With new management, Sun Toyota has undergone a serious digital facelift. Thanks to the high-impact digital efforts, Sun Toyota has increased conversions 57%, shown appointments 48%, and increased actual delivered sales year over year 39%.

Sun Toyota Case Study

(Check out the FULL Attribution Report & Case Study here.)

A New Beginning

Sun Toyota, located in Holiday, Florida, is the highest volume new and used Toyota dealer in the entire Tampa Bay region. But it wasn’t always this way. Around a year ago it was acquired by Morgan Auto Group putting John Marazzi, the new managing partner, in charge.

John Marazzi is a well-respected automotive leader who is better known for his unique creative and progressive formula on dominating this field. His gritty work ethic has brought him success for many years throughout his career including his time spent at Ft.Myers Toyota, Audi, Jaguar, & Land Rover of Fort Myers, John Marazzi Nissan in Naples and now his journey has led him to the Tampa Bay Area teamed up with the Morgan Auto Group, where he is managing partner at both Brandon Honda and Sun Toyota.

The Challenge

Taking on Sun Toyota, Marazzi realized the potential of this store was being hindered due to dollars primarily allocated to traditional media. Marazzi’s first priority was to transition the operation into a digitally focused powerhouse.

The Approach

Even though traditional media was relied on for decades, the choice to go for an aggressive digital strategy was obvious to Marazzi. With that Marazzi dove into re-doing their digital storefront (website) strategy completely and implemented the entire intice lead conversion and incentive marketing platform all across.

The Results

+57% increase in conversions

+48% increase in showroom appointments 

+39% increase in sales

“The plain simple truth of the matter is most vendors are highly skilled at selling their products/solutions not actually EXECUTING those solutions. With Intice, we got a full arsenal of products that cover the entire digital spectrum. More importantly they integrate and complement each other to deliver superior conversion and engagement. With one solution at both Sun Toyota and Brandon Honda, we increased conversions 57%. Increased shown appointments 48% and increased actual delivered sales year over year 39%. The amazing part is how quick and easy it was to implement their solutions.” - John Marazzi, Managing Partner 

Check out the FULL Attribution Report & Case Study here. 

Have you ever learned the definition of a new fancy word you've never heard of and then start to hear, read and see it EVERYWHERE? Coincidence … or conspiracy? More likely, you’re experiencing the “frequency illusion”.  

What is the Frequency Illusion?

The frequency illusion (also known as the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon) is the phenomenon in which people who just learn or notice something start seeing it everywhere. You didn't know it existed. And then, seemingly, it's everywhere you turn. Stanford linguistics professor Arnold Zwicky coined the former term in 2006 to describe this phenomenon; 

"It’s caused by two psychological processes. The first, selective attention, kicks in when you’re struck by a new word, thing, or idea; after that, you unconsciously keep an eye out for it, and as a result find it surprisingly often. The second process, confirmation bias, reassures you that each sighting is further proof of your impression that the thing has gained overnight omnipresence.”

Frequency and Consistency is a Simple but Powerful Means to Increase Trust and Engagement

Consistency defined, is 'taking action and delivering content and experiences on an on-going and periodic basis with a focused, deliberate intent’. Frequency is 'the number of times a person is exposed to an advertising message’. In the mind of the prospect or customer, consistency and frequency creates trust at a basic level and sets the foundation for an ongoing relationship. 

Use Psychology to Influence Action in Your Favor

The cool part about understanding how psychological methodologies work, such as the frequency illusion, is that it equips you with the solid understanding of how people “tick”, why they take certain action and how to influence their action into a positive outcome in your favor. 

Consistent Marketing with a Deliberate Strategy Amplifies the Frequency Illusion Phenomenon

The key here is to intentionally inject the Frequency Illusion concept into your digital marketing strategy to influence the online purchase journey of potential customers. This is done by ensuring your digital strategy is built to dominate micro-moments for customers who are looking for more information on: brands, automobiles, prices, details, and dealership reviews, 

Read More: 5 Auto Shopping Micro-Moments EVERY Brand Must Own Online

In essence, the frequency illusion phenomenon will increase the probability that your potential customer will see the validity of your message and turn to you when it’s time for them to purchase a vehicle or do business with an automotive dealership. The key is to put enough signage on the highway to keep drawing shoppers down YOUR path to purchase.

Looking for a new way to win over people more likely to send a text message than to call? Set up this free message extension for your text ads on the Google Adwords Search Network.

What are Click-to-Message Ad Extensions?

It allows for users who search for a query such as, Toyota store near me, to simply click a “text” button and contact the dealership directly. It is very similar to the concept of “Call-Only” ads extension, but this time it’s made specifically for texting. 

Benefits include:

1. More exposure with no extra AdWords cost. 
2. It gives people another option to reach you. 
3. A way for a lead to contact your dealership with much less pressure. 
4. Allows them to contact you from their convenience. 
5. For users who’d rather not make a phone call but text instead, this extension is the perfection addition.

Expanding more on this topic, I spoke to Jessie Wilson, our in-house AdWords Specialist. He has been utilizing this new message extension within our automotive campaigns, here’s what he had to say;

"Overall I absolutely recommend using click-to-message extensions. The more of the extensions you use the better the ad positing will be due to a higher CTR and overall better quality score.” 

Increasing CTR, Quality Score, and Ad positioning? Our initial testing has proved this message extension has been doing a great job at improving the overall search campaign and driving conversations with customers. 

Over to you. Has your dealership used this mobile messaging option as an extra channel through which customers can converse? If so, what results have you found?

As the end of the year closes and the New Year begins, it’s time to start re-evaluating what goals will be top of mind for 2017.  Below, we’ve highlighted the key digital marketing insights and top questions dealers should be asking themselves to dominate in 2017.

1. Is my digital strategy built for a mobile-first world?

The most prominent trend of 2016 was transitioning to a mobile-first world.

For years, the desktop computer was the vehicle connecting us all online, but the convenience of being able to communicate on-the-go, 24/7, and with all of the world’s information in our pocket gave the smartphone certain technological advantages over the fixed web. 

Not surprisingly, as of 2016 the number of mobile-only internet users now exceeds desktop-only users. With that being said, desktop still does play an important role in the digital process, but it is clear that users will pick the convenience of mobile over the traditional desktop. 

Advice: Mobile offers hundreds of new opportunities to deliver value to consumers in moments of need, ensure your digital strategy is built with mobile-first top of mind. What portion of your digital spend is earmarked to mobile-only?

2. Is my dealership's website built for the mobile screen?

Consumers today are constantly connected, moving between devices — from tablet to laptop to desktop to smartphone — throughout their day.

This constant connectivity gives dealers so many new rich opportunities to reach consumers, if the challenge of reaching every type of screen is accepted. With mobile-first top of mind, catering towards mobile is the biggest missing piece in the multi-screen equation.

“A great mobile user experience has three parts: layout, content & speed. The best way to engage and keep your users is to make sure all three legs of this tripod are sturdy.”

There is one true constant: All of today’s mobile users expect a great, trouble-free experience.  If your dealership's websites has complex tools or elements that don’t translate easily to mobile — for instance, chat pop-ups that are officially coined as "intrusive interstitials” by Google— now is the time to offer a simpler mobile substitute that better suits the user experience on mobile. 

Rethink your website and make the most of the power of mobile by ensuring your site works seamlessly on mobile for your customers.

Advice: Pretend you are a customer; grab your smartphone, look at your site, and go through the process. Is your website easy to use or do you need to do some adjusting?

3. Am I focused on the right metrics for a mobile-first world?

Mobile searches are a critical part of the process of the online purchase journey for consumers. 

Advice: Separate your desktop and mobile measurement plans to account for the fundamental differences between mobile and desktop behavior. Acknowledge that the KPIs for desktop are not the same KPIs for mobile we are looking at now. Be sure to review in Google Analalytics the quality of traffic you are receiving from mobile. Some key points to look at: month over month, sessions, pageviews, time on site and bounce rate. 

4. Is my digital strategy appealing to both the immediate and longer-term needs of my customers?

All dealership’s strive to deliver an exceptional customer experience to make the car buying process enjoyable and as least painful as possible. This starts digitally, by being there for customers during the crucial decision making moments online.

As outlined in this previous post, 5 Auto Shopping Moments EVERY Brand Must Own Online, there are specific micro-moments dealerships need to be present in the “purchase funnel” in order to win over customers. 

Advice: Not every customer is ready to purchase a car right off the bat. By viewing customers across the funnel and understanding how to target those micro-moments, influence purchases by being helpful throughout the process.

5. Are you creating online experiences that increase online to in-store conversions?

With so many touch points in a customer’s purchase journey online, the need to leverage digital and drive online to in-store conversions has never been greater.

Consider using Automotive Incentive Marketing to:

1. Create multiple effective lead conversion pathways that dramatically increase leads generated from a dealership’s digital footprint
2. Produce sales opportunities in a dealer’s showroom
3. Provide value up-front with no strings attached to build trust with potential customers. 
4. Creates interactive experiences that'll engage visitors on a dealership's website

Advice: Focus on improving engagement and conversions by creating a seamless experience on your automotive website to get a customer further down their purchase journey using Automotive Incentive Marketing. 

6. Am I planning for the blurring lines of TV and online video?

Television has always been known to be the king of the most influential advertising platform for dealers. 

Let's face it—people no longer distinguish between online video, mobile video, or linear TV. They watch what they want, when they want, on the screen they want. 

In the age of digital video, traditional advertising models won't cut it. This requires more thought into producing video content for offline and online users —from budgets, to creative approaches, and even organizational structures. 

With TV viewers more distracted than ever, this ability to utilize ads across digital platforms will allow brands to get more out of all their creative assets and get messages in front of engaged digital audiences. In fact, small changes to TV ads can turn them into great video ads. 

Advice: In 2017, plan TV and online alongside one another to drive optimal impact. Third-party research shows advertisers on prime-time broadcast TV in the U.S. could have reached 56% more 18- to 49-year-olds by also adding YouTube to the mix. Consider a dedicated monthly budget to video pre-roll/ trueview. 

As you bring your scrappiness and innovative thinking to the new year, don’t forget to consider these drastic changes in consumer behavior. I hope as you set your digital goals for 2017, this post was able to assist you building your digital road map.

There’s a lot of talk about SEM, PPC, SEO and AdWords...

1. What is the difference between them?

2. Which will be the best fit for your digital strategy?

3. Should Dealership’s manage their own SEM campaigns internally?

Short answer: 

1. Here’s a quick overview of each keyword.

2. There’s no one size fits all strategy. 

3. If you wish to remain sustainable, absolutely not- save yourself the headache. 

Long answer: 

Novice or expert we can both agree that the digital game has A LOT of moving pieces. I’m here to advise you that your digital presence shouldn’t be a DIY project. 

Your SEM strategy should be executed with focus on targeting in-market shoppers and lead conversion while fully maximizing ROI. 

According to PCG Research Study: Dealer Deployment of Google AdWords... 

It is very easy to start spending money on AdWords

The Adwords system is designed to appear easy to use but it is specifically designed to make you spend more money. If you don’t have the proper monitoring, control tools, knowledge and experience, you will end up making losses instead of profits. Save your money and invest it into hiring professionals to handle it for you. 

If you don’t use it correctly it will be like playing in a Casino where you spend money with the wishful thinking that sometimes you will get it back, but you never do! 

Over to you. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on how important Google AdWords is for your dealership. Are you running campaigns in-house or from a search provider? What pros and cons have you encountered? What KPIs does your dealership focus on in reporting to ensure you're targeting your digital dollars with laser-guided precision? 

Hello, I’m a millennial looking to buy a new car.

Right now my millennial generation is quickly becoming some of the world’s primary consumers, and it seems brands are scratching their heads trying to figure out how to market and sell us. We are a whole new breed, like nothing you’ve seen before considering we grew up connected to technology. 

We are progressive, tech-savvy, open-minded, self-expressive and not shy about spending money.

As the automotive business keeps evolving, it’s time for dealers to keep embracing technology and focus on creating experiences for my generation online to get us in-store.

The purpose of this post is to share my insights and perspective of what it’s like shopping for a car online from the eyes of a millennial.

Here are the 10 thoughts that ran through my head when trying to search for a car online to buy before visiting a dealership in person and some actionable advice:

1. Let’s start with a Google Search 

It all starts with a google search. If I have ANY question in the world, I will Google it first. If your dealership isn’t popping up in Google, essentially you don’t even exist. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve driven past your dealership in the past year or how many tv commercials I’ve seen- it’s an unwritten rule that you must show up in the top of my Google Search Results Page.

Advice: Invest a large budget into SEM or get lost in the dust.

2. *Judges You via Website Design*

If your automotive website looks like it’s from the early 2000s, the chances of me actually coming in your store are zero to none. Although that may sound snotty, I truly believe a website can tell you a lot about your in-store experience. I want my in-store experience to be fast, progressive, friendly, honest and to the point. When I see a half-fast website with graphics that are all sorts of clashing “buy now” colors screaming at me, this is how I envision your dealership:

Advice: Imagine your dealership’s website as a virtual shop window. Ensure it’s built mobile-first, responsive, follows website design best practices, and creates a rich user experience. Build it for the user and don’t be shy on spending extra money on this valuable piece of your business.

3. Are there any eco-friendly options?

Sustainability should be a priority- why aren’t any dealers concerned? I’d like to consider us millennials a green generation, we truly care about the environment and want to do our best to be “eco-friendly”. Realistically most of us need a car to commute to work and sadly can’t afford a fancy tesla. Therefore, when buying a car our ideal situation would be a car that is as eco-friendly as possible. Personal values are more important than personal benefits, such as cost or convenience. 
Don’t believe me? Check this out:

Advice: Give us an option to refine search results on your website to “eco-friendly” options. Yes we can configure highway MPG, but that’s not enough.  

4. Why can’t I search for non-leather interior in cars?

Searching through various dealership’s websites I was troubled to find that I couldn’t refine the results to a synthetic interior, I had to manually click into each cars VDP and search to find what the interior was made of. Unlike previous generations, we do not consider leather a luxury. Why? Well because most of us have seen Cowspiracy or that gross viral leather video online.

Advice: Give us an option to refine search results on your website to synthetic interior options.

5. Chat tools are spammy. 

Clicking through different dealership website’s I’ve noticed a common theme: everyone uses a “chat tool”. Personally, I’m shocked the tool even works; it’s invasive in the way that it keeps popping up and sometimes even moves around my screen to where I can't make it go away. I also assume it’s a “chat bot” aka a computer talking to me on the other end. Why would I go through the trouble of asking a computer something I can easily find myself? I assume dealers think customers will be typing in a basic question like, “what are the late modeled Toyota Camry options available?”.  As a millennial, I most likely would be asking something far more complex that I don't think a computer would be able to auto answer, if I decided to use this tool.

Advice: Give us tools that will help us throughout our purchasing journey and be innovative not invasive.

6. What is my trade-in value?

Before I can make moves, I need to know how much my current car is worth so I can understand what type of budget I’m dealing with. I’m very idealistic and want to spend money, but realistically I am unsure how much money I can spend.

Advice: Have a trade-in tool with a human-designed clean interface that can give me my trade-in value fast and easy. 
This Trade-In Tool is a great example- I can get all needed information in less than a minute, am incentivized to come in-store and can even schedule my appointment inside of it.

7. What are your specials?

Our general millennial population are professionals at online shopping. Our first reaction when visiting a website is to check the “sale” section before we even view the normal inventory. This can be reflected the same with an automotive site, we are going to check out your Specials before we further navigate your site.

Advice: Make sure your specials page is clean, clear and clicks through to the correct search page to catch us. 
Brandon Honda does a great job doing this.

8. I don’t want to give you my information BUT if I do I’m probably very serious about the vehicle. 

I know how the game works, I give you my information and you proceed to blow up my phone and email for the next two months. Although our phones are attached to our hands, we don’t want to be bothered. To be fair, I understand the methodology of why this is done; you want to ensure we visit your dealership and not another dealership. Here’s the good news, if we do give you our contact information we are probably very serious about coming in-store.

Advice: Understand that if we are giving you our information, chances are we are going to be a great lead. Get us in store, we probably know what we want anyways.

9. *Dreads communicating with a real person who possibly might be a pushy salesman*

Good luck communicating with us, this might be an area where we absolutely fall into our stereotype. If you contact us to much, we are going to ghost you. If you contact us too little, we might get so lost on the internet we forgot you existed. It’s a tricky tricky area.

Advice: Do not take on millennials from a traditional call script and contacting us schedule approach- this wheel needs to be reinvented specifically designed for us. We crave experience, being treated like real humans and the easiest way to keep in touch is by texting us only please.

10. I only want to visit 1 or 2 dealerships before I make my purchasing decision.

Sometimes I see statistics online and really doubt their validity. Example: according to Google, “The average car purchasers only visits two dealerships before making their purchasing decision”. This my friend, is quite accurate. The thought of shopping dealership to dealership like how it use to be done, sounds about as fun as a day full of doctor appointments. I’m going to do all of my research online and ideally have everything ready to the point where when I walk into the store we can get straight to the numbers and paperwork. I want to spend as little time as possible at the dealership.

Advice: Build the bridge between digital traffic and foot traffic for millennials by being useful during crucial decision making moments online. Give us all the tools we need on your website to be able to go in your store and buy the car as quick as possible. 

To clarify, I don’t represent the entire millennial population because we come in all shapes, sizes, personalities, tendencies and behavioral patterns. With that being said, I know targeting millennials seems to be an unknown tricky territory, but if you seek to understand us it is easy to influence our behavior. I hope that some of my thoughts above can give you some inspiration on how to enhance the consumer experience for millennial car shoppers.

What are your thoughts or advice when it comes to targeting us millennials on your dealership’s website?

The world's largest online retailer, Amazon, released a new extension to their online automotive platform today, “Vehicles", a place to “see specs, read reviews and ask owners”. 

Just a quick glance at Amazon Vehicles and you'll notice that this site extension is going to make shopping for a car online a whole lot easier. The interface allows online shoppers to research an assortment of vehicles and includes detail pages for thousands of vehicles with specs, pictures, reviews, and general pricings suggested by the manufacturers.

Like mentioned above, Amazon provides users the ability to submit reviews and pictures on specific vehicles- just like other products on their site.  As you can imagine this is either going to be a very good or bad thing for automotive retailers. 

In a statement, Adam Goetsch, director of Amazon Automotive, said the purpose of the new site is to "support customers during one of the most important, research-intensive purchases in their lives by helping them make informed decisions."

To clarify, Amazon has created three separate auto destinations:

1. “Automotive”- the marketplace for buying actual car parts.

2. “Your Garage”- a place to view, manage, and find parts for your saved vehicles. 

and now... 

3. “Vehicles”, which essentially is a massive virtual showroom. 

As of now Amazon doesn't offer an option to purchase a car through their site. Which is not surprising considering they would be battling it out with eBay, AutoTrader, Cars.com- so don't expect to Amazon Prime a car anytime soon.

How this new variable will impact automotive dealers who are aggressively trying to take on the digital world, is unclear but we are excited to find out. 

What do you think?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on Amazon's newest jab at the auto industry in the comments below!  

If we’ve learned one thing from Google in 2016, it’s that they are NOT messing around when it comes to innovating digital marketing in our mobile centric world. They've made it loud and clear that mobile has become the dominant way users are searching. 

This year alone we’ve seen countless HUGE changes Google has made to their Search Engine Results Page recognizing that mobile is the preferred method to search.

Seriously, Google has been keeping EVERYONE on their toes this past year and all of these changes are impacting every automotive dealer's PPC results.

Let's Recap:

First,

Google Completely Removed Right-Side Ads.

Then,

Google mysteriously released an “experimental platform” aka "Google Posts" that let's the chosen few directly post on Google's Search Engine Results Page.

After that they announced,

"Rev Up the Car Shopping Experience with Auto Ads”. Which turns out to be an ad platform specifically built for the automotive industry with it’s own type of ads: Model Automotive Ads and Dealer Automotive Ads.

Most Recently,

Google Launched Expanded Text Ads. Which provide more space for your ad test compared to standard text ads, not to mention they killed off standard text ads completely.

And now introducing,

Price Extensions.

What Are Price Extensions?

Price Extensions provide additional information that can show with your mobile text ads, showcasing your services and range of products, and how much they cost.

This new feature gives a dealership the ability to include pricing and payments on specific models which will display directly on the google Search Engine Results Page like this:

With this change, I’ve drawn out some of the obvious Pros and Cons we've already uncovered so you can decide if implementing these Price Extensions in your automotive digital strategy would be appropriate.

Pros:

More Qualified Clicks.

Price Extensions will drive more qualified clicks. They will show up as multiple rows, providing valuable pricing information to leads before they even click the ad. The structure shows the model type, description, price and makes it even easier for the mobile user by leading them to the relevant VDP page.

Easy to Implement.

It’s pretty easy to add this extension in adwords at the account, campaign, or ad group level within the ad extensions tab in AdWords.

Takes Up Significant Real Estate on Mobile.

It will absolutely stir tough competition that will potentially drive up mobile CPS in a valuable way. 

User-Friendly Interface 

These ads make shopping so easy!

Opportunity to Show Multiple Vehicle Pricing Information on an Ad

Seriously, how awesome would it be to have only your dealership's vehicle pricing information right on Google, which is super easy for a car buyer to click?

Cons:

Only Will Show on Mobile.

Google has taken a strong stance on innovating for the mobile centric world, and has deemed these ads to only be mobile-friendly.

Only Available in English

For now, so stay tuned!

Only Will Show Price Extension if Ad is in Position #1.

It is now more important than ever to ensure your dealership is in that top spot.

Higher Bids for Top Spot.

In order for this extension to work, it must be the #1 Ad, therefore expect an increase in bidding wars for that number one spot.

Extensions Keeping Getting Disapproved.

The common theme for these extensions thus far dance arround the idea that Google is a little confused on the guidelines behind approving these ads for automotive dealers and incorporating all their already existing features into the mix. 

Here's an Example of an Approved Price Extension

After several rounds of being disapproved, Google finally approved some like this one:

Note: This a brand new extension option, but we strongly believe that this extension can be a powerful tool for Automotive Dealers, so stay tuned for data results!

Conclusion

The new Price Extensions rollout further proves how important it is to have an aggressive digital approach that is mobile-centric, considering that’s where people are searching.

Don’t forget that If you want to implement Price Extensions in your strategy, aim for position #1.

Although all these sudden changes can be seen as overwhelming, our team at intice couldn’t be more excited to help dealers be a part of this mobile-centric mission Google has aggressively embarked.

What do you think?

As we test the waters with this new price extension for automotive, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!  

Has your dealership tried them out?

Did it get approved? If so, thoughts on best practices?

The shift to mobile is no longer happening, or will happen - the shift to mobile has happened. 

Google continues to innovate the digital advertising world when it comes to improving the search experience for users, keeping a mobile-centric focus and ensuring consistency across all types of devices. 

There has been a lot of huge changes this year when it comes to Google's Search Engine Results Page format. Earlier this year we witnessed the Search Engine Results Page change format completely excluding right-side ads. In late March, we watched as Google announced it's release of Model Automotive Ads and Dealer Automotive Ads. Now, we are witnessing Google's newest innovative change towards a mobile-centric world that will impact every single Google advertiser: Expanded Text Ads.

What I'll be covering: 

• What Expanded Text Ads Are
• Why Dealers Should Care
• Expanded Text Ads vs Standard Text Ads
• Best Practices
• How to Make The Most Out of Expanded Text Ads

What Are Expanded Text Ads

"Expanded text ads are the next generation of text ads, designed for a mobile-first world with both users and advertisers in mind. They provide more space for your ad text compared to standard text ads, and are designed for optimal performance on mobile devices so you can reach potential customers when they’re on the go."

Research has shown that longer ad headlines are more useful to mobile users because it provides all that extra needed information to encourage users to click through. Don't worry, companies who have already implemented using Expanded Text Ads have seen excellent results that further prove out how this new ad format will positively impact advertisers. "So far, expanded text ads have helped us deliver a 92% increase in click-through rate for one of our brands, compared to our old text ads.” — Kirsty Woolley, Multi Channel Acquisition Manager at L'Oréal Luxe

Why Dealers Should Care

Today marks the first day that Google has rolled out these innovations in Adwords across the world. Starting October 26, 2016, Google will longer support the creation or editing of standard text ads. The existing ads will continue to be able to be served passed that date, but since Google is trying to stray away from this old format we can assume they won't be supported anymore not too far into the future. 

Being competitive in the digital space when it comes to Automotive, it is crucial to stay on top of trends. Taking that deadline into consideration, we highly recommend all Automotive dealers to take action NOW to switch over to the new Expanded Text Ads.

Expanded Text Ads vs Standard Text Ads

                  Expanded Text Ads                                                  Standard Text Ads

Expanded Text Ads are very similar to the Standard Text Ads, so let's take a look at the key differences: 

1. Expanded Text Ads have two headline fields instead of one. 

2. The two description lines have been merged into one field. 

3. The domain of your display URL is now based on your final URL domain. 

4. Text ads are now mobile optimized. 

Expanded Text Ads Best Practices 

Expanded Text Ads can now be officially created by all advertisers on Google AdWords. When you first dive in, don't forget to try out different variations to see what would work best for your dealership. It is also important to remember, when creating these new ads, wait for the ad to be approved before pausing the Standard Text Ads. 

We'd also like to note that the easiest way to transition is to use bulk editing. Making bulk changes to expanded text ads is very similar to making bulk changes to standard text ads. You can multi-select ads and pause, enable, or remove them via the Edit menu. You can also use “Change ads” in the “Edit” menu to edit multiple text ads at once. Bulk upload also supports expanded text ads, though with additional column headers that aren’t available for standard text ads. You can make changes to both standard and expanded text ads within the same Bulk upload spreadsheet. Get started 

How To Make The Most Out Of Expanded Text Ads 

- Rethink Ad Messages, don't just put a second headline. Instead think of the entire message you could fit across entirely. 

- Take advantage of the extra characters allowed to further explain your message to the person who is debating if they want to click onto your site. 

- Optimize headlines to ensure they read clear and easy across all devices like desktop and mobile.

- Utilize ad extensions, specifically Location Extensions, to increase performance and to drive online shoppers in-store. 

Conclusion

With 50% more ad text available and an additional headline, Expanded Text Ads provide more opportunity for Automotive Dealers to connect with their audiences throughout buyer's purchase journey online and ultimately drive more qualified clicks to dealership's websites. We hope this insight on Google's newest Ad Format, that is impacting everyones Search Engine Results Page, will help your dealership get a head start to dominate the digital advertising game.

Let me know in the comments your thoughts and if you'd like to share some examples on how your Dealership has used the Expanded Text Ad Format. Has it been proving out a higher CTR or too early to tell? 

PS If you'd like to learn more and keep informed about breaking news in Digital Marketing specifically for Automotive, don't forget to check out and subscribe to our blog!

Love it or hate it, Pokémon Go is THE biggest mainstream Augmented Reality Game to date, period. If you want to win in the game of business you have to keep your eyes peeled on big shifts in consumer behavior and capitalize on them when it’s time. This is a major key for dealerships when it comes down to Automotive Digital Marketing and the ever evolving automotive industry. 

Catch 'em all using Pokémon Go

Pokémon Go is an Augmented Reality App. Meaning, it mixes real-world elements, your GPS, camera and clock to allow users to search, capture, and train Pokemon characters.

Since it’s release on July 6, 2016, it has been crowned to be The Biggest Mobile Game In History by SurveyMonkey.

As of right now, in the United States, Pokémon Go has an estimated 21 Million Daily Active Users. Meaning, It’s already bigger than Tinder, Twitter, Netflix and soon will Surpass Facebook, Snapchat and Google Maps. That’s jaw-dropping impressive.

This beautiful relationship of IP, Technology and Gameplay is not just a trend, but a sustainable beast.

So, how can this Pokémon Go Phenomenon positively impact your dealership?

With Smart Marketing Pokémon Go can: 

• Give Customers an Incentive to Choose your Dealership Over Others
• Drive Unlimited Foot Traffic to Your Dealership for only $1.19 an Hour
• Create Strong Emotional Connections with Customers
• Engage the Oh-So-Difficult Millennial Market
• Create Real Conversations with Real Customers On Social Media

You don't need to be a Pokémon Master to capitalize on this opportunity. 

Seriously. As long as you understand the basics, here’s your chance to actively get in on the conversation and get customers to participate with you from a digital and in-person standpoint.

I decided to dive into this idea of using Pokemon Go as a strategic marketing strategy for dealerships by giving a high-key summary of the game and how it can be utilized in 5 steps specifically for Automotive Dealers. 

5 Steps to Increase Foot Traffic Using Pokemon Go 

Need more Foot-Traffic?

A unique way to engage and delight customers who are waiting at the store?

Checkout Step #3, "Lure 'em in". 

The Goal of a user playing Pokémon Go is to catch em’ all using pokeballs and ultimately become the Pokémon Master. Unlike other “traditional” games, this game has users traverse their towns in search of Pokémon, as well as Pokéstops and Gyms which happen to be real-world locations. This is because the game uses the users GPS so location and climate impact the Pokémon that will app. 

This step would require someone at the dealership to implement as well as a small budget. It's an in-app purchase called a "Lure Module", but might I add how modest the price tag is? 

$1.19 an hour for unlimited foot-traffic. 

Here's what's awesome about Lure Modules: they attract Pokémon to a specific Pokéstop location for 30 minutes. Which makes it an ideal place for trainers to hangout at and catch Pokémon. Catch my drift?

Expanding further I wrote out some ideas on how a dealership can specifically create real conversations with real customers online using Pokémon Go. 

5 Social Media Content Ideas

Enjoy!

PS

Has your dealership implemented anything creative around the Pokémon Go craze?

Do you have any creative marketing ideas you'd like to share?