JD Rucker's Posts - DealerELITE.net2024-03-28T14:51:02ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRuckerhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2535838991?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://www.dealerelite.net/profiles/blog/feed?user=usedcarsonly&xn_auth=noThe Most Valuable Lesson I Ever Learned Selling Carstag:www.dealerelite.net,2015-08-15:5283893:BlogPost:4611972015-08-15T00:34:59.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
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<p>A friend (who happens to also be a client) called me today hoping to pick my brain about his presentation at a conference. He's an experienced General Manager who has seen it all. Sometimes, seeing it all means it's difficult to pick out the gems that you've come across in your career.</p>
<p>In talking about customer retention, it's easy to see the importance of…</p>
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<p>A friend (who happens to also be a client) called me today hoping to pick my brain about his presentation at a conference. He's an experienced General Manager who has seen it all. Sometimes, seeing it all means it's difficult to pick out the gems that you've come across in your career.</p>
<p>In talking about customer retention, it's easy to see the importance of having a single customer type, of building true ambassadors rather than customers, and of establishing a company culture that permeates noticeably across the entire organization. However, the best presentations are ones that have true stories attached to them. One that I will always remember has guided my career for a couple of decades.</p>
<p>There was a customer in service that nobody liked. I was relatively new to selling cars and didn't really know not to talk to them. After all, they were our customers. They had purchased a new F-150 a few months before from someone else and they quickly became a problem in service. They were the type of customers who would come in demanding new tires if they ran over a nail.</p>
<p>The wife approached me and wanted to know if I could check on their truck. It had been in for more than two hours for an oil change. I had already heard of them and had no doubt that the service department was pushing their ticket back out of spite. They weren't very nice and were completely unreasonable with their expectations.</p>
<p>She mentioned that she needed to hurry because her husband was diabetic and needed food. I happened to have a sandwich that I hadn't even opened out of the vending machine and offered it to her. She latched onto me instantly and the next thing I knew I was showing them other vehicles on the lot while he ate my sandwich.</p>
<p>I came in for some keys to a used F-150. The manager gave me a look, rolled his eyes, stuck his finger in his mouth and made the "hooked" sign. I knew. It didn't matter. They wanted to look at trucks and I didn't have an appointment so I took them on a test drive.</p>
<p>Things went swimmingly. I learned about their laundry business. That's why they needed a truck. They pickup up laundry from the elderly and disabled and washed it for them for a minimal fee. As it turned out, they weren't unreasonable but really just needed a softer hand to guide them through the various processes. By the end of the test drive, they loved the truck and acknowledged that running over a nail wasn't grounds for making demands of the dealership.</p>
<p>We wrote up the deal. The manager was annoyed. Then, he pulled their credit report. As it turned out, they had recently mortgaged their home, paid off all of their bills, and had a $17,000 ACV on a free and clear trade. The truck I showed them was older but was a Lariat crew, better than their XLT supercab.</p>
<p>Over the next six months, I made seven referral sales and sold them another vehicle.</p>
<p>More importantly (for the dealership), they found a service writer they adored and brought cookies every time they had service. They literally brought cookies.</p>
<p>The story won't be used in the presentation for my friend but it did remind him of a similar incident at his dealership. That's the point. We aren't in the car business just for the money even if that's the primary motivation. There are very few professions that give us the opportunity to change someone's life every day that we work it.</p>
<p>One might read this and think that the lesson is to not prejudge or to treat everyone like they can buy. That's the business lesson. The real lesson that will always stick with me is that every car deal is a paycheck to us but it has a much bigger impact on the buyer. We must always remember that our daily activities. whether in sales or service, make a real difference.</p>
<p>It might just be a sale to someone on the floor. It's a unit to the bosses. It's a statistic to the manufacturer. To the customer, it's a profound moment that will be a part of their lives every day for years to come.</p>3 Things Dealers Should Ask Every Potential Vendor (and the surprising answers to seek)tag:www.dealerelite.net,2015-08-07:5283893:BlogPost:4608112015-08-07T13:07:28.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
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<p>There are currently hundreds of major digital marketing companies in the automotive industry calling, emailing, and sending smoke signals to influencers and decision-makers at dealerships across the country. I say "hundreds" because I don't want to count them up, but it could actually be thousands. The point is that there are a ton.</p>
<p>It can be challenging to…</p>
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<p>There are currently hundreds of major digital marketing companies in the automotive industry calling, emailing, and sending smoke signals to influencers and decision-makers at dealerships across the country. I say "hundreds" because I don't want to count them up, but it could actually be thousands. The point is that there are a ton.</p>
<p>It can be challenging to make a decision about who to use for this, that, or the other because a few things are universal. They all claim to be the best at what they do. They all claim to help you sell more cars. They all claim to have X years of automotive experience.</p>
<p>How do dealers get through it all and make sense of the rhetoric? To answer this, we should pretend like the rhetoric is secondary and cut to the chase. Here are three questions you should ask. Some of the questions are obvious, but the desired answers may surprise you.</p>
<h2>1. "Do you have binding contracts and if so, why?"</h2>
<p>The first thing you'll notice is that you aren't asking how long the contracts are. This is important because at the end of the day you'll be able to negotiate any contract to an acceptable level with most companies. The reason you want to know "why" they have contracts is to gain an understanding of how their products operate. The standard answer is that there are upfront costs that need to be protected or that there's no way to get a full picture of the product in a short period of time. Both of these answers are garbage.</p>
<p>The only valid answer (other than, "no contracts") is that their business model requires a certain level of guaranteed profit per client. This is an answer for investors, but it's the real reason for holding the vast majority of contracts. If they have investors to cater to or future investors to impress, I can understand the need for contracts. Otherwise, "not enough time" or "too much upfront cost" are copouts.</p>
<p>I'm a big fan of having enough confidence in your product that you're willing to live or die by the results. Vendors shouldn't have to ask dealers to take the risk if it doesn't work as expected. Vendors should be the ones taking the risk if it doesn't deliver as promised.</p>
<h2>2. "What is your policy on future upgrades?"</h2>
<p>This is a question that's asked in a particular way for an important reason. By using the word "upgrades" you're really asking about add-on products or products in development. There are certain products that should incur additional cost, especially if they're truly add-ons. However, a vendor shouldn't charge a client to improve on what they're buying today.</p>
<p>The point of this question (and you'll probably be asked to elaborate once you ask it) is to establish that you want the latest and greatest advancements when they are developed. Unofficial standard operating procedures at most vendors will be to build improvements and then sell them to new clients. Later, they're rolled out to existing ones... if they're lucky. In some cases, they're either never rolled out or they are charged a fee to get on the latest and greatest. This is crap. If you're a client and they build something better than what you currently have, you should be the first to get it, not the last.</p>
<h2>3. "Who are your biggest competitors?"</h2>
<p>For some products, the answers are obvious. There are plenty of website providers out there, for example, so asking any of them about their competitors should yield a decent list. For other products, there are only a handful of players and asking this question will likely make the salesperson squirm.</p>
<p>The answer you definitely don't want to hear is "nobody." That's not true in most cases. Even something as obscure as gift card appointment programs have three or four players. If they tell you they don't have any competitors, they really just don't want to tip you off about who to call next and that's understandable. However, they should still be willing to tell you.</p>
<p>There is no "right" answer to the question. You're wanting to hear how they handle it. Are they extremely confident about what they're offering? Do they truly believe in their product above any of the competitors? Those are the real questions but you can't ask them directly. You'll need to ask them who they compete against and judge through their response if they're really worried about them. Just because they sound worried isn't necessarily bad because sometimes vendors worry about their competitors' pitch rather than their product. However, you're looking for one thing in this line of questioning: passion. If they're passionate about what they're selling, it will show when you bring up the competition.</p>
<p>A bonus answer to this particular question would be, "Our biggest competitors are your competitors. That's how we roll."</p>The Growing Plague of Google Analytics Spam and How to Filter Ittag:www.dealerelite.net,2015-07-27:5283893:BlogPost:4598822015-07-27T03:05:54.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
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<p>If you're one who checks Google Analytics often to see how your traffic is doing, you've problem seen a lot of sites popping up in analytics over the last year or so that don't make sense. It would seem like these you're getting traffic from strange sites, particularly those selling SEO or other marketing services.</p>
<p>It's spam. That's the bad news. The good news…</p>
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<p>If you're one who checks Google Analytics often to see how your traffic is doing, you've problem seen a lot of sites popping up in analytics over the last year or so that don't make sense. It would seem like these you're getting traffic from strange sites, particularly those selling SEO or other marketing services.</p>
<p>It's spam. That's the bad news. The good news is that it's not really hurting you. The better news is that you can get rid of it. You may have checked out some of these sites to find your link. Wait, where is it? There's no link to your website there. How did... what the... wait a second. You just did what they intended you to do. They got you to their website in hopes that you'll think, "Hey, I need SEO. Let's see what these guys can offer."</p>
<p><a href="http://soshable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Google-Analytics-Spam.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-11803" src="http://soshable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Google-Analytics-Spam.png" alt="Google Analytics Spam" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>Unfortunately, it works. They spoof traffic through a key sending requests from their website to yours, making it look as if they're visiting your website when they're not. This is how they get business. This is how they market their services. Let's let the annoyance or anger (it infuriates me) die down a bit. Now, let's offer a solution. Filtering. It's the only thing we've found to work. One by one, site by site, you have to plug them into a Google Analytics filter and eliminate them from your numbers. Here's how, courtesy of <a href="https://somethingididnotknow.wordpress.com/2015/01/15/filter-out-spammers-and-click-bait-from-google-analytics/" target="_blank">SomethingIDidNotKnow</a>:</p>
<blockquote>To add a filter:<ol>
<li>go to your Administration page (last tab on your home page)</li>
<li>All filters (on the leftmost column)</li>
<li>New filter</li>
<li>Choose Filter type “Custom” > “Exclude”</li>
<li>Choose “Referral” from the Filter Field menu</li>
<li>Set this as Filter pattern:<pre>semalt\.com|ilovevitaly\.co|priceg\.com|forum\..*darodar\.com|blackhatworth\.com|hulfingtonpost\.com|buttons-for-website\.com</pre>
</li>
<li>Select the views that you want to be filtered (I chose “All web site data”)</li>
<li>Save</li>
</ol>
The filter pattern is a regular expression, so every time you find a new source of spam, simply add another “|spammersite\.com” (remember to escape dots with a backslash, as they mean “any character”).</blockquote>
<p>Now you know how to fix it. To stop it from continuing, don't support these companies. If you see them doing it, do not buy from them. In fact, we canceled a service (Semalt) once we started seeing that they were doing this. It's a plague that needs to be eradicated.</p>Straight to Inventory versus Landing Pages for PPCtag:www.dealerelite.net,2015-07-07:5283893:BlogPost:4587652015-07-07T08:41:40.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
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<p>There have been several studies in the automotive industry that have conclusively answered this question with hard data and compelling reasons why it is the way it is. Unfortunately, these "conclusive" studies often point in opposite directions and always seem to be conducted by companies that lean in one direction or the other.</p>
<p>Which is better for search PPC,…</p>
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<p>There have been several studies in the automotive industry that have conclusively answered this question with hard data and compelling reasons why it is the way it is. Unfortunately, these "conclusive" studies often point in opposite directions and always seem to be conducted by companies that lean in one direction or the other.</p>
<p>Which is better for search PPC, banner ads, and other forms of advertising? Should you point your ads to take prospects directly into vehicle details pages or search results pages or should you send visitors to landing pages with messaging first? The reason that the studies seem to take the same data and yield different conclusions is based on two things: intent of the company doing the study and ways through which the data is collected and analyzed.</p>
<p>Our perspective on the issue adds a third factor that has helped us to come to our own conclusion for clients: visitor intent. The beauty of modern digital advertising is that it allows us to make determinations about website visitors before they even click based upon their source, keywords, and past activity. The key to all of this is following Google's lead based upon their ultimate data set for automotive.</p>
<p>Last year, Google started making the shift from "visits and unique visitors" to "sessions and users". This wasn't just a cosmetic change nor was it the only thing they've been changing. They understand that intent is much more easily defined once you parse out the data correctly. They realize that at different stages in the research and buying cycle, car shoppers will be searching for different things and expecting different results to appeal to their real-time needs.</p>
<p>We went into some detail about this concept in a <a href="http://dealerauthority.com/if-you-cant-win-with-money-you-have-to-fight-with-messaging/" target="_blank">blog post</a> but for now, let's look at the basic concepts to see if we can answer the straightforward question of inventory versus landing pages.</p>
<h2>The New Paradigm</h2>
<p>While I would hate to make it sound as if Google is revising the zero moment of truth concept, there is a great deal of shifting happening in their mentality towards what really works for driving the sale in the automotive industry. Whether it's a new reality or an old reality that's just now being recognized doesn't matter. What's important is that they see the shift.</p>
<p>To break it down, let's look at direct examples. If someone does a search for "best family sedans" they are likely in consideration mode. They're at the top of the funnel. In fact, they might not even be certain whether or not they're currently in the market. They're exploring. This would be a bad time to send them into inventory. Instead, they should be given a very specific and useful message to help them but that also has the opportunity to push them further down in the funnel. Think of these people like service customers waiting for their cars by walking the lot. Most of them are just passing time, but everyone has a story about the vehicle in service that turned into a trade in before it ever left the shop. It happens and these visitors need the proper messaging. Sending them to inventory would be like leaving a service customer to walk the lot on their own.</p>
<p>Let's look at another search. If someone types in "new Hyundai Sonata in High Point" then they have a different intent. They could be in the middle of the funnel. They might be at the bottom of the funnel. In this situation, one message might be designed to lead them to a landing page with information about current specials and sales while giving them an easy button to take them to inventory. Another message could be about the cars directly with a straight path to the Sonata VDPs. In this situation, both options are viable and testing of both will yield the proper path for each individual dealership.</p>
<p>Final keyword: "2015 Ford Focus for sale in Indianapolis". If you have a nice selection, send them straight to the SRP. They know what they want, they know where they want it, and they're ready to look at cars in stock.</p>
<p>All three examples present different users with specific messages. More importantly, they present the same users with different messaging and destinations as they work their way down the funnel. It's a win-win methodology that serves the customers' needs and the dealership's needs simultaneously.</p>
<p>The different perspectives can point to one side or the other. It's within the data to make the determination based upon intent. Which is a better destination, inventory or landing pages? Our answer is, "Yes."</p>In the Middle, it's the Messaging that Makes Digital Successtag:www.dealerelite.net,2015-07-05:5283893:BlogPost:4583172015-07-05T14:07:11.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
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<p>In the world of digital advertising, there are three primary components: targeting, messaging, and landing pages. So much emphasis is put on targeting such as PPC keywords or display ad placement. After that, the focus is often placed on the landing page, particularly with the debate over whether to point visitors towards a specific landing page or directly into…</p>
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<p>In the world of digital advertising, there are three primary components: targeting, messaging, and landing pages. So much emphasis is put on targeting such as PPC keywords or display ad placement. After that, the focus is often placed on the landing page, particularly with the debate over whether to point visitors towards a specific landing page or directly into inventory. Somewhere along the lines, the messaging of the ads became secondary in the minds of automotive vendors and therefore it's rarely looked at by dealers.</p>
<p>This is a mistake.</p>
<p>The messaging, which comes in many forms but with the most familiar being in PPC ads, is of prime importance on multiple levels:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Standing Out</strong> - Have you ever looked at PPC ads? Some are a little compelling. Others are not. They all seem to blend in, don't they? With the right messaging, an ad can be made to stand out. You can't get the click if you can't even get their attention.</li>
<li><strong>Delivering the Hook</strong> - If there's one thing that bugs me more than anything in PPC, it's the standard ad format. "2015 Toyota Camry - dealerwebsiteurl.com - View current specials and see our huge line of 2015 Toyota Camry". Where's the hook? What reason do they have to click on it? Do you have a good price discount, lease payment, or even a defining difference about your dealership that goes beyond price? This is the place to put it. So few do.</li>
<li><strong>Setting Up the Destination</strong> - The second biggest thing that bugs me is when the destination after clicking through does not match the messaging in the ad. If you are pushing a lease offer on Altimas, don't just send people to the Altima inventory. Many won't assume that the lease offer applies to all of them, which means you'll get the click in and then you'll get a quick click of the back button. Give them what they expect to get based upon the messaging.</li>
<li><strong>Earning Trust</strong> - Google isn't just a search engine. It's a recommendation engine. Many people see the ads and when they are able to stand out, deliver a good hook, and set up the right destination, consumers will gain a level of trust. It's subtle, often registering on a subconscious level, but it's real nonetheless.</li>
<li><strong>Getting the Right Clicks</strong> - Annoyance #3: ads that try to get the wrong types of clicks. Not every click is created equal and there's only value in a portion of them. Too often we see vendors push for the cheapest clicks when they should be pushing for the best value clicks. That doesn't always mean the most expensive clicks, but it rarely means the least expensive ones.</li>
</ul>
<p>There are actually more reasons and we go into greater detail on our <a href="http://dealerauthority.com/if-you-cant-win-with-money-you-have-to-fight-with-messaging/" target="_blank">blog post</a>, but the bottom line is this: don't dismiss messaging in your ads. Companies will often hide behind "best practices" and dynamic automation because these types of words mean that creativity and logic aren't required. Vendors can make more money when they don't actually have to think about a dealership's unique situation, strengths, weaknesses, and value proposition. Throw out a price, invite people to look at inventory, and you've got an ad... just not a very good one.</p>
<p>It starts with the target and ends with the destination, but the messaging that lies in the middle is the most important key to success.</p>Content is Important, but there's More to SEO than Building Pagestag:www.dealerelite.net,2015-06-23:5283893:BlogPost:4570672015-06-23T09:00:00.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
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<p>I've been pretty torn over the last few months. On one hand, I'm so pleased to see that dealers (and even some vendors) are really starting to embrace building content pages on their website. On the other hand, I'm concerned that many companies are starting to promote building these pages as their complete SEO strategy. What's worse is that many dealers are starting…</p>
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<p>I've been pretty torn over the last few months. On one hand, I'm so pleased to see that dealers (and even some vendors) are really starting to embrace building content pages on their website. On the other hand, I'm concerned that many companies are starting to promote building these pages as their complete SEO strategy. What's worse is that many dealers are starting to believe them.</p>
<p>We came across this recently when a dealer wanted to find out whether our SEO services were having a positive effect on their traffic, leads, and sales, or if it was another company that was working on things simultaneously. The other company builds pages. That's it. They don't support these pages with other signals and they don't build the pages with increased sales in mind.</p>
<p>2012 was the last time I made the recommendation to dealers to build content on their website or two hire us to do it for them. All I asked for was two pages per month. It was a reasonable request in my humble opinion - not too much work and yet a nice minimum to have some effect. I don't recall posting about it since then because dealers and vendors in general didn't seem anxious to heed the advice. Today, that seems to be changing. More dealers and vendors are doing it, so it's finally time to make the next batch of recommendations.</p>
<p>This time, there are two important takeaways. First, If you build it, you must support it. For very easy keywords, building a page and letting it sit can be enough to rank. For any keyword that can actually drive traffic, you must support it with off-the-page signals such as inbound links and social shares.</p>
<p>Second, if you build it, there must be a valid reason. Back in 2007, I learned that just because you can send people to your website through a blog post doesn't mean that you're achieving your SEO goals. At the end, it's not about traffic. It's about bringing in the right traffic and taking them to the right pages. SEO should help to sell more cars, not just drive more traffic to pages that have no chance of converting.</p>
<p>If you or a vendor build pages regularly on your website, you're already doing better than most dealers. However, doing better is not necessarily doing everything that can be done. Since more dealers and vendors are building content, it's so important to utilize the other factors within the Google algorithm to pull ahead of the pack.</p>
<p>In the coming weeks, we will be unveiling Octane, our strategy and service that enhances your website and digital presence in a way that generates traffic, leads, and sales. In the meantime, check out a description of <a href="http://www.dealeroctane.com/with-full-spectrum-seo-dealers-get-the-whole-picture/" target="_blank">Full Spectrum SEO</a>, one of the major components of our Octane strategy.</p>Calling Out the Vendor Who Said Links Don't Work for SEO...tag:www.dealerelite.net,2015-06-17:5283893:BlogPost:4566572015-06-17T09:00:40.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
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<p>I don't enjoy calling out vendors. It's something that I think is unprofessional in <strong>most</strong> situations. Sometimes, when a vendor is truly hurting the automotive industry, it must be done and I have to do that today.</p>
<p>We have a client being hounded. This other vendor has been telling them that our philosophy of using onsite and offsite content to…</p>
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<p>I don't enjoy calling out vendors. It's something that I think is unprofessional in <strong>most</strong> situations. Sometimes, when a vendor is truly hurting the automotive industry, it must be done and I have to do that today.</p>
<p>We have a client being hounded. This other vendor has been telling them that our philosophy of using onsite and offsite content to improve the dealership's organic search traffic is old. They've said that links are dead, that they're a non-factor.</p>
<p>At the recent <a href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/" target="_blank">Search Marketing Expo</a>, a panel of experts moderated by Danny Sullivan tackled the issue of organic search ranking factors. One of the biggest takeaways was that inbound links are still alive. In fact, contrary to the beliefs of some (including the vendor in question), the influence that <strong>high quality</strong> links have on rankings is actually increasing.</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.aimclearblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/link-correlations.png"><img class="align-center" src="http://www.aimclearblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/link-correlations.png?width=750" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>The funny part is that this particular vendor added "link building" to their offering recently. When we examined the links they "build" we found that they were junk links. Directories, purchased links, and spam links do not qualify as high quality, yet this is exactly what they're using.</p>
<p>So, my warning to dealers is this: before listening to a vendor that tells you their strategy is better, make certain to vet out what their strategies actually entail. You may be surprised to find that the ones who complain the most are the ones who do it the worst.</p>Content is King, So Pick the Right Kingdomstag:www.dealerelite.net,2015-06-16:5283893:BlogPost:4564902015-06-16T14:09:31.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545146758?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545146758?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>We've all heard the phrase, "content is king." The question that you should ask about your content is whether or not it's worthy of being the king of something important or the king of crap. Unfortunately, much of what is pawned off as content turns out to be ruling over nothing important.</p>
<p>I've said it in different ways in multiple articles and videos in the…</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545146758?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545146758?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>We've all heard the phrase, "content is king." The question that you should ask about your content is whether or not it's worthy of being the king of something important or the king of crap. Unfortunately, much of what is pawned off as content turns out to be ruling over nothing important.</p>
<p>I've said it in different ways in multiple articles and videos in the past, but it's worth saying again: if you're going to build content, make sure that every single piece of content you create counts. Content for the sake of content is not only worthless. It can be damaging.</p>
<p>Content marketing in the automotive industry has been a gamechanger for years. It's been prevalent in the cutting edge world of digital marketing for nearly a decade but really started coming into its own around 2010 in the automotive industry. Let's take a brief look at that history before diving into the meat and potatoes of this article.</p>
<h3>When Content was a Shiny New Tool</h3>
<p>I remember vividly what most dealer websites looked like around 2010. The boring websites on HTML platforms were starting to get more engaging and the beautiful Flash websites were disappearing due to indexing and mobile challenges. Parody started to reign in the industry, but dealers who started embracing content marketing were getting an edge over the competition.</p>
<p>Things were great for a few months. Then, the bulk mentality started kicking in. Some website providers started going after what they actually proudly called "the phone book concept" of search engine optimization. Google loved content, so why not give them more and more. They would actually promote the fact that they had thousands, even tens of thousands of pages on their websites and that it was a good thing. After a few penalties here and websites getting deindexed there, that concept started falling away, culminating in the last of the phone book vendors shifting their platform in 2014.</p>
<p>There were a few shining examples of excellence between 2010 and 2013 - at least excellent in the automotive industry. Bulk video providers started busting out with dozens of videos per week on YouTube channels. Content pages were being built on websites either by the dealer or by certain vendors. For the most part it wasn't great content but they were still able to rule over fairly large kingdoms (market area domination) due to the fact that they had content and competitors did not.</p>
<h3>The Content Bandwagon</h3>
<p>Around 2013, the majority of major website vendors started putting out content to match. Some even put together content strategies and premium products to pump out better content more frequently. The kings of the recent past were getting lost in the mix. In essence, everyone had some variation of content with different levels of quality and uniqueness. Some put together spinner elements to make content that seemed unique to programs like Copyscape and, in theory, Google.</p>
<p>The problem that arose from this content revolution was clear and became one of the driving forces for me to want to build a new company. Content was better. In fact, much of it was actually pretty good. However, if most are doing pretty good at producing content, then the gap was being diminished. In other words, if everyone was good, then everyone was actually average. There was very little that set one dealership's website, blog, or social media apart from the competition.</p>
<h3>Make it Count</h3>
<p>Today, the content revolution is heading in a better direction: quality over quantity. It's no longer a matter of producing 1000 words of content every week in order to make an impact on sales. The reality is that producing high-quality content that is worthy of being shared by others, even linked to organically from external websites, has become the most powerful tool in automotive digital marketing. Those who are fully embracing content marketing know three things:</p>
<ol>
<li>Post often but put real effort into making sure that something is worth posting.</li>
<li>It's better to not post at all, whether in the form of a landing page, blog post, or social media post, than to post crap.</li>
<li>If you build a foundation as the authority content producer about your particular makes and models in your area, you will acquire more relevant traffic, leads, and sales.</li>
</ol>
<p>These three rules in automotive content marketing should guide your overall plan of attack. If you make sure your content is actually the real king in your local area, you'll find that search, social, and buzz are all going to be pointing towards you.</p>Why Does Automotive Social Media Still Suck?tag:www.dealerelite.net,2015-06-14:5283893:BlogPost:4567032015-06-14T23:18:31.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545146174?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545146174?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>When we first built our company in 2013, we had a big fear. It was a sense of urgency that drove us to make aggressive moves, hire talented people when we didn't have the revenue to support them, and drink lots of coffee to stay ahead of the competition. The fear came from the certainty that automotive social media vendors would catch wind about the true power of…</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545146174?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545146174?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>When we first built our company in 2013, we had a big fear. It was a sense of urgency that drove us to make aggressive moves, hire talented people when we didn't have the revenue to support them, and drink lots of coffee to stay ahead of the competition. The fear came from the certainty that automotive social media vendors would catch wind about the true power of social media to drive local car buyers to the dealers' websites and produce an extremely high return on investment.</p>
<p>Fast forward to the middle of 2015 and as we approach our two-year anniversary, we're happy to say that there are only a handful (two that we know of for certain) who have adopted a proper combination of public posts and dark posts through targeted advertising that accomplishes the goal of selling more cars. The rest are still stuck in the same old social media strategies that have produced very little for the last five years.</p>
<p>When I say that we're happy about it, that's the business owner in me. The "car guy" portion is disgusted. How in the world can companies continue to peddle worthless social media products to car dealers? Social media has the data. Through sites like Facebook, dealers can target hand-raisers with relevant messages that bring them to the most important pages on a dealer's website: inventory, specials, and landing pages.</p>
<p>Why are we still seeing generic brand posts? Why are dealers being asked to pay thousands of dollars per month on PPC advertising when they can use social media dark posts to send great traffic at a fraction of the cost? Why aren't more vendors hopping on the bandwagon that's been going for nearly three years now?</p>
<p>It took a conversation with a friend who works at an OEM-level vendor to find the answer. "We know it works, but it's not scalable."</p>
<p>Oooooh. I get it now. It's not ignorance about the fact that these strategies work that keeps vendors from utilizing them. It's a focus on the financial component, the profit margin, that makes it less appealing to the vendor even though it's more effective for the dealers.</p>
<p>In a way, it's my fault. I haven't posted enough about it over the last two years in fear that we'll let the cat out of the bag. In a way, it's the dealers' fault. If you're here reading this, chances are you do not fall into that category since you're clearly researching the subject, but the majority of dealers are keeping these social media vendors going by buying mediocre products. They don't have a need to roll up their sleeves and work on the unscalable ROI-based aspect of social media marketing because they're doing just fine selling the stuff that doesn't work.</p>
<p>I should be rejoicing. I should be counting my blessings and acknowledging that this is what has allowed us to grow our company so well over the last year and a half. I'm not. I'm annoyed. The car business deserves better than what these vendors are pushing. I've been a vendor for nearly a decade but in the battle for where my heart is, I'm still a car guy. That's why this makes me so frustrated.</p>The Cliche of Dealer SEO and Analogies to Support ittag:www.dealerelite.net,2015-05-16:5283893:BlogPost:4543892015-05-16T18:44:48.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545146999?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545146999?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>Pulse rates are different depending on what artery you check and what method you use. Checking someone's carotid artery by hand can yield a slightly different result than taking it with a machine through the brachial artery. The same thing happens in the car business, which is why I like to talk to different people from different parts of the industry.</p>
<p>Today, a…</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545146999?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545146999?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>Pulse rates are different depending on what artery you check and what method you use. Checking someone's carotid artery by hand can yield a slightly different result than taking it with a machine through the brachial artery. The same thing happens in the car business, which is why I like to talk to different people from different parts of the industry.</p>
<p>Today, a good friend gave me a pulse check on his dealers' opinions about SEO. The feeling he was getting is that all SEO products are the same in our industry. This took me by surprise because I see SEO from the exact opposite perspective; the differences between what one company considers SEO and what another company considers SEO is like comparing apples and orangutans. Some have bite. Others bite.</p>
<p>The reality from a completely biased source, me, can tell you with certainty that once you peel back the top layer, the differences are very clear. If there are multiple layers to peel back, the fruit is no good. Why? Because SEO isn't hard to understand. It's not complicated. It's not even that difficult to do. However, doing it right is time consuming. This is why so many companies opt for a magic trick version of SEO rather than actually rolling up the sleeves and getting to work.</p>
<p>The magic trick approach means that they like to use misdirection (and even redirection) to point to this factor and that action that they're doing in order to achieve a result that may or may not be clear. They produce reports that have lots of numbers and well-organized color charts. The have an SEO guru/expert/wizard who sounds like a literal snake oil salesman from an old Clint Eastwood movie.</p>
<p>The real approach builds content on and off site, takes advantage of the power of social media, and makes certain that the boring technical aspects like citations and Schema.org (though small those components may be) are in order. The reports are clear - substantial organic traffic increases with acceptable time on site and pages viewed as well as ranking tracking for important keywords.</p>
<p>The real approach also focuses on one thing: increasing business. No level of reporting and no acts of wizardry will accomplish this. If you're not selling more cars and getting more service business, your SEO isn't working.</p>
<p>Using cliches and analogies is the only way I can keep from getting upset by the state of the search engine optimization world for car dealers. You deserve better.</p>3 Keys to Knowing if Your Dealership's SEO is Really Doing the Jobtag:www.dealerelite.net,2015-05-11:5283893:BlogPost:4544112015-05-11T20:58:07.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545146826?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545146826?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>This is one of those blog posts that my team will probably hate. I can already hear them. "Stop giving away our secrets!" As I've posted before, there really should be no such thing as secret sauce in automotive digital marketing, so I'm going to share our recipe.</p>
<p>There are three key ingredients to a proper automotive SEO awesomesauce. You can taste for these…</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545146826?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545146826?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>This is one of those blog posts that my team will probably hate. I can already hear them. "Stop giving away our secrets!" As I've posted before, there really should be no such thing as secret sauce in automotive digital marketing, so I'm going to share our recipe.</p>
<p>There are three key ingredients to a proper automotive SEO awesomesauce. You can taste for these ingredients in what you're doing today as well as in the presentations you hear from other vendors as they try to sell you SEO. If you taste it, you're on the right track. If you're missing any of these ingredients, it's time to find a better sauce.</p>
<h2>1. Focus on Driving Great Traffic</h2>
<p>There are many ways to send traffic to your website. We look at social media, for example, as a way to attract shoppers to your website using dark posts and shopper data, but that traffic is great, not prime. Don't get me wrong - many of the visitors that come through proper social media advertising are ready to buy a car, but they're brought there aggressively rather than passively.</p>
<p>Most dealers don't like to think of search traffic as passive, but that's what makes it so valuable. It's not that the traffic itself is passive. It's that the techniques are passive. No matter how well optimized you are or how much money you throw into PPC, you still have to wait for your customers to actually do the search. With many forms of advertising like social, banners, and Pandora, you're aggressively driving traffic even though they weren't necessarily in "buying mode" when they came across the ad.</p>
<p>People who search for important keywords relevant to buying a car are doing so because they're in buying mode. Anyone can optimize a site to drive traffic, but focusing on the keywords that are certain to be searched for when people are hot to make a purchase is the sort of traffic that you should be attacking with your SEO.</p>
<h2>2. Focus on Driving them to Great Pages</h2>
<p>I remember a debate I had with an SEO company a couple of years ago. We were challenging the pages they were creating for our shared client. The pages were loaded with content and had a little button half way down the page that linked to inventory. I asked them how this page was going to help convert the visitors to leads or sales and their response was something to the effect of, "that's not our job."</p>
<p>Incorrect. It is your job. It's not just about driving traffic to any old page that can be optimized with content. That traffic has to convert in some form or fashion. There's an old notion that if you send people to a page, they can always click on inventory when they get there. I've seen the statistics. It doesn't work.</p>
<p>Pages that are not designed to either generate a lead or clearly direct people to a page that can generate a lead is nearly worthless regardless of how well it's optimized. The stats are clear. People will go to the page from a search term like "New Honda Accord Houston" because that page has plenty of content about the topic, but if the page is designed specifically for optimization and does nothing to compel action, the people who visit it don't see what they want so they bounce.</p>
<p>Pages must be optimized <strong>and</strong> they must convert or push the traffic to a page that does. If that's not a core philosophy in your SEO sauce, you might as well pour Prego all over your website. It'll be just as effective at generating leads.</p>
<h2>3. Traffic Should be Going Up Year Over Year</h2>
<p>There are always factors that come into play that affect traffic, but any good SEO company today can drive more organic traffic. The market is in a good place. If you're not seeing significant year-over-year increases in organic search traffic, something's not working.</p>
<p>I bring this one up even though it should be a no-brainer because we ran across someone who was pitching against us the other day. They were pointing out several keywords that we weren't ranked at the top for and using that as an example of how our SEO was bad. Some of the keywords were relevant. Most were worthless.</p>
<p>When we pulled up analytics and showed a huge increase in year-over-year organic traffic, the conversation ended quickly.</p>
<p>There's a reason that around 300 companies in the automotive industry offer SEO. It's not because it's easy. It's because it's easy to sell and hard for dealers to quantify. If you apply these three keys to your SEO checking, you'll know that you've got a great sauce.</p>Why Search and Social are so Closely Tied Together (and why they're not)tag:www.dealerelite.net,2015-04-29:5283893:BlogPost:4535482015-04-29T23:17:37.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545147869?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545147869?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>When you have two people who have combined for over two decades of working with automotive website providers, you would think that they the company they would build together would be another website provider. It wasn't. There's a reason for this.</p>
<p>Search and social are the marketing venues we chose to pursue for one big reason: minimal parody. Car dealers have…</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545147869?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545147869?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>When you have two people who have combined for over two decades of working with automotive website providers, you would think that they the company they would build together would be another website provider. It wasn't. There's a reason for this.</p>
<p>Search and social are the marketing venues we chose to pursue for one big reason: minimal parody. Car dealers have seen products and services come and go where there seems to be very little difference between one player and another. That's not the case in either search marketing or social media marketing. Sure, there are similarities between products, but the results delivered by one company can be completely different from the results delivered by another. That's not the case in other areas such as website marketing where switching from one to another normally yields only a minor difference in results.</p>
<p>There's another reason that we chose these venues. They're tied in very nicely together. The activities that are associated with proper search engine marketing are often complimentary to those in social media and visa versa. In fact, we often find that dealers can kill more than one bird with a single stone. That stone normally comes in the form of content.</p>
<p>When dealers or vendors separate out content into its individual goals, it doesn't always work as intended. For example, you could build a landing page that works properly for PPC, but it isn't easy to optimize and it can't achieve great results on social media. You can build great content that is socially sharable, but it doesn't rank for the right keywords organically and it can't be a target for PPC.</p>
<p>When you take these and other factors into account when building a piece of content, you'll find that the end result is often better than it would have been had you built different pages for each discipline. This is because the flow of benefits crosses over. This is the part where they're tied in and it's the part that I'll (hopefully) explain in detail here.</p>
<p>Social media is a part of the SEO puzzle despite what Google reps have said in the past. The numbers do not lie. When a page performs well on social media, it tends to rank better on search. Conversely, when a page has a high social caliber and it ranks well in search, it gets more visitors and thus more opportunities for people to share it.</p>
<p>Then, you bring PPC into the equation. The core of PPC is in driving action, which means that a proper landing page for paid search should get the visitor to do something. Call. Fill out a form. Visit the dealership. Something.</p>
<p>The second part of PPC is Quality Score. To achieve a higher quality score, a page must contain relevant content for the keywords it's target. This should sound familiar to anyone who studies SEO because search engine optimization calls for the same ideas. In other words, a proper PPC landing page should be easily optimized as well without having to do much to it.</p>
<p>Two birds. One stone.</p>
<p>Now that we understand why search and social are so closely tied together, let's talk about how they're different. I'll go into more details about this in a future post, but the basic concept is this: intent.</p>
<p>Search is passive. No matter how well optimized you are or how much money you're spending on paid search, you still have to wait for the shopper to initiate the search. They are actively in the market and are searching for you.</p>
<p>Social is aggressive. It puts the message in front of shoppers in the venues they visit the most during their day. It's much more like television that search in that they're going to these social media sites without an intention of finding a car. That's why it's so important to have the cars find them. They aren't actively pursuing anything at that moment, but when a relevant message is placed in front of a current car shopper, they're willing to leave the casual task of checking social media in order to pursue the more important task of finding their next vehicle.</p>
<p>To say that search and social go hand-in-hand is not exactly true. They're different aspects of marketing that play in the same field. Understanding how to make them sing together is the key to finding the right marketing harmony.</p>On the Art (and science) of Social Media Posting Frequencytag:www.dealerelite.net,2015-03-16:5283893:BlogPost:4497442015-03-16T22:01:58.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144524?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144524?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>Common advice in the automotive industry: "There are very strict rules that dealers should follow when posting to social media, especially as it pertains to timing."</p>
<p>Pop quiz: Who says things like this?</p>
<ul>
<li>Companies who post on schedules</li>
<li>Gurus who want to demonstrate the need for their expertise</li>
<li>Anyone who wants to automate their…</li>
</ul>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144524?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144524?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>Common advice in the automotive industry: "There are very strict rules that dealers should follow when posting to social media, especially as it pertains to timing."</p>
<p>Pop quiz: Who says things like this?</p>
<ul>
<li>Companies who post on schedules</li>
<li>Gurus who want to demonstrate the need for their expertise</li>
<li>Anyone who wants to automate their social media</li>
<li>Any of the above</li>
</ul>
<p>There are many reasons that people want to apply rules to how and when to post to social media, but here's the thing: throw them all out. You don't need rules. Social media is an art that requires an understanding of the science behind it.</p>
<p>The artistic aspect is easy to understand. You have to be creative. I've talked until I was blue in the face about the need for companies - both OEMs and vendors - to make certain that the creative was unique to each dealer, localized, and relevant to what a person would expect a car dealer to post. Both dealers and their vendors need to make every post count.</p>
<p>What you post and how it's received plays an important role in the overall success of a Facebook page. That sounds like an obvious statement, but there's more to it than what it sounds like on the surface. A post that does exceptionally well and resonates with the audience improves the page's ability to show future posts to more people. It's about momentum. Applying all of the necessary creative juices to each post, crafting it to be awesome every time - this is the key to the "artsy" side of social media.</p>
<p>All of this affects the scientific component. As I said, there is a major influence that comes from post momentum. Great posts make future posts more visible. Poor posts make them less visible. This is the biggest reason that we're completely against scheduling posts far ahead of time.</p>
<p>Sure, it's fine to schedule when necessary. If you're off on the weekends, for example, there's no reason to have to go into your Facebook page on your day off when you could have scheduled it while you were working. However, this is not a license for laziness. You absolutely do not want to schedule for the week or longer as many do.</p>
<p>Manage and monitor. Make decisions based upon the current situation. In a way, it's like in Star Wars Episode 4 when Luke is told to turn off his targeting computer and to use the force. There's nothing mystic about social media, but it's important to feel your posts to determine whether or not to post again.</p>
<p>For example, you might have a post that's doing exceptionally well, "going viral" so to speak, accumulating hundreds of likes, comments, and shares. With a post like that, you don't want to have another one scheduled for later that day and possibly not even the next day. This will "run it over" and kill the momentum that the post was accumulating.</p>
<p>Another similar situation occurs when you have an important post up. Let's say you're promoting a big sale this weekend. You don't want to run that post over with something else the next day. You'll want it to run its course and get in front of as many people as possible.</p>
<p>All of this is possible with ad budgets, of course. With the potential reach associated with Facebook ads giving you an exponential increase in reach, there's no reason to try to play the organic game. On Facebook, organic is dead. With properly managed Facebook ads, you can have the juice running to your important or viral posts for 1, 2, or even 3 days without a problem. This is much better than sticking to a 1-a-day or 2-a-day schedule that most companies and many dealers utilize.</p>
<p>Social is about science. It's about art. It's about ROI. It's not about a strict process or an arbitrary set of rules.</p>Make Mobile Traffic a Top Priority for Your Websitetag:www.dealerelite.net,2015-02-23:5283893:BlogPost:4463042015-02-23T03:46:10.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545145602?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545145602?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>It took a mini-debate with a potential client to bring me to a conclusion: numbers do lie. Conventional wisdom says otherwise, but in the digital age there is a huge gap between seeing the numbers and understanding them in a meaningful way.</p>
<p>I should go ahead and add an addendum to the premise before I begin. Numbers aren't really lying, but they can definitely…</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545145602?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545145602?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>It took a mini-debate with a potential client to bring me to a conclusion: numbers do lie. Conventional wisdom says otherwise, but in the digital age there is a huge gap between seeing the numbers and understanding them in a meaningful way.</p>
<p>I should go ahead and add an addendum to the premise before I begin. Numbers aren't really lying, but they can definitely be misleading if not discerned properly. The numbers I'm discussing specifically are mobile numbers. A brief look at Google analytics reveals that some of the old school key indicators like time on site and average pages per visit would put mobile traffic in a poor light. Then, cross-referencing these numbers to lead numbers would support the premise that mobile website visitors spend less time, visit fewer pages, and are less likely to fill out a lead form.</p>
<p>All of this is true. All of it is also false.</p>
<p>In the recent past, mobile internet speeds combined with slow dealer websites created an environment where most visitors on smartphones did exhibit these traits. Today, more people are using their smartphones to do the bulk of their surfing. Internet speeds are faster. Dealer websites are faster. The only other component now that would keep leads low would be the good ol' "fat finger syndrome" that shows people are less likely to fill out a lead form on a smartphone.</p>
<p>The truth is this: car shoppers definitely do use their smartphones to visit dealer websites in a meaningful way. You can see this anecdotally while watching customers just before they leave the dealership if they didn't buy a car. Sure, they'll make excuses that they have to pick up their kids or think about it or go to lunch or whatever, but many of them are finding the next dealership they're going to visit through their smartphone right before leaving.</p>
<p>Let's look at that person as an example. They went to a dealership and didn't make a deal. They do a search for another dealership and land on your website. They grab your address, plug it into their navigation, and head over. From there, they bought a car. Now, this person, based upon Google Analytics and lead form data, was "bad" traffic. They spent 10 seconds on the site. They didn't visit any other pages but the homepage. They didn't fill out a lead form or call the dealership. Three hours later, they're driving off the lot with a brand new car from your dealership.</p>
<p>Mobile usage on smartphones is different, but that doesn't make it less valuable than desktop traffic. In some cases, it's better traffic. We experienced this second hand last month when a client did nothing different but use dark posts on social media to drive traffic to a landing page on their website. Leads didn't go up much. Time on site went down while bounce rates went up. However, their $2000 investment yielded a 17% increase in sales month-over-month and a 29% increase year-over-year. They couldn't see any real difference in the numbers other than an increase in mobile traffic, particularly through Polk-driven dark posts.</p>
<p>There are different ways to measure the value of different traffic types, but our personal favorite is sales. If sales are going up considerably, and mobile traffic is the only thing that's new, then it is likely the culprit.</p>If You Build It, They Won't Come (unless you support it)tag:www.dealerelite.net,2015-02-10:5283893:BlogPost:4453132015-02-10T16:07:02.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545145136?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545145136?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>In the movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097351/" target="_blank">Field of Dreams</a>, a ghostly voice tells Kevin Costner's Ray Kinsella character, "If you build it, he will come."</p>
<p>The first question you'll want answered is, "What is <strong>it</strong>?" In the movie, the 'it' was a baseball field, but it was actually so much more than that. In…</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545145136?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545145136?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>In the movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097351/" target="_blank">Field of Dreams</a>, a ghostly voice tells Kevin Costner's Ray Kinsella character, "If you build it, he will come."</p>
<p>The first question you'll want answered is, "What is <strong>it</strong>?" In the movie, the 'it' was a baseball field, but it was actually so much more than that. In reality, the 'it' in the movie was the dream of baseball itself from a bygone era when the game was pure and joyful.</p>
<p>The second question you'd want answered is "Who are <strong>they</strong>?" In the movie, the question wasn't about 'they' but rather 'he.' We go through the movie (spoiler alert) thinking that 'he' is Shoeless Joe Jackson, but it isn't until the end when we realize that Jackson was the voice guiding him and 'he' was Ray's father who was broken as a man but happy when he was young and playing baseball.</p>
<p>This isn't a post about symbolic movie analysis. Let's talk about your dealership's digital marketing. There has been a semi-true notion that 'content is king' for some time. In the world of SEO and social media, it's a fact that content is the cornerstone of success, but things have been changing. Today, building content alone is not enough to help it stand out.</p>
<p>Many dealers (dare I say most) are building content of some sort. They're either doing it themselves or paying a vendor to do it for them. This is great and has been a much-needed element in automotive digital marketing, but it's not the end of it. With so many building content, the true key to success is supporting the content with external elements.</p>
<p>From a search engine optimization perspective, the outside elements are links and social signals. They are the support mechanisms that give content validation in the eyes of the search engines. If you're building content on a topic and your competitors are building content on the same topic, Google and Bing must choose which to serve for their searches. Links, despite the negative press they've received here and on other forums since the rise of the Penguin algorithm update, are still the most powerful way to help your content stand out from your competitors'. The important thing to know is that high-quality contextual links from strong sources are the only types of links you want. Low-quality, spammy, or purchased links can be the kiss of death.</p>
<p>In social, the outside force propelling great content is money. Some think it's unfortunate that sites like Facebook and Twitter have pretty much become 'pay to play' if you want exposure due to the decrease in organic reach. Twitter is doing something about it with 'while you were away', but even in a best case scenario the 140-character social network has minimal organic reach.</p>
<p>Ads work wonders <strong>when done properly</strong>. Most companies and dealers are throwing money away in social media because they're not handling their ads appropriately. However, when you mix strong content with proper social advertising management, the result are miraculous.</p>
<p>Building content on your dealership's website is extremely important, but don't let your marketing efforts end there. Do the things that are necessary to support the content and it can work wonders on traffic, leads, and sales.</p>Did Google Just Bump Mobile-Friendliness Up in its Ranking Algorithm?tag:www.dealerelite.net,2015-02-05:5283893:BlogPost:4445742015-02-05T03:30:00.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144405?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144405?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>Word on the street in the SEO world is that Google just had a big algorithm update that is finally starting to match what they've been saying for a while: mobile-friendliness is important for search rankings.</p>
<p>The move was first noted by <a href="http://www.bronco.co.uk/google-updates-calendar.html" target="_blank">Bronco's</a> update watch on January 26th.…</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144405?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144405?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>Word on the street in the SEO world is that Google just had a big algorithm update that is finally starting to match what they've been saying for a while: mobile-friendliness is important for search rankings.</p>
<p>The move was first noted by <a href="http://www.bronco.co.uk/google-updates-calendar.html" target="_blank">Bronco's</a> update watch on January 26th. Speculation was that it had to do with changes to Panda, but on a Google Webmaster Help hangout, John Mueller ruled out a Penguin or Panda update.</p>
<p>Perhaps the biggest evidence was the Webmaster Tools message reported by many saying that their website was not considered "mobile friendly". When the algorithm update hit, many disappeared from the rankings.</p>
<p>It seems to be progressive as well; webmasters are reporting fluctuations in their rankings even today.</p>
<p>On Android search, there's a tag showing next to some of the listings called "Mobile-friendly" that you can see below on a search for "Automotive SEO".</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144507?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144507?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>As <a href="http://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-search-ranking-shakeups-may-linked-mobile-algorithm-update/124954/" target="_blank">Search Engine Journal</a> says:</p>
<blockquote><p>"If you see a notable decline in mobile traffic starting around January 24th, then that’s a good sign you have been affected. If that’s the case, then the best course of action would be to upgrade your site to a mobile-friendly design."</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We've been promoting for a while that dealers need to make certain their websites are completely mobile-ready. We saw nice moves on our own sites as well as client sites that were on a responsive website design platform, which for dealers means using companies like FlexDealer, WorldDealer, or Dealer Inspire amongst others.</p>
<p>Check your rankings on an incognito browser on both mobile and desktop. There are reports that it only affected mobile, but we've seen otherwise with many of our clients. The ones on mobile-friendly platforms moved up!</p>
<p>We all know the world is going mobile. Google knew that before any of us. Now, it seems they're finally starting to do something about it.</p>Why 'Irrelevant' Content on a Dealer's Website is Relevanttag:www.dealerelite.net,2015-01-23:5283893:BlogPost:4428132015-01-23T23:58:22.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545147669?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545147669?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>Once you get over the beauty of the 1970 Dodge Charger in the picture, you might ask yourself, "What does a 45-year-old muscle car have to do with automotive content?"</p>
<p>We've been asked the same type of question multiple times pertaining to content we publish on dealer websites. Sometimes, it's dealers asking. Other times, it's other vendors wondering what we're…</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545147669?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545147669?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>Once you get over the beauty of the 1970 Dodge Charger in the picture, you might ask yourself, "What does a 45-year-old muscle car have to do with automotive content?"</p>
<p>We've been asked the same type of question multiple times pertaining to content we publish on dealer websites. Sometimes, it's dealers asking. Other times, it's other vendors wondering what we're doing or "tattling" to the dealer about it. The funny part is that when compared to the automotive marketing "gurus" who question it, the dealers tend to understand the philosophy much more quickly than the vendors.</p>
<p>I'm not here to insult anyone. I totally understand why it's hard for many vendors to get, especially the larger ones who have mechanized content, search, and social strategies. The reality is that based upon the most modern algorithms for Google, Bing, and Facebook (amongst others), robust and potentially popular content influences the visibility of standard lead-generating pages, inventory, and landing pages.</p>
<p>This will seem to be relatively in-depth based upon the size of the article, but it's not. To get in-depth would be to write an eBook on the subject. Here, we're just going to touch on the basics, specifically why dealers should act on the strategy to differentiate themselves from the competition.</p>
<h2>A Dealer's Responsibility</h2>
<p>Before I get into the what, why, and how, it's important to establish something up front. Just because your website, content, search, or social company isn't using this strategy doesn't mean they're bad. We've looked at dozens of providers and have found very few that do it, mostly because it's pretty labor-intensive and not scalable at all. A nimble company like ours can do it, even specialize in it, but I couldn't imagine anyone with more than a couple hundred clients being able to pull it off without getting redundant.</p>
<p>In other words, don't use this as a criteria of quality when viewing your vendors. I don't want to get calls from CEOs telling me that I poisoned their dealers with unachievable expectations. It's not the easiest strategy in the world to do properly, which is why we strongly recommend hiring a niche player or doing it yourself. If you don't have the budget to afford a company like us or the time to learn and do it yourself, there's no reason to go deeper into this article.</p>
<h2>What It Is</h2>
<p>For the sake of giving "it" a name, we'll go with the popular term outside of the automotive industry, "Viral Content Marketing." It's a misnomer in all actuality since they rarely go viral; internally we simply call them "blog posts." Unfortunately, most dealership blogs are filled with content that has spammy SEO titles like "Drivers at Virginia GMC Dealership Gear Up for Winter". These SEO heavy posts are really "splog" posts instead of blog post, so for the sake of differentiation we'll just call them what marketers outside of the industry call them - viral content posts.</p>
<p>Here's the thing. There's a big difference between relevancy and all-in targeting. A post on a Dodge dealer's website about a 1970 Dodge Charger is relevant because it's about Dodge and helps to establish the dealership as an authority on that subject. It's not targeted at all, of course, unless you actually have a '70 Charger on your lot for sale (in which case, call me, I want it!). The problem is that dealers and vendors have been so hammered with the concept of all-in targeting that they focus 100% of their content on it, leaving no room for the type of supporting viral blog posts that can dramatically improve the overall marketing of the target posts.</p>
<h2>Why It Works</h2>
<p>Here's the thing. There's a big difference between relevancy and all-in targeting. A post on a Dodge dealer's website about a 1970 Dodge Charger is relevant because it's about Dodge and helps to establish the dealership as an authority on that subject. It's not targeted at all, of course, unless you actually have a '70 Charger on your lot for sale (in which case, call me, I want it!). The problem is that dealers and vendors have been so hammered with the concept of all-in targeting that they focus 100% of their content on it, leaving no room for the type of supporting viral blog posts that can dramatically improve the overall marketing of the target posts.</p>
<p>Think of it like this. In a roast beef sandwich, most people think that the best part of it is the roast beef. Using the all-in targeting mentality, it would make sense to sell a roast beef sandwich that had nothing else to it - no bread, no condiments, no tomatoes, no pickles. Just beef. If you ordered a roast beef sandwich and the server handed you a plate with roast beef and nothing else, you'd probably be disappointed.</p>
<p>Now, apply that to content on your website. Google, Bing, and Facebook are your customers. You know that you want to get people to the pages that generate leads (the roast beef pages) so that's all you produce for them to eat. Unfortunately, they also want the things that enhance the experience of eating the roast beef, namely viral content. When you give them all of the information they want and enhance it with other ingredients, it makes the roast beef pages taste better to them. Thus, they'll be happier and more willing to serve your pages to their customers (those on search and social looking for cars).</p>
<p>Viral content can earn more powerful inbound links. It can generate much more in the way of social shares. These things improve your domain authority which elevates the ability of your lead-generating pages like inventory and landing pages to rank organically in search and get more exposure on social.</p>
<h2>How To Do It</h2>
<p>Not to be too simplistic, but if I try to expand it much we'll end up with a 5000-word article. Therefore, here's a small step-by-step mini-guide.</p>
<ul>
<li>Build content that people <strong>want</strong> to see. If it's the type of content that you would enjoy reading in Car and Driver, then you're on the right track.</li>
<li>Relevance supersedes popularity. It's not hard to write content that people would love to see - a top 10 list of funny cat pictures would be popular, but it's not relevant. Think about top 10 features of the Honda Odyssey instead. Less popular, much more relevant.</li>
<li>Make sure there's at least one vivid image over 600 pixels wide with a 2:1 size ratio on the page. This will give it much more attention when shared on social media.</li>
<li>Once you have the content, get it out there. Send it to the appropriate publications who might find interest in it. This is particularly useful when the content is about a local event or organization.</li>
<li>Share it on your social media pages and profiles. Put effort into the content - no automation. Hand-craft the description on Facebook and Google+. Give it an interesting lead-in or title on Twitter and Pinterest and make sure to use a hashtag or two.</li>
<li>Get <strong>some</strong> of your friends or coworkers to do the same. You don't want to "manufacturer" popularity by having the same people doing the same thing every time. Mix it up!</li>
</ul>
<p>This is a very basic roadmap, I know, but it's enough to get you started. Feel free to reach out if you have in-depth questions.</p>It’s All Going Mobile. We Get It. Now What?tag:www.dealerelite.net,2015-01-02:5283893:BlogPost:4406532015-01-02T18:52:32.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144858?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144858?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Compared to a couple of years ago, the number of dealers who have some sort of mobile strategy is exponentially higher. As an industry, we're starting to really understand just how important mobile is, but there needs to be more action and less discussion, in my humble opinion.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Here's an article I wrote on…</strong></p>
<p><strong><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144858?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144858?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Compared to a couple of years ago, the number of dealers who have some sort of mobile strategy is exponentially higher. As an industry, we're starting to really understand just how important mobile is, but there needs to be more action and less discussion, in my humble opinion.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Here's an article I wrote on <a href="http://soshable.com/its-all-going-mobile-we-get-it-now-what/" target="_blank">one of my blogs</a>. It was originally meant for a general business audience but I adjusted it slightly so we can apply to the car business as well.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Enjoy:</strong></p>
<p>When I finally stopped counting, I found 43 articles posted this week on various publications proclaiming that everything was going mobile and that marketers and businesses need to make the appropriate adjustments. All of the articles had two things in common: they gave reasons why we needed to market to mobile users and they didn't give very good ways other than the basic or generic methods for doing so.</p>
<p>Well, I'm here to give you some good ways to do it. That's all. No need to convince you that you need to do it. If you're reading this article, you already know. If you're not reading this article, you probably already know. Now, let's get away from why and start really digging into how.</p>
<h2>Build Everything for Mobile</h2>
<p>Everything. I didn't say most things. I didn't say "everything digital" or "all of your advertising". I said "everything" and I mean it.</p>
<p>Signs. Billboards. Television commercials. Radio spots. Newspaper ads. PPC campaigns. Social media posts. Your website. You employees' apparel.</p>
<p>Pretend like people will be carrying around smartphones and tablets with them everywhere they go. Pretend like their primary method for interacting with businesses is not the phone, not their email, not their laptops, and not coming to see you in person. Pretend like they're on the verge of using their mobile device even when they're in your store. Now, stop pretending because all of that is already a reality.</p>
<p>Watch your customers at the store. How many of them check their phones during the visit? Check your analytics. Look at the devices through which they're viewing your website.</p>
<p>Now, give them the opportunity to have a mobile experience with everything you have. Once you have the opportunities in line, give them the reason to act. For example:</p>
<ul>
<li>Forget about paper coupons for parts or service. Put virtual coupons at your store if they download your app or go to the "In-Store Customer Discount Page" on your website.</li>
<li>Post unique videos and articles about specific vehicles. I'm not talking about stitched videos. I'm referring to sending a salesperson or someone else out to that new model that just came off the truck and giving it a good, short walkaround. Lots of dealers and vendors are talking about video, but few are investing into the medium properly. It doesn't cost much if anything. It takes time and commitment.</li>
<li>Let customers post to your site, community, or social profiles. In fact, encourage them. Give them incentive to do so. Tell them if they post a selfie with your sign in the background, they'll get 10% off. Images posted to Facebook or Twitter are much better than checkins on Yelp.</li>
</ul>
<p>I could spit out ideas for hours, but we're writing an article, not a book. Think of ideas for yourself. What can you do with everything you have to make it part of the mobile experience.</p>
<h2>A Mobile-Only Website Would Work</h2>
<p>All too often, we build a website for the company and make it really pretty on a desktop, but we neglect to put the same effort in for mobile. Whether you're using responsive, adaptive, mobile-ready, or full-site only platforms, make sure that your website is designed specifically for mobile.</p>
<p>My personal recommendation is to go with responsive, but this article is not the place for that debate.</p>
<p>If your primary website mimicked a mobile experience, you're better off than if your mobile website mimics a desktop experience. At some point in the near future, we will begin to see more websites that appear like mobile websites even when viewed on desktops. This is a good thing. Those who start doing it early will be ahead of the curve.</p>
<h2>Social is Mobile</h2>
<p>For a while there, it was looking as if Facebook would be able to become the only web presence. They faltered, then interest dropped off, but they got close. Now, we're still stuck with our standard online presence and a separate social presence.</p>
<p>But wait! It doesn't have to be so partitioned. Social media sites, Facebook in particular, have very powerful mobile connections. By drawing as many people in as possible to engage with you through their mobile devices on social media, you can start to bridge the gap and work towards a unified web presence. This is much trickier than what I can explain in a short article, but the strategy is one that we're implementing for clients now.</p>
<p>If you think social, think mobile. If you think mobile, make it work with social. Both can be made local, thus we hear about the SoLoMo concept that has been so popular at marketing conferences for a few years now.</p>
<h2>Erase All Desktop and Analog Thinking from Your Mindset</h2>
<p>This is the most important thing to do. We've hammered it so far in this article with everything we've said. Now we're going to push it all the way through to the other side.</p>
<p>You don't have a mobile website and a desktop website. You have a website. You don't have social media fans on mobile and social media fans on desktop. They're all on mobile (or will be eventually). You don't have customers walking through your doors who aren't seconds away from having their phone in their hand. Embrace it.</p>
<p>Buzzwords like "showrooming" and "competitive shopping" are real but pretty much meaningless until you have a purely mobile strategy for everything you do. Keep that in mind next time you're looking at your advertising and marketing budgets. If an expenditure doesn't assist in taking advantage of a mobile society, consider letting it go.</p>7 Lessons From My First Year Building an Automotive Startuptag:www.dealerelite.net,2014-11-26:5283893:BlogPost:4381392014-11-26T17:21:37.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144970?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144970?profile=original" width="698"></img></a></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144970?profile=original"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144970?profile=original" width="698"/></a></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Most articles like these start off with phrases like, "looking back, it's hard to believe..." or "there have been ups and downs, but we never lost sight of..." - I'm not going to start this article that way. Instead, I'll say this: "It's been pretty easy, so easy in fact that I'm actually a little worried that I did something wrong without knowing it."</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">One year ago last week, I officially launched our website and started looking for people who wanted to go on an adventure. The official documentation, bank accounts, tax forms, and other such things wouldn't happen for a month, but on this date in 2013, we had a website and were ready to take on clients.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">There's something incredibly cool about hitting the one-year mark. We can now say that we've been around for "a little over a year", which I'm hoping will reduce skeptical coughs when prospects talk to us. We have a full year's worth of data to plug into reports. We can get a bigger line of credit. Otherwise, very little has actually changed. Unlike the birthdays of young people that are filled with excitement, ours is more of a sigh of relief. We made it through the period of time when doomed startups are most likely to find failure.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">I would be remiss if I didn't offer observations to those who care and advice for those who are considering going down the same path. After thinking about it all day, I came up with seven lessons I've learned that some might find entertaining, others might find infuriating, and hopefully a few will find helpful.</p>
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 30px; font-weight: normal; color: #333333; font-size: 20px; line-height: 26px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">1. Set a Direction with a REAL Goal in Mind</h3>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">If you're going to do as I did, leaving a lucrative and cozy job to follow a dream, make sure you do so with<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><strong style="font-weight: bold;">real</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>goals. "Making more money" or "spending more time with the family" are not real goals, at least not the kind that I'm describing. They are side effects of success that stem from building and running your startup properly. "Build and sell the company for $X billion" is not a real goal, either, because it's a result of your efforts rather than being something that you can realistically achieve.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">A real goal should be something that guides the direction of your company, your employees, and yourself. It's okay if it's intangible or subjective as well. Those can actually be the best types. The real goal is something deeper than the obvious financial or lifestyle goals that we have so that achieving it makes all of the other goals come true.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">My goal was to build a company that delivered unquestionable results. This translated to building a search product that was so powerful that a stranger could look at analytics and point to the moment that we started. It translated into a social product that makes multiple dealers exclaim, "I never knew you could actually sell cars on social media until now."</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Will I make more money than I did before? Yes, 2015 appears to be heading in that direction. Am I spending more time with my family? Absolutely. In fact, my first family vacation in years is next week. These weren't my goals, but they're happening because we're achieving the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><strong style="font-weight: bold;">real</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>goal for the company.</p>
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 30px; font-weight: normal; color: #333333; font-size: 20px; line-height: 26px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">2. Be Fearless without Being Stupid</h3>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">When we were first getting started, we approached an OEM about their social media. They liked what we had to say and asked us for some examples of their dealers that were on the program. The good news: we had just signed one of their dealers up a couple of weeks earlier. The bad news: it was our first dealer for their brand.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">We were fearless. We were also stupid. We had a great product and a great idea of how to apply it at the OEM level but we couldn't get beyond the second meeting because we jumped in before we had anything to back us up.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">People often misunderstand the practical meaning of the word, "fearless." It's defined as being without fear, but we are human. We have fears. Those who tell you otherwise are either misguided or trying to sell you something. The practical use of being fearless is to do the right things despite our fears. Fearlessness in business and in life is about not allowing our fears to prevent us from doing what our hearts and minds know is best.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">It's not about bungee jumping. That's what we did when we met with an OEM prematurely. It's about believing that the opportunities put in our path are there for a reason and the terrifying obstacles placed in front of us are there for us to conquer and become stronger as a result.</p>
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 30px; font-weight: normal; color: #333333; font-size: 20px; line-height: 26px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">3. Pivot Early</h3>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">So many startups over the last decade have pivoted. The majority of them did not last very long after the pivot. Unfortunately, unless you have something that is rock-solid with very little chance of needing major adjustments, you need to be ready to pivot.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">The earlier you can pivot, the better. Even the best business plans and the most experience in similar situations can prove to be incorrect in the real world.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">There's a reason that most pivots fail. They're almost always done too late. MySpace performed a textbook pivot right before they were sold. It was the right direction for the company. It was also about a year and a half too late.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Think about your company's pivot. Expect that it will be necessary. Build your assets with a potential pivot in mind. If it never becomes necessary, then count yourself as one of the enlightened (or lucky) ones. When it does become necessary, don't hesitate.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">We've gone through a handful of very minor pivots, but the first major one is coming soon. Thankfully, ours is not one that will waste anything that we've built so far, so it's like having the best of both worlds - a great plan to start and a better plan to grow.</p>
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 30px; font-weight: normal; color: #333333; font-size: 20px; line-height: 26px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">4. People Build a Business</h3>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">The most important part of any business is the people behind it. This is commonly known to the point that it has become cliche. It's also the one that seems to evade so many startups.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">One of the guiding principles we've used is to hire talent and find the right fit for them rather than to hire to fill a specific need. This is a point that most business people would happily debate me on and in the court of public opinion they would probably win the debate, but I stand by it.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">We had our eyes on a person who showed all of the aptitude and seemed to possess the exact vision we wanted. One day, we noticed that she was suddenly available thanks to an honest and serendipitous Facebook update. We couldn't afford her and we didn't have a place for her, but the potential and talent forced us to pursue her. Thankfully, we obeyed lesson #2 (be fearless) and grabbed her while she was available. We scrambled to grab a handful of clients to pay for her and we haven't looked back ever since.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">The saying goes that you should put your customers first. I disagree. If you put the members of your team first, the customers will be served properly as a result. Find the right people. Go out on a limb to get them. If they're right for your company, the role isn't really as important. They have to fit the company before they can fit a role.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">If you hire the wrong people, even the best plans can go awry. If you hire the right people, there's very little you can do to make a mess that they can't help you correct very quickly.</p>
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 30px; font-weight: normal; color: #333333; font-size: 20px; line-height: 26px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">5. Establish Personal, Unbreakable Covenants</h3>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">In the movie<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092099/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Top Gun</a></em>, Maverick learns early in the movie that he should never leave his wingman. In the final fight scene, he takes it to the extreme and puts himself in danger to make absolutely certain he doesn't break that covenant. It works, of course, and he gets to share an awkward hug with Val Kilmer as a result.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">If you're going to leave the security of a paycheck and take a chance to build a startup, you should do the things yourself and with your company that you always wished you could do before. Just think back. There were times when you've said to yourself, "If I ever have my own company with my own rules, then I would definitely..."</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">For us, we set several covenants. We won't make our employees work on weekends, for example. I still regret the time when a client really wanted one of our team members to be at a Saturday event and I let him go. He was fully willing to help and performed his duties exceptionally, but I still regret it. That was a mistake and I don't plan on letting it happen again.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">They don't have to be so tangible, either. One covenant we set was that we would never let reporting or customer relations get in the way of results. My partner and I had worked for companies that were great at talking to customers but had a challenge delivering the goods. Every customer service call was laden with excuses. We've unfortunately taken it to the extreme on some occasions, delivering incredible results but forgetting to toot our own horns to our clients. Thankfully, the results usually speak for themselves once we show them.</p>
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 30px; font-weight: normal; color: #333333; font-size: 20px; line-height: 26px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">6. Make Friends AND Enemies</h3>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">If nobody hates you, then you're not trying hard enough. Part of being a startup in the uber-competitive world of automotive digital marketing means that if we're doing our job, there will be those who view us as a threat.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Of course, there will also be those who can view you as a potential ally. Sometimes, those allies can come at the strangest times and from the strangest places.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">We have had our share of both along the way. Even the enemies that we've made have mostly come as a result of doing things that they could not. There are those who can do things that we cannot do, and we've done what we can to become allies with many of them.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">In the game of friends and enemies, it's a matter of having sharp eyes. You have to be able to see when there are potential allies to approach while looking towards the horizon (or even behind you) for the enemies that are waiting for you to slip up.</p>
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 30px; font-weight: normal; color: #333333; font-size: 20px; line-height: 26px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">7. Enjoy the Ride</h3>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">There's a certain level of stress that comes with running a startup. Stress is fine. It's part of life. The tribulations we go through make us stronger and test our mettle. There's another level, though, that is not beneficial. When stress becomes anxiety, it can have the opposite effect. It can be debilitating.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">There will be regrets, setbacks, doubts, and trials, but if you're not enjoying the moments as they happen and having fun with the lifestyle that you're building, it may be time to swallow pride and check the job boards.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">You must love what you do. There's no way around that. You should never build a startup that you do not thoroughly, passionately love.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 30px; color: #4d4f51; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">I have been thoroughly blessed this whole year. I've found (or been found by) the right people. The good decisions we've made have proven to be fruitful and the bad decisions we've made have not been catastrophic. Year two begins now. It's time to double down and make it better than the first.</p>Social Media Should Drive Shoppers to Dealer's Website. Period.tag:www.dealerelite.net,2014-11-16:5283893:BlogPost:4374542014-11-16T23:30:00.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
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<p>There are several benefits to having a strong social media presence. It's great for branding. It gives you a two-way communication avenue with customers. The public relations component can be very powerful.</p>
<p>All of these are secondary. Don't get me wrong; I'm definitely not suggesting that there's no value in these important components. However, the real juice with social media comes in the form of hyper-targeting and driving those shoppers to your website in order to sell them a vehicle.</p>
<p>That's the point, right? We might love to get involved in the community or be a resource that localizes the latest OEM news, but at the end of the day we're here to sell more cars. That's why it's so very important for dealers to take advantage of the targeting and traffic-driving capabilities of sites like Facebook and Twitter.</p>
<p>Again, before anyone misquotes me, I'm not suggesting that you should abandon your page and let dark posts rule your social media budget. However, if you're spending $1000 a month on keeping your social media presence strong, you should be spending at least $2000 to drive shoppers to your website. At under $2 a click, it's a no-brainer. You're probably spending $4 per click or more through search. Why wouldn't you send the same buyers for less on social?</p>
<p>The shopper-driving abilities of social media are so powerful, we confidently <a href="http://www.socialsellscars.com/car-buyers-guaranteed/" target="_blank">offer a guarantee</a>. Don't be one who starts late. Eventually, most dealers will be doing it. Why not get a head start?</p>Your Message Must Match the Marketing Venuetag:www.dealerelite.net,2014-10-15:5283893:BlogPost:4351422014-10-15T06:41:52.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545145942?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545145942?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>Let's call it what it is. This is a post about active digital marketing versus passive digital marketing. It's one that covers two of the types of marketing disciplines that are near and dear to my heart, but more importantly it lays the groundwork for an understanding of the various marketing styles and how we should classify them.</p>
<p>First and foremost, let's…</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545145942?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545145942?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>Let's call it what it is. This is a post about active digital marketing versus passive digital marketing. It's one that covers two of the types of marketing disciplines that are near and dear to my heart, but more importantly it lays the groundwork for an understanding of the various marketing styles and how we should classify them.</p>
<p>First and foremost, let's get an understanding of what the difference is between active and passive digital marketing. In our industry, the word "passive" is often shunned, but in this particular case it's not bad at all. Passive marketing lets the customer make the first move. Search marketing is an example of passive marketing because you must wait for them to engage with the search engines to find a car before the marketing kicks in. Active marketing goes out to them - you make the first move. Email marketing is an example of active marketing because you're initiating the action. On our website, we compared it to <a href="http://dealerauthority.com/automotive-search-social-like-stand-hunting-vs-still-hunting/" target="_blank">stand hunting vs still hunting</a>.</p>
<p>With that understood, let's look at more examples of each:</p>
<h3>Passive Marketing Disciplines</h3>
<ul>
<li>Search Marketing</li>
<li>Classified Listings (Autotrader, Craigslist, etc)</li>
<li>Buying 3rd-Party Leads</li>
<li>Video Marketing (not preroll or paid)</li>
</ul>
<h3>Active Marketing Disciplines</h3>
<ul>
<li>Email Marketing</li>
<li>Social Media Marketing</li>
<li>Banner Advertisements</li>
<li>Video Preroll</li>
</ul>
<h3>The Active Message</h3>
<p>By now you're hopefully asking, "Great. What's the point?"</p>
<p>Passive marketing is a discipline that requires positioning and strong messaging, both guided by relatively consistent ROI. Active marketing tends to have a wider range of success and failure, and I wanted to point out why.</p>
<p>All too often I see dealers applying passive marketing messages to active marketing venues. This is why there is often such a gap between the success levels of two different campaigns. With active marketing, you can be bold and timely more than you can with passive marketing.</p>
<p>We've seen dealers spending decent budgets on social media without a verifiable sale and we've seen the same dealers with the same budgets gaining tremendously in market share by selling cars directly through social media messaging through targeted ads. The difference was in the way that the message was pushed out and what the message said.</p>
<p>Be bold. <strong>Tell</strong> them why right now, regardless of their current vehicle situation, is exactly the right time to come to the dealership and do business. This is the type of messaging that needs to play on active marketing venues.</p>
<p>On search, it makes sense to advertise "The Largest Selection of Altimas in the State", but in email or on social media, the message is wasted. Who cares? They're probably not intending to buy an Altima at that very moment and you haven't given them a reason to move up their buying cycle. It works for search and other passive marketing campaigns. It fails on active channels.</p>
<p>Instead, the message should be something like "The Biggest Discounts of the Year on Altimas are Happening RIGHT NOW for a Limited Time at Rucker Nissan!"</p>
<p>That's a message that plays.</p>
<p>Digital advertising can be broken down into message and exposure. Make sure the right messages are hitting the venues for the most appropriate exposure.</p>Links May Die Someday for SEO, but Not Quite Yettag:www.dealerelite.net,2014-09-30:5283893:BlogPost:4335752014-09-30T06:38:41.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
<center><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1474480?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1474480?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
</center>
<p>Inbound links still matter. Despite what you may here from SEO gurus around our industry, the power of high-quality, relevant, and natural inbound links to a dealer's website is still apparent. Google's Matt Cutts acknowledged that in the long run, this may not be the case.</p>
<p>That day, however, is not today.</p>
<p>Google is reportedly in the…</p>
<center><p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1474480?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1474480?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
</center>
<p>Inbound links still matter. Despite what you may here from SEO gurus around our industry, the power of high-quality, relevant, and natural inbound links to a dealer's website is still apparent. Google's Matt Cutts acknowledged that in the long run, this may not be the case.</p>
<p>That day, however, is not today.</p>
<p>Google is reportedly in the middle of a 10-year plan to discount links from the search algorithm. The best guess is that they're at about year 5 of this plan, which means that we still have another half-decade to make the adjustment. Many of us already are, but that does not mean that links should not be a part of the overall strategy.</p>
<p>Earn them. Use them appropriately. Avoid anything spammy or unnatural. Focus on incredible content that can get people to link to you rather than schemes or techniques for building them. That's what we do. That's what you should be doing as well.</p>
<p>Here's the video from Cutts answering the question recently about inbound links.</p>
<p></p>
<center><iframe width="750" height="422" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iC5FDzUh0P4?list=UUWf2ZlNsCGDS89VBF_awNvA&wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</center>
<p></p>You Know Your Marketing, but do You Really KNOW Your Market?tag:www.dealerelite.net,2014-09-28:5283893:BlogPost:4335332014-09-28T22:27:52.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545143885?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545143885?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>I'm a big fan of putting the power of targeting in the hands of the dealer. We're not one of those who believe that we know best about our clients' market, demographics, and customers and we try to put our expertise in social and search to play with their understanding of the area and their business to guide us to success.</p>
<p>The improved sourcing, data…</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545143885?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545143885?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>I'm a big fan of putting the power of targeting in the hands of the dealer. We're not one of those who believe that we know best about our clients' market, demographics, and customers and we try to put our expertise in social and search to play with their understanding of the area and their business to guide us to success.</p>
<p>The improved sourcing, data collection, and extraction of information about the markets gives us and dealers the ability to dive much deeper than ever before into understanding where and how to market.</p>
<p>We know the tactics. You know your area. Now, let's allow the data to enter the mix and we should have a winning combination.</p>
<p>We're starting to get pretty enamored with companies like <a href="http://stringautomotive.com/" target="_blank">String Automotive</a>. After sitting on a few customer calls during their market analysis meetings, we've learned so much about how to spend the money and where to focus it. It has opened my eyes to this "third wheel" in a way that I never imagined. Perhaps there is more to data than just what we know mixed with what our clients' know.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, we are not a reseller for String Automotive and I don't want this to turn into a love fest, but I do want to highlight the importance of going much further into the numbers than I've ever imagined. That's the beauty of analytics mixed with DMS data mixed with everything else at our disposal (Polk, Experian, DMV - the data sources go on and on).</p>
<p>Regardless of whether you use us, String, or any vendor out there, I strongly encourage you to start going further with the numbers. For example, by cross-referencing your advertising spend by zip code with your own buyer data and comparing that to DMV data, you can see where the opportunities lie. Let's say you sold 5 Altimas last month in a zip code. This might sound great for some dealers, but what if there were 13 total sold last month based upon DMV data and you're the closest dealership to the zip code. Wouldn't that be disappointing? Shouldn't you either adjust your marketing message, your advertising styles, or your budget to try to make up the difference and start dominating in that area?</p>
<p>The data is cleaner than it's ever been, but the methods of analyzing the data have remained stagnant. It's companies like String that have opened our eyes to the possibility that we can make smarter decisions by letting the numbers guide us.</p>You Can't Optimize Two Dealers in the Same City with the Same Maketag:www.dealerelite.net,2014-09-27:5283893:BlogPost:4332802014-09-27T01:47:06.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545135586?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545135586?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>I can already hear the vendors scrambling to put together their rebuttals. I'm not going to dwell on the issue, but it's an important one to note.</p>
<p>For most dealers, it's okay to be in the mix. As long as you're on the first page on Google for the major keywords, you're doing just fine. Aggressive dealers, those who truly want to dominate, cannot do so if…</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545135586?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545135586?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>I can already hear the vendors scrambling to put together their rebuttals. I'm not going to dwell on the issue, but it's an important one to note.</p>
<p>For most dealers, it's okay to be in the mix. As long as you're on the first page on Google for the major keywords, you're doing just fine. Aggressive dealers, those who truly want to dominate, cannot do so if they're getting the same SEO that's given to hundreds or thousands of other dealers. Even if you believe the argument that SEO is scalable (which it isn't when done properly) then you definitely can't believe that two dealers of the same brand in the same metro can both get excellent SEO from the same company.</p>
<p>There's only one listing that can be ranked #1 for any given search. The math isn't hard. If a company is willing to do optimization for more than one dealer of the same brand in the same metro, there's a disconnect between what they think they can do and what can actually be done.</p>
<p>Again, I'm not going to dwell on it. You're a sharp audience. You can do the math and you can resolve to find better. In an automotive industry where everyone from the OEMs to the third party sites are pushing for parody (better known as "the race to the bottom"), it's easy to fall for the pitches. However, the gap between mediocrity and dominance is separated by strong strategy, proper execution, and exclusive dedication to helping one dealer per brand per metro. Otherwise, you're simply shooting to be in the conversation, not leading it.</p>Three Paid Methods to Drive Traffic to Your Inventorytag:www.dealerelite.net,2014-09-19:5283893:BlogPost:4327362014-09-19T09:00:00.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1489473?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1489473?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>We've been very careful with how we approach inventory marketing on dealer websites. On one hand, we know that a dealer's inventory is the primary lead and sales driver for dealers. On the other hand, the concept of driving everyone directly to inventory is a flawed one. Sometimes, it's better to put people on an appropriate landing page rather than push them directly to…</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1489473?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1489473?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>We've been very careful with how we approach inventory marketing on dealer websites. On one hand, we know that a dealer's inventory is the primary lead and sales driver for dealers. On the other hand, the concept of driving everyone directly to inventory is a flawed one. Sometimes, it's better to put people on an appropriate landing page rather than push them directly to the cars.</p>
<p>With that said, we've found that there are three very ways to drive shoppers directly into inventory. They are...</p>
<h2>PPC</h2>
<p>This is the obvious one. The no-brainer. Pretty much every PPC vendor in the industry has ways to pull inventory from the website and create targeted ads to pull people directly into vehicle details pages.</p>
<p>I'm not going to dwell on it, but I will say this: there are certain ads that should not go directly to VDPs. Lower funnel buyers should definitely be seeing inventory, but many ads that vendors run for dealers should be going to appropriate landing pages instead, especially for higher funnel shoppers.</p>
<p>Average cost per shopper ranges from $3-$7 each. Well worth it.</p>
<h2>LotLinx</h2>
<p>There is <a href="http://www.pcgdigitalmarketing.com/lotlinx/" target="_blank">so much buzz</a> in the <a href="http://micahbirkholz.com/2014/01/26/lotlinx-gamechanger/" target="_blank">industry</a> right now for <a href="http://dealerauthority.com/lotlinx-drive-shoppers/" target="_blank">LotLinx</a>, and rightfully so. The concept is this: drive shoppers from third party sites like AOL Autos directly into the corresponding vehicle details page on the dealer's website. This is different from the current model that keeps people shopping on these third party sites.</p>
<p>Taking people from these sites and planting them on your own website is one of the most innovative concepts to come about in years.</p>
<p>LotLinx charges $3.99 per unique shopper.</p>
<h2>Social Media</h2>
<p>This is the one that has the fewest dealers doing it, which is strange because it's the least expensive. With social media "dark post" advertising, dealers can drive shoppers to their inventory search results pages, landing pages, or specials pages without paying a ton for it.</p>
<p>Proper ads can do it for under $2 per unique shopper. We've seen it as low as $0.45.</p>
<h2>A Warning</h2>
<p>All of this sounds great, but there's always a catch. Be mindful. Watch your analytics to make sure you're getting the traffic you're expecting. Most importantly, all of these techniques should have the end result of increasing sales. Don't get lost in the minutia of looking at too many numbers. If you're spending thousands of dollars on any form of digital advertising, you should see a distinct increase in sales as a result.</p>Less is More in Calls-to-Action on Dealer Websitestag:www.dealerelite.net,2014-09-08:5283893:BlogPost:4312792014-09-08T20:22:24.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545143520?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545143520?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>The past two years has seen a decrease in the number of website leads for many dealers. We're getting more visitors and fewer people filling out lead forms. The trend has caused what I've seen as an increase in the number of calls to action on pages, particularly on inventory pages. This is a mistake.</p>
<p>The truth is this: more is not more. It's less when it comes…</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545143520?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545143520?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>The past two years has seen a decrease in the number of website leads for many dealers. We're getting more visitors and fewer people filling out lead forms. The trend has caused what I've seen as an increase in the number of calls to action on pages, particularly on inventory pages. This is a mistake.</p>
<p>The truth is this: more is not more. It's less when it comes to calls-to-action. You don't need to have a dozen of different ways for people to contact you. You simply need to make the right ones the focus and to make others stand out.</p>
<p>It's something that I've wanted to discuss for a long time, but only now and I comfortable doing so because I have no horse in the race. I no longer work for a company that sells websites, so it's easy for me to go after the website providers without repercussion. Call me a chicken. I can handle it.</p>
<p>Here are some examples of great pages with their calls to action positioned appropriately:</p>
<h2>Fewer Buttons... with Standouts</h2>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545143731?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545143731?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a>How many ways do people have to contact you on your vehicle details pages? You probably have several in the right sidebar alone.</p>
<p>In the example above, the dealer has one call to action inline (Request Sale Price) and a pair of calls to action that are "standouts" (Carfax and CarChat24). This is powerful in that it narrows the choices. Keep something very important in mind: your calls to action do not compel action. They give the option.</p>
<p>To understand this, think of it logically. If someone lands on a vehicle they don't really want, they're <strong>not</strong> going to make this statement: "This really isn't the car that I want, but would you look at those buttons! I need to contact them about this car regardless of whether I want to buy it or not!"</p>
<p>The opposite is true. If they land on a car that they want to buy, they will find a way to contact you even if you put the buttons on the bottom of the page and the phone number in 10-pt font.</p>
<h2>Calls to Action Before the Action are Great</h2>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545143775?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545143775?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>We are big fans of keeping it simple. However, there are times when appropriate calls to action on the "transition" pages make a lot of sense.</p>
<p>In the example above, the dealer has Automark Solutions buttons at the top that work to get their information <strong>before</strong> they have selected a vehicle. Some dealers would say, "but we want them to go to inventory because that's what all of the gurus say."</p>
<p>It's incorrect. With the understanding that my company specializes in driving traffic to inventory, I can tell you that it's not a goal. The goal is to sell more cars. It's easier to sell more cars to people who contact you. In the case above, the opportunity to grab their attention and generate a lead before they look through inventory is powerful. If you rely strictly on your VDPs to generate leads, you're letting your inventory do the talking for you. We want the lead, not the VDP views. While VDPs are often the most common way to generate leads, if you get the leads before they get to the VDP, you're even better off.</p>
<p>What if you don't have the exact vehicle they want? In that case, driving them to the VDP hurt. How many people know about dealer trades? More importantly, how many people buy the vehicle they intended to buy from the start?</p>
<p>Just get the lead.</p>
<h2>Popups Suck. Most of Them.</h2>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144388?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545144388?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>We all hate popups. They get in the way. They're annoying. However, in most cases, proper popups work to get more leads.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that standard, true "popups" are ineffective. However, Java popups like the ones visible above are effective. DealerOn has built their brand around the idea of being able to guarantee more leads to dealers. Their secret - that awesome little popup. It works.</p>
<p><strong>I better title for this article would have been "You Don't Need More Calls to Action. You Need Better Ones."<br/></strong></p>
<p><strong>Oh well. Maybe next time.</strong></p>
<p></p>Let Data Drive Pretty Much Everything in Your Marketingtag:www.dealerelite.net,2014-08-31:5283893:BlogPost:4308732014-08-31T09:12:15.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545143054?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545143054?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"></img></a></p>
<p>First, a mini-rant. It will make sense why I'm starting with a rant before getting to the meat of the issue.</p>
<p>I was on the phone with a social client and their prospective search marketing provider the other day when I was blindsided by ignorance. It wasn't what I expected from a company that came highly recommended for their search prowess, so I called later on…</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545143054?profile=original"><img width="750" class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2545143054?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="750"/></a></p>
<p>First, a mini-rant. It will make sense why I'm starting with a rant before getting to the meat of the issue.</p>
<p>I was on the phone with a social client and their prospective search marketing provider the other day when I was blindsided by ignorance. It wasn't what I expected from a company that came highly recommended for their search prowess, so I called later on to talk to someone other than a salesperson to confirm that I heard properly.</p>
<p>They selected their keywords straight from a template. The dealer would tell them the cities and then they would plug in those cities into their keyword template and, VOILA, they had a keyword list to plug into their campaigns.</p>
<p>This is the type of treatment I would expect from an OEM-level provider, but to see it coming from a boutique shop really turned me sideways. The whole idea of being small and nimble is the ability to give the personal touch; heck, that's why we built our company in the first place!</p>
<p>That experience prompted me to talk about data. Never before have we had access to so much of it. We know pretty much everything we need to know in order to guide our marketing and advertising decisions. That's the beauty of the digital age and it's often what separates the great dealers from the good ones.</p>
<p>Here are some of the things you should look for to let the data guide your decisions:</p>
<h2>Location</h2>
<p>Where are you selling? Where are you missing? Where are the buyers in or near your market? These are questions that most dealers can answer based upon their sales sheets and the information that the OEMs provide but all too often dealers are working from gut feeling rather than letting the data drive their decisions.</p>
<p>In most cases when we see dealers exploring the data, they get surprised. I say "most" because it happens regularly and I don't recall a time when some bit of location-based buyer data didn't surprise the dealer, but I can't know for sure that it's all of them. It's a lot. We'll leave it at that.</p>
<h2>Purchase Preference</h2>
<p>Depending on what part of a metro, county, or state someone lives in, there are tendencies that can be determined by the data. Some places are better for new SUVs. Others are better for used cars. It doesn't always correlate directly to the income levels within an area, either. We've seen occasions when a high-income area offers a lower opportunity for dealers to sell expensive vehicles than a mid-level income area.</p>
<p>In the expensive world of automotive advertising, seeing where the people are and what they're buying is so important when trying to hyper-target them with email, mobile, direct mail, television, and search campaigns. Then, there's social media - you don't want to get me started on how important this data is for social media.</p>
<h2>Competitive Success</h2>
<p>Who doesn't love to conquest? Unfortunately, we often see dealers that are targeting a competitors immediate area when that is usually not the low-hanging fruit.</p>
<p>Market sales data combined with proper analytics is the key to finding the greatest areas of opportunity for conquest sales, whether you're targeting another brand or a direct competitor. This data is readily available and isn't very expensive, yet we still see so many dealers targeting a radius around the competitors.</p>
<h2>Use Your Analytics</h2>
<p>Google Analytics combined with buyer data is the key to success. Many dealers have their own internal mechanisms for this. For others, there are companies like <a href="http://stringautomotive.com/" target="_blank">String Automotive</a> that combine the data and present it to dealers in ways that are meaningful for them to take action.</p>
<p>Regardless of whether you do it yourself or hire a company, it has to be done. We don't currently offer it, but by golly we'd love to someday.</p>The Two Categories of Social Media Marketing Strategiestag:www.dealerelite.net,2014-08-13:5283893:BlogPost:4297142014-08-13T00:57:11.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
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<p>When it comes to marketing (and just about everything else), there are right-brained thinkers and left-brained thinkers. The right-brain thinkers are more subjective and often more creative and would not like the concept of social media having two options. It makes it too black and white. Left-brain thinkers are guided by logic and wouldn't necessarily believe that…</p>
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<p>When it comes to marketing (and just about everything else), there are right-brained thinkers and left-brained thinkers. The right-brain thinkers are more subjective and often more creative and would not like the concept of social media having two options. It makes it too black and white. Left-brain thinkers are guided by logic and wouldn't necessarily believe that there are only two categories in social media marketing. In other words, neither type of person will likely agree with the assertion of this article, at least not at first.</p>
<p>One can make an argument that there are definitely multiple sub-categories, styles, and strategies that go into social media marketing, but there are really only two stances that businesses should take. These two categories can be called "outbound" and "inbound" social media strategies. They shouldn't be confused with inbound or outbound digital marketing strategies. In the case of these social media categories, we're being a little more straight forward than that.</p>
<p><img class="wp-more-tag mce-wp-more" title="Read More..." alt=""/>An outbound social media marketing strategy is what most who believe in social media want to achieve. They feel that social media is a venue through which to reach people, communicate, improve branding, and expose the company's messages. Its goal is to be aggressive and take advantage of the fact that the masses are using social media regularly. In many cases, customers are spending more time on social media than any other digital activity.</p>
<p>An inbound social media strategy is very different from a pure inbound marketing strategy. It can be viewed as a defensive posture, a way of covering social media without much time or effort. It's about checking off the social media task box. This is the type of strategy that a business should employ if they either do not believe in social media as an appropriate marketing venue or they do not have the time and/or budget to put a true effort towards an outbound strategy.</p>
<p>Let's take a look at each strategy in more detail.</p>
<h3>Outbound Social Media Marketing</h3>
<p>This is an "all in" strategy. It focuses on the beliefs that lots of people are on social media, that sites like Facebook have the data that can be used for hypertargeting them with the right messages, and that either ideas or website clicks can be driven through an aggressive advertising component.</p>
<p>In the case of car dealers, for example, social media offers a venue to target people who intend to buy a certain vehicle in the near future. By taking advantage of this data and putting the right messages in front of them, dealers are able to pull people in from social media sites onto landing pages on their website.</p>
<p>To do it the right way requires an investment. It can take time to craft the messages, monitor the profiles, and participate in conversations. It takes advertising dollars to get the message out to the right target audience. Social media in general and Facebook in particular is a pay-to-play model. The old <a title="concepts of organic reach are dead" href="http://soshable.com/putting-to-rest-the-concept-of-organic-social-media/">concepts of organic reach are dead</a>.</p>
<h3>Inbound Social Media Presence</h3>
<p>You'll notice that I did not call it "marketing". With an inbound strategy, a business is simply creating and managing a presence so that they are there without putting in much effort. It's not a defeatist strategy by any means. For many, they have not found the benefits of social media or they're not ready to invest what it takes to have a strong marketing strategy, so they simply get their social media covered.</p>
<p>This is important because people will visit your pages and profiles. Most businesses have buttons that lead to their social media profiles right there on their website. The search engines will often rank social media profiles and pages high on search results for the business by name. Making sure that your pages have an ongoing flow of content is important while not being too time consuming or expensive.</p>
<p>It doesn't look good when people visit your social profiles and they haven't had anything added to them in some time. It's even worse when people are going to these profiles to converse with you or to leave a comment (such as a review) and it goes unnoticed. In extreme cases, Facebook pages can be "hijacked" by spammers leaving their links to unrelated pages. When this type of spam is found on a page, it can be worse than an embarrassment.</p>
<h3>Why There's No In-Between</h3>
<p>Some will balk and say that there are ways to have a good marketing strategy without going all-in. They are wrong. The benefits of a toe-dipping, low- or no-budget strategy that is trying to do more than establish an ongoing presence are no greater than a purely defensive inbound strategy. In other words, you can spend very little time and money on a basic inbound strategy or you can spend some more time and a little money on an attempted lite marketing strategy and the end results will be the same.</p>
<p>The gap between a basic presence and a "good" presence is minimal. However, the difference between a "good" presence and a full-blown outbound strategy is huge. If you're not going to go all-in, then you should focus on having a good presence rather than trying to work in a little marketing. It's a waste of time and money to go halfway. Either invest into it or keep it simple. There's nothing wrong with either strategy; they both have their benefits. Trying to be there in the middle, not quite bought in but more than just covering the basics, is a limbo that yields nothing more than keeping it all inbound.</p>
<p>It's a lot like poker. On some hands, you'll play it tight, particularly if you believe your hand is weaker than your opponents. On other hands, you'll play aggressive, even going all-in when the time is right. The fish in the middle who are trying to tiptoe through hands are the ones that end up losing their chips the quickest.</p>Customer Loyalty Isn't Dead.tag:www.dealerelite.net,2014-08-10:5283893:BlogPost:4293432014-08-10T00:58:27.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
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<p>There is doom and gloom in the statistics. Fewer people are staying loyal to a single brand of vehicle. Fewer people are staying loyal to a particular dealership. We've been hearing about it since the rise of the digital age and it can push dealers to focus on generating new sales and service customers at all costs.</p>
<p>Since we're a vendor that specializes in…</p>
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<p>There is doom and gloom in the statistics. Fewer people are staying loyal to a single brand of vehicle. Fewer people are staying loyal to a particular dealership. We've been hearing about it since the rise of the digital age and it can push dealers to focus on generating new sales and service customers at all costs.</p>
<p>Since we're a vendor that specializes in search and social marketing, one might think that this is the type of shift in the industry that we would embrace. The reality is that our roots as car people and our focus on being a partner for our dealers supersedes the benefits we receive from the trend. We want our clients to succeed and the lowest hanging fruit - customer retention - is the one measure that we see slipping through the fingers of so many dealers out there.</p>
<p>One of the things that we've been investigating is the (seemingly) lost art of turning the one-time sales mentality that has been growing in our industry into the good ol' "customer for life" paradigm that has helped some of the most successful dealers we know to stay on top despite the trends. We know it's possible. We've seen some decent results. Now, it's time to learn how to improve on them, consolidate, collaborate, and enhance the strategies.</p>
<h2>We Need Your Help, Dealers and Vendors</h2>
<p>Over the last couple of months I've had a couple of research side projects that I took on myself. I didn't include my team nor did I ask for assistance from the community. I explored <a href="http://www.dealerelite.net/forum/topics/chat-challenge-show-me-your-chat" target="_blank">dealership chat</a> and I am finishing up my investigation into <a href="http://www.automotivedigitalmarketing.com/forum/topics/gift-cards-as-a-dealership-visit-incentive" target="_blank">gift card incentive programs</a>. This new project is beyond me. I need help. I've gotten my team involved - <a href="http://dealerauthority.com/dealer-authority-team/subi-ghosh/" target="_blank">Subi Ghosh</a> has given me a world of insight from her recent work at her last dealership that has been outstanding. I need more.</p>
<p>What is out there? We need to get a better understanding of:</p>
<ul>
<li>Loyalty-building strategies at the dealership</li>
<li>Current and past customer communication techniques</li>
<li>Services that harness data to drive loyalty</li>
<li>Products that give customers incentives to work with a single dealer</li>
<li>Software (stand-alone or embedded) that can assist dealers bring past customers back</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>This is important and we need your input.</strong></p>
<p>We are going to put effort into bringing all of the best practices, products, and strategies together to present to dealers here. Our <a href="http://www.automotivedigitalmarketing.com/profile/TysonMadliger" target="_blank">CEO</a> pointed out that we are biting off quite a bit more than we have in previous explorations but he's on board with the concept because, again, our focus is on improving the overall experience for our clients even if it's not directly through our own products.</p>
<h2>What You Can Do</h2>
<p>Dealers, please let us know in the comments what has worked for your dealership. Vendors, please let us know what products or services you have that can improve customer loyalty. This is a very broad topic but one that can be consolidated with the help of the Dealer Elite community.</p>
<p>I saw a statistic yesterday that at most dealers, less than 30% of the vehicles in their service drive were purchased at the dealership. This would have been an absurd statistic to comprehend a decade ago but the numbers don't lie. We already know that so many customers are "dealership hopping" when it comes to sales, demonstrating no loyalty to the dealership that sold them their last vehicle.</p>
<p>The internet and the general shift in consumer sentiment has made this a reality in recent years but there's also blame that can be turned to dealers and vendors. Are we so focused on expensive conquest sales that we're missing out on retention? I believe the answer is "yes" and that needs to change. We can find the right solutions. We simply need your help.</p>The Key to Social Media is Storytellingtag:www.dealerelite.net,2014-08-05:5283893:BlogPost:4288542014-08-05T16:01:12.000ZJD Ruckerhttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/JDRucker
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<p>For a decade now, businesses and marketers have attempted to decipher the jumbled mess of social media and turn it into a true ROI generator. Hundreds of thousands of Ponce de Leóns have explored the social media countryside in search of the ultimate prize - tangible benefit from social media marketing.</p>
<p>Thankfully, it's not as mythical as the Fountain of Youth.…</p>
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<p>For a decade now, businesses and marketers have attempted to decipher the jumbled mess of social media and turn it into a true ROI generator. Hundreds of thousands of Ponce de Leóns have explored the social media countryside in search of the ultimate prize - tangible benefit from social media marketing.</p>
<p>Thankfully, it's not as mythical as the Fountain of Youth. Most are getting minor benefits from social media as long as they're sticking with it and applying some basic strategies. A few are getting real results from the branding and communication components of social media that are achievable by nearly anyone who tries hard enough and invests a little money into the endeavor.</p>
<p>For those who are really wanting to make a dramatic impact on their social media presence, the key is in storytelling. This is hard. That's not one of those feigned discouragements that marketers often use to dissuade businesses from trying to do it themselves. It truly is extremely difficult to take the mundane aspects of most businesses and turn them into something truly special that people are willing to passionately follow.</p>
<p>With social media storytelling, it's not about telling lies. It's definitely not about looking for the thunder in a bottle that some companies have been able to find through a combination of luck and some viral secret sauce that eludes the rest of humanity; how many tried to duplicate what <a href="https://twitter.com/Oreo/status/298246571718483968" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Oreo did</a> at the Super Bowl? Lastly, it's not about manufacturing buzz where it doesn't exist.</p>
<p>Storytelling requires finding those creative elements that are present in any business (regardless of how mundane the industry might seem) and forming them into a strategy that yields a path to success. It only takes one sentence to describe it but one could write a book on the actual strategy behind it. We'll try to keep it shorter here.</p>
<p>The story itself can be about nearly anything as long as it's relevant to the business in some way. It doesn't even have to be a direct attachment. It can be about customers. It can be about employees. It can be the journey that was taken to arrive at a particular product or service launch.</p>
<p>Think about it like making a movie. It isn't about the end result of the movie itself, but rather the Blue-Ray extras and behind the scenes shots. Taking us through the process can be as fun (or more fun) than watching the end result itself. As humans, we have a tendency to enjoy watching things as they unfold.</p>
<p>A pretty good (not great, but good) example of this was when Pepsi MAX worked with NBA star Kyrie Irving to put the Uncle Drew series together for YouTube. The reasons that it was good is because it was able to tell stories that were interesting enough to get millions of views, was sustainable for a few posts to make it a series, and gave the behind-the-scenes view that we love. The reason that it wasn't great is because it had very little to do with the product itself with only occasional views.</p>
<p>A much better example is a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujgg2kofZS8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Thai Pantene commercial</a> from a few years ago. It told a compelling story and had all of the right elements but it did not let the product get in the way. In fact, you'll have no idea it's a Pantene commercial until the end. One thing that most will definitely notice is that during the concert, the main character has absolutely incredible hair. When the Pantene logo is shown at the end with the tagline, "You can shine," it all comes together for the viewer.</p>
<p>These are both big productions that most businesses cannot duplicate, but that doesn't mean that you can't draw inspiration from their creativity. The key is to make it last. It doesn't have to revolve around a video, either. A friend, , did an excellent job of using social media to tell the story of her new job. She had a countdown of the top 5 reasons to be excited about her new job. It kept anticipation high, friends (and potential clients) guessing, and showed that even individuals have the ability to tell the right stories about their business.</p>
<p>To succeed at social media marketing, businesses and marketers must embrace the right strategies and couple them with incredible stories. This post itself is an example of this as we will be rolling out stories of our own very soon for our clients. Stay tuned!</p>