Driver Connect, a breakthrough mobile app for the auto industry, is recognized in Mobile On-Demand Software Application category

Daytona Beach, FL – May 14, 2013 – DMEautomotive’s Driver Connect has been named a finalist for “New Product or Service of the Year” in the Software - Mobile On-Demand Application category in The 2013 American Business Awards, and will ultimately be a Gold, Silver, or Bronze…

Cars, dealerships and sales people can be commodities. As a sales person, your job is to move everything you do and everything you have towards being a non-commoditized item or service. You must sell your difference.

When making a decision, customers look for deciding factors. Being able to know what the differences are and then helping the customer know what they look like, sound like and feel like is your job. Customers don’t spend an hour with you and say, “This is exactly…

Dealerships today spend most of their marketing budgets on acquiring new customers. Those ads in the newspapers aren’t really meant for current of past customers, they are meant to attract new customers. The cost of customer acquisition ranges from 6 to 10 times more than the cost…

Sometimes going behind the analytical data or numbers just is not enough! We tend to seek or want more answers! We try and find answers by trying to connect to allies , peers , friends or other dealers! We need to instead connect to Wisdom!  Seek it....and you shall find!

Mentors are those who brings wisdom into play! Their wisdom…

• Peter A. Salinas is a career journalist who has been covering the used-vehicle industry for more than 12 years. He is the managing editor of Dealer Business Journal.

In terms…

     American motorists have long worshiped big engines that generate high horsepower, but as we all know unstable gasoline prices have diminished the fervor for big V-8s in favor of smaller, more fuel efficient powerplants.

     Small engines have been in favor in Europe and Asia for decades as fuel economy has been a compelling factor. Now that gasoline costs a…

There’s a fine line between making social media useless by posting things that aren’t relevant for business and making it ineffective by having posts that are too promotional, thus killing the posts through “death by algorithm”. Done right, businesses have the ability to be interesting enough to make the algorithms like them while being relevant enough…

Branding is important. It’s something that most businesses want but few do well enough considering the tools that we all have at our disposal through the internet in general and social media in particular. However, too many are starting to use social media as a branding tool only. The reality for local businesses is that it can and should be used to drive…

Fix your sales problem in 5 easy steps – sounds great, doesn’t it? Formulaic approaches such as this are very tempting. Furthermore, they align with our fast food, quick fix mentality. Seem too good to be true? That’s because it is. Don’t get me wrong, I revel in an easy solution. Unfortunately, most quick fixes are band-aids as opposed to real solutions.

One…

Initially, I was totally against Cars.com sending emails to customers showing the competition's vehicles especially on the timetable they were using.  I didn't appreciate the fact that they "sneaked" it out without discussing it with their dealers or even their field reps. I was even less thrilled that they sending inventory feeds to TrueCar, Cargurus and God know where else.  

As far as the email program, with the proper timetable, I can see how dealerships, that know how to market…

Facebook has been a challenging venue for marketers and advertisers ever since it started really getting popular in 2009. At that time, it was clear that it was the social network to beat and the company started trying to cash in with different types of advertising options. Most of them failed miserably for the same reason that many marketers continue to fail today: people go to Facebook to be…

For years, the acquisition of a bigger, “better” Facebook page has been a focus of many in the social media marketing realm. There are companies that are dedicated to the task. The reality now (and for a long time, actually) is that fan acquisition for business Facebook pages is such a minor piece of the puzzle that it’s something most…

Sometimes we wonder how moms can accomplish all that they do. From traveling to outer space to running some of the world's most powerful companies to raising us, moms are unstoppable.

While these incredible ladies deserve to be recognized every day of the year, …

Consumers are quite used to the quick star rating when it comes to sharing our input on how we feel about a business’s customer service. Not only has it been available to us throughout companies feedback boxes for years in-store, it has been provided nearly everywhere online too. Heck, even movies…

With all the competition in the Automotive World and so many websites, targeted ads and retargeting display ads vying for consumer attention it seems harder than ever to know whether or not your customer will remember you.

How do you set yourself apart from the competition and stay in the customer's mind?

USE COMMON SENSE AND THINK ABOUT USING MOBILE TO CONNECT WITH MOBILE! Niesen did a study in November about Mobile Auto Shoppers and it showed that 49% of…

First I want to thank Jim Ziegler and Manny Luna and others for their due dilegence in the Autogate affair that is currently unravelling and have made it possible for me to get some attention on a topic close to my heart.

I want to take advantage and seize the moment concerning all the controversy surrounding Cars, com among others with hints of more…

Take a quick moment to laugh at this simplistic reality of most people on the road.…

Are you unsure if your dealership's SEO is going in the right direction? Are you confused on what metrics and filtering you should use to show success?



Join PCG Digital Marketing's Chief SEO Strategist Matthew O'Such for this important webinar to learn how to use Google Analytics and website platform reporting tools to track your success.

The webinar will…

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is constantly crashing cars -- and the automakers love it, in the hopes they earn a "Top Safety Pick."

We posted this article for publication this week:

     More than 250 motorists were killed in crashes that involved cars slamming into the back ends of trailers on large trucks in 2011, according…

I always feel very fortunate to participate in the Digital Dealer Conferences. Helping dealers and their management staff gain new insights and techniques to increase revenue is something that’s very rewarding.

On Tuesday, I was happy to be one of the first speakers at the three day conference.   I presented to a full room on the strategies service management can use to transform their service drive into a sales drive. I spoke about using mobile technology and taking a new…