplace, it’s going to be tougher and tougher to do.

Look at the advantages that Netflix secured in being first to market. All the content, all the subscriptions. However, fast to market beats first to market longer-term as we watch Amazon, AT&T, and other major players reach scale in the content distribution space. Don’t misunderstand Netflix isn’t a loser, but for all the risk the Fast Followers didn’t take on they now get ready to take on boatloads of customers.

 And now—even better yet--the content is moving. It’s no longer a typical day at the office for Netflix. Nor is it a friendly business as more First Followers jump off-board and join the Fast Follower bandwagon. “Friends” will be exclusive to Warner Media’s properties for distribution on their HBO Max platform. “The Office” will be leaving for NBC Universal’s soon to be announced platform. Disney brings their platform to the table in 2020. 

Dollars will depart the First to Market arena. Subscribers will move to Fast to Market places and that’s certainly nothing to laugh about. To keep forecasted subscription losses down Seinfeld has been signed for Netflix into 2021.

 That’s the other side of being first to market -- losing the share to the fast followers. In a digital age, it happens quickly. In today’s big-time game of automotive retailing each month matters and as such we search for the next edge. 

Now though, we’re looking for another reason and dreaming of the innovative advantage that others can’t see.

How do you get to the next level of growth and profitability without breaking the bank? The reality is – just like you did with the internet and really any other innovation – you didn’t want to be “First to Market”. The goal should have been “Fast to Market”.

Whether you believe that the First to Market wins or not. Your choice will be in determining how you can be First or Fast to market with Digital Retailing or the Service Drive or Used Cars. It’s really up to you. 

Given the choice of being either “Fast to Market” or “First to Market” which would you choose?

Tom Brady makes $15 million per year. A few months ago Dak Prescott turned down $30 million a year. Financially speaking then he’s at least 2x the value or the player Brady.

Not necessarily. Analytics matter in today’s competitive industries. 

Touchdowns. Interceptions. QBR. Percentage of completions. The numbers are endless, but let’s focus on percent of salary cap for a moment.

With an NFL salary cap of $188.2 million in 2019, Brady will be taking home 8.0% of the total team’s salary. Meanwhile, if Dak gets closer to what he purportedly wants, he’d be 21.2% of the team’s salary. 

Cowboys owner and general manager, Jerry Jones, is calling a deal, “Imminent”. Whoa, Cowboy! That’s 2.5x more of the Cowboys pot of gold than the Patriots pot of gold for what is arguably the game’s biggest winner ever in Brady.

Dak’s great. He’s just not going to, with a $30-40 million dollar deal, be closing in on 6 Super Bowl Rings and 3 league MVP awards any time soon. There’s a method to the Patriot Way.

Brady’s worth more, but in the NFL landscape, extra money matters most in terms of building your best roster. Brady has plenty of money. Supermodel wife Gisele Bundchen earned $30+ million in 2016.

Dak, albeit to a lesser degree, does, too. With over $50 million in endorsements from the likes of AT&T, Adidas, Pepsi, Tostitos, Beats by Dre, Campbell’s Soup and others his cash flow is headed in the right direction. 

Unfortunately for the Cowboys, Dak’s rookie deal squarely puts in him a place of being underpaid. 

This deal’s about more than the money though. Compensatory or not, the terms and conditions will ultimately determine much more than what he makes. End of the day, it will determine whether or not the Cowboys win and whether or not they take home ANY Super Bowl rings.

Just like in the highly competitive automotive industry you need key players positioned properly throughout your organization in order to make the machine run. One, or even two, superstars in football don’t get you where you need to be. 

Just ask Brady. The ultimate tell-tale would come when in a Cowboys vs. Patriots Super Bowl match-up the Patriots end up winning. Not directly because of Brady or Prescott, but because of the talent around them.

Tracking Google conversions as if they were the ultimate outcome is like running a race without your shoes. Sure, you’ll eventually get there, but it’s likely your time will be slower, and your pain along the way will be greater.

As we move into an era of digital retailing, zip code sales counts will, if they are not already, be the ultimate conversion. Time on site, SRPs, VDPs, form fills, texts, chats, calls, and in-store visits matter when they correlate to sales; however, they often times don’t. 

Symptom control helps contribute to patient well-being, but the greatest influence and responsibility should be exerted to influence the greatest outcome - sales by zip code.

If you’re running those fundamental elements down without looking at sales by zip code, you’re missing an opportunity to do more business. 

Don’t be smarter than the market. Google sure isn’t. In fact, they recently announced a major investment in the travel industry—which some people believe accounts for 10% of all Google revenue— and have actually steered clear of the long, winding road that is automotive. 

There’s a clean, direct, trackable purchase path with the travel industry.

Meanwhile, the automotive industry is highly complex, incredibly competitive and the state of affairs with consumers is in considerable flux. How many stores have delivered a car without someone setting foot in the store via a Digital Retailing experience? 

Editor’s Note: Zip Code tracking solves for a major nuance that will continue to grow and evolve over time.

Moreover, Geographical Amplification by Zip solves for longer-term needs, too--like the service drive as well as your OEM mandates for market share sales efficiency.

There isn’t a secret Google sauce that can be ladled over the industry and labeled a conversion that makes this make sense. No matter the artificial intelligence, machine learning, smart bidding or proprietary algorithms, the best path to sales success is understanding the zip code source of the sale. 

Bar none.

Dreaming of AI to solve for complex consumer minds and unique industry situations, is an exercise no doubt. Just make sure that you fall back to a tangible position that provides more protection and readies you for the next race.

The novelty of running the race without shoes may be exciting to some; however, those that want to continue running, competing and winning will know that zip codes provide the same reliability that tracks shoes afford you--it’s not only this race but the next and the next and the one after that . . . 

In the rock, paper, scissors game of automotive sales and advertising, it goes something like this:

Seasonality Cuts Sales – January is not, nor ever will be, December in terms of sales volume.

Sales Cover Ideas – good ideas don’t matter if they don’t sell.

Ideas Smash Seasonality – ideas promise breakthroughs during certain windows.

As such, the right ideas at the right times matter most. Painstakingly so.

Many people attribute the following quote to Mark Twain because he popularized it.

“There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

Twain—more than once—correctly attributed the insightful comment to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. Twain, a great writer, brought the words to life. Disraeli, a career politician, had a way with words as well.

In the era of Big Data the quote—no matter the source—carries an important message.  Most notably, the meaning doesn’t change even when and if the source does.

I present that backdrop to share this—Google has so much data that you have to inspect what you expect as it relates to Google’s data. Especially true when we talk about lies, damned lies and “Conversions”.

One of many meaningful metrics that comes from Google is found in their ability to track Conversions. Watch as I show you how that number looks when we view it through different lenses within the Google Ads platform.

Looks the same, and comes from the same source . . . 

. . . but oh so different.

Don’t worry we’ve got you handled and we know how to get to the conversions that matter most in the automotive space. Showroom visits anyone? Just make sure your Ad Agency is also trekking down the same prosperous path.

Otherwise, you could get sucked into a Conversion game that brings life to the quote above—no matter the source.

In this video blog, Jim shows that there's more than one way to get on board the conversion train in Google Ads.

Despite efforts to chase down loyalty in the automotive industry -  the path to a repeat purchase is an even tougher feat. Here are three reasons why loyalty to technology is greater than the loyalty to cars:

1. 1 - Market Research

Ask a millennial which mattered more -- first car or first phone?

My nephew, Philip, who will be attending his first class at Ole Miss in just a few days, summed it up wonderfully.

• My first phone mattered more because it allowed me to do a great number of things that I couldn’t do before while the car provided just one service. 

1. 2 - Technological Freedom from the Technology Companies

Apple CarPlay works and works well. 

Now ask yourself, “Are we plugging the phone into the car? Or plugging the car into the phone?”

1.  
2. 3 - Retention Rates

92% of the people that own an iPhone replace it with an iPhone. 

Meanwhile, there’s a 14% same-store retention rate for new car buyers. 

Staggering numbers--especially in comparison.

As we move forward, Google’s Waymo and driverless cars are designed to allow consumers to spend more time engaging with their phones and less time engaging with their cars.

There’s little doubt about whether consumers are engaging more and caring more about their phones in today’s society. Are your advertising and marketing plans reflecting this changing world order?