I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know when I say showroom traffic is down and continues to decline. Ten years ago customers visited 6.7 dealerships before they purchased a vehicle, five years ago that number dropped to 4.3, and today it’s 1.8. Aside from lobbying for a ban on the Internet, improving your Internet lead to sold customer process is critical.  Just as important is to get to customers before they log on. And the way to do that is with data driven direct marketing.

Automotive Direct Marketing
There are basically three ways a dealer can advertise: traditional media, the Internet and direct marketing. Sure, you can buy more time on radio and television, but consumers are still going to go to the Internet. You can advertise online, of course, then they’re already on the Internet. Or you can improve your direct marketing strategy, and that’s exactly what many automotive leaders are doing. In a recent poll of more than 900 executives, 60 percent said they were increasing their email marketing budget. That’s because direct marketing response rates haven’t dropped in the past five years—in fact, they’ve risen.

Plus, by communicating with consumers directly, you reach them before they reach the Internet. But sending your hard-won customers a template email or letter probably isn’t enough to hold on to their business, your marketing needs to be driven by data and a strong owner marketing strategy.

Data Driven  
The first question is, “Do you have access to the data you need?” That might seem self-evident, but I speak to dealer groups that have so much going on they’re no longer sure what they have or how to use it. Not only aren’t they making the most of their resources, many are paying for overlapping technologies. Others are using products that only reclassify and resort data, without offering the benefits of actually applying the information to better market to their customers. Or the data is being underutilized and not finding its way into the sales process; instead it’s getting lost in the shuffle or hung up in the system.

But let’s say you’ve got your data and it’s solid. The next question is, “Are you using it to drive your marketing?” Because data alone won’t win you more sales and better customer relationships. It needs to be fully integrated into a multi-channel direct marketing strategy that is personalized to each customer and their current situation, determining not only what you communicate, but also when. And each element of a campaign should interact with the other, strengthening your message and ultimately resulting in more cars sold.

Strategy
Data needs to be incorporated intelligently and consistently. To take your automotive marketing initiatives to the next level, you need a strategy that informs your daily operations and is fully a part of the sales cycle. Because if you don’t have a direct marketing strategy, you’re losing a critical opportunity. You’re forfeiting the ability to harness the power of data to communicate with your owner base, to develop communications—and offers—that are tailored and timed for each customer, to maximize response rates and increase your sales. In short, you become part of the downward trend in showroom traffic, rather than one of our industry’s shining exceptions.

I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know when I say showroom traffic is down and continues to decline. Ten years ago customers visited 6.7 dealerships before they purchased a vehicle, five years ago that number dropped to 4.3, and today it’s 1.8. Aside from lobbying for a ban on the Internet, improving your Internet lead to sold customer process is critical.  Just as important is to get to customers before they log on. And the way to do that is with data driven direct marketing.

Automotive Direct Marketing
There are basically three ways a dealer can advertise: traditional media, the Internet and direct marketing. Sure, you can buy more time on radio and television, but consumers are still going to go to the Internet. You can advertise online, of course, then they’re already on the Internet. Or you can improve your direct marketing strategy, and that’s exactly what many automotive leaders are doing. In a recent poll of more than 900 executives, 60 percent said they were increasing their email marketing budget. That’s because direct marketing response rates haven’t dropped in the past five years—in fact, they’ve risen.

Plus, by communicating with consumers directly, you reach them before they reach the Internet. But sending your hard-won customers a template email or letter probably isn’t enough to hold on to their business, your marketing needs to be driven by data and a strong owner marketing strategy.

Data Driven  
The first question is, “Do you have access to the data you need?” That might seem self-evident, but I speak to dealer groups that have so much going on they’re no longer sure what they have or how to use it. Not only aren’t they making the most of their resources, many are paying for overlapping technologies. Others are using products that only reclassify and resort data, without offering the benefits of actually applying the information to better market to their customers. Or the data is being underutilized and not finding its way into the sales process; instead it’s getting lost in the shuffle or hung up in the system.

But let’s say you’ve got your data and it’s solid. The next question is, “Are you using it to drive your marketing?” Because data alone won’t win you more sales and better customer relationships. It needs to be fully integrated into a multi-channel direct marketing strategy that is personalized to each customer and their current situation, determining not only what you communicate, but also when. And each element of a campaign should interact with the other, strengthening your message and ultimately resulting in more cars sold.

Strategy
Data needs to be incorporated intelligently and consistently. To take your automotive marketing initiatives to the next level, you need a strategy that informs your daily operations and is fully a part of the sales cycle. Because if you don’t have a direct marketing strategy, you’re losing a critical opportunity. You’re forfeiting the ability to harness the power of data to communicate with your owner base, to develop communications—and offers—that are tailored and timed for each customer, to maximize response rates and increase your sales. In short, you become part of the downward trend in showroom traffic, rather than one of our industry’s shining exceptions.

More and more, I hear dealers across the country wrestling with the challenges of social media, asking themselves tough questions like:

• "Can I pencil social media?”
• “Does the auto industry belong in social media?”
• “Why should I continue spending time and money on social media when it isn’t selling me any more cars?”

From Face-to-Face to Facebook

Social media isn’t about selling cars. Or maybe I should say, social media is about much more than selling cars. It’s about the future. It’s about being where your customers – and potential customers – are. Consider these facts:

• Facebook has 750 million active users and 64% of them have “liked” a brand
• Twitter has 100 million active users and 33% of them share opinions about companies or products at least one a week

Do you really want your competitors to be the ones being “liked”? Are you ready to turn a deaf ear when customers tweet well – or sometimes even more importantly, poorly – of your dealership?

Not only is social media how consumers are communicating, it’s how they’re buying. Nearly half (48%) of consumers combine social media and search engines in the buying process. And a staggering 85% start shopping for an automobile online. Not by looking in the paper, not by reading billboards, not by watching TV commercials, not by listening to radio spots and not by going in the showroom. Online.

What Good Is Social Media?

In a recent poll of over 900 business leaders throughout the nation, 55% said they plan to increase spending on social media in 2012. Only 2% project decreases. Their responses revealed that the value of social media totheir businesses is very similar to its value in the auto industry.

Social media can provide many benefits to your dealership, helping you:

• Build awareness of your dealership and its services
• Communicate and interact with your customers and target market
• Monitor comments and conversations between customers and potential customers
• Increase traffic to your website
• Learn more about – and respond to – your customers and their likes and dislikes, as well as their interests and concerns
• Create new business and connections
• Develop targeted special offers
• Become aware of – and react appropriately to – negative comments and issues that may damage your dealership’s reputation

Yelp for Help

It’s important to remember that social media isn’t just a method of reaching out to customers. It’s a way of learning what people are saying about your dealership, your service, your salespeople and your special events.

Social media is a powerful resource for discovering strengths and areas that may need some improvement. Because consumers aren’t just shopping the Internet for vehicles, they’re shopping for dealerships, too. It’s critical that you know – and have the opportunity to respond to – comments and criticisms.

I recommend monitoring your dealership on sites such as Yelp.com, Edmunds.com, DealerRater.com and Google Places, as well as encouraging satisfied customers to post reviews on these sites and your Facebook page.

Does Social Media Pay?

In a recent survey of more than 200 marketing executives, only 26% said they can effectively measure the ROI of social media. When asked what they felt was the primary value of social media, note that driving revenue didn’t even place in the top four:

• Awareness building
• New customer acquisition
• Building customer loyalty and retention
• Expanded reach to new audiences

Make sure you understand what social media does well and use it for those purposes. After all, you wouldn’t use a wrench to drive a nail – and you shouldn’t rely on social media to drive sales. There are better tools to accomplish your goal. 

Define Success

It is best to set reasonable and realistic goals for a social media program. Ask yourself what you hope to accomplish – more “likes”, more customer interaction, more traffic online and in the showroom, etc.

Because when it comes to evaluating the effectiveness of social media, success isn’t measured in sales. It’s measured in the things that lead to sales – relationships built on trust, loyalty and community. And if you’re not online communicating with consumers today, they just might not be in the dealership buying from you tomorrow.

More and more, I hear dealers across the country wrestling with the challenges of social media, asking themselves tough questions like:

• "Can I pencil social media?”
• “Does the auto industry belong in social media?”
• “Why should I continue spending time and money on social media when it isn’t selling me any more cars?”

From Face-to-Face to Facebook

Social media isn’t about selling cars. Or maybe I should say, social media is about much more than selling cars. It’s about the future. It’s about being where your customers – and potential customers – are. Consider these facts:

• Facebook has 750 million active users and 64% of them have “liked” a brand
• Twitter has 100 million active users and 33% of them share opinions about companies or products at least one a week

Do you really want your competitors to be the ones being “liked”? Are you ready to turn a deaf ear when customers tweet well – or sometimes even more importantly, poorly – of your dealership?

Not only is social media how consumers are communicating, it’s how they’re buying. Nearly half (48%) of consumers combine social media and search engines in the buying process. And a staggering 85% start shopping for an automobile online. Not by looking in the paper, not by reading billboards, not by watching TV commercials, not by listening to radio spots and not by going in the showroom. Online.

What Good Is Social Media?

In a recent poll of over 900 business leaders throughout the nation, 55% said they plan to increase spending on social media in 2012. Only 2% project decreases. Their responses revealed that the value of social media totheir businesses is very similar to its value in the auto industry.

Social media can provide many benefits to your dealership, helping you:

• Build awareness of your dealership and its services
• Communicate and interact with your customers and target market
• Monitor comments and conversations between customers and potential customers
• Increase traffic to your website
• Learn more about – and respond to – your customers and their likes and dislikes, as well as their interests and concerns
• Create new business and connections
• Develop targeted special offers
• Become aware of – and react appropriately to – negative comments and issues that may damage your dealership’s reputation

Yelp for Help

It’s important to remember that social media isn’t just a method of reaching out to customers. It’s a way of learning what people are saying about your dealership, your service, your salespeople and your special events.

Social media is a powerful resource for discovering strengths and areas that may need some improvement. Because consumers aren’t just shopping the Internet for vehicles, they’re shopping for dealerships, too. It’s critical that you know – and have the opportunity to respond to – comments and criticisms.

I recommend monitoring your dealership on sites such as Yelp.com, Edmunds.com, DealerRater.com and Google Places, as well as encouraging satisfied customers to post reviews on these sites and your Facebook page.

Does Social Media Pay?

In a recent survey of more than 200 marketing executives, only 26% said they can effectively measure the ROI of social media. When asked what they felt was the primary value of social media, note that driving revenue didn’t even place in the top four:

• Awareness building
• New customer acquisition
• Building customer loyalty and retention
• Expanded reach to new audiences

Make sure you understand what social media does well and use it for those purposes. After all, you wouldn’t use a wrench to drive a nail – and you shouldn’t rely on social media to drive sales. There are better tools to accomplish your goal. 

Define Success

It is best to set reasonable and realistic goals for a social media program. Ask yourself what you hope to accomplish – more “likes”, more customer interaction, more traffic online and in the showroom, etc.

Because when it comes to evaluating the effectiveness of social media, success isn’t measured in sales. It’s measured in the things that lead to sales – relationships built on trust, loyalty and community. And if you’re not online communicating with consumers today, they just might not be in the dealership buying from you tomorrow.

The other day I was talking to a dealer who said, “We’ve tried some email marketing. One of my salespeople is doing our Facebook page and another one is Tweeting. I think together that’s about all the email marketing and social media I want to do for right now.”

That would be fine. If the email marketing and social media were working together, and if the marketing efforts were data driven. Unfortunately, for that dealer, they weren’t. And the same is true for many dealers I meet with

More or Less: Email Marketing and Social Media

Business leaders throughout the nation understand the importance of having a strong e-presence – and a recent poll of more than 900 executives found that:

• 60 percent are increasing their email marketing budget
• 55 percent are increasing their social media budget

Now is not the time to cut spending on email marketing and social media. If you’ve trimmed your budget in these areas, you might want to rethink your strategy. Remember, nearly half (48 percent) of consumers combine social media and search engines in the buying process and a staggering 85 percent start shopping for a vehicle online.

Add to that, 90 percent of consumers say they trust recommendations from people they know and 70 percent say they trust consumer opinions posted online. Suddenly both positive and negative comments about your dealership on Facebook, Yelp.com, Edmunds.com, DealerRater.com and Google Places take on a whole new significance.

Integration: Socially – and Financially – Rewarding

In this same study referred to above, more than two-thirds (68 percent) of the business leaders said they plan to integrate social media with their email marketing and 47 percent plan to use email marketing to drive growth in social media – especially corporate Facebook and Twitter pages.

It’s clear why this is such a vital – and profitable – goal. In a survey of email and online marketers, 54 percent said results were “somewhat” to “significantly better” after integrating social media and email marketing. These marketing professionals rated social media as the online marketing channel with the greatest positive effect when combined with email.

Put Your Money Where Your ROI Is

There’s more good news when it comes to email marketing. In a recent survey of more than 200 marketing executives, 82 percent said they expect campaigns to be measured. But these same professionals admitted it is difficult to effectively evaluate ROI. They agreed, however, that overall the most success was had in measuring email campaigns -- 47 percent. You may also want to consider adding direct marketing to your media mix, because that followed at a close 41 percent.

Data Analytics: A Key to Success

In the poll referred to earlier, business leaders stated that their top email marketing initiatives for 2012 are:

• Improving subscriber engagement (48 percent)
• Improving segmentation and targeting (44 percent)
• Growing opt-in email lists (32 percent)

Data integration is critical to achieving each of these priorities, but it was also identified as the primary email marketing challenge by 45 percent of the respondents. Lack of resources followed at 43 percent.

When dealers tell me they don’t have the expertise or the resources to devote to developing data-driven analytics and strategies, I suggest that they may want to consider partnering with a vendor who does. Because if the dealer’s email marketing and social media aren’t integrated and targeting customers consistently and concisely, you can bet their competition’s communications are.

The other day I was talking to a dealer who said, “We’ve tried some email marketing. One of my salespeople is doing our Facebook page and another one is Tweeting. I think together that’s about all the email marketing and social media I want to do for right now.”

That would be fine. If the email marketing and social media were working together, and if the marketing efforts were data driven. Unfortunately, for that dealer, they weren’t. And the same is true for many dealers I meet with

More or Less: Email Marketing and Social Media

Business leaders throughout the nation understand the importance of having a strong e-presence – and a recent poll of more than 900 executives found that:

• 60 percent are increasing their email marketing budget
• 55 percent are increasing their social media budget

Now is not the time to cut spending on email marketing and social media. If you’ve trimmed your budget in these areas, you might want to rethink your strategy. Remember, nearly half (48 percent) of consumers combine social media and search engines in the buying process and a staggering 85 percent start shopping for a vehicle online.

Add to that, 90 percent of consumers say they trust recommendations from people they know and 70 percent say they trust consumer opinions posted online. Suddenly both positive and negative comments about your dealership on Facebook, Yelp.com, Edmunds.com, DealerRater.com and Google Places take on a whole new significance.

Integration: Socially – and Financially – Rewarding

In this same study referred to above, more than two-thirds (68 percent) of the business leaders said they plan to integrate social media with their email marketing and 47 percent plan to use email marketing to drive growth in social media – especially corporate Facebook and Twitter pages.

It’s clear why this is such a vital – and profitable – goal. In a survey of email and online marketers, 54 percent said results were “somewhat” to “significantly better” after integrating social media and email marketing. These marketing professionals rated social media as the online marketing channel with the greatest positive effect when combined with email.

Put Your Money Where Your ROI Is

There’s more good news when it comes to email marketing. In a recent survey of more than 200 marketing executives, 82 percent said they expect campaigns to be measured. But these same professionals admitted it is difficult to effectively evaluate ROI. They agreed, however, that overall the most success was had in measuring email campaigns -- 47 percent. You may also want to consider adding direct marketing to your media mix, because that followed at a close 41 percent.

Data Analytics: A Key to Success

In the poll referred to earlier, business leaders stated that their top email marketing initiatives for 2012 are:

• Improving subscriber engagement (48 percent)
• Improving segmentation and targeting (44 percent)
• Growing opt-in email lists (32 percent)

Data integration is critical to achieving each of these priorities, but it was also identified as the primary email marketing challenge by 45 percent of the respondents. Lack of resources followed at 43 percent.

When dealers tell me they don’t have the expertise or the resources to devote to developing data-driven analytics and strategies, I suggest that they may want to consider partnering with a vendor who does. Because if the dealer’s email marketing and social media aren’t integrated and targeting customers consistently and concisely, you can bet their competition’s communications are.