Bing has announced plans to integrate with Facebook to show which pages your friends like. As long as you’re logged into your Facebook account, you will see your friends’ profile images and names under search results for pages they like.

This new feature will help to make your auto dealership Facebook page more visible. When friends of your fans search, they will see that their friends like your page. As you build fans and encourage more people to like the page, searchers will be more likely to have a friend that likes your page and see that page standing out in search results.

Bing is still rolling out this capability for U.S. users but plans to make it available to all eventually. This integration between Facebook and Bing provides a new way to combine search engine optimization and social media marketing for car dealers.

Search engines like Bing and Google are constantly adding new features that improve search results and advertising. When you stay on top of the latest updates in search engines, you can keep a step ahead of other dealers in online automotive marketing.

Contact us to learn more about how you can market your dealership on social media and in search engines.

POTRATZ
Paul Potratz
518-788-4724
paul@ppadv.com
Like us on Facebook

Facebook already offers a wealth of opportunity for car dealerships to promote their offers with Ads. Now, Facebook is adding a new advertising feature called Deals, integrating with Facebook Places. People that check into your Facebook Place can receive special offers on service or whatever your choose. Now, you can give people an extra incentive to visit your actual location when they see your social media promotion.

A few companies selected to test-run Deals are testing the waters with giveaways and fundraising promotion. For example, Gap is giving away a free pair of jeans to the first 10,000 people who check in with Facebook Places. 24-Hour Fitness is donating a dollar to charity for everyone who checks in at one of their locations.

You can create deals in four categories: Independent, Friend, Loyalty, and Charity. An independent deal gives a discount or some other incentive for anyone who checks into your location. For example, someone could save $25 off service after checking into your dealership. A Friend deal gives an offer only if enough people check in together. The Friend Deal can be a great way to motivate people to bring others to your car dealership.

A Loyalty deal provides an offer only after someone has checked in multiple times. For example, an auto dealership could offer a free oil change for someone who checks in five times. Finally, the Charity deal donates money to a select charity when people check in.

The possibilities for automotive marketing through Facebook Deals are endless. To learn more about Facebook deals and how you can promote your business on social media, please contact us.

POTRATZ
Paul Potratz
518-788-4724
paul@ppadv.com
Like us on Facebook

Use text message marketing to reach people directly in their phones with a personal message! You can customize a text message marketing service to fit the specific needs of your auto dealership marketing campaign. These messages are not spam but instead reach only those people who choose to text a number and request information. Thus a texting campaign can reach a specific target audience.

After setting up a number for people to text, you can print that number on a billboard, print ad, website, or Facebook page. You could link a specific number or text to a brand or even a specific vehicle special. When someone sees the ad and texts the brand name or stock number to the texting number, that person can receive information about a vehicle or connect with a salesperson. For example, “Text FORD to 12345 for information on our latest Ford specials” or “Text M1234 [stock number] to 12345 for more information on this vehicle.” Perhaps the person might get a text right away promising a later call or even receive a text with short info about a current special or a web address to visit.

Text message marketing also offers tracking statistics to see how many people receive and open messages, as well as how many leads convert into sales. A user on the Dealer Refresh forum says that he knows of a dealer who sold a car completely through text messaging.

As an auto dealer, be as creative as you want to integrate mobile marketing with both traditional and social media. Start a contest and require contestants to text a number to enter, and then the finalists receive a text inviting them to an event at the dealership. Also, a billboard can advertise a car special but ask people to text to find out the final price.

Also print window stickers to put on cars, asking people to text the stock number of the car to a number to receive more information. The possibilities are endless for using mobile marketing for automotive advertising.

Reach people on their phones as they see your ads and text in for assistance. Text message marketing provides one more way to drive your brand home and bring in leads to your auto dealership. For more information about how you can use mobile advertising or any of our automotive ad agency services to promote your dealership, please contact us.

POTRATZ
Paul Potratz
518-788-4724
paul@ppadv.com
Like us on Facebook

So you’ve set up a Facebook page for your auto dealership. You’re adding daily content and running giveaways, but you want to keep driving people to the page. What better way than to run ads right on Facebook?

You can promote your page by running ads to push people to like your page. When people are browsing Facebook, these ads appear along the right side, with a small image and a maximum of 160 characters of text. Ads are a powerful way to drive people to your Facebook page. You can promote your latest giveaway to encourage people to like your page and enter. You could also drive people to your website to see inventory or service specials.

Facebook ads can target people in specific areas, within a set age range, and with specific interests, allowing a car marketing agency to narrow in on precise audiences. For example, aBMW dealer could target people who are fans of pages related to BMWs.

You only pay when someone clicks an ad, so you spend money only for people who are expressing interest in your page. You set a maximum amount to spend per day and bid on the maximum amount you wish to spend for each ad. Facebook ads provide a cost-effective tool for automotive advertising.

For more information on promoting your car dealership with Facebook ads, feel free to contact us.

Think about the average car shopper visiting your website. Let’s say you sell Nissans. Joe wants to buy a Nissan Altima, so he searches for “nissan altima” in Google. Your car dealership pops up at the top of the search results.

Joe visits your site, spends five minutes looking at the Altimas in your inventory, and then goes off your site to check out the other dealerships that showed up in results. He forgets about your site as he goes through all the others.

Now, imagine if Joe gets on the computer the next day. He checks his favorite weather site like he always does first thing in the morning. Only he sees ads on that site promoting your dealership’s Altimas! He remembers your site and clicks back to look at your inventory. Now, your car dealership sticks in his mind more than the others he looked through yesterday.

Google and Yahoo! both offer an invaluable tool called remarketing that lets you keep pushing ads to people that visit your site, even when they’re off surfing on other sites. You can keep hitting them with ads for weeks or months after they look at your site.

All you have to do is set up your ad campaign and then set up a code to put in your auto dealer website. You can even add several codes to target people specifically based on which pages they visit. Just as Joe looked at Altimas and kept seeing ads for Altimas, you can target people that look at any specific model, click links to get pricing, or look at service pages.

You can have multiple codes set up in the same website, so you can target people with general ads for your dealership as well as with specific ads for your brand. You can use either display (image) ads or text ads. However, people are much more likely to notice display ads as they’re browsing websites.

Remarketing offers a way to keep Joe coming back to your site as he’s comparing all the different auto dealers’ websites. Your brand will stick in his mind among all the names that he sees.

For more information on how you can use remarketing to promote your auto dealership online, please contact us.

Social media offers an incredibly effective medium for automotive marketing to promote your latest specials. You can promote offers by posting on Facebook, Twitter, and other pages. However, your customers often can be the best form of advertising. When they are posting your latest service specials on their personal Facebook and Twitter profiles, your message reaches thousands of their friends and followers.

The question is, how can you get your car shoppers to post your specials on their pages? Groupon provides a reason for them to post. You offer a special, but a minimum people have to agree to buy for anyone to get the deal. So your customers will want to share and get their friends to buy, so the deal will be available for all.

Targeting people in local regions, Groupon and sends daily emails to thousands of subscribers. These emails offer a variety of deals to cater to everyone’s interests. The recipients can then go online, agree to buy, and promote the deal to get their friends to help activate it.

If you want more info on how Groupon can promote your dealership feel free to contact us. 

POTRATZ
Paul Potratz
518-788-4724
paul@ppadv.com

Like us on Facebook

Find Your Place on Google

Find Your Place on Google

Google is giving car dealerships one more way to be found online! The new Places search category offers an easy way to search Place pages, which already existed but now are more visible. You can see a business location right on a map, read reviews, and see promotions right in search results.

After entering a search on Google, you'll see a "Places" option on the left side (along with Images, Videos, etc.). You can click this to search just for Place pages; anything from your automobile dealership to your favorite ice cream shop can be listed.

Google plans to automatically link to Places results when people seem to be searching for local venues. The search engine attempts to target businesses near your location, unless you list another location in your search. People searching for specific auto brands or models near your area will see your car dealership in results when your place page ranks well.

Even though Place pages have existed for a while, Google now will make these more prominent with the new specific search category. Car advertising companies need to take advantage of this search feature to place their clients at the top of results. They should make sure to include as much information as possible about the car dealerships, including hours, pictures, videos, coupons, and promotions.

When customers write reviews and rate a dealership, those ratings and excerpts from reviews show up in search results. Encourage customers to talk online about their experience at your car dealership. The more information in your page, the better it will rank in results.

To learn more about setting up a Place page for your dealership, read our previous blog post on promoting your auto dealership on Google Places.
 

POTRATZ
Paul Potratz

518-788-4724
paul@ppadv.com

Like us on Facebook

 Part 2... (Read Part One Here)

Side Note: No Snake Oil here just a rapid change in how we market today....well not really that rapid since we have been selling cars the same way for over 50+ years. Facebook is the third most visited site in the United States as of this post and growing quickly.  YouTube is 4th and MySpace is 5th.  Source: www.alexa.com  

The snow has melted, the sun is shining and your feeling like it is a brand new year and you are not going to allow the negative Nancy's to hold you back since all they are trying to do is sell some newspapers or increase 5 and 10pm news ratings while in fact they are chasing their once loyal audience away with all the doom, gloom and negativity!  

The Fact Is...People want to be happy and worry free oh and they are still buying cars since buying a new car is a happy time so put a smile on your face and give the people what they want...a shiny new car!

So let’s get started,

The big difference is shoppers are not going to the newspaper like they use to months and years past but shoppers are going online and they are actually spending more time online than with newspapers, radio, TV, and magazines combined.  I am not saying traditional media is a waste, quite the contrary it is still a viable source and needed but with Social Media YOU as an individual sales person can do something TODAY and EVERYDAY that will increase your income this month, next month and next year.  I can also promise you put the effort in you will be part of the 80/20 rule.  20% of the people make 80% of the money! 

Let’s say Joe “future” Carbuyer decides it’s time to get a new Ford F150 so what could have inspired him to think it’s time to shop?

1. A friend or neighbor is driving a new car
2. There is a need e.g. for work or play
3. Repair bills are climbing
4. Just an impulse
5. Cool TV commercial
6. Etc.

The point I want to make is people start the buying process by talking about their want or need with friends and at times with complete strangers at a gas station, water cooler chat or Social Impulse.  People like to talk and you have the opportunity to part of the conversation or should I say you have the opportunity to build your Word of Mouth sales force with Social Media. 

So let’s say you were (Ricky the car salesman) that sold Sally “past” Carbuyer an F150 two months ago and she pulls into a gas station and Joe “future” Carbuyer is admiring Sally’s F150 so they start talking since he wants a new F150 BAD!.  

Would Sally feel connected to you and be able to say oh call my friend Ricky or actually would Sally even remember your name or were you just a sales guy that sat in the back seat as she took the test drive with a smile on her face?

She would feel loyal if you connected with her on a personal level on a friend level and again this is why I feel and seen a tool like Facebook is a powerful tool every salesperson should make part of their daily habits! 

Facebook is a powerful database that could make the difference of 3-5 cars per month or 25-35 cars per month depending on how you work it and your dedication.

So let’s continue from my last post of how you can become a Facebook Pro = Top Performing Ricky the car salesman!

You should now have your Facebook page set-up, pictures of you, your friends, your family, and have all information complete e.g. YOUR PHONE NUMBER, EMAIL ADDRESS, YOUR DEALERSHIP...anywhere in the facebook profile it asks for information complete it and please don’t do it all in CAPS since this is NOT REY REY and all CAPS means your YELLING.  Use correct grammar and spell check since it is the impression that counts.  

Some things not to do:

1. Write anything your Mom would be embarrassed about
2. Play Mafia Wars during the workday...You Know Who You Are :)
3. Partake in any groups/pages that could be questionable or offend
4. Don’t be passing drinks 
5. Don’t be doing pokes or super pokes
6. Don’t pester people with numerous request

Now some things you should do...

Do share and be part of the conversation be an asset to the Facebook community.

Below your actual profile picture is a box you can edit and add some information to...use this box as your elevator pitch.  If you don’t have an elevator pitch then it’s time to come up with one.  Note: If you don’t have an actual profile picture you are wasting your time so get some real pictures on that profile and leave the cheese head picture out of the profile section pictures be professional but not stuffy.  (You will be using this same picture on all of your profiles which we will talk about in more detail later on in future post since there is more than Facebook).  Make sure the picture represents you in the best light since again this is the first impression at times.

In the top right corner of your facebook page you will see the “Search” box and this is where I want you to Search for local groups and pages to become part of.  So for example if I was selling cars I would enter “Schenectady” in the search box and join local groups and pages that make sense having to do with Schenectady, hence these are locals that I want to connect with.  

Now that you have joined some groups/pages it’s time to partake in the conversation and I don’t mean with post like “Hi I am Ricky the Car Salesman so Call me I have Cars for Sale” I mean become social and partake in the topics.  

Let’s pretend again I am selling cars in Schenectady, NY and just joined the page “Downtown Schenectady” so to partake in the conversation I would review previous wall post and comment on post that I could actually comment on and not sound like I am just trying to highjack the wall post.  To take this further let’s assume on the Downtown Schenectady Facebook page there was talk about a new restaurant opening called Bombers Burritos and I went there for lunch.  I could shoot some pictures on my iPhone and post it to the Downtown Schenectady Facebook Page/Group talking about how great my lunch was...this will drive conversation and allow you to stand out and connect.

You are thinking this has nothing to do with selling cars?  You are right and you are wrong since it is a numbers game and FRIENDS BUY FROM FRIENDS AND FRIENDS RECOMMEND FRIENDS!  I AM YELLING HERE...THE MORE PEOPLE YOU KNOW AND THE MORE PEOPLE KNOW WHAT YOU DO... THE MORE CARS YOU WILL SELL!  Again it’s a numbers game!!!

Now that you have joined some groups/pages and our partaking in the conversation let’s move over to adding more friends, friends are good if you sell cars or widgets.\  

Click on the Friends tab across the top blue Facebook bar and select add friends then you will see “Suggestions” and this is where I want you to add these people since they are connected to you in some way.  Don’t be Shy? ADD THEM but don’t go crazy since Facebook does watch this so only add 10 or so every few days.  You do want to sell them a car? Don’t you? So add these people.

Ok on this same page you will see ‘Find People You Email” and this is where that Gmail account is going to come in handy from the last post.  Enter your information and whooosh it will pull the contacts in you have automatically and if they are on Facebook they will receive your friend request and if they are not they will receive a request asking them to join.

Again on this same page “Search for People” so let’s say you have some post it notes, business cards, and napkins with past customers and leads names and email address so this is where you want to search for them.  I want you to invite everyone...AGAIN EVERYONE. Do not pre qualify anyone since every person you know has a car and will need another car in the short term!  They also know many people that will be purchasing a car soon so the question is will they know who Ricky the car salesperson is and how to contact him quickly?  They will if he is on the best Contact Management System in the World AKA Facebook!  This is your chance to become part of the gas station, water cooler talk or social talk.

Add the cars.com rep, autotrader.com rep, newspaper rep, radio rep, TV rep, bathroom supplies rep, past customers, past ups that bought else where, ADD EVERYONE...even add your own Mother!!!  Add your competition but don’t spam their wall with who you are that is not cool but it is cool to watch what they are doing and learn from their success and not so successful attempts.

NOW FOR SOME TASKS...

Go to Wal-Mart and invest in a Flip Video 30 minutes for $49.00 yes a video camera for $49.00...I love technology :).  Don’t make excuses of why you can’t get one it is so cool and uploads to Facebook, and YouTube among others with ease! 

So you have a camera in your cell phone and I want you to use this whenever possible but I want you to use the Flip Video many times per day....I love my HD Flip!

Let’s say you have a delivery today....Then flip video the customer saying how excited they are and how YOU Ricky the Car Sales Guru is the better than Barry White and a bottle of Chilled Wine on a First Date with their High School Sweetheart...or just maybe how you made the car buying process a blast.  

Now upload that video to your facebook profile and tell the customer what you are doing with the video so they can be sure to be your friend on facebook and they will tell their friends and family to check it out!  This means “WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING FOR YOU” It also means that customer approves of you and you are not just another sales person but someone they trust!  You are RICKY the Sales Dude! Did I mention these people can now also become your “Social Friends on Facebook” which means they can come to know your charm and wit so when it’s time to recommend or buy you will be the one on their short list.

If you are not excited about the possibilities at this point then hold a mirror to your nose to make sure you are breathing...you have never had this many opportunities before that will guarantee a substantial increase of your income!

In addition to the video be sure to shoot a picture of the delivery that you will also be uploading to facebook and tag the people in the photos “in other words Friend your customers and tag them in the photos” when you do this the pictures will show up on their profile page for all of their friends and family to see it came from you.

Let’s use the Flip Video and Facebook for getting new leads now.  Say you just received a new Hybrid Fusion Sport then shoot some video of the car and talk about it then using the pre-installed software on the Flip add your name, dealership, email address and phone number to the titles and overlays then upload it to Facebook.  If you are thinking wow this sounds to difficult then find a 10 year old to help you seriously little people are growing up with these tools and it comes natural as where is seems the older population (35+) seem to fight it, instead of having fun with it.  You can’t break anything I promise. 

Also Post a video of you talking about your referral program “Bird Dog” e.g. send a customer to me and I will pay you XX?

Post a video of what is special about your dealership that is unique e.g. Free Car Washes, Free Service Pickup and Return, $300 worth dry cleaning coupons with purchase, Tires for Life, etc. 

Does your dealership have a softball team or bowling league then shoot everyone having fun.

Dealership cookouts, St Jude Events, Child Safety Seat Checks shoot video to show you are not a bad person just wanting their hard earned income.  Also use your page to promote these events to your Facebook friends.

Do you have a monthly newsletter than grab some content and share but please talk about more than just sales....BE SOCIAL! 

Title these videos accordingly and tell them it is an exclusive offer but don’t get caught up in the Sunday, Sunday, Sunday all cars must go CHEESE.  This is the long term and the numbers will grow.  

Another feature to add:

On the bottom left...the very bottom you will see small type that says “Applications” click there and do a search for MyCalendar then click “add to my page” you can use this or one of the others to keep up with special dates such as past and future customers birthdays so you can wish them a Happy Birthday and Send an Ecard.  When was the last time you sent a Birthday card to a past or future customer?  This is usually only done my Maverick Sales People that live in the big house on the lake and don’t take ups and only schedule appointments 3 days per week.  You say that is not possible in today’s doom and gloom and I say you are wrong since I do know some of these Mavericks and yes while all the negative press has affected their numbers, they are still doing extremely well.

Invest in the tools and your success will only be limited by you willingness to partake in the conversation.  

I will close this post by saying “To Be Continued since next Post has tools that will make you smile when you deposit your next comm check. 

You can read about Twitter Success Here http://exclusivelyautomotive.com/car-dealer-search-engine-marketing/auto-dealers-using-twitter-to-sell-cars

Post comments and questions and I will do my best to answer them timely.

PAUL POTRATZ

Paul Potratz | www.ppadv.com | POTRATZ

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Selling Cars with Social Media Part 1

^{Today is the anniversary marking your fifth year as a car sales guru.  You are walking around feeling proud to be working for one of the largest dealerships in the entire state.  You have just completed your product knowledge training on the Ford lineup as you gaze at the top performing sales plaque where your name is on that plaque 38 times in the last five years.} 

^{Then you look at the sales board and you only have 3 units out and it’s the 23 of the month now you start to sweat and start wondering what has happened to all the customers that use to drive right on to the lot ready to buy.  You corner your sales manager in the sales tower and tell him the advertising is all wrong and that the ad agency needs help and you have the answers.  You go on to say “We need to run a page buster in the newspaper on Wednesday when people are getting the newspaper for the grocery store coupons and we need to run in the sports section on Monday with an ad of saying come see me I have been here for 5 years and I know how to treat customers, we also need to run a crawl on the bottom of the local weather channel.”} 

^{The sales manager then dismisses you and asks what time is the delivery today for the F250.}

^{Well all of those ideas could have been good ideas in 2005 but it is now 2009 and a lot has changed in 4 short but fast years and I am sorry to inform you, all of those ideas are as old and worthless as the 8 track cartridges you have stored in the basement thinking there might be a use for them one day.}  

^{The shoppers to the dealers lot are “not going to ever increase” no matter how much money a dealer spends in newspaper, radio, TV, or even ONLINE!  In fact the shoppers that drive on to the lot are actually going to decrease over the coming months and years and the reason for this is simple... The Internet!  It is convenient and painless to shop for a car online.  The consumer now has the power and you as a sales person need to find a way to prospect for new customers.}

^{Don’t worry this is not a bad thing and in fact it is a Wonderful Thing for YOU as a car salesperson.  Why?  In the old days “2005” your income was directly related to where your dealership was located geographically, how aggressive the dealer was in radio, newspaper, TV, direct mail, the inventory in stock and a few other factors.  But now you as a sales person can become a lead generating sales machine.  You now have more reach and power than the local newspaper!  Let me repeat this... You as an individual car salesperson in any town across the country has more reach than the local newspaper that charges thousands of dollars to run ads that are not generating the results they use to.}

^{So let’s get started in helping you drive more leads so you can once again look at the sales board to see your name on top with 20+ vehicles delivered and 11 days are left in the month BUT let me warn you...This is going to take effort on your part.  Actually a lot of effort but if you are dedicated it will pay off ten fold and it will be fun once you get into it.  One last note this is a multipart series to keep in simple so be sure to sign up for our RSS feed and if you are unsure what that is then sign up for our email newsletter.} 

^{First Step: Make sure you have access to the following sites and if you don’t then corner your Dealer Principal and tell him/her you need access and if they don’t provide access then put in your two weeks notice and go somewhere else that understands the importance of what I am going to share with you.  It is the present and it is your future income!  If your Dealer Principal is confused have them call me and I will explain it is also their income they are holding back.}

^{Second Step: Does your dealership provide email access and can you check it from anywhere if so you are good to move on to the next step.  If not then proceed to Google and set-up a gmail account.  I suggest using your name e.g. firstnamelastname@gmail.com so you can begin to brand yourself.  I know some dealers want you to brand them which my reply is people buy from people and you want your new customers to remember your name which in turn will benefit the dealership since they will connect faster with an individual than they will with ABC Ford.}

^{Third Step: Set up a Facebook Page for yourself, I know you think it is for kids well guess again.  Facebook’s fastest growing age group is 30 years old plus and they are adding members at a pace of 600,000 per month with expected growth of 200 Million in the near future.  Ok so get that Facebook page set up and don’t be a cheese ball and say “ewwww I don’t want to add them as a friend, I did not like them in school” everyone is a car buyer and this is a numbers game so work it!  Do your best to add everyone from High School, College, and be sure to search for two years prior and after your graduation dates.  Search for old employers and find those people.  Get that stack of business cards you have shoved in the drawer and search for those people, add them, add them all.} 

^{Note: when requesting friendships it will have the captcha code that is hard to read so click the verification link in that box and send a text message to your cell phone to avoid that in the future.}  

^{Ok back to adding friends, search your files for past customers and add them.  You can search by name or by email address.  Search for people in your area and see who you find that you know.}

^{Complete all of your information, add your photo, add your contact info, include your dealership, include the website url to your dealership, put your cell phone number in the profile and connect with all of your contacts.  Let them know you are on Facebook and write on their wall.  Catch up with them and PLEASE DON’T SPAM them.  Don’t try to sell on Facebook just connect with old friends, make new friends and let them know where you are if they are ever in the market to buy a car to let you know. AGAIN PEOPLE BUY FROM FRIENDS.  Update your status that you are at work, you are excited to test drive the new blank model that just arrived.  Comment on friends walls, comment on their photos, be complimentary, be fun, and work it.  Will this take a lot of time... not at all.  30 minutes per day.  10 mins in the am, 10 mins mid-day, 10 mins before you leave.  Communicate, don’t abuse and network and the return will be tenfold. To be continued...}  

Paul Potratz

Today I was meeting with a dealer and we were discussing how much advertising has changed in such a short period of time. 

We then started talking about traditional advertising and how the days of only radio, broadcast TV (before cable), direct mail, billboards, and Yellow Pages covered all the staples of advertising. 

He then proceeded to tell me that he canceled his Yellow Pages Advertising.

WHAT!!!!!  You are doing WHAT I said as I picked up my notebook that I dropped in all the excitement.

He said "yes we canceled it no one goes to the phone directory any  more"

You can't do that... canceling the Yellow Pages is like leaving Old Yeller on the side of the road and the Yellow Pages has been around since 1883.

He laughed and said come on Mr. Connected iPhone, Goog411, Google Map Gadget Guy.

I know many of you would agree with this dealer and this definitely not the first time I have heard a dealer make this statement and it won't be the last time but let me provide some background since this thought also crossed my mind when I became a Google Groupie some years back.

Background: We work with dealers in the Northeast, Midwest, and South and I can lay fact to one thing.  THE BIG YELLOW DRIVES CALLS!  In fact big yellow is a lot of times the 2nd to 4th leading source of call traffic into a dealership.  WE TRACK IT!

Back to my story: I asked how did you determine the Big Yellow has to go?

His Reply: No one uses it

My Reply: You mean you don't use it

His Reply: Our agency said it was a waste of money and we should cancel

My Reply: You mean you said that and they just repeated it back to you since they felt that's what you wanted to hear.

The Bottom Line: Don't cancel advertising that you "feel" no one uses.

Track and record your phone calls to know the facts.  Is Big Yellow driving Sales Calls or Service Calls and once you know these facts you can cut back on headings.

Granted advertising in 8 directories for the same area does not make sound financial sense so pick the biggest and oldest and invest in some 800 tracking numbers to have the real facts.

Also don't fall into the mindset you need the biggest page, color, and 27 different headings....now that is a waste and I say this based on Fact

Paul Potratz

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