I can stand up now but only with a helping hand from my team - Chapter II "Diaries of an eCommerce Director"

So I got that squared away right from the get-go…my website looks good; First to Second grade content (I will explain it further down what means) is in place, but what do I do with all the leads generated via my website, website forms, 3^rd party leads and so on.

What is here the status quo on response, follow up and long-term usage of these valuable leads, email addresses and phone numbers? I am getting with my team with purpose of finding out what they love and hate currently in their daily tasks. And “No”, I do not think that I always just have a typical “bitch session” occurring out of these meetings. It gives me more likely a 360 degree view of who in your team is “who”. Who is doing what? Who is “a sleeping” star? Who is “all words no action”, and so on…?

 It further allows me to guide particular leads to the right team members in place. Like the ZAG leads. These particular customers, who do not like the hassle and haggle, and want to receive a more “exclusivity club member” handling of their inquiry, requiring a sales person with great customer follow up skills and soft, courteous manners.

Almost like the proverb – It fits like a Glove.

Next…and I am sure I do not have to stretch this one any longer – Look at your response times of your crew. There can be no excuse for any sales person in the Internet world having response times of >55 minutes and letting the incoming lead sitting there until the next stone age.

Come on, everybody should know by now, the early bird will catch the worm and with research showing a 50% higher chance closing the lead into a sale, when having contact with the prospect first, your action should be clear with no questions to ask.

Last but not least during my transition from crawling and staying up to the walking phase one immense important question comes next. How do we handle our phone calls? First at all make sure that you have dedicated phone numbers for each individual lead provider and website, so you can track your ROI and conversion much easier. The most important feature these numbers should include is the “recording” function, which will allow you and the other members of your dealership management team to listen to the calls and how they were handled by the crew. I know we as dealers spending a lot of money on training and other ideas, but phone training is in my opinion the most essential training part you should allocate money to.

Listen to your sales people and service advisors phone calls – you will have a pretty good idea why your closing ratio and conversion rate is where it is – Good or Bad!

I saw during my digital marketing career that most of the Internet people love to email, even so that the phone should be their desired tool to get the customer in. As I discovered in my analytics backend tool of my website providers – >80% off the generated website leads were coming in via phone calls and not just by form submission.

Eighty plus percent – and I still hear sometimes my peers complaining about their “website is not performing”, I would have to ask “what do you mean?” – “Is it your form submissions?” “You’re not getting enough phone calls?”

Really, what do you mean?

Is it really the website? Or is it the response how we handle incoming leads not captured correctly and not crediting our web platform for incoming calls?

Nevertheless I would love to share one particular observation I made after a Manager decided to cancel a digital marketing package in one of my stores, which I had assured him provided excellent digital online exposure … retargeting, display ads, banner ads, PPC, SEM, designated landing pages, mobile, designated phone numbers – you name it.

The argument made for the cancellation was “it looks like that it is not doing anything for us and we did not receive any more leads through it”. We Internet Pro’s know that these statements can be “smokescreens”, the real reasons are almost always the same – budget cutting or some salesperson has sold them some new “shiny object”. But I knew this was the wrong decision for the store and I had to prove it.

I received a chart with numbers on leads, visits, etc. provided by my OEM, showing my competition and their (as well mine) lead counts during national ad campaigns - painting a clear picture. Every dealership in this chart, which had stuck with the Dealer Advertising Package during the national ad campaigns, had more than three times more incoming phone calls than my “sorry ass” store, with no ad package.

I reviewed the same charts from a quarter back, and when we had signed up for the OEM ad package we were in a very different position: phone calls up, new car sales up, more 3^rd party website referrals were all much higher! I figured out if we would have stayed with the package we would have sold 10-18 cars off the OEM campaign, not the 4 we did.

Cancelling it was just ”a bad business decision” or should I call it plain and simple "dumb"? So I am asking now, why would a dealership take money out of a proven program like that to save a buck or buy leads from 3^rd parties, that close at 6% when everybody in the dealership world knows, that phone calls and website leads have 2-3 times the closing rate?

When we as eCommerce Directors or Internet Sales Managers know about these scenarios, we need to open up our mouth and discuss that with the executive leaders in the dealership. When she or he is giving you an ear and the time, I guarantee you will have success to close more deals when implementing the sources I just discussed. It is on you to be an advocate for these stats and to take your time to explain the findings to your GM or President, in case he is not digital marketing savvy.

When you find too much of road blocks and the same old same old in your dealership, find a partner who will trust your expertise and that you can deliver a turn around.

Preface

After almost a couple of  years of working with a leading internet marketing vendor and working the speaking circuit Volker Jaeckel (aka “@VJnator”) returns to the dealership world as an Internet Sales Director.  “Here is my story of rejoining the store and the steps I took that made my website the best performing in my group and achieved “#1 CPO Dealer in the state” status six months in a row.  Let me share how I believe a new Internet Manager can quickly make their store a success as well.” (Stay tuned for my  upcoming workshop “Internet Marketing Cliff Notes -short, sweet and successful.”)

Chapter I - It hurts to crawl on my knees again. Luckily it is only temporary.

That is it….I am back into the dealership world. I missed you, the world of shiny showrooms, the smell of rubber and the so-distinctive new car smell. And yes, I missed the challenge of helping a store achieve its full potential as a 21^st century dealership embracing the Internet.

Tip #1: View your site through your customer’s eyes

Where do I start? Personnel? Process? Lead Providers? – No, I decided that shouldn’t be priority #1.  What is most important is getting an idea of how your dealership appears to your prospects. I needed to first put on my “consumer-glasses” to understand what they are seeing, and then I can determine the path forward that will get the consumer to buy at my store. What did I do? Let’s crawl and see.

All of us in the dealership should know by now that at least 90% of all car shopping starts somewhere and somehow online. Shoppers “Google or Bing around” search phrases related to the model desired and the city they live in. This initial search generally leads to reviewing 3^rd parties like Edmunds or AOL.Autos for test results and independent car experts’ advice. After that, they most likely end up on the OEM’s manufacturer website, lured by whatever seasonal offers or events are taking place right now. From the OEM website, the customer drills down to find which dealership is closest to their zip code. 

 So, taking this roadmap of typical automotive buying behavior, my first action should be clear: “CHECK YOUR DEALER WEBSITE(s)”. The things I will be looking for are pretty straightforward.

Does my website has the same advertising messaging my OEM is portraying on their site? For me as an eCom Director it is mandatory to have events like “Autobahn for all” or “Sign then drive” event on all my dealership websites. I am not speaking just about having the graphics but also written content of these national campaigns on my site(s).

Tip #2: Make sure shoppers responding to OEM advertising and programs find them on your site.

Adding OEM promotional content assures that local prospects looking for those campaign deals will find familiar territory and verbiage on my site. They know immediately that “VJ Motors” is participating in these well-known manufacturer deals seen on TV, Radio, Off- and Online. As a dealer, doing this will guarantee me a fraction of the millions and millions of dollars spent by my OEM. I get my piece of the huge advertising campaign pie – and everybody knows….I love pie.

Here was my first plan of action:

• Determine my OEM’s current ad campaign (In this case the “Going Going Gone Event”)
• Update all new car specials shown in the website with the particular “Going Going Gone” phrase
• Main URL page showed as first slider Going Going Gone event participation, linked to the New Car Special page
• SEO Content was modified and “Going Going Gone Event” as well “Autobahn for All” slogans were weaved in on homepage, New Car inventory page, New Car Special page and various model pages.

Because we all know that SEO results do not show up overnight, the written content placed on the described pages is here for the long run and should be not taken down when the OEM campaign stops – most likely you will see the same named event taking place again a few months down the road and in the meantime your content pages hopefully left some impactful results in the SERP.

Tip #3: Leverage all your content in social media and see SEO results soar

Post promotional content in your social media, such as a photo montage on your blog captioned “VJ Motors in Motorville enjoys the hundreds of customers stopping by customers during the VW Going Going Gone event.” The reason for doing this is that search engines love news updates through social media streams. By optimizing these channels with your dealership name and the event name in the post, you are supporting your organic SEO piece by piece. Try it – it has worked for me! 

Tip #4: “But I have no time to do any of this”

As a busy dealer, aligning with OEM’s may sound like a lot of work and too much of a hassle. I felt this way too.

There are two main ways I’ve found to alleviate the hassle issue: Choose an endorsed website provider and work with their professional account strategist. 

If your dealership has an endorsed website provider with OEM-coordinated advertising campaigns, the work you need to perform on your end will be a little bit less, thanks to perfectly timed and “ready-to-go” websites and landing pages at the start of the national campaigns.

Another thing that helped me was that I could speak to my account advocate at the website provider to assist me in my efforts to tweak my messaging to my taste. So, if you’ve signed up for this type of service – use it, bring up your ideas, and let them do the main frame work. That way you can focus on the other things you need to do, making a dealership or dealer group successful – as I will show you in my next chapter.

Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov famously tantalized his dogs by ringing a bell to alert them that food was about to be served. The dogs, soon wise enough to associate the sound of a tinkling bell with a big juicy steak, began to salivate each time the bell tolled.

This associated behavior is known as “classical conditioning,” and the parallel between the doghouse and the dealership cannot be clearer. Obviously, the incoming lead is the “ringing bell” in your dealership, and the dealers are the hungry dogs pouncing on the lead.

Right? Wrong.

Instead, what I hear all too often in my visits around the nation’s dealerships are lackluster lead responses like “Ahh, that can wait a little bit.” or “Somebody else can take the phone call.” Over the past four or five months, I’ve noticed this non-responsive attitude toward leads becoming more common than ever.

What happened to the urgency? Shouldn’t every Internet sales person know by now that the first fifteen minutes are the most critical when it comes to new automotive leads? Why are all the Internet sales processes taught in OEM seminars and Dealer Group guidelines going out the window?

To understand this seemingly irrational behavior, we must return to Pavlov’s dogs.

In the same experiment, Pavlov began ringing the bell WITHOUT providing food, to see if the dogs would still respond with salivating and pouncing. Result: Without the food (stimuli), the bell elicited less and less “drooling” and, after a while, the behavior became extinct.

The moral of the story? For a variety of reasons, Internet Sales Managers have stopped associating leads with sales. As a result, sales urgency is out and “lead lethargy” is in. In order to understand why, we must identify the reasons and establish best practices around digital automotive lead management.

Why Automotive Leads “Overflow” is Turning Alpha Dogs into Lapdogs

Why have so many dealers stopped associating leads with sales? Believe it or not, one key reason is the sheer abundance of leads. Digital automotive marketing has done its job almost too well, and as a result, there is an unprecedented flow of leads and lead sources. Like Pavlov’s ringing bell,today’s Internet Managers are inundated with nonstop chimes, buzzers, pages and calls, all alerting them that leads are pouring in.

With “too many” leads for one Internet Salesperson to handle; the reward for selling a car will be still there, but the closing ratio will drop. This drop will probably defeat company’s policies (closing ration >10% and so on). If a dealership has an average of 200 leads coming in per month, even if an Internet Salesperson sells 18 cars a month, they will still not be able to make a dent. Realizing this, the salesperson begins “cherry picking,” handling the lower hanging fruit (e.g the rare used car in inventory with tons of inquiries), and neglecting the fresh 3rd party leads, most likely the leads w/ the highest cost per sale ratio.

How to Yank the Leash on Automotive Lead Management Apathy

1.Staff up. Many managers hear this story and think the answer is to decrease leads. Instead of canceling leads, I suggest converting one or more salesperson into your Internet team and supplying them with the lead “overflow.” By sharing the wealth, you get to keep all your leads and still make sure each one gets the attention it deserves.

2.Limit leads per person. Even a dog faced with 2,000 juicy steaks can’t eat them all. Sharpen sales concentration by limiting the number of start-to-finish leads to 80-90 per person/month.  If they are an absolute pro, 120 start-to-finish leads may be doable, but don’t risk it unless you are sure this person is well-versed in your internal process.

3.Correlate effort and reward. To keep that urgency going, you have to make sure the stimulus is there. Let your team know “This next incoming lead will be the only one for today.” Limiting leads will stretch the necessity to handle each lead with thoroughness, according to your automotive  lead management process. Needless to say, it was also increase staff motivation. All of a sudden the dog who was sitting with his tail between his legs will be streaking after the tennis ball.
 

These lead management practices work, I can assure you. I have turned around 3 franchises in the last 6 months to #1 CPO in state, #2 CPO in the country, and #1 New Car dealer objective, and so on. By integrating these practices, I have helped dealership realize the most Internet department sales ever, not by minimizing lead count, but by allocating the right resources in my eCommerce departments.

In conclusion, while I do not expect Internet Sales people to start drooling and pawing when an Internet Sales phone page comes across, these lead management practices should urge them to get out of their chair and “take care about business” right away.

And? Did this post ring a bell?

VJ - The Social Media Buzzer

PHOENIX  -  ATLANTA

Good news for early adapters in our so beloved automobile industry. When you are one of the pioneers using in your ads, Maroni stickers, or even on Business cards the two-dimensional barcode like images – a.k.a. quick-response codes or in short QR-Codes – you past the stage of  prior “thinking out of  the box” with flying colors.

As you know adaptable smartphone apps are able to scan and then convert the code into a picture ad or other information you would love to share with your potential clients.

Advantage for the consumer: Recalling “what was shown or said in an ad” with a push of a button.

Advantage for us dealerships: Unlimited "air" time - 24/7/365

The MGH group conducted a survey to see how consumers are adapting to the “new” technology, which is actually now out for more than a year. Here is the great news and opportunity for us dealers:

• Almost 75% of smartphone users are very likely or at least somewhat intrigued to recall   advertising and marketing messages with QR codes
• Awareness among smartphone users rose to 65% (have seen a QR Code)
• 56% recognized the two-dimensional images on product packaging
• 45% recalled to have seen them on magazines and (ATTENTION PLEASE) on coupons
• And more than a quarter of the users saw the QR’s in newspaper ads (is your dealership still doing off-line advertising in your local newspaper? If so “jam” a QR code into your ads!)

So, the question here is “what did the smartphone users use their code for?”

The top-3 contenders are:

• 53% want to find coupons or discounts on their products or services they want to obtain from a business
• 52% want more product or service information (did your OEM already convert their new car price stickers and show the QR code? You should check because it is on almost every manufacturers agenda to “put it out there”)
• 33% just scanning it to have the opportunity to win in sweepstakes

The rest of usage reasons are: accessing videos, making actually purchases, signing up to receive more information and last but not least interacting with social media networks.

One of the more important reflections of the survey (especially from the business owner standpoint), which was held in February 2010 via the Vision Critical America panel, is showing an indisputable fact and a huge opportunity for everyone who wants to play in this “QR league”.

70% of the first time QR code users and those who used it already having following motivation to do so:

• They want to find deals and/or discounts (87% !!!)
• They want to play and enter into sweepstakes (64%)
• They want to have access to more information (63%)
• They actually are ready to purchase right away (60%)
• They enter their information into your database to receive more information from you on the products or services you offer (53% - here comes the good old permission based email marketing in my mind)

So, I hope I provided you with some brain teasers to make you even more think if and when you should join the “QR-force” and get your business another (two-dimensional) platform. In my opinion, this should be a no-brainer for you.

It appears to be that Chevy has learned its lesson and glimpsing over the fence with the hope figuring out how Scott Monty and Ford has become the “role model” for Automotive involvement in Social Media. Looking at all the indicators what made Social Media what it is today – a powerhouse and a media revolution initialized by a group of Gen-Ys or let’s call them Millenials – Chevrolet decided exactly to target this consumer group with its newest stunt.

They Idea:

Having their newest models driven by students of the University of Southern California and the Stanford University (as they offered it to several other West Coast universities).

The hook:

Make it an “Geny-Y I like it” approach was not just invite the participants for “test-drive” but most likely for joy rides or better called “FREE RIDES”. The models were not Tahoe or Corvettes, which are models defining more the Babyboomer clientele. Chevrolet instead went for new, fresh and modern looking models like the all-new Chevy Cruze, late Gen-y and early Gen-X favorite Cross-over Chevy Equinox, the presumed Toyota Corolla Killer – the Chevy Malibu and of course America’s new favorite Muscle Car the Chevy Camaro. Figuring out, what would make students even more click to sign up for these “free rides”, Chevy “value-sized” its offer by spending approximate $8/person and offered carb-bombs served Taco Bell, McDonald’s or other fast food chains of their participant’s choice.

Hope of going viral:

Last but not least Chevy employees lend flip-cams to the drivers asking them to create and compose a song about their driven Chevy, and posting it with them and the car in it onto YouTube (where else!) This idea is actually not new. Nissan did this kind of composing and song-writing contest in Canada and invited artists, song writers and musicians to be creative with the new upcoming model of the Nissan Cube. Grand Prize here was that the most creative chosen pieces and participants won their own Nissan Cube. Nissan gave away 50 Nissan Cube's during this event in 2009.

Here lays the hope of the Chevy Marketing Executives. Similar to the success of Nissan and its launch via YouTube contests, Chevy looks for an inexpensive way to have these videos going viral and promote the American Brand among the upcoming and hopefully affluent Gen-Ys. Toyota and Honda are still outselling Chevy Malibu even so the Chevy Cruze is up to a great start according to the reported sales numbers.

My Opinion:

I believe Chevy is on the right track, considering to invited younger college kids to “Free Rides” having in mind that you need to be 21 years old even to rent a car from a rental car location. It will help Chevy to gain brand acknowledgement under the youngster and may plants the seed early on to have “Chevy on my mind”. Bon appetit... need to head out and get some fries! ~~VJ

Okay, okay I am guilty as well pinning down the autotrader or cars.com rep in regards to “what is my click-through-ratio?” (CTR) or “I don’t know if these banners really do anything for me”, every time they wanted to make an up-sell for ”better exposure” of the brand. There was just too much doubt and not knowing in me to easily pass on these spins – until today (well, may be).

The Online Publishers Association a.k.a. “OPA” was possibly sick and tired of all these objections they heard from their clientele all over the world and decided to put an end to the discussion between as-seller and ad-buyer.

The mystical entity “Banner-Ad” needed to be researched to find out if actually your consumers are taking a look at it. To present even to OPA’s most doubtful critiques and skeptics concrete facts that Banner ads are indeed working for brands and companies, the organization tested conducted a very thorough research.

The study participants had been sat in front of computers and browsing pages with embedded banner ads, randomly selected. If now the participants actually noticed and viewed these occurring ads, OPA decided to connect "these human genuia pigs" with the latest eye tracking technology. Further - additional biometric testing equipment was chosen. The biometric instruments could give the scientist of OPA indications of any emotional response by monitoring breathing and heart rate, similar to a lie-detector test pointing out negative or positive emotional responses.

THE RESULTS ARE IN

I don’t know if I need to apologize to my entire ad reps roster in the past (probably not) but the results conceived during this research opened my eyes and will change my perception how to see banner ads. Actually 96% did indeed pay attention to the upcoming ads during their browsing sessions. Intriguing was that 90% of the test participants noticed the ads right away - in less than 1 second during the page loading.

The OPA further noticed that almost all candidates were looking at the banner ad multiple times. Average number here (please sit down…) – participants had “starred” on the ads 15 times. So, how were the results showing on the “emotional involvement” on the displayed banner ads? (are you still sitting down?) Test candidates responded to the ads almost similar as when they looked at the other parts of the pages.

Even so when users glimpsed a second or third time on the ad (on average after the first 10 seconds) an elevated emotional response was noticed. When the participants were asked to grade these seen ads after the trial, the advertisements got an average of 6.3 points out of possible 9.

ALL IN ALL IT LOOKS LIKE IT IS WORKING

So it appears that OPA’s results and research discovered an important fact. Instead just focusing on the CTR outcome of banner ads and possible tracking figures (like all the prior research indicated to focus on), the OPA’s study shows us now a totally different angle.

Fiction is now Fact: An attractive banner ad will possibly still attract consumers – even so it is not always CTR what counts - it can be at least L.O.V.S – Love On First Sight.

Do you believe in it? ~~VJ, The Social Media Buzzer

We all know Facebook is right now for dealerships around the nation the #1 choice when trying to engage with customers off-site, next to the biweekly or monthly ownership email marketing “blast” (my God do I hate this term “blast”) and/or dealer newsletter provided by IMN, Outsell, 3Birds Marketing or OnStation.

But I could discover throughout my held trainings and seminars that we as dealers very rarely know about the motives of consumers, why they are following us or a brand – why do they like us. What make fans and followers click?

A recent conducted research of Co-Tweet and ExactTarget came closer to provide an answer. The following motives and answers will possibly help dealerships to adjust their engagement level on Social Media Networks. It will help us further in creating new approaches to “catch” potential customers’ attention.

Here the Top 10 Motivations why Consumers “Like” a Brand on Facebook and Follow

1. 40% want to receive discounts and promotions

2. 37% want to show support for the brand/company to thers

3. 36% hope (want) to get free samples, a coupon (a.k.a. freebies)

4. 34% want to stay informed about the activities of the company

5. 33% want to get updates on future products

6. 30% want to get updates and information on future sales

7. 27% like to get fun and entertainment out of it

8. 25% want to get access to exclusive content

9. 22% mentioned they were referred by someone to follow this brand/company

10. 21% want just to learn more about the company

Wow, would you have guessed it. Consumers actually like to receive update and information on future sales!

And by the way, don’t feel bad when you do not have too many interactions, shared thoughts and ideas or provided feedbacks from your “fans, followers and likes”.

The survey found out that indeed only 13% want to interact directly with the company.

So, my suggestion would be: Take the numbers, share them with your sales and management team and start to tailor a Facebook Marketing plan around the findings.

Happy reading, planning and executing...VJ the Social Media Buzzer

You can call it as you'd like to "unnecessary", "OMG", "why?", or "big brother is watching you" but it appears to be eminent that Hyundai is listening to the market, researches their potential consumers and future drivers very well and adapts much more faster than our other OEM's, when implementing Social Media and automotive into consumer's behavior.

Hyundai is planning to make geo-location, Facebook and it's new telemetric system ready for the masses, starting this year. The so called concierge/rescue service Blue Link will offer the already wide spread routine emergency assistance in cars and trucks, convenience features and vehicle location sharing to family and friends - set up by you and through Facebook.

I can imagine that when pushing the send button, the message will read on Facebook status kinda "I'm at Office Max at 4123 Wilshire Rd in my fantastic new 2011 Hyundai Sonata", with hyperlinks to the Hyundai OEM website and a special offer from the mentioned Office Max...

Hmmm, didn't I just write something about 81% Millenials are having at least 2 social media network profiles, and will check at least 3 times a day their status on what they are up to and where they are? Hyundai is reading research paper as it looks like.

Presumptions are that the service will operate through a smart phone app, as well as is linked to a call center, which will be alarmed when a car crash occurs or the airbags deploy, sending the car's navigation unit data. So nothing really new, knowing this feature already from OnStar and similar assist systems.

An SOS button and capabilities to immobilize a stolen car remotely will be offered as well.

NOW IT'S GETTING INTERESTING, ESPECIALLY FOR WORRIED MOM's AND DAD's

Hyundai noticed that especially parents love to be in control, when borrowing their car to their teenage daughter or son. To accommodate the "urge" to know almost everything, Hyundai owners will be able to set up a so called "geo-fence". When your kid is deciding to take a detour across the city and the vehicle leaves a proscribed area, Mommy and Daddy will receive a text message. The same happens when a preset speed limit is broken. 

Because Social interactivity and connectivity can't be any longer avoided, a compatible Smartphone app will make sure to have incoming text messages reading out loud through the car stereo (similar to Ford's sync), flashing lights, unlocking the doors and starting the car. Now, do we only have to wait for have a kind of "dragon speak" software writing text messages and sending them via voice control.

Blue Link will launch this year in the Sonata, followed by the all-new Velostar, and will be fully integrated into the Hyundai line-up by 2014.

According to a newer study from L2, Generation Y or also called Millenials are the consumer Group to watch out for, when trying to convince and to engage them to interact with your brand, make or model.

As the study revealed 81% of affluent Gen-Y consumer opening and checking their status on Facebook each day. On the other site 45% are reading at least one blog or newspaper content and 41% watch television daily. Taking a closer look how the Gen-Y affluents connect with brands, the study reveals more than 80% of female Gen-Y's do that through social media, comparing it to just 63% of the male Gen-Y affluents. Most likely the action for these Millenials to follow or like a brand will be triggered by special online offers or promotions a company is displaying.

Here again: more female (38%) than male (28%) will decide to give it a try and follow. Because Facebook is just in such a dominating position, do not attempt as a business or marketer to neglect your micro-blogging endeavor. Twitter for example is still up and coming and 1 out of 4 Millenials checked their status, responses, direct messages and name mentioning in the last 24 hours.

Who are actually these "affluent" Gen-Y's? Why should we have them in our scope and building a possible Marketing strategy around them?

The average affluent Gen-Y consumer is around the 27 year old bracket. Income is approximately at the $100,000 per year range, which will definitely double by the age of early 30's. 75% of the focus group in this study mentioned their "somewhat affinity" to a brand in which 43% of them admitted of "following some good brands" and 32% of these participants even had "a brand crush", which made them follow a brand. The most interesting part here: 12% considered themselves "brand devotees" or as I would state "HERE ARE YOUR BRAND EVANGELISTS - locate them, target them with special offers and perks, and you'll create your own self-sustaining "referral marketing department".

What else was found during L2's study?

Facebook seems to be the "Holy Grail" for these Millenials because fundamentals reveal

• more than 50% say that their attitudes towards a brand was shaped through Facebook
• 54% of them clicked "LIKE" on a brand fan page in previous month
• 38% have posted a comment in the previous month
• 30% shared the brand they followed with their network (love this WOM number)

Video content as second "holy oracle", short behind Social Networking

No doubt, watching and sharing video content is a daily task for Gen-Y's. According to the numbers

• 56% watched a video on YouTube the previous 24 hours
• Hulu videos or shows were downloaded and watched by 19%
• 13% used a mobile device to watch a video
• and 21% found a different video source other than YouTube and Hulu.

So when all these numbers reveal how "video hooked" and addicted Millenials are, why not calling out for creative video contests, featuring your brand, make or model? Just make sure that the channel is checked "non-public" at the time the creative results will be submitted. Reason is too avoid to have material suddenly posted which will compromise your product or displays content not suited for business purposes. Trust me on this - according to my German proverb: TRUST IS GOOD - CONTROL IS BETTER.

In case you have already tried to focus on certain age groups, like Gen-Y, Gen-X and Baby Boomers and may have run a campaign, what did you see and conclude out of the campaign? Please feel free to comment and share your insights.