Millward Brown Digital reports that just 25% of buyers purchase the vehicle they first research online.  This means that 3 out of 4 shoppers are open to influence to purchase another brands’ models. (Vehicle Path to Purchase Survey, 2013.)

Question: Who’s your highest-value prospect?

I would argue it’s Jane, the in-market shopper who just visited your website after conducting an Internet search.

It’s a solid bet that she’s cross-shopping within a specific segment. This means that she’s in the market for a new sedan, but not tied to a specific brand (i.e. Nissan) or model (Altima).

Next question: Once she browses your website and leaves to check out your competition, what tactics do you have in place to bring her back to choose your model?

My most successful dealers have addressed this opportunity by combining two tactics that have been proven to drive increases in return website visits by cross-shoppers using mobile devices and PCs.

Put simply, we’re running search ads in a new way that’s actually getting a response to help our dealers meet their sales goals consistently.

Start: Remarketing Lists (RLSAs)

Your first step should be to create one or more remarketing lists inside Google AdWords, then use Google Tag Manager to place a corresponding a tracking pixel on one or more pages on your website.

Consider creating lists for your model inventory, specials, and conquest (model comparison) landing pages.

Each list allows you to roll up a unique, high-value audience list of cross-shoppers based on the page they’ve last viewed.

Next: Conquest With Search

Your remarketing lists can be used to deliver targeted ads to these audiences. Think targeted search (text) as well as Google Display Network banner ads.

The key is to create new ad groups for each remarketing list. The most effective compare the segment the shopper just viewed with one they’re also researching at your local competition. It’s this one-two punch of conquest remarketing that’s changing the game: Conquesting 2.0.

Case Study: Faulkner Nissan

Faulkner Nissan in Harrisburg, PA has been using our conquest remarketing approach with excellent results.

Local shoppers search Nissan Altima on Google, then click on a search ad to visit Faulkner’s website. When they leave and continue to do sedan research using terms like Hyundai, Honda, Chevrolet, Ford, or Toyota, they see Faulkner’s conquesting search ads enticing them to return:

A click on any of these ads connects shoppers to a comparison page, highlighting why Altima is a better choice over competing models.

These pages are custom tailored to earn a high quality score (6+), driving down the cost per click, boosting the average ad position, and increasing the click through rate, leading to more qualified shoppers returning to Faulkner that convert into buyers.

Faulkner chose a 50-mile radius for their campaign, and added $1,000 a month to their online marketing investment to fuel results. Their ads are shown 7 times out of 10 in a strong position (top 3), earning a 70% share of voice (impression share).

The new campaign has driven a 40% increase in click through rates, resulting in a 5-7% conversion rate. Faulkner is seeing more foot traffic for Altima on their lot leading to more sales.

For similar dealers, we find that while the cost per click may be higher on conquesting ads, the messages are much more relevant to recent search activity. This leads to faster reengagement by shoppers, leading to a 40-50% reduction in the total cost per conversion over a standard campaign. Fewer ad clicks were necessary to trigger buying activity, leading to the cost savings.

This new approach gives dealers the opportunity to increase per-click bids to pay more for a return visit by an engaged prospect who is actively cross-shopping across segments and digital devices. Dealers can also increase the target geography for these new campaigns to capture an audience from a wider area.

Don’t Break the Bank

Given the complexity, the best way to generate results with these tactics is to work with a Google Premier Partner who can effectively leverage the “big data” generated by dozens of conquest remarketing campaigns.

Your partner’s digital marketing technology will make the difference between success and failure. Choose carefully!

A proven partner will keep close tabs on performance at the ad group and landing page level, plus proactively add high-performing keywords, ads, and new geography targets to help dealers like you meet and exceed monthly sales goals–all without breaking the bank. 

Millward Brown Digital reports that just 25% of buyers purchase the vehicle they first research online.  This means that 3 out of 4 shoppers are open to influence to purchase another brands’ models. (Vehicle Path to Purchase Survey, 2013.)

Question: Who’s your highest-value prospect?

I would argue it’s Jane, the in-market shopper who just visited your website after conducting an Internet search.

It’s a solid bet that she’s cross-shopping within a specific segment. This means that she’s in the market for a new sedan, but not tied to a specific brand (i.e. Nissan) or model (Altima).

Next question: Once she browses your website and leaves to check out your competition, what tactics do you have in place to bring her back to choose your model?

My most successful dealers have addressed this opportunity by combining two tactics that have been proven to drive increases in return website visits by cross-shoppers using mobile devices and PCs.

Put simply, we’re running search ads in a new way that’s actually getting a response to help our dealers meet their sales goals consistently.

Start: Remarketing Lists (RLSAs)

Your first step should be to create one or more remarketing lists inside Google AdWords, then use Google Tag Manager to place a corresponding a tracking pixel on one or more pages on your website.

Consider creating lists for your model inventory, specials, and conquest (model comparison) landing pages.

Each list allows you to roll up a unique, high-value audience list of cross-shoppers based on the page they’ve last viewed.

Next: Conquest With Search

Your remarketing lists can be used to deliver targeted ads to these audiences. Think targeted search (text) as well as Google Display Network banner ads.

The key is to create new ad groups for each remarketing list. The most effective compare the segment the shopper just viewed with one they’re also researching at your local competition. It’s this one-two punch of conquest remarketing that’s changing the game: Conquesting 2.0.

Case Study: Faulkner Nissan

Faulkner Nissan in Harrisburg, PA has been using our conquest remarketing approach with excellent results.

Local shoppers search Nissan Altima on Google, then click on a search ad to visit Faulkner’s website. When they leave and continue to do sedan research using terms like Hyundai, Honda, Chevrolet, Ford, or Toyota, they see Faulkner’s conquesting search ads enticing them to return:

A click on any of these ads connects shoppers to a comparison page, highlighting why Altima is a better choice over competing models.

These pages are custom tailored to earn a high quality score (6+), driving down the cost per click, boosting the average ad position, and increasing the click through rate, leading to more qualified shoppers returning to Faulkner that convert into buyers.

Faulkner chose a 50-mile radius for their campaign, and added $1,000 a month to their online marketing investment to fuel results. Their ads are shown 7 times out of 10 in a strong position (top 3), earning a 70% share of voice (impression share).

The new campaign has driven a 40% increase in click through rates, resulting in a 5-7% conversion rate. Faulkner is seeing more foot traffic for Altima on their lot leading to more sales.

For similar dealers, we find that while the cost per click may be higher on conquesting ads, the messages are much more relevant to recent search activity. This leads to faster reengagement by shoppers, leading to a 40-50% reduction in the total cost per conversion over a standard campaign. Fewer ad clicks were necessary to trigger buying activity, leading to the cost savings.

This new approach gives dealers the opportunity to increase per-click bids to pay more for a return visit by an engaged prospect who is actively cross-shopping across segments and digital devices. Dealers can also increase the target geography for these new campaigns to capture an audience from a wider area.

Don’t Break the Bank

Given the complexity, the best way to generate results with these tactics is to work with a Google Premier Partner who can effectively leverage the “big data” generated by dozens of conquest remarketing campaigns.

Your partner’s digital marketing technology will make the difference between success and failure. Choose carefully!

A proven partner will keep close tabs on performance at the ad group and landing page level, plus proactively add high-performing keywords, ads, and new geography targets to help dealers like you meet and exceed monthly sales goals–all without breaking the bank. 

It's a question we hear often: "I know advertising is important. In the past, I relied on local media (newspapers, radio, TV) and word of mouth. Today, I'm reading studies that show 9 out of 10 auto shoppers use the Internet to research new purchases before they walk onto my lot. How much should I be investing in advertising every month given this shift?"

The fact is that there's no set-in-stone formula when it comes to establishing your advertising budget. However, asking the right questions - and keeping your sales goals at the forefront of the discussion - can help you realize the most powerful outcomes.

That said, there are two ways to approach this question to arrive at a monthly investment that will generate a strong return on investment (ROI).

The first is that most marketing textbooks tell you to set aside 15 to 20 percent of gross sales for your advertising activities for any business generating $5 million in gross sales or less. 

However, as Roy Williams writes in Entrepreneur magazine, It isn't possible to designate a percentage of gross sales for advertising without taking into consideration the markup on your average sale and your rent/overhead expenses.

Williams offers his more realistic three step process to calculate your minimum and maximum allowable ad budget. This formula reconciles your ad budget with your rent or employee costs as well as the profitability of your average sale.

Step 1: Gross Sales & Markup

Take 10 percent and 12 percent of your projected annual, gross sales and multiply each by the markup made on your average transaction. As a general business rule you'll need to adapt to your dealership, assume that my business is projected to do $1 million in gross sales this year, I have a profit margin of 48 percent, and my rent is $36,000 per year. The first thing to do is calculate 10 percent of sales and 12 percent of sales ($100,000 and $120,000, respectively).

Step 2: Adjustments

Next, deduct your annual cost of occupancy (rent) [or employee costs (whichever is higher)] from the adjusted 10 percent of sales number and the adjusted 12 percent number.

Using the example in step 1, we must convert my 48 percent profit margin into markup, because markup is what we've got to have to make this formula work. Most business owners know their margin by heart, but never their markup. To make the conversion from margin to markup, simply divide gross profits by cost. Dividing $480,000 (gross profits) by $520,000 (hard cost) shows us that a 48 percent margin represents a markup of 92.3 percent.

Step 3: Get Minimum & Maximum Budget

The remaining balances represent your minimum and maximum allowable ad budgets for the year. Now we multiply $100,000 times 92.3 percent to see that our adjusted low budget for total cost of exposure is $92,300. Likewise, we multiply $120,000 times 92.3 percent to get an adjusted high budget for total cost of exposure of $110,760. From each of these two budgets, we must now deduct our $36,000 rent.

For our $1 million business, this leaves us with a correctly calculated yearly ad budget that ranges from $56,300 on the low side to a maximum of $74,760 on the high side.

More realistically for a $1 million business, if rent or employee expenses were $75,000 per year, the ad budget would range from $17,300 to $35,760, representing 1.7 to 3.5 percent of sales.

Where to Invest Your Monthly Budget

With a monthly investment number in mind, the next question is where to invest your dollars for maximum ROI.

If your goal is to lead your market, a higher investment will be necessary to achieve success. Many businesses start with a more modest investment to participate in their market, and grow their spending based on advertising and sales success.

Across the industries we serve at Netsertive, our most successful local business clients are allocating 40% to 50% of their monthly budget to Internet-related spending, with the rest spread among traditional marketing channels like newspapers (15%), radio (10%), TV (20%), and direct mail (10%).

For automotive dealers, recent NADA data shows that the average new car franchise dealer spends $8,000 to $10,000 per month online.

In hyper-competitive metro markets, assertive GMs invest $20,000 - $40,000 online.

You'll need to adjust your projected spending up or down based on the size of your market, the cost of media, what you can learn about how much your competitors are spending, and the speed at which you'd like to source new buyers. The key today is to be assertive online, take the lead in your market, and invest at a strong level to be the dominant dealer for your brand.

Contact Netsertive today to get the information you need to position yourself for success in the street fight in your local market with assertive online marketing at 800.940.4351.

It's a question we hear often: "I know advertising is important. In the past, I relied on local media (newspapers, radio, TV) and word of mouth. Today, I'm reading studies that show 9 out of 10 auto shoppers use the Internet to research new purchases before they walk onto my lot. How much should I be investing in advertising every month given this shift?"

The fact is that there's no set-in-stone formula when it comes to establishing your advertising budget. However, asking the right questions - and keeping your sales goals at the forefront of the discussion - can help you realize the most powerful outcomes.

That said, there are two ways to approach this question to arrive at a monthly investment that will generate a strong return on investment (ROI).

The first is that most marketing textbooks tell you to set aside 15 to 20 percent of gross sales for your advertising activities for any business generating $5 million in gross sales or less. 

However, as Roy Williams writes in Entrepreneur magazine, It isn't possible to designate a percentage of gross sales for advertising without taking into consideration the markup on your average sale and your rent/overhead expenses.

Williams offers his more realistic three step process to calculate your minimum and maximum allowable ad budget. This formula reconciles your ad budget with your rent or employee costs as well as the profitability of your average sale.

Step 1: Gross Sales & Markup

Take 10 percent and 12 percent of your projected annual, gross sales and multiply each by the markup made on your average transaction. As a general business rule you'll need to adapt to your dealership, assume that my business is projected to do $1 million in gross sales this year, I have a profit margin of 48 percent, and my rent is $36,000 per year. The first thing to do is calculate 10 percent of sales and 12 percent of sales ($100,000 and $120,000, respectively).

Step 2: Adjustments

Next, deduct your annual cost of occupancy (rent) [or employee costs (whichever is higher)] from the adjusted 10 percent of sales number and the adjusted 12 percent number.

Using the example in step 1, we must convert my 48 percent profit margin into markup, because markup is what we've got to have to make this formula work. Most business owners know their margin by heart, but never their markup. To make the conversion from margin to markup, simply divide gross profits by cost. Dividing $480,000 (gross profits) by $520,000 (hard cost) shows us that a 48 percent margin represents a markup of 92.3 percent.

Step 3: Get Minimum & Maximum Budget

The remaining balances represent your minimum and maximum allowable ad budgets for the year. Now we multiply $100,000 times 92.3 percent to see that our adjusted low budget for total cost of exposure is $92,300. Likewise, we multiply $120,000 times 92.3 percent to get an adjusted high budget for total cost of exposure of $110,760. From each of these two budgets, we must now deduct our $36,000 rent.

For our $1 million business, this leaves us with a correctly calculated yearly ad budget that ranges from $56,300 on the low side to a maximum of $74,760 on the high side.

More realistically for a $1 million business, if rent or employee expenses were $75,000 per year, the ad budget would range from $17,300 to $35,760, representing 1.7 to 3.5 percent of sales.

Where to Invest Your Monthly Budget

With a monthly investment number in mind, the next question is where to invest your dollars for maximum ROI.

If your goal is to lead your market, a higher investment will be necessary to achieve success. Many businesses start with a more modest investment to participate in their market, and grow their spending based on advertising and sales success.

Across the industries we serve at Netsertive, our most successful local business clients are allocating 40% to 50% of their monthly budget to Internet-related spending, with the rest spread among traditional marketing channels like newspapers (15%), radio (10%), TV (20%), and direct mail (10%).

For automotive dealers, recent NADA data shows that the average new car franchise dealer spends $8,000 to $10,000 per month online.

In hyper-competitive metro markets, assertive GMs invest $20,000 - $40,000 online.

You'll need to adjust your projected spending up or down based on the size of your market, the cost of media, what you can learn about how much your competitors are spending, and the speed at which you'd like to source new buyers. The key today is to be assertive online, take the lead in your market, and invest at a strong level to be the dominant dealer for your brand.

Contact Netsertive today to get the information you need to position yourself for success in the street fight in your local market with assertive online marketing at 800.940.4351.

How would you feel if you hired a marketing vendor who simply copied and pasted another dealer's campaign into your account, made one change, and threw in the towel?

To add insult to injury, what if local shoppers could clearly see that your ads were identical to your local competitors?

The hard truth: This situation is going on in hundreds of markets across the United States today. And most dealers don't even know it.

Great advertising is an investment that must produce a high return to help you meet your sales goals. Your marketing should deliver a steady stream of qualified, in-market shoppers to browse your inventory and specials online, leading to more test drives and sales.

For marketing to make a difference, it must differentiate you from your rivals. That means tailored calls to action, citing your unique strengths and offerings, years in business, and more to help you stand out from the crowd.

In other words, settling for a cookie cutter campaign is a recipe for a diminished return on your online marketing investment.

Cookie cutter is the norm

Ask yourself, would you settle for the same television advertisement as your local competitor, with the only difference being the dealership name? Today, many dealerships are settling for the same kind of situation on the Internet, the #1 resource for anyone searching for their next new car.

Here are some real-time examples of generic ads appearing for Dodge dealerships everywhere:

“Local Dodge Dealer. Browse Dodge Listings Online.” Not exactly a strong marketing message is it? Multiple dealerships in most markets are running generic ads like these that don’t contain a strong call-to-action, nor do they provide any unique branding message for each dealership.

Need another example? Let’s try a specific model search in the Dallas, TX market:

These ads at least have a stronger marketing message with a financial incentive; however, when competing dealerships are running the same ad in the same local market, the marketing message is no longer effective for differentiation.

Now, you should see the apparent problem: digital ads for many dealerships lack originality and advertising quality which can result in lower ad click-through rates, less effective digital advertising campaigns, and lower return on investment.

How does this happen? How does a dealership, spending hundreds or thousands of dollars every month on their digital ads, settle for this kind of an advertising campaign?

Of course, every situation is different and multiple factors can come into play:

• Many times, dealerships do not have the expertise in-house, nor the time to spend to carefully monitor aspects of a digital advertising campaign.
• Many dealerships hire digital advertising agencies, and trust that these agencies will provide them with a successful online ad campaign that will drive quality buyers to the dealership.
• Unfortunately, evidence shows that some of these agencies do not have either the capability or desire to provide fully custom-tailored ad campaigns to each of their clients, and are not careful enough to prevent dealerships in the same local market from getting the exact same ad copies for their digital ads.
• At the same time, many dealerships are not fully invested in monitoring the quality of their digital ad campaigns, and sometimes don’t even know what their own ads look like.

Have you been cookie cuttered?

Let’s find out. When is the last time that you really looked at what your current digital advertisements look like? Try to pull them up in a few quick searches in your local market with the Google Ad Preview Tool, which will provide you with the most accurate and unbiased results.

Two things to look for: Are your ads identical to those of your local competitors? Do your ads have strong marketing messages that set you apart and give you a fighting chance to attract qualified shoppers?

Hopefully, you are not just another "Local Dodge Dealer" with inventory on your website where your potential customers can obviously "Browse Dodge Listings Online."

If you've been cookie cuttered, there's a solution. Work with a Google Premier SMB Partner who assigns you a dedicated success manager who will tailor every ad to your dealership, and keep their eye on your results day in and day out. Your dealership is different and unique, and you deserve to have ads shouting your unique messages into your target market, leading to superior marketing results.

​

How would you feel if you hired a marketing vendor who simply copied and pasted another dealer's campaign into your account, made one change, and threw in the towel?

To add insult to injury, what if local shoppers could clearly see that your ads were identical to your local competitors?

The hard truth: This situation is going on in hundreds of markets across the United States today. And most dealers don't even know it.

Great advertising is an investment that must produce a high return to help you meet your sales goals. Your marketing should deliver a steady stream of qualified, in-market shoppers to browse your inventory and specials online, leading to more test drives and sales.

For marketing to make a difference, it must differentiate you from your rivals. That means tailored calls to action, citing your unique strengths and offerings, years in business, and more to help you stand out from the crowd.

In other words, settling for a cookie cutter campaign is a recipe for a diminished return on your online marketing investment.

Cookie cutter is the norm

Ask yourself, would you settle for the same television advertisement as your local competitor, with the only difference being the dealership name? Today, many dealerships are settling for the same kind of situation on the Internet, the #1 resource for anyone searching for their next new car.

Here are some real-time examples of generic ads appearing for Dodge dealerships everywhere:

“Local Dodge Dealer. Browse Dodge Listings Online.” Not exactly a strong marketing message is it? Multiple dealerships in most markets are running generic ads like these that don’t contain a strong call-to-action, nor do they provide any unique branding message for each dealership.

Need another example? Let’s try a specific model search in the Dallas, TX market:

These ads at least have a stronger marketing message with a financial incentive; however, when competing dealerships are running the same ad in the same local market, the marketing message is no longer effective for differentiation.

Now, you should see the apparent problem: digital ads for many dealerships lack originality and advertising quality which can result in lower ad click-through rates, less effective digital advertising campaigns, and lower return on investment.

How does this happen? How does a dealership, spending hundreds or thousands of dollars every month on their digital ads, settle for this kind of an advertising campaign?

Of course, every situation is different and multiple factors can come into play:

• Many times, dealerships do not have the expertise in-house, nor the time to spend to carefully monitor aspects of a digital advertising campaign.
• Many dealerships hire digital advertising agencies, and trust that these agencies will provide them with a successful online ad campaign that will drive quality buyers to the dealership.
• Unfortunately, evidence shows that some of these agencies do not have either the capability or desire to provide fully custom-tailored ad campaigns to each of their clients, and are not careful enough to prevent dealerships in the same local market from getting the exact same ad copies for their digital ads.
• At the same time, many dealerships are not fully invested in monitoring the quality of their digital ad campaigns, and sometimes don’t even know what their own ads look like.

Have you been cookie cuttered?

Let’s find out. When is the last time that you really looked at what your current digital advertisements look like? Try to pull them up in a few quick searches in your local market with the Google Ad Preview Tool, which will provide you with the most accurate and unbiased results.

Two things to look for: Are your ads identical to those of your local competitors? Do your ads have strong marketing messages that set you apart and give you a fighting chance to attract qualified shoppers?

Hopefully, you are not just another "Local Dodge Dealer" with inventory on your website where your potential customers can obviously "Browse Dodge Listings Online."

If you've been cookie cuttered, there's a solution. Work with a Google Premier SMB Partner who assigns you a dedicated success manager who will tailor every ad to your dealership, and keep their eye on your results day in and day out. Your dealership is different and unique, and you deserve to have ads shouting your unique messages into your target market, leading to superior marketing results.

​

Did you meet your sales goals for 2013? In-market demand was strong last year, with 2014 off to a rocket start.

New research by Lincoln Merrihew at Complete.com — Automotive 2013: Mixed Market Messages — was blunt: "Not all brands enjoyed success, and some enjoyed success on only one of the two primary levers needed to drive sales: demand and conversion."

Demand Winners & Losers

Shopper demand is measured by the number of in-market buyers for each brand. Merrihew's data was drawn from his "sweet spot" in the digital purchase funnel, below site traffic (too vague) and above leads (not representative of true market dynamics).

Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota had more in-market shoppers each month in 2013 than did all other brands, with Ford leading the way at 592,000 shoppers. Buick, Lexus, GMC, Audi and Acura rounded out the top 20 brands with 100,000 or less shoppers per month.

Keep in mind that these are unique shoppers, meaning that a consumer that shops two models of the same brand was counted only once.

Demand, of course, holds only the potential for sales. For example, Tesla had more shoppers than did Volvo and Jaguar on average in 2013, but Tesla's sales were far lower due to limited inventory, available models and fewer dealers.

So which OEM's grew the most in terms of demand last year? Jaguar saw a healthy 27% increase in the share of shoppers added year over year. Jeep grew 24%, while Toyota (a demand leader) saw a 4% boost.

Conversion Rates

With strong demand comes more sales, right? Not so fast. As Merrihew notes, shopper demand merely creates the potential for unit sales. Your marketing and sales team work together to reach qualified in-market buyers through a mix of activities to convert research and foot traffic into buyers.

Taking total vehicle sales into account, GMC converted 38% of their 98,633 in-market shoppers in 2013. Dodge came in second at 35%, Ford third at 34%, and Toyota fourth at 33%.

The bottom four performers were Tesla (2%), Jaguar (5%), Porsche (9%) and Lincoln (11%).

What's Your 2014 Share of Voice?

Our deep dive into Merrihew's levers reveals last year's winners and losers. It also brings up a question every dealer must answer to break sales records this year. Call your digital marketing vendor or meet with your Internet manager today and ask them this question:

"Is my local Internet share of voice loud enough in this market to turn demand into conversions?"

Did you stump them? Look at all the data they supply, along with your Google Analytics, under the impression share category. This is how Google defines share of voice.

Given the robust in-market demand for your inventory, your online marketing must give you the power to reach at least 70% of active daily researchers in your local market. If you're below this threshold, your weak share of voice is costing you clicks, conversions and sales. Your competition is eating your lunch.

Share of voice is the number of online ad impressions you've received divided by the estimated number of impressions you were eligible to receive. Eligibility is based on your current ads' targeting settings, approval statuses, bids, and Quality Scores.

You and your competitors are each trying to grab the biggest slice of your local market's daily research for your makes and models. By tracking your impression share metrics, you're keeping tabs on the size of your slice compared to the whole.

After you know what your overall share of voice number is, ask: "What was my search and display lost impression share?"

This is the percentage of time that your ads weren't shown on Google (or the Google Display Network) due to insufficient budget. If your percentage is high, you need to put more fuel in the tank (monthly online advertising investment) to have a stronger voice in your market.

2014: Winning Strategy

In 2014, the dealers who meet and exceed their sales goals will work with a marketing vendor like Netsertive who protects their turf online, delivering a 70% or greater share of voice for their local advertising. Consistently.

Our client success managers collaborate with dealers, one-on-one, to provide the digital tactics they need to be assertive local online to be heard by a rising tide of in-market shoppers to efficiently and effectively convert research into sales.

Merrihew's advice dovetails perfectly. "Consider share of voice relative to your market. Evaluate whether planned ad spend by model is enough to reach demand levels needed to reach sales goals. Recognize that without the right combinations of demand and conversion, 2014 sales goals will be impossible to reach."

There's no time to lose. Right-size your budget to meet in-market demand, work with a vendor who has a strong share of voice at the center of your campaign as a key performance metric, and make 2014 one for the record books.

Did you meet your sales goals for 2013? In-market demand was strong last year, with 2014 off to a rocket start.

New research by Lincoln Merrihew at Complete.com — Automotive 2013: Mixed Market Messages — was blunt: "Not all brands enjoyed success, and some enjoyed success on only one of the two primary levers needed to drive sales: demand and conversion."

Demand Winners & Losers

Shopper demand is measured by the number of in-market buyers for each brand. Merrihew's data was drawn from his "sweet spot" in the digital purchase funnel, below site traffic (too vague) and above leads (not representative of true market dynamics).

Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota had more in-market shoppers each month in 2013 than did all other brands, with Ford leading the way at 592,000 shoppers. Buick, Lexus, GMC, Audi and Acura rounded out the top 20 brands with 100,000 or less shoppers per month.

Keep in mind that these are unique shoppers, meaning that a consumer that shops two models of the same brand was counted only once.

Demand, of course, holds only the potential for sales. For example, Tesla had more shoppers than did Volvo and Jaguar on average in 2013, but Tesla's sales were far lower due to limited inventory, available models and fewer dealers.

So which OEM's grew the most in terms of demand last year? Jaguar saw a healthy 27% increase in the share of shoppers added year over year. Jeep grew 24%, while Toyota (a demand leader) saw a 4% boost.

Conversion Rates

With strong demand comes more sales, right? Not so fast. As Merrihew notes, shopper demand merely creates the potential for unit sales. Your marketing and sales team work together to reach qualified in-market buyers through a mix of activities to convert research and foot traffic into buyers.

Taking total vehicle sales into account, GMC converted 38% of their 98,633 in-market shoppers in 2013. Dodge came in second at 35%, Ford third at 34%, and Toyota fourth at 33%.

The bottom four performers were Tesla (2%), Jaguar (5%), Porsche (9%) and Lincoln (11%).

What's Your 2014 Share of Voice?

Our deep dive into Merrihew's levers reveals last year's winners and losers. It also brings up a question every dealer must answer to break sales records this year. Call your digital marketing vendor or meet with your Internet manager today and ask them this question:

"Is my local Internet share of voice loud enough in this market to turn demand into conversions?"

Did you stump them? Look at all the data they supply, along with your Google Analytics, under the impression share category. This is how Google defines share of voice.

Given the robust in-market demand for your inventory, your online marketing must give you the power to reach at least 70% of active daily researchers in your local market. If you're below this threshold, your weak share of voice is costing you clicks, conversions and sales. Your competition is eating your lunch.

Share of voice is the number of online ad impressions you've received divided by the estimated number of impressions you were eligible to receive. Eligibility is based on your current ads' targeting settings, approval statuses, bids, and Quality Scores.

You and your competitors are each trying to grab the biggest slice of your local market's daily research for your makes and models. By tracking your impression share metrics, you're keeping tabs on the size of your slice compared to the whole.

After you know what your overall share of voice number is, ask: "What was my search and display lost impression share?"

This is the percentage of time that your ads weren't shown on Google (or the Google Display Network) due to insufficient budget. If your percentage is high, you need to put more fuel in the tank (monthly online advertising investment) to have a stronger voice in your market.

2014: Winning Strategy

In 2014, the dealers who meet and exceed their sales goals will work with a marketing vendor like Netsertive who protects their turf online, delivering a 70% or greater share of voice for their local advertising. Consistently.

Our client success managers collaborate with dealers, one-on-one, to provide the digital tactics they need to be assertive local online to be heard by a rising tide of in-market shoppers to efficiently and effectively convert research into sales.

Merrihew's advice dovetails perfectly. "Consider share of voice relative to your market. Evaluate whether planned ad spend by model is enough to reach demand levels needed to reach sales goals. Recognize that without the right combinations of demand and conversion, 2014 sales goals will be impossible to reach."

There's no time to lose. Right-size your budget to meet in-market demand, work with a vendor who has a strong share of voice at the center of your campaign as a key performance metric, and make 2014 one for the record books.

Big data. Two words you’ve been hearing a lot lately. What does it mean to a dealer? Complexity, confusion and frustration.

Case in point: You’re spending thousands every month on a litany of marketing activities. Your vendors are drowning you in data to measure success. Still, you’re left wondering: “How much impact is it really having on my bottom line?”

I’ve worked with hundreds of dealers to help them be found in their local market and sell more. With terabytes of marketing results data at my fingertips, and happy dealers who’ve consistently increased monthly sales, I present these five marketing metrics that deliver game-changing results. 

#1 Advertising Position

If you’re like most dealers, you’re spending thousands of dollars every month on digital advertising. That investment should be consistently driving custom-crafted marketing messages into the top three positions at the top of search engine results in your target markets.

As Ricky Bobby said in Talladega Nights, “If you ain’t first, you’re last.”

How important is it to be on top? In search marketing, the difference between first and second is massive. According to Compete.com and Kantar Media, consumers click the first sponsored ad 59% of the time, the second 15%. The third? Just 9%.

A surefire recipe for ceding your local market to the competition is not to pay attention to search marketing. Google researched how organic and paid search results work together and concluded that turning off paid search ads resulted in an 89% drop in website traffic.

The inescapable conclusion: Search advertising position is a top metric for measuring success. Your ads must appear “above the fold” as often as possible to improve visibility and the probability of a conversion.

My mantra of dealer digital success: Your customized digital search ads written with clear calls to action and trackable phone numbers must appear in the top sponsored positions (above the fold) at least 60% of the time in your local market. And your display advertisements must generate consistent conversions so you get the maximum number of opportunities to turn online visibility into sales. 

#2 Share of Voice 

A close runner-up to ad position is, simply, measuring how often your ads appear, period. Shoppers are conducting more than 11 hours of research over a period of weeks or months before buying. Are you showing up?

Google your top brands, models and services. Are you showing up in the top positions, every time? If you show up two times out of 10, that’s a 20% “share of voice” in your market. Your competition is eating your lunch. Your advertising partner should be delivering your ads into the top positions 60-70% of the time. 

And don’t forget bing and Yahoo. Together, they account for about 27% of all search traffic, and are largely ignored by many advertisers.

#3 Advertising Impressions

Next, look at your impression level. Impressions are simply the number of times your ad is served in a viewer’s browser.

The more times your ads appear in front of qualified buyers across multiple devices and marketing tactics, the more likely you are to score a sale. The average consumer takes action after being exposed to marketing messages 10-20 times.

To boost impressions beyond search, display and mobile placements, consider funneling more of your marketing dollars into YouTube pre-roll videos and sponsored stories on Facebook. 

#4 Measurable Goals: Clicks, Calls, Conversions

Your digital marketing mix should deliver quantified results that match your goals. It’s important to consider all traffic sources and conversion metrics together, sharing attribution for each lead. Resist the “last-in wins” mentality, which gives the credit to the last marketing message seen by a buyer. Each of your tactics assists the others.

Clicks: Chasing the most clicks possible is misguided. Instead, focus on getting maximum qualified clicks. Run campaigns for specific keyword categories that indicate purchase intent. Aim for quality traffic, not quantity.

Resist the urge to get caught up in raw click counts from display ads. Traditionally, it’s been difficult to measure whether a click to your site was generated by a series of keyword searches alone, or whether display banners influenced the click. 

Your Google analytics data also includes view-through conversions (VTC). VTCs occur when a shopper sees an image (banner) ad, then later completes a conversion on your site. Also look at click-through conversions, which happen when a customer previously clicked on an ad and completed a conversion.

Calls: Call tracking is another important tactic. How much BDC call traffic is your digital advertising generating? Embed trackable phone numbers in your ads, and record calls. Decide whether a 30-, 60- or 90-second or longer call is considered a conversion. How many calls resulted in a test drive or sale?

Conversions: Finally, look at every conversion metric you can get your hands on. Which tactics led to specific actions? Some examples include tracked calls (including mobile click to call), content page emails, test drive requests or downloads, trade-in requests, etc. These numbers and types of conversions will be different for each dealer based on their goals, website, tracking abilities and more. 

#5 Not Cost Per Click

Some quick thoughts on cost per click (CPC). While it’s critical to work with a vendor who can effectively stretch your marketing investment to the max every month without sinking the budget or overpaying for each click, it’s unhealthy to focus all of your attention simply on the cost of each interaction. It doesn’t matter whether each “click” costs $.49 or $10 if you’re not converting clicks into measurable goals.

Big data. Two words you’ve been hearing a lot lately. What does it mean to a dealer? Complexity, confusion and frustration.

Case in point: You’re spending thousands every month on a litany of marketing activities. Your vendors are drowning you in data to measure success. Still, you’re left wondering: “How much impact is it really having on my bottom line?”

I’ve worked with hundreds of dealers to help them be found in their local market and sell more. With terabytes of marketing results data at my fingertips, and happy dealers who’ve consistently increased monthly sales, I present these five marketing metrics that deliver game-changing results. 

#1 Advertising Position

If you’re like most dealers, you’re spending thousands of dollars every month on digital advertising. That investment should be consistently driving custom-crafted marketing messages into the top three positions at the top of search engine results in your target markets.

As Ricky Bobby said in Talladega Nights, “If you ain’t first, you’re last.”

How important is it to be on top? In search marketing, the difference between first and second is massive. According to Compete.com and Kantar Media, consumers click the first sponsored ad 59% of the time, the second 15%. The third? Just 9%.

A surefire recipe for ceding your local market to the competition is not to pay attention to search marketing. Google researched how organic and paid search results work together and concluded that turning off paid search ads resulted in an 89% drop in website traffic.

The inescapable conclusion: Search advertising position is a top metric for measuring success. Your ads must appear “above the fold” as often as possible to improve visibility and the probability of a conversion.

My mantra of dealer digital success: Your customized digital search ads written with clear calls to action and trackable phone numbers must appear in the top sponsored positions (above the fold) at least 60% of the time in your local market. And your display advertisements must generate consistent conversions so you get the maximum number of opportunities to turn online visibility into sales. 

#2 Share of Voice 

A close runner-up to ad position is, simply, measuring how often your ads appear, period. Shoppers are conducting more than 11 hours of research over a period of weeks or months before buying. Are you showing up?

Google your top brands, models and services. Are you showing up in the top positions, every time? If you show up two times out of 10, that’s a 20% “share of voice” in your market. Your competition is eating your lunch. Your advertising partner should be delivering your ads into the top positions 60-70% of the time. 

And don’t forget bing and Yahoo. Together, they account for about 27% of all search traffic, and are largely ignored by many advertisers.

#3 Advertising Impressions

Next, look at your impression level. Impressions are simply the number of times your ad is served in a viewer’s browser.

The more times your ads appear in front of qualified buyers across multiple devices and marketing tactics, the more likely you are to score a sale. The average consumer takes action after being exposed to marketing messages 10-20 times.

To boost impressions beyond search, display and mobile placements, consider funneling more of your marketing dollars into YouTube pre-roll videos and sponsored stories on Facebook. 

#4 Measurable Goals: Clicks, Calls, Conversions

Your digital marketing mix should deliver quantified results that match your goals. It’s important to consider all traffic sources and conversion metrics together, sharing attribution for each lead. Resist the “last-in wins” mentality, which gives the credit to the last marketing message seen by a buyer. Each of your tactics assists the others.

Clicks: Chasing the most clicks possible is misguided. Instead, focus on getting maximum qualified clicks. Run campaigns for specific keyword categories that indicate purchase intent. Aim for quality traffic, not quantity.

Resist the urge to get caught up in raw click counts from display ads. Traditionally, it’s been difficult to measure whether a click to your site was generated by a series of keyword searches alone, or whether display banners influenced the click. 

Your Google analytics data also includes view-through conversions (VTC). VTCs occur when a shopper sees an image (banner) ad, then later completes a conversion on your site. Also look at click-through conversions, which happen when a customer previously clicked on an ad and completed a conversion.

Calls: Call tracking is another important tactic. How much BDC call traffic is your digital advertising generating? Embed trackable phone numbers in your ads, and record calls. Decide whether a 30-, 60- or 90-second or longer call is considered a conversion. How many calls resulted in a test drive or sale?

Conversions: Finally, look at every conversion metric you can get your hands on. Which tactics led to specific actions? Some examples include tracked calls (including mobile click to call), content page emails, test drive requests or downloads, trade-in requests, etc. These numbers and types of conversions will be different for each dealer based on their goals, website, tracking abilities and more. 

#5 Not Cost Per Click

Some quick thoughts on cost per click (CPC). While it’s critical to work with a vendor who can effectively stretch your marketing investment to the max every month without sinking the budget or overpaying for each click, it’s unhealthy to focus all of your attention simply on the cost of each interaction. It doesn’t matter whether each “click” costs $.49 or $10 if you’re not converting clicks into measurable goals.