Head of National Accounts for Flick Fusion Ted Dupuy shares the path for dealers wondering where to begin in video marketing.

Flick Fusion COO Tim James continues explaining Google's 5 Auto Shopping Moments that Every Brand Must Own in the fifth and final installment of this series.  

22-Page Report Summarizes Market Potential and Provides In-Depth Evaluation of Flick Fusion's Smart Flicks Video Marketing Platform

Urbandale, IA--July 17, 2017--Flick Fusion today announced that PCG Research, a premier product research provider for retail automotive companies, released an in-depth evaluation of Flick Fusion's Smart Flicks video marketing platform. The 22-page report concludes that video marketing presents a 'massive opportunity' for auto dealerships as the popularity and consumption of videos by car shoppers rise.

"If your dealership is considering a video marketing solution, or if you are a reseller and your dealers are asking for videos, this report will answer all of your questions about what a video marketing solution can do and whether Smart Flicks is right for you," said Tim James, COO of Flick Fusion.

The report offers a detailed explanation of how Smart Flicks works and where to get it. It includes a sample case study of how a dealership has used videos to increase business, shares insight and opinions of resellers and gives an in-depth review of Smart Flicks' reporting tools.

The report also summarizes best practices for how auto dealerships can best utilize a video library, and makes recommendations for marketing, service, sales, and general branding.

Additionally, a complete list of Smart Flick's video marketing platform components is provided along with summaries of each. Flick Fusion designed Smart Flicks so it would be easy for dealers to start with the basics, such as inventory videos, then add different components as they grow comfortable with scaling up their video marketing campaigns and trying new strategies.

Components reviewed in the report include:

• Automated inventory stitched videos
• Full motion video
• Personalized walk arounds
• Vid2Pic
• Live Video Upload (LVU)
• Vidmail (video emails)
• Vidmagnet (SEO tool)
• Geo-targeting tool
• Retargeting tool
• Video equity offers
• Facebook app
• New model test-drive videos
• Human voiceover videos
• InstaVid

PCG Research provides comprehensive product research for the automotive community. The PCG Research evaluation of Smart Flicks is available free to auto dealerships and resellers including chat companies, website developers, email marketing agencies, lot service providers, video production companies and more.

For more information and to download the report, visit http://flickfusion.com/case-study-pcg-research-smart-flicks/

About Flick Fusion

Flick Fusion offers a full-solution video hosting, marketing and distribution platform to automotive and other inventory-based industries. The platform delivers automated, integrated and rule/behavior-based, including geo-targeted, video content in real-time, across multiple touchpoints and throughout the entire purchase cycle.

Flick Fusion makes it easy for dealers to create desktop and mobile-friendly vehicle inventory videos, video email and customer engagement videos such as testimonials, service department overviews and more. Videos are proven to capture more buyers' attention, advance organic SEO rankings, generate leads and increase conversion rates. The Flick Fusion system builds emotional value and customer loyalty for more than 5,000 auto dealerships through a network of 80 to 100 resellers.

Flick Fusion COO Tim James continues explaining Google's 5 Auto Shopping Moments that Every Brand Must Own in the fourth installment of this series.

When dealerships first start their video marketing programs, one of the most common questions I am asked is, "Will I have to buy an expensive camera?" The answer is no. Just about everyone these days has a smartphone that can shoot HD video. When used properly, the quality of video produced can be exceptional. All it takes is practice. 

Most dealers start with inventory walkaround videos and these are probably the trickiest videos to shoot, so that's what we'll focus on here. 

First, to ensure a good high-resolution (and non-pixelated) video, adjust your camera setting to record video at 1920 x 1080 and 30 frames per second (fps), unless you plan to extract your still images for the inventory from the video.  In that case you may want to utilize 60 frames per second (fps). 

Next, invest in a stabilizer. Most smartphones have a pretty good stabilizer built into them today, but they will only make a good video better. This is the merchandising layer for your inventory that most shoppers are going to view, so invest in the tools that you need to provide the best experience for your shoppers that you can. Don't fool yourself into believing you can walk around the vehicle while holding the smartphone steady in your hand. The result will be a bouncy video that will make your viewers seasick and result in low video completion rates. 

A hand-held stabilizer or tripod is better than nothing, but if you want to produce the best quality video invest in a 3-axis gimbal for a couple hundred bucks. It is worth every penny! For top of the line stabilization a 4-axis gimbal is even better, but may run you a couple thousand.  

Currently we recommend using a set-up that includes your smartphone, and the DJI OSMO camera/gimbal combo. This is a really cool camera that takes amazing quality video and connects wirelessly with your smartphone, so you can use your smartphone to view what the camera is recording.  

You can find a DJI OSMO starter kit for around $500 and depending on how you want to accessorize it, you may spend $700 to $800. This is a small investment that will make your inventory shine!  GoPro also offers some great camera/stabilizer combinations that cost less and produce very good quality videos as well.  

Once you have a stabilizer, the next thing you'll want to address is lighting. Smartphones have small lenses so adequate lighting is critical. This shouldn't be a problem if you're shooting outdoors, but always position the vehicle so you will not be pointing the camera into direct light, such as the sun. 

When you first begin shooting walkarounds, you may want to allow extra time to shoot the entire video two or three times. With each 'take,' experiment with different ISO settings, which measure your camera sensor's sensitivity to light. On a sunny day your ISO settings will be lower and on cloudy days your ISO settings will be higher. If you do shoot on a sunny day, avoid shooting midday because that's when the sun casts the harshest shadows. Instead, schedule shoots for early morning or late afternoon. 

For vehicle walkarounds, you want to feature shots panning the side of the vehicle, as well as the front and back so the viewer has a good sense of what the vehicle looks like from all angles. Open the doors and shoot the interior, both front and back. 

Then focus on shooting the features that you will use to sell the car, such as the Infotainment system, new tires, safety features, etc. The total length of your walkaround videos can range from one to four minutes. Don't believe experts who tell you that all videos have to be one minute or less. Though this is probably true for a bad or dull video, if the presentation is informative and entertaining, two, three or even four minutes is okay. There are plenty of dealerships that get 80 to 90 percent completion rates with videos that long, and plenty of dealerships that only get a 50 to 60 percent completion rate with their bouncy and dull one- minute videos.   

If you are worried about the audio track for your videos, you can have your photographer shoot your videos and have a data driven audio track added to the video automatically.  If you are adding your own audio while shooting the videos, or if you decide to shoot your walkaround videos featuring a salesperson or spokesperson giving a live presentation, invest in a good noise-cancelling microphone.  

Either way you can always go back and replace the audio layer of the video if you want or need to without having to re-shoot the video.  You can even personalize the audio layer of the videos for specific leads (personalized walkarounds) without having to shoot another video, saving you a LOT of time while producing an identical personalized walkaround video to one that was shot from scratch. 

Finally, expect that the first few videos you create will probably suck. Don't be discouraged! Practice makes perfect. Keep doing it and eventually things will click. Pretty soon you will find your own unique style and every walkaround video will become a mini-masterpiece. 

What tips do you have for shooting professional quality video with your smartphone?

Flick Fusion COO Tim James continues explaining Google's 5 Auto Shopping Moments that Every Brand Must Own in the third installment of this series. 

In this series of video blogs, Flick Fusion COO Tim James shares Google's 5 auto shopping moments that every dealership should know and how to take advantage of those moments to lead customers to your dealership.

In this series of video blogs, Flick Fusion COO Tim James shares Google's 5 auto shopping moments that every dealership should know and how to take advantage of those moments to lead customers to your dealership.

Those of you with spouses have probably heard this at least once: "It's not what you say, it's how you say it!" Whether at home or at work, miscommunication can cause plenty of problems.

Have you ever misinterpreted the tone of an email that a colleague wrote to you? Perhaps you thought a tersely written email meant that person was angry, but in fact, they were just rushed. Or someone joked about something in an email, but you took offense because you thought they were serious?

Miscommunication is so common that it's one of the main reasons why some dealerships require BDC staff and salespeople to use templates for customer communications. And it's why some CEOs are issuing video recommendations to employees, instead of email memos.

Videos allow people to see how you're saying something, leaving little room for error in the interpretation of what you're saying. In fact, videos are so effective at expressing personality and tone that it's become trendy for job seekers to send video resumes to prospective employers.

Let's face it: a public perception still exists that in general, car dealers are not humble, caring or honest. One bad experience with an overeager or aggressive salesperson is all it takes to forever sour the car-buying experience for a consumer.

As a dealer, how do you change this perception? You could try creating marketing slogans and post them on your website, in ads and in emails, but words by themselves don't have much impact. Online consumers are very adept at scanning information to find out what's important to them; which isn't necessarily what the dealership thinks is important. We all have the ability to ignore or visually 'tune out' messages right before our eyes.

When a consumer watches a video, however, it's not as easy to tune out the message. Videos offer a multimedia experience with live action, sounds and sights, so the entire message is absorbed. Retention rises too. Video viewers retain 80% of what they hear and see in videos, versus just 10% of what they hear and 20% of what they see.

This is partly due to the fact that so much of our communication is non-verbal. Think about your own experiences. Have you ever had a customer service experience and were put off by the customer service rep, even though they were saying all the right things? Perhaps you believed the person wasn't truly sincere. Or perhaps their tone started getting defensive, leaving you with the impression that they didn't care about your problem.

When we communicate, we pick up multiple cues from facial expressions, gestures and tone. This happens largely on a sub-conscious level, but the end result--the emotion we feel--is very conscious.

If you're looking for ways to improve customer perception and communications at your dealership, try creating the following videos.

• A value proposition video that features a dealer or other company spokesperson showing, not telling, what your dealership has to offer

• Vehicle walk around videos that generate emotion and excitement about your inventory

• Customer testimonial videos that feature real customers saying nice things about your staff; these do a lot to alleviate car shoppers' fears about a bad experience

• Lead follow up videos from salespeople that engage car shoppers; if the salesperson comes across as likeable, these greatly increase the probability of response

• Service videos that feature service staff help to build trust and the perception of honesty

Of course, you have to make sure that your videos are conveying not just the right message, but the right tone. When you first start to create videos, ask as many people as you can for their objective and true opinions. Don't get emotionally attached to the videos you've created, and don't get defensive if the feedback from others isn't what you want to hear. The last thing you want to do it spend time and money creating videos that turn prospective customers off.

Video communication is powerful, so use it wisely. More than two million years of evolution has equipped most humans with the ability to accurately sense insincerity, arrogance and plain old hogwash. So say what you mean, and if you don't truly mean it, don't say it.

Urbandale, IA--April 3rd, 2017--Flick Fusion, the auto industry's leading video marketing services provider, today announced that Advantage Dealer Services (ADS) has significantly boosted key metrics in email marketing campaigns with the addition of Flick Fusion videos. Compared to email marketing campaigns sent without video, video emails increase open rates by 20 to 30 percent, click through rates by 20 percent, and time on site by 25 to 35 percent.

Based in Suwanee, GA, ADS is a digital marketing agency specializing in email conquest campaigns. ADS serves nearly 400 auto dealerships nationwide and sends out 10 million emails weekly. Three years ago they began utilizing video emails and today incorporate video into approximately 35 percent of their email campaigns.

"It's pretty clear that most consumers today would rather watch a video as a way to get information, versus looking at a static landing page," said Michael Jaber, owner of ADS. "Leveraging video is such a natural for auto dealers because videos give a dealership's inventory so much more appeal with action, sights and sounds."

ADS selected Flick Fusion as its video marketing platform of choice because Flick Fusion is an industry leader and their overall value proposition was the most attractive. "They're one of the best in the business with turnaround time and responsiveness as far as I'm concerned," said Jaber. He adds that the Flick Fusion platform makes setting up video landing pages quick and easy, which is helpful in the fast-paced business of email marketing.

One of the most watched metrics in email marketing is the open rate. Adding videos to email marketing campaigns has increased the open rate approximately 20 percent. ADS' average email campaign open rate without videos ranges from 10 to 12 percent; but with the addition of videos, that average increases to 12 to 15 percent. "Most dealers get an average 10 percent open rate from their own database, so the fact these are conquest campaigns delivering those open rates is quite exceptional," said Jaber.

Video emails deliver a similar boost in the click-through-rate (CTR), another closely measured metric. To increase CTRs, ADS overlays a big 'play' button on top of a picture from the video, which is the universally recognized symbol for 'this is a video.' When a customer clicks on the picture, it immediately takes them to a video landing page on the dealership's website where the video begins to play. ADS also includes incentives in emails that encourage prospects to click on the video, such as "Smart Trade, Guaranteed Offer on Their Trade-In," or "Watch this video to see the latest cash-back offers."

Another way to increase the CTR is to include multiple links in every email, all of which lead to the dealership's website. "We typically have dozens of links in every email," said Jaber. ADS' video emails often include stacked banners featuring photos of vehicles, and if a prospect clicks anywhere on the banner they will be taken to the video landing page.

One of the most important metrics to many dealers is time spent on site. Video emails that link to video landing pages have increased time on site by 25 to 35 percent. "This is a huge number when you're getting quality visitors, and dealers really like to see this kind of increase," said Jaber.

To increase time on site, Jaber ensures that the offer made in each email matches the offer on the video landing page. "Some email marketing companies will send out emails that make an offer, but when the customer clicks on it, they are taken to the dealership's home page or another section of the site and the offer is not there," said Jaber. If the email is promoting an offer on a particular Toyota, then the landing page needs to mirror that exact same offer.

Another best practice that ADS finds effective for increasing time on site is to ensure that navigation links are clearly visible on video landing pages. "You want to make it easy for the consumer to be able to navigate out of the video landing page to other parts of the dealership's website," said Jaber.

For ADS, video emails have significantly increased key metrics and email campaign results when compared to email marketing campaigns sent without videos. "Many dealers in hypercompetitive areas are trying to leverage technology to differentiate themselves, and videos are definitely an effective method for doing that," said Jaber.

For more information, stop by Booth #104 at the Digital Dealer Conference or call Flick Fusion at (800) 247-2502 or visit www.flickfusion.com

About Flick Fusion

Flick Fusion offers intelligent video marketing solutions to auto dealers, making it easy to create vehicle inventory videos, video emails, dealership branded videos and more. Flick Fusion's innovative SmartFlicks hosting, marketing and distribution platform delivers automated, integrated, rule and behavior-based video content in real-time across multiple channels throughout the entire purchase cycle.

With CRM integration, auto dealers can capture video viewer data from any touchpoint, match that data to customer records in the CRM, and receive real-time alerts when certain viewing parameters are met.

Flick Fusion's mission is to give every consumer a better car shopping experience. Video is proven to capture buyers' attention, build emotional value, increase organic SEO rankings and convert more website visitors into leads. Flick Fusion is the preferred video marketing platform of more than 4,500 brands and partners.