The document provides five golden rules for effective blogger relations based on interviews with blogging experts. The rules are: 1) Do your homework on bloggers first before pitching, 2) Join the blogging community by commenting and participating, 3) Bring value to bloggers instead of just pitching, 4) Be honest about representing a company or client, and 5) Build lasting relationships with bloggers over time. The document also discusses how bloggers have become influential media gatekeepers and outlines tactics for PR professionals to integrate bloggers into their strategies.
1) The document discusses strategies for effectively managing and responding to internet leads to increase vehicle sales. It emphasizes that both the content and timing of responses to leads are critical.
2) Data shows leads are more likely to purchase when contacted by phone within 24 hours and sent price quotes by email. Responding quickly and providing multiple vehicle options are important.
3) The dealer's lead management process involves an automated reply to validate contact info, a personalized email with price quotes, and a phone call to schedule a test drive as key steps to closing the sale.
- Companies are increasingly adopting eService/online customer service technologies like web self-help, email response, live chat and VoIP to improve customer satisfaction while reducing costs.
- Moving routine customer interactions online can significantly reduce a company's customer service costs while freeing up personnel for more valuable tasks. However, the primary goal of eService should be improving customer loyalty and satisfaction.
- While eService solutions are generally cheaper than phone or live agent interactions, companies must consider customers' preferred methods and balance cost savings with maintaining good customer relationships. The right eService strategy depends on a company's business objectives and customers' needs.
This article summarizes a Sunday afternoon when the author's son Zach left to join the U.S. Army. The author reflects on saying goodbye and how their relationship will change now that Zach has enlisted. The author also discusses several industry topics, including the retirement of a Ford executive, challenges facing Hyundai executives, and a new labor contract between GM and the UAW union.
This document provides tips and strategies for optimizing Google AdWords campaigns to increase conversions, traffic, and quality score. It discusses techniques such as refining keywords, using keywords in ad text, including prices in ads, adding new keywords, separating high-traffic keywords, increasing budgets and bids, and expanding location targeting. The overall goal of the optimization techniques presented is to improve campaign performance metrics like clicks, impressions, and conversions.
This document discusses best practices for managing sales leads from online inquiries. It provides data showing that responding to leads quickly, providing price quotes, confirming vehicle availability, showing genuine interest in the customer, and following up multiple times significantly increases closing ratios and vehicle purchases. It emphasizes the importance of a well-defined lead management process that incorporates these practices.
The document discusses strategies for digital marketing and social media marketing for car dealerships. It provides examples of how dealerships like Ancira Auto Group have built online communities and social media presences to engage customers, monitor conversations, and improve their reputation. It also discusses how platforms like DealerRater can help dealers syndicate reviews and certify that they prioritize customer service. The key aspects of an effective digital marketing strategy outlined are content creation, driving traffic and engagement across social networks, and monitoring what customers say online.
1. The document summarizes the results of a marketing research study that surveyed 1,439 car shoppers who visited a dealer website about their preferences and experiences related to online car shopping.
2. It found that most shoppers want dealer websites to contain information like prices, vehicle photos and details, financing and leasing options, and the ability to obtain an online price quote.
3. Many shoppers who contacted dealers via email preferred phone responses, within 1-2 days, but dealers often took longer to respond than expected according to shoppers.
The document provides five golden rules for effective blogger relations based on interviews with blogging experts. The rules are: 1) Do your homework on bloggers first before pitching, 2) Join the blogging community by commenting and participating, 3) Bring value to bloggers instead of just pitching, 4) Be honest about representing a company or client, and 5) Build lasting relationships with bloggers over time. The document also discusses how bloggers have become influential media gatekeepers and outlines tactics for PR professionals to integrate bloggers into their strategies.
1) The document discusses strategies for effectively managing and responding to internet leads to increase vehicle sales. It emphasizes that both the content and timing of responses to leads are critical.
2) Data shows leads are more likely to purchase when contacted by phone within 24 hours and sent price quotes by email. Responding quickly and providing multiple vehicle options are important.
3) The dealer's lead management process involves an automated reply to validate contact info, a personalized email with price quotes, and a phone call to schedule a test drive as key steps to closing the sale.
- Companies are increasingly adopting eService/online customer service technologies like web self-help, email response, live chat and VoIP to improve customer satisfaction while reducing costs.
- Moving routine customer interactions online can significantly reduce a company's customer service costs while freeing up personnel for more valuable tasks. However, the primary goal of eService should be improving customer loyalty and satisfaction.
- While eService solutions are generally cheaper than phone or live agent interactions, companies must consider customers' preferred methods and balance cost savings with maintaining good customer relationships. The right eService strategy depends on a company's business objectives and customers' needs.
This article summarizes a Sunday afternoon when the author's son Zach left to join the U.S. Army. The author reflects on saying goodbye and how their relationship will change now that Zach has enlisted. The author also discusses several industry topics, including the retirement of a Ford executive, challenges facing Hyundai executives, and a new labor contract between GM and the UAW union.
This document provides tips and strategies for optimizing Google AdWords campaigns to increase conversions, traffic, and quality score. It discusses techniques such as refining keywords, using keywords in ad text, including prices in ads, adding new keywords, separating high-traffic keywords, increasing budgets and bids, and expanding location targeting. The overall goal of the optimization techniques presented is to improve campaign performance metrics like clicks, impressions, and conversions.
This document discusses best practices for managing sales leads from online inquiries. It provides data showing that responding to leads quickly, providing price quotes, confirming vehicle availability, showing genuine interest in the customer, and following up multiple times significantly increases closing ratios and vehicle purchases. It emphasizes the importance of a well-defined lead management process that incorporates these practices.
The document discusses strategies for digital marketing and social media marketing for car dealerships. It provides examples of how dealerships like Ancira Auto Group have built online communities and social media presences to engage customers, monitor conversations, and improve their reputation. It also discusses how platforms like DealerRater can help dealers syndicate reviews and certify that they prioritize customer service. The key aspects of an effective digital marketing strategy outlined are content creation, driving traffic and engagement across social networks, and monitoring what customers say online.
1. The document summarizes the results of a marketing research study that surveyed 1,439 car shoppers who visited a dealer website about their preferences and experiences related to online car shopping.
2. It found that most shoppers want dealer websites to contain information like prices, vehicle photos and details, financing and leasing options, and the ability to obtain an online price quote.
3. Many shoppers who contacted dealers via email preferred phone responses, within 1-2 days, but dealers often took longer to respond than expected according to shoppers.
TrueCar received significant criticism from dealers and dealer associations starting in late 2011. In response, from January to April 2012 TrueCar made major changes to their business model and practices to address these concerns. Some key changes included overhauling their website to address regulatory compliance issues, changing how pricing data was displayed to provide more context, and reducing the data received from dealers to address misinformation. TrueCar felt these changes were necessary to ensure they were properly partnering with the auto industry.
The document summarizes the AutoConnections 2012 conference to be held September 5-8 at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The conference will focus on connecting automotive dealerships with technologies, strategies, and leaders to create new business outcomes. It will feature keynote speakers and workshops on topics like attracting employees, implementing business processes, using social media and mobile marketing, and strengthening a dealership's local presence. Attendees will learn strategies for measuring performance and leveraging relationships to increase sales and profits.
Ralph Paglia is the President of Automotive Media Partners and Chairman of the AutoConnections Conference and Exposition. He has over 30 years of experience in the automotive industry as a marketing practitioner, operations consultant, and thought leader. Paglia has written dozens of published articles and has consulted for major automakers and dealerships, helping them adopt digital marketing strategies over the past 15 years.
TrueCar will sponsor AutoCon 2012, the largest automotive industry conference, in September in Las Vegas. As title sponsor, TrueCar will sponsor meals and receptions, provide scholarships for attendees, and showcase their products. AutoCon 2012 aims to bring together over 12,000 automotive professionals online through networks like ADM and DealerELITE for speakers, workshops, and exhibits focused on automotive marketing strategies. It is produced by First Class Educators, an event planning company known for high quality automotive industry events.
Robin Cunningham, a faculty member of the NCM Institute, will be leading a benchmarking workshop at the AutoCon 2012 automotive conference to help auto dealers improve profitability through proven benchmarking processes. The workshop will teach attendees the top three areas of opportunity to enhance total dealership profits based on analyses of high-performing dealers. AutoCon 2012 aims to provide dealer principals with the latest best practices and technologies through various workshops and sessions to help them adapt to current industry changes.
This document provides techniques for automotive dealers to effectively utilize social media in 2011. It discusses establishing a social media mindset focused on conversation rather than constant selling. The document outlines best practices for Facebook, such as posting a variety of interesting, informed, involved, and in-business content. For Twitter, it recommends finding and starting conversations. It also stresses the importance of creating video and blog content to engage customers. The overall recommendation is to focus on listening to customers and engaging in conversations rather than constant broadcasting to build a strong social media strategy.
The document is a workbook for assessing social media strategies. It provides steps and worksheets to help users define objectives, determine where they are in the social media lifecycle, understand challenges, and monitor target audiences. The goals are to formulate a strategic social media plan by identifying goals, researching the competitive landscape and audience, aligning objectives to metrics, and gaining insights into audience behaviors. Completing the workbook activities helps create a effective strategic approach for social media.
The document discusses how having multiple dealership websites is more effective than a single website for digital marketing success. It explains that 75% of car buyers spend much of their online time shopping, and over 65% research vehicles online. The author details how his dealership significantly increased internet-generated leads and sales by implementing additional websites focused on specific topics and audiences, growing revenues over 200% with a 40% increase in interactive marketing spending. In conclusion, the document advocates that multiple targeted websites and landing pages are far more cost-effective for converting visitors to leads and sales than relying on a single all-purpose dealership website.
This document summarizes a Forrester Consulting report on how interactive marketers should rethink traditional approaches to campaign management. The report finds that interactive marketers struggle with customer data integration and generating insights across channels. It also finds that integrated campaign management is needed to provide a consistent customer experience. The report recommends that interactive marketers focus on real-time customer insights, integrated campaign management, and improved measurement and attribution of ROI across channels.
This document discusses different types of users on automotive social media platforms including creators who generate and share content, critics who comment and review content, collectors who follow brands and save media, joiners who participate in groups and discussions, spectators who passively view content, and inactives who have profiles but do not engage. It also mentions prioritizing online SEO tactics for these platforms.
This document presents a framework for estimating the prevalence of deceptive reviews in online review communities. It proposes using a machine learning classifier trained to detect deceptive reviews, along with estimates of the classifier's accuracy, within a generative model. The model is used to estimate deception rates in six major review sites like Expedia and Yelp, without requiring gold-standard human annotations. It finds deception rates vary significantly between sites, with sites having lower "signaling costs" for posting reviews generally showing higher estimated deception. When sites take measures to increase costs, like filtering new reviewers, estimated deception decreases substantially.
The document summarizes research on detecting fake reviewer groups on consumer review sites. The researchers developed a method to discover groups of reviewers working collaboratively to write fake reviews to promote or demote products. The method uses frequent itemset mining to find candidate groups and behavioral models to detect abnormal behaviors between group members. It was shown to outperform other detection methods and a labeled dataset of fake reviewer groups was created for evaluation. The researchers provide an example of a detected fake reviewer group coordinating positive reviews for the same products.
This document provides techniques for automotive dealers to effectively utilize social media in 2011. It discusses establishing a social media mindset focused on conversation rather than constant selling. Effective Facebook techniques include posting a mix of interesting, informed, involved, and business content to engage users and expose converting messages. Twitter should be used to find and start conversations rather than just broadcasting. Video testimonials and blog posts that provide tips, opinions, events, or offbeat facts are recommended ways to create engaging content. The document emphasizes that social media requires dedication to conversation in order to effectively sell through these channels.
The document provides an executive summary and overview of the top digital trends for 2012 according to eMarketer. Some of the key trends highlighted include:
- Smartphone, tablet, and e-reader adoption continuing to grow rapidly in the US.
- Marketers and retailers focusing more on analyzing vast amounts of consumer data to drive outcomes rather than just collecting data.
- A shift from location-based check-ins to helping consumers complete purchases and transactions.
- Growing emphasis on measuring the real impact and ROI of digital marketing campaigns across various channels.
- Political campaigns expected to make novel uses of social media and digital platforms during the 2012 US presidential election.
Jay Baer is a leading social media consultant and strategist based in the United States. He has worked with many large American companies through his consulting firm Convince and Convert since 1994. As well as consulting, he is also an author, blogger, and frequent keynote speaker on social media and its impact on business. When not working, he enjoys spending time with his family and enjoying activities like wine, theatre, and sports.
YouTube reaches 59% of all auto enthusiasts, with over 2 million unique auto enthusiast users per month. These users are males aged 18-44 who are influential in vehicle purchase decisions. YouTube reaches a significantly higher percentage of auto enthusiasts than other niche vehicle sites, demonstrating it is an effective platform for reaching this target audience.
This document discusses how mobile changes businesses' value propositions. It provides examples of companies that have adapted well to mobile, such as Chase allowing mobile check deposits and Intuit offering tax filing via smartphone photos. The document emphasizes that companies should define their value proposition by determining what consumers want to do with their business via mobile. It also discusses how mobile can help businesses reach local customers within a short distance to get them through the door. The examples provided illustrate how location-based features and functionality can embrace potential nearby customers.
AutoCon 2012 - The AutoConnections Conference and Exposition will be held at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas from September 5th to the 8th. Learn more and register for this event at http://AutoCon2012.com
Lon Safko is an inventor, author, and entrepreneur who has founded 14 successful companies. He created the first computer that saved a human life and holds three patents. Safko has won numerous awards for his creativity and innovation. He is the author of seven bestselling books on topics such as social media, online business, and creative thinking. Safko gives presentations to corporations on harnessing innovative thinking and using social media to increase productivity and profits.
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TrueCar received significant criticism from dealers and dealer associations starting in late 2011. In response, from January to April 2012 TrueCar made major changes to their business model and practices to address these concerns. Some key changes included overhauling their website to address regulatory compliance issues, changing how pricing data was displayed to provide more context, and reducing the data received from dealers to address misinformation. TrueCar felt these changes were necessary to ensure they were properly partnering with the auto industry.
The document summarizes the AutoConnections 2012 conference to be held September 5-8 at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The conference will focus on connecting automotive dealerships with technologies, strategies, and leaders to create new business outcomes. It will feature keynote speakers and workshops on topics like attracting employees, implementing business processes, using social media and mobile marketing, and strengthening a dealership's local presence. Attendees will learn strategies for measuring performance and leveraging relationships to increase sales and profits.
Ralph Paglia is the President of Automotive Media Partners and Chairman of the AutoConnections Conference and Exposition. He has over 30 years of experience in the automotive industry as a marketing practitioner, operations consultant, and thought leader. Paglia has written dozens of published articles and has consulted for major automakers and dealerships, helping them adopt digital marketing strategies over the past 15 years.
TrueCar will sponsor AutoCon 2012, the largest automotive industry conference, in September in Las Vegas. As title sponsor, TrueCar will sponsor meals and receptions, provide scholarships for attendees, and showcase their products. AutoCon 2012 aims to bring together over 12,000 automotive professionals online through networks like ADM and DealerELITE for speakers, workshops, and exhibits focused on automotive marketing strategies. It is produced by First Class Educators, an event planning company known for high quality automotive industry events.
Robin Cunningham, a faculty member of the NCM Institute, will be leading a benchmarking workshop at the AutoCon 2012 automotive conference to help auto dealers improve profitability through proven benchmarking processes. The workshop will teach attendees the top three areas of opportunity to enhance total dealership profits based on analyses of high-performing dealers. AutoCon 2012 aims to provide dealer principals with the latest best practices and technologies through various workshops and sessions to help them adapt to current industry changes.
This document provides techniques for automotive dealers to effectively utilize social media in 2011. It discusses establishing a social media mindset focused on conversation rather than constant selling. The document outlines best practices for Facebook, such as posting a variety of interesting, informed, involved, and in-business content. For Twitter, it recommends finding and starting conversations. It also stresses the importance of creating video and blog content to engage customers. The overall recommendation is to focus on listening to customers and engaging in conversations rather than constant broadcasting to build a strong social media strategy.
The document is a workbook for assessing social media strategies. It provides steps and worksheets to help users define objectives, determine where they are in the social media lifecycle, understand challenges, and monitor target audiences. The goals are to formulate a strategic social media plan by identifying goals, researching the competitive landscape and audience, aligning objectives to metrics, and gaining insights into audience behaviors. Completing the workbook activities helps create a effective strategic approach for social media.
The document discusses how having multiple dealership websites is more effective than a single website for digital marketing success. It explains that 75% of car buyers spend much of their online time shopping, and over 65% research vehicles online. The author details how his dealership significantly increased internet-generated leads and sales by implementing additional websites focused on specific topics and audiences, growing revenues over 200% with a 40% increase in interactive marketing spending. In conclusion, the document advocates that multiple targeted websites and landing pages are far more cost-effective for converting visitors to leads and sales than relying on a single all-purpose dealership website.
This document summarizes a Forrester Consulting report on how interactive marketers should rethink traditional approaches to campaign management. The report finds that interactive marketers struggle with customer data integration and generating insights across channels. It also finds that integrated campaign management is needed to provide a consistent customer experience. The report recommends that interactive marketers focus on real-time customer insights, integrated campaign management, and improved measurement and attribution of ROI across channels.
This document discusses different types of users on automotive social media platforms including creators who generate and share content, critics who comment and review content, collectors who follow brands and save media, joiners who participate in groups and discussions, spectators who passively view content, and inactives who have profiles but do not engage. It also mentions prioritizing online SEO tactics for these platforms.
This document presents a framework for estimating the prevalence of deceptive reviews in online review communities. It proposes using a machine learning classifier trained to detect deceptive reviews, along with estimates of the classifier's accuracy, within a generative model. The model is used to estimate deception rates in six major review sites like Expedia and Yelp, without requiring gold-standard human annotations. It finds deception rates vary significantly between sites, with sites having lower "signaling costs" for posting reviews generally showing higher estimated deception. When sites take measures to increase costs, like filtering new reviewers, estimated deception decreases substantially.
The document summarizes research on detecting fake reviewer groups on consumer review sites. The researchers developed a method to discover groups of reviewers working collaboratively to write fake reviews to promote or demote products. The method uses frequent itemset mining to find candidate groups and behavioral models to detect abnormal behaviors between group members. It was shown to outperform other detection methods and a labeled dataset of fake reviewer groups was created for evaluation. The researchers provide an example of a detected fake reviewer group coordinating positive reviews for the same products.
This document provides techniques for automotive dealers to effectively utilize social media in 2011. It discusses establishing a social media mindset focused on conversation rather than constant selling. Effective Facebook techniques include posting a mix of interesting, informed, involved, and business content to engage users and expose converting messages. Twitter should be used to find and start conversations rather than just broadcasting. Video testimonials and blog posts that provide tips, opinions, events, or offbeat facts are recommended ways to create engaging content. The document emphasizes that social media requires dedication to conversation in order to effectively sell through these channels.
The document provides an executive summary and overview of the top digital trends for 2012 according to eMarketer. Some of the key trends highlighted include:
- Smartphone, tablet, and e-reader adoption continuing to grow rapidly in the US.
- Marketers and retailers focusing more on analyzing vast amounts of consumer data to drive outcomes rather than just collecting data.
- A shift from location-based check-ins to helping consumers complete purchases and transactions.
- Growing emphasis on measuring the real impact and ROI of digital marketing campaigns across various channels.
- Political campaigns expected to make novel uses of social media and digital platforms during the 2012 US presidential election.
Jay Baer is a leading social media consultant and strategist based in the United States. He has worked with many large American companies through his consulting firm Convince and Convert since 1994. As well as consulting, he is also an author, blogger, and frequent keynote speaker on social media and its impact on business. When not working, he enjoys spending time with his family and enjoying activities like wine, theatre, and sports.
YouTube reaches 59% of all auto enthusiasts, with over 2 million unique auto enthusiast users per month. These users are males aged 18-44 who are influential in vehicle purchase decisions. YouTube reaches a significantly higher percentage of auto enthusiasts than other niche vehicle sites, demonstrating it is an effective platform for reaching this target audience.
This document discusses how mobile changes businesses' value propositions. It provides examples of companies that have adapted well to mobile, such as Chase allowing mobile check deposits and Intuit offering tax filing via smartphone photos. The document emphasizes that companies should define their value proposition by determining what consumers want to do with their business via mobile. It also discusses how mobile can help businesses reach local customers within a short distance to get them through the door. The examples provided illustrate how location-based features and functionality can embrace potential nearby customers.
AutoCon 2012 - The AutoConnections Conference and Exposition will be held at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas from September 5th to the 8th. Learn more and register for this event at http://AutoCon2012.com
Lon Safko is an inventor, author, and entrepreneur who has founded 14 successful companies. He created the first computer that saved a human life and holds three patents. Safko has won numerous awards for his creativity and innovation. He is the author of seven bestselling books on topics such as social media, online business, and creative thinking. Safko gives presentations to corporations on harnessing innovative thinking and using social media to increase productivity and profits.
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