As smartphones grow in popularity, advertisers are turning to location-based marketing applications like Foursquare to engage consumers. At Potratz, we have implemented location-based campaigns on social sites for multiple clients to encourage users to check in on their phones. Here are a couple examples:

Steve White VW Audi offers $15 off parts/service when people check in

The Bill Rapp Superstore offers a $10 NYS Inspection and car wash for every check-in.

With over 7 million people on Foursquare and other location-based tools like GoWalla and Facebook Places gaining popularity, auto dealers need to get on board with location-based marketing to offer rewards to tech-saavy customers. Service specials work well to draw people into the dealership when they can save money on an oil change, car wash, inspection, etc.

Plus, with Foursquare's recent statistics updates it's easy for a user to see where friends are checking in and what your favorite categories are. The new update also allows you to search by category, so it's a great way to market service specials and sales incentives to those who will be searching automotive shops.

Even national brands are getting involved. JetBlue is using an app called GateGuru to reward fliers with free flights and gift certificates for checking in at airport terminals. Also, American Express is teaming with merchants on Foursquare to give special offers when people shop with those merchants.

If your car dealership isn't on board with Foursquare, it's easy to set up and free. Read this article we wrote on claiming your dealership's Foursquare location to learn how. Get started with a location-based marketing campaign today!

As of February 2011, YouTube has 490 million unique visitors per month worldwide. The average YouTube user visits the site 14 times per month, spending an average of 25 minutes on the site each time. And these numbers are only for the YouTube website itself and don’t include all those embedded YouTube videos that are all over the place, in blogs, viewed on smartphones, etc.

We know that YouTube can be an important medium to increase SEO, to share content and to receive feedback on that content, but how well are you showcasing your page?  YouTube says there are 35 hours of video uploaded every minute, with all that competition how do you standout from the crowd; how do you stand out from every other dealership?You don’t have to be overly internet savy to create a fantastic, customized YouTube channel. There are easy options that everyone can take advantage without taking up to much time.

Create a custom background- just like any other medium, you want your YouTube Channel to be branded to match your dealership. And what better way to do this than create a custom background? By going to “My Channel” and clicking on “Themes and Colors” at the top of the page, you can  customize your background to reflect your dealership. You can even use your logo (or another photo reflecting your dealership) as a background image. Here you can also create the perfect color scheme to match.

Make sure your featured video is your best video- by default, YouTube uses your latest post as your “Featured” video. While this might be good for dealerships post often, it may not be the best option for dealerships that only post occasionally. By clicking “Videos and Playlists” on the tope of your channel, you can choose between letting your most recent video be the “Featured Video” or chose one specific video that will remain regardless of what you post.
Note: the drop down menu will give you the option of “most recent” as well as a list of the last few videos you posted. If the video you want does not appear, click “other” and     put in the web address of the video you are looking for.

Organize your videos- setting up playlists are a great way to organize your videos. Creating playlists will not only help you to more easily search for videos but also help your customer or potential customer see the videos they are interested in seeing. Sort your videos by make or by model, by ads and promotions and (if you have them by testimonials)

Make sure the thumbnails for your videos are attractive- thumbnails are what the viewer sees as a reflection of your video. If you didn’t specifically chose a thumbnail when you posted the video, you can still change them. Click on your user name at the top left of the page and click “My videos” in the drop down menu. Chose the video you want to change and click “edit”. In this page you will see “Video Thumbnail” and this is where you can change the thumbnail picture if you’d like.

Add channel tags- just like you tag each of your videos, you want to make sure you tag your channel as a whole. By clicking the “Settings” button at the top of your page, you’ll see a place where you can add tags for your dealership’s channel. This is a great way for people to find your comment. Make sure to not only use the makes you sell as keywords, but also add things like “ preowned dealership”, “car dealership” “certified dealership”, etc.

Pay attention to comments- by checking the “comments” area of your page on a regular basis, you can engage with your customers and see what they are saying about you. By taking the time to reply to comments you will keep your page from looking neglected and be able to respond to negative comments.

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS 


POTRATZ is a Digital and Traditional Automotive Advertising Agency and we are in search of talented graphic designers that preferably have experience in automotive marketing design. This is a chance for the right designers to really start being creative in automotive marketing online and in print.

The successful candidates will demonstrate strong graphic and web design capabilities for the automotive industry, and grasp of design principals. Must be able to work with multiple projects and be able to perform within tight deadlines, have strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to adapt to a changing environment and acquire new skills.

The Bottom Line… If you rock at what you do, love to always be learning more, want to work with the coolest auto dealers and dealer groups in the USA, Canada and Australia, want to work with an awesome team of creative types that love what they do, be part of a firm that is leading the charge of full integration in digital and traditional marketing, winning awards, have the latest software and Apple gear, and we actual interview and choose which perspective clients we will have the best fit and relationship with….and Yes make Well Over the National Average, matching funds to 401k, 50/50 paid health insurance, paid vacation,  We Expect you to be Well Above Average!  So what are you waiting for we want to see your work if you can Rock It!

Requirements: 


• An exceptional sense of design 


• Strong-Expert Knowledge of Photoshop
• Strong-Expert Knowledge of Indesign


• Strong-Expert Knowledge of Dreamweaver 


• Strong-Expert Knowledge of HTML


• Strong-Expert Knowledge of Flash 


• Ability to create flash rich media banner ads 


• An understanding or interest in “Web 2.0″ technologies, concepts, and designs


• Strong communication skills, the ability to present your work 


• A true love of the art in design and a desire to always push the envelope 


• A willingness to get the job done no matter how challenging it may be 


Skills/Experience that will set you apart: 


• Interactive Agency Experience 


• JavaScript, Ajax 


• Server Side scripting language such as PHP/ASP etc.

Who we are NOT looking for:


• Someone with ONLY print design skills.


• Someone that can't relocate to the Capital Region of New York (Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Saratoga, Etc)


• Designers who work only in flash

To Apply,
email your resume and LINK TO YOUR PORTFOLIO to christy@ppadv.com.
DON'T FORGET WE NEED TO RECEIVE A LINK TO YOUR PORTFOLIO OR YOU WILL NOT BE CONTACTED.

Ideally, an auto dealership should be running a pay-per-click campaign through Google AdWords, but what if you just don't have the staff or the time to manage an AdWords campaign? Google now offers a simplified option called Google Boost through Google Places in which you can basically "set it and forget it." Unfortunately, this platform is only available in certain markets but will eventually be offered across the country.

Once you claim your Google Place for your car dealership, you can see if Google Boost is available for your market. If it's available, all you have to do is set your budget for the month, and Google takes care of the rest. Based on the information about your dealership in your Google Place page, Google will pick keywords for which your ad will show up in the sponsored section. Just as in AdWords, you only ultimately pay for each click, and Google will automatically manage your budget to give you more impressions and clicks depending on how high you bid.

The great thing about Google Boost, especially for small dealerships with limited staff and a low advertising budget, is that you don't have to spend time picking out keywords, setting bids, writing ads, etc. Of course, on the flip side, you don't get the level of customization and targeting that you can get through managing your own AdWords campaign.

Google Boost offers both cost-effective and low maintenance search engine marketing for auto dealers.

Ever get that sinking feeling that your auto dealership's website looks just like every other dealership's site? You're not alone--just look at every other dealership using some generic provider for their site. A website refresh is going to take a substantial amount of time and development, but if you can edit the text content, there are some things you can do now to help your website rank higher in search and keep your visitors on the pages.

Here are four simple tips for writing content for your car dealer website:

• Keep it simple. Write on an elementary school level since, like it or not, the average visitors to your website are going to find their eyes glazing over if they have to read anything more complicated.
• Realize that writing for the web is much different than writing for print. On a website, the text needs to fit well in the user's browser, be broken up frequently, and include links to other sections of the site.
• Call your readers to action. Give them an offer, and ask them to convert. Don't beat around the bush...tell them to fill out a form or pick up the phone without having to read through 10 paragraphs about why this car is the best hatchback known to man.
• Write with search engines in mind. In order to optimize your site in search results, use keywords for models and makes you sell, services you provide, and locations you target.

This list could go on and on, and we're going to be discussing these and more ways to write effective content for the web in a free online workshop Thursday, March 10, at 10:57 AM..

Running a successful social media campaign in the automotive industry, or any industry for that matter, involves keeping an eye on the website updates and improvements. With that said, Facebook has recently released its update on the comments plugin which can offer you some exciting features for your dealership's business page. 

These features include threaded comments, moderation controls, and being able to sync comments to your Facebook page. The ability to synchronize your comments with your dealership page could provide an excellent way to increase customer interaction for certain websites or blog sites that see a majority of their interaction on their Facebook page (or vice versa).

Even though these social networking updates may seem minor, it's important that your dealership constantly monitor and embrace these improvements. Take Facebook Places and Deals for starters. Each of these updates provides different avenues for how an automotive dealer or dealer group can promote itself through these Social Media networks. So if nothing else, take notice of updates and recent news among your social media giants (Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, etc) and see how you can creatively implement them for your customers and dealership. You never know what you may stumble upon (no social media pun intended). It very well could be what propels your dealership away from the competition.
 

What’s your ultimate goal in running a search engine marketing campaign for your car dealership? To get more clicks on your ads? To lower your cost per click and get the most for your money? To get more conversions when people fill out forms to get a quote? All of these things work step by step closer to your ultimate goal: to sell more cars. That’s what it comes down to.

An effective pay-per-click campaign needs to take into consideration all these elements and more to use your dealership’s advertising budget to its maximum potential and drive the most people to your site and ultimately to the lot to buy cars. It’s much more than just bidding on a few keywords and letting it run.

In fact, an auto dealer SEM campaign can ultimately only be as effective as the web pages ads drive people to. Google takes into account the quality of landing pages and their relevance to the ads people click on. As a car dealer seeking to drive more leads, you need to make sure your website is buyer-friendly with a clean, simple design and also plenty of calls to action to get people to fill out forms.

Every part of your dealership’s advertising needs to focus on your goal of selling more cars, and you should take steps to make sure your search engine marketing campaign is driving toward this goal.

Social media has been featured a lot lately in the headlines but not as we might have suspected, either as an advertising tool or because a celebrity reveled some shocking personal information.   No instead it is being credited with helping spread freedom of speech and creating revolution.

Recent events in Egypt have proved without a shadow of a doubt that social media reaches far beyond entertainment and advertising.  In the past traditional media was the only way to infuse public opinion into a society's consciousness.  The major difference being major media outlets were regulated by their owners who could sway the opinions expressed by a newspaper our network to their own.  But Facebook and Twitter don't control the content as tightly so the voice of the common person can really come through without major censorship.  This change has been recognized by every government around the world.  Once the dust settles I think most people will realize we have just witnessed the dawn of whole new way technology is going to influence society and humanity.

Which brings me to my point.  I really hate to turn this extraordinary event into a advertising example...  But I'm going to.  The great thing about social media is as an advertiser you have immediate feedback.  You don't need a control group or a survey to know how your campaign or product is holding up.  Not only that but you get real, unbiased, uncensored and pressure free feedback.  Sometimes it might hurt to see what people "really" think but at least you know where you stand.  And having such great access to this information lets you make faster choices in your direction and what needs to be fixed to improve your R.O.I.

In marketing for auto dealers around the country, we spend time analyzing their competition to see how they’re doing with everything from social media marketing to website lead management. In order to beat your competition out in sales, your dealership needs to take the time to look at what competitors are doing. Here are a few quick tips to analyze other dealerships:

• Look at their website. Is it a customized site, or are they using a generic auto dealer website provider like Dealer.com? What are they doing to drive conversions?
• Pretend to be a car shopper and fill out some forms. How soon do you get a response? Do they email, call, or both? Are all the emails automated, or do any of them look personally written?
• Search in Google for brands and models that they sell. How well do their listings rank? Are they running or posting press releases or online videos?
• Find their dealership’s Facebook business page, if they have one. What kind of content are they posting, and how often? Are they just blasting out sales and inventory or starting conversations and personal interaction?

Take some time to analyze your competition. You can see the areas in which you are strong and also what you need to improve.

Warren Buffet recently announced he is leaving the board for the Washington Post Co. after almost a 40 year run.  On another note Rupert Murdoch's News Corp just launched the first i-pad only newspaper last week which it plans to charge 99 cents per week or $40 per year to read.  There has also been talk that the New York Times, the most visited news publication on the internet, will also start charging for it's on-line paper.

Dealers and agencies both know traditional newspapers have been losing revenue for years.  It's no surprise that we are going to see more of a shift toward completely digital publications.  It's cheaper to produce, it's "greener", it's easier, faster and cheaper to distribute.  The only down side is that they still don't have the readership of regular papers :)  I personally feel newspapers will eventually all go digital, if not for at least the most basic environmental and cost reasons.  You already have paperless offices, why not paperless "papers".  But something that will never change is that people will always need to go somewhere to get news and information from a place they know and trust.  As to where that will be and how much it will cost to advertise there still remains to be seen.  Plus until everyone has a smart phone, tablet or computer there will still be plenty of people reading papers.  And even then some people still prefer paper to screen.  I am a huge "techie" for example.  But I refuse to get a kindle.  I don't get to read as much as I would like, so I prefer the feel of a real book. I enjoy visiting the library, the quiet rustle of pages, the smell of paper after it has aged for decades in the care of hundreds of readers.  To me reading a book is a visceral experience as well as a mental enjoyment.  You can't replace something like that with technology.

A younger associate of mine recently asked me "why do they even have newspapers anymore?  I only read things on-line anyway"  My answer was pretty simple... Where else can you find all of the dealerships in your area in one place so you can compare prices side by side?  Most dealers have a great web presence these days but comparison shopping on-line is  much harder than just opening the local paper.

So what does this all amount to for dealers?  Well as much as dealers have wanted to finally say goodbye to the papers it looks like they are here to stay.  As long as people need news, no matter how or where they go to get it, there will probably be a place where dealers will have to advertise.  Especially if on-line publications move from just national to regional or even local publications.