Ten months down, two to go. 2010 was an interesting "rebound" year for many (particularly, I'm sure, those who are active on Driving Sales). What's next? What is emerging or what will emerge in 2011 that will push the industry to an even better year?

2010 saw the (belated) emergence of SEO and PPC as needs rather than wants. It saw social media become a player in many dealers' marketing budgets. Reputation management has taken center stage of late. What's next?

Will it be even more focused on reputation management based upon the recent Google changes? How about mobile and Location-based automotive marketing? Is car dealer Facebook going to get even bigger or will it prove to be smoke and mirrors?

Sales will always be in focus, but what about customer retention and reclamation? Are we going to focus on using the Internet for fixed-op marketing? What about using it for finance penetration?

Will dealers continue to focus on their dealer PPC budgets or will they switch to dealer SEO? Why not PPC AND SEO?

Perhaps the biggest question is WHO we will listen to when making our decisions. Will be it Joe Webb or Gary May? Paul Potratz or Volker Jaeckel? Missy Jensen or Larry Bruce? Why not all of them?

Luckily, we have those choices here at Driving Sales.

What do you think? What's "the next big thing" in 2011? Comment here or post your thoughts on the discussion about Automotive Marketing 2011.

Ten months down, two to go. 2010 was an interesting "rebound" year for many (particularly, I'm sure, those who are active on Driving Sales). What's next? What is emerging or what will emerge in 2011 that will push the industry to an even better year?

2010 saw the (belated) emergence of SEO and PPC as needs rather than wants. It saw social media become a player in many dealers' marketing budgets. Reputation management has taken center stage of late. What's next?

Will it be even more focused on reputation management based upon the recent Google changes? How about mobile and Location-based automotive marketing? Is car dealer Facebook going to get even bigger or will it prove to be smoke and mirrors?

Sales will always be in focus, but what about customer retention and reclamation? Are we going to focus on using the Internet for fixed-op marketing? What about using it for finance penetration?

Will dealers continue to focus on their dealer PPC budgets or will they switch to dealer SEO? Why not PPC AND SEO?

Perhaps the biggest question is WHO we will listen to when making our decisions. Will be it Joe Webb or Gary May? Paul Potratz or Volker Jaeckel? Missy Jensen or Larry Bruce? Why not all of them?

Luckily, we have those choices here at Driving Sales.

What do you think? What's "the next big thing" in 2011? Comment here or post your thoughts on the discussion about Automotive Marketing 2011.