Here's a question for you... Why do so many automotive professionals share highly valuable information, knowledge, contacts, documents, spreadsheets, presentations of various types, videos, photos and actual performance measurements with online automotive communities such as the Kain Automotive Idea Exchange and the Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community? Well, speaking on behalf of yours truly, it is a passion of mine to pass along the wisdom and knowledge provided to me by my experience and from being taught by others, including the last generation of automotive professionals who were so generous with their time and wisdom when I started selling cars at the age of 23. Yes, on February 13, 2009 I celebrated my 28th anniversary of earning a living in the car business! One of the qualities I have always believed to be a great benefit of being in the car business is that so many people who are experienced and well trained are willing to pass along and share their knowledge and skills with newly hired "green peas", seasoned "car guy" veterans, or anyone willing to listen... Of course, sometimes there are people who wish they wouldn't be so generous!
I believe that many of us willingly and avidly share highly specialized knowledge because of the benefits we each receive from the mentoring process. By sharing our knowledge, we each become better practitioners and we reinforce what we have seen work, making it less likely that we will somehow fail to execute on a consistent basis. In this post i am placing several images that show many of the benefits from being a mentor... Are you a mentor? If you have assisted a fellow Kain Automotive Idea Exchange or ADM Professional Community members with information, comments, responses or documents, then you certainly are a mentor of some sort, to a greater or lesser degree depending on the volume of your contributions... All too often when people think of the benefits of mentoring, they only look at what the "mentee" receives. In my opinion, when any of us get better at being a mentor, the benefits we receive from seeking to serve those people we agree to mentor far outweigh the investments we make in time and effort.
The message below is one of many I have been blessed to receive, but this one somehow struck a much more personal chord with me than most of the others I am fortunate enough to receive from time to time:
"Hi Ralph ~
Thanks so much for all your help with the information on BDC development. As of yesterday, I am the new Internet Director for the entire store; something long needed here. I used the job description you had posted and tweaked it to work within our dealership. I'm really excited about the growth that I know will come from this position, but more importantly I'm excited about working Monday - Friday again! Something I haven't done in years!! Being a single mom, it's been the incredible support from my wonderful children that allowed me the opportunity to establish myself in this industry and now they get to reap the rewards by having me home again on nights and weekends. It would certainly have been a lot more work for me if it hadn't been for your willingness to share your knowledge and your work. Again, thank you so much for all that you do to promote our industry. I will make sure we meet the next time I attend a Digital Dealer Conference. You Rock!!!
Sharon"
Shown below: Ralph Paglia's response to Sharon Davenport (after receiving the above message) -
"Sharon,
Thank you SO MUCH for your message! You have given me the reward that I live for... Knowing that I have been able to help someone in the car business with less experience than me. Sort of a "pass it along" feeling that was taught to me by a boss I had in 1983. I was in my first job as a GM and it was a store in the middle of a shithole desert town that smelled like fertilizer year round and nobody living there spoke English. Tom Lesard would come out every two weeks, flying his own souped up twin engine plane and teach me how to read financial statements and manage cash flows... About 6 months in he said to me "now that you are qualified to be a GM, we have to pay you more money... He doubled my salary and percentage! I asked him once why did he help me so much and his reply was "some day you will have the chance to help people younger and newer in the car business than you... All I ask is that you pass along what I have given you to the next generation of people coming into this business..." A year later I was back in San Diego managing a high volume store that Tom Lesard put me in charge of, when he crashed his plane with my F&I Manager and her dad and brother in it... They all died. To this day I try to help good people getting into this business in memory and honoring Tom Lesard. And, he may be reading your message right now from somewhere else, because I know he would be smiling!"
The chart below is something I found online that is an interesting perspective on the roles and obligations of a mentor and likewise, the obligations of the person who agrees to be mentored, the mentee... I find this useful whenever working with someone as a mentor, or being mentored myself and seeking to define what each of us can expect from the other.
The chart below shows some interesting conceptual and functional differences between "Collaboration" and "Mentoring"... I think that most of us do not object to someone else, or maybe even willing to mentor Automotive professionals working at other companies,.. However, most of us would probably reserve collaboration for our coworkers, clients, family, suppliers and customers...
The matrix below shows how to organize your mentoring process based on using either (or both) phone and email... The obvious missing column is the one needed for what we now refer to as "Online Communities", User Generated Content (UGC) sites or what many people refer to as "Web 2.0"... Basically, interacting with other professionals and mentoring them, or being mentored via professional sites like the Kain Automotive Idea Exchange and the Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community
If you would like to check out more on the subject of professional mentoring and how to get the most from it, whether being in the role of mentor or seeking a mentor for yourself, I have listed a few relevant online resources and provided links below:
Menttium: MAKE MENTORING WORK - improving professional performance through mentoring
Ralph Paglia serves as the Director - Digital Marketing Solutions at ADP Dealer Serives. Ralph's team works on developing the technology based marketing systems being used to change the way peolle buy cars in America. The Digital Marketing Group at ADP has facilities and teams based in Hoffman Estates, IL, Coventry, RI, Fort Lauderdale, FL, Austin, TX and Portland, OR .
The ten most frequent ways car dealers waste their Automotive search marketing budgets based on Ralph Paglia's personal experience and a blog article referenced in an ADM forum comment by Michael Sweigart on November 12, 2008...
Automotive SEM services provider PureDealer states that they have handled millions of ad impressions on their automotive marketing (pay per click) accounts for their clients, and have taken over their share of mismanaged accounts from other automotive web developers, mom and pop shops, and even major companies that state they are experts in search marketing for automotive dealers. Here is a quick top ten list of PureDealer's no-no’s, along with relevant examples of how bad things can get when a car dealer just throws money at search marketing...
#10 - Geotargeting Search Engine Ads Outside of a Dealership’s Primary Marketing Area (PMA):
Too many dealers and managers adopt an initial search advertising strategy based on going after their competitor's local customers. They then go to great lengths to buy Google Metros or marketing areas too far outside of their own primary area of marketing responsibility, or area of responsibility. Often, this manifests itself in a young, new, inexperienced or uneducated dealership marketing manager asking that a search advertising campaign be geotargeted to a 100 mile radius around a metro dealership's location for new vehicle ads. Let's get real... What’s the REAL CHANCE a metro area dealer will sell a NEW Chevy to a customer who has to drive past 53 other Chevrolet dealers on the way to the store?
If you find that your SEM services provider is targeting your search advertising campaigns far outside of a reasonable area, then this could be an indication that they are intentionally burning through your dealership's budget in order to generate their monthly fees based on media purchases.
Used vehicles are a whole different story. PureDealer has some great success stories of dealers selling cars outside of their state, region, even the country.
#9 - Bidding on Model-Specific Keywords for Models a Dealer does Not Sell:
Beware of poorly conceived competitive model conquest campaigns... Of course people are cross shopping vehicles. And, yes you may convert a Porsche Cayenne "searcher" into an Infiniti FX45 sales prospect under the right circumstances. However, first and foremost attention should be placed on getting the proper keywords for the models you DO SELL. Cover your own products THOROUGHLY before you even think about bidding on any other model-specific keywords! Then, if and when you do bid on keywords for directly competing models, make sure your sponsored link ads clearly describe to the consumer that you are offering them an alternative to the vehicle they were initially searching for. Why pay for a click from a customer who won't even consider your competing model? Then, you must closely watch the clicks all the way through to conversion, so you can see if the rates indicate that you are turning these car buyers interested in a competing model into prospects for your model... Or, are you just wasting your efforts and budgets?
#8 - Bidding on Generic Keywords and Phrases:
Dealers that bid on high volume generic keyword phrases such as “cars”, “used”, "trucks", etc. are purchasing a one way ticket to "SEM budget wasteland". Dealers can attract all sorts of crazy requests especially if they bid on a “broad match” keyword basis, which may include such wonderful phrases as “cars for demolition derbies” and “used jeans just like Madonna”. When is comes to search advertising, "Caveat Emptor" applies... Automotive marketers need to beware, because a click is a click to Google and they will charge you if you are not smart enough to prevent your ad from appearing as a search result for ridiculous queries. This is also a good case for using negative keywords... Using negative keywords such as "salvage", "parts", "repairs", etc. can go a long way towards filtering out search queries from people who have no interest in buying a vehicle.
#7 - Landing Pages that Don’t Match the Dealer's Search Advertisement:
A dealer's search ad says “Toyota Camry’s for $199/mo” and is then pointed to the dealer's website homepage, placing the customer at least 3 clicks away from finding the actual Camry inventory featured in the search ad. Then, to really ensure failure, and alienating a customer, they can’t find the advertised $199 Camry special because someone at the dealership forgot to build the special into the web site's special offer section. Talk about wasting a customer's time! This is another one-way ticket to "SEM budget wasteland" and a sure-fired way to force a car buyer to find another dealer on Google. Having your search ads point to the dealership home page instead of the actual content described in the ad itself is just like having a customer walk into your showroom, who then asks about a Camry, and then you walk him around your entire dealership, showed them the Service Department, Finance, everything except your Camry inventory... Is there a better way to drive car buyers to your competition, and have the privilege of paying to do so?
#6 - Pay Search Engines to Publish Crappy, Dull and Meaningless Generic Search Advertisements
This is one of the most common major malfunctions of automotive dealership search advertising campaigns. Boring, low impact generic sounding "blah, blah, blah" search ad listings with no compelling reason for a car buyer to click on them. Sure it’s great you are on top of Google search results. but that will not last long if you have a low click through rate, and customer’s are only going to click on the search result listing that excites them, or seems relevant to what they are looking for. A recommended best practice to avoid this waste of SEM budget is to run many dealership search ads simultaneously within an ad campaign group and use technology to constantly make them compete to beat the next ad... A-B comparison ad testing. This is why some dealers see a 15% or higher click through rate, followed by high conversion rates into leads and phone calls, while other dealers say that pay per click just does not work.
#5 - Bidding Too High and Spending too much on “Gotta Have” Keywords
Michael Sweigart was at a dealership the other day, which shall remain nameless, where the dealer said <i>“I have to win the word Honda... I don’t care how much it costs, but anything Honda, I need to be #1 in paid search.”</i>. This dealership would have put together a pay per click campaign that resulted in clicks on Honda motorcycles, Honda outboards, Honda generators, Honda lawn mowers, Honda jet planes (yes take a look at them) and anything else. Plus the dealer may end up paying $10 per click on highly competitive single-word brand keywords. Insane.
#4 - Ignoring Omntiture SiteCatalyst or Google Analytics Reports to ONLY Focus on Traffic Generation:
90% bounce rates off a dealership's home page from a pay per click search ad mean that 90% of the customers attracted by the paid search listing are leaving almost immediately. If you are not looking at analytic reports then you are spending money on the wrong keywords, ads, sites, etc. We just left a dealer who was buying the word “free” in their PPC campaign. Sure, tons of clicks. Duh. Bounce rate near 100%. Duh. I can’t even imagine how much they paid per click. Factor in the exit rates (what pages people are leaving from) and the new visitor ratio, and you can get a good idea of the best sources of traffic. Buy more good, buy less bad.
#3 -Letting Google's Automated Services Run the Dealership's Search Advertising Campaigns
Sure it is easy and may be good to get you started, but Google suggestions will often just give you irrelevant phrases, or provide you with odd budgets. Buy what you need, leave the rest. Remember, Google wants to spend your automotive budget.
#2 - Bidding Too Much Per Click Trying To Get Top Ranking
Sometimes, coming in 2nd is a good thing! When the price between being a first place listing and second place listing is $2.00 per click, it pays to let go of first sometimes. Often, we can buy several times as many clicks for our clients just by avoiding the “bid to win 1st” mentality. Sometimes, the “long tail” philosophy can lead to a boatload of clicks at a low price.
#1 - Bidding on the Dealership's Own Name as a Keyword
Here is our favorite one of all, bidding on your own name. There is a very popular and well known automotive marketing company who can get dealers a ton of clicks and “phone calls” as well. It’s easy when you buy the dealers name. If you are already #1 with your own name (most dealers are) and there is no competition, the DO NOT buy your own name. They will find you for free. That is buying the cow, AND paying for the milk. It’s insane that a major, well funded business has built a business model around redirecting a dealers own traffic back to the dealer, and getting full credit for it. There are cases where you do want and need to buy your own name but in most cases, it is not necessary. If your web site's organic ranking places your site's link at the top of the organic rankings for a search query on the dealership's name... Why would you bid against your own free listing?
The www.AutomotiveDigitalMarketing.com Automotive Digital Marketing (ADM) Professional Community website serves Car Dealers and their management teams, including Internet Sales Managers, BDC Managers, Marketing Managers and Sales Managers. ADM is also a proven resource for OEM Interactive Media and eBusiness Managers who want to see, hear and read what the best Digital and Interactive Marketing professionals in the automotive industry have to say about relevant and timely topics. ADM is a great place for Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 Automotive Advertising Practitioners, as well as Web Site Managers, automotive software Developers and Solution Designers to get new ideas and stay up to date. ADM also serves Automotive CRM and Lead Management Tool developers and their sales professionals as an online exchange for strategy, tactics, best practices, files, resources and contacts within the auto industry.
Currently, ADM has over 1,500 active members - There have been over 2,500 photos uploaded and available for use by members - There have been over 430 music tracks uploaded - Members have uploaded over 550 videos to share - There have been over 500 discussions started and ongoing - Members have created more than 400 blog posts within their ADM provided blog space
If you are interested in visiting and perhaps joining the Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community, go to: www.AutomotiveDigitalMarketing.com
The ADM Professional Community is about automotive Internet sales and digital marketing professionals working with Acura, Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, Toyota, Chevrolet, Chevy, Honda, Nissan, GMC, GM, Mercedes-Benz, Mopar, Lincoln, Mercury, VW, Volkswagen and other car company brands.
ADM is also proud to serve as an online meeting place and idea exchange for web solution providers such as ADP Dealer Services, The Cobalt Group, The Reynolds and Reynolds Company, BZ Results, ADP Dynamic Websites, Dealer.com Automotive Websites, Dealerskins, Izmocars and Izmo CRM, TK CarSites, Autobase, DealerTrack, Arkona, Reynolds Web Solutions, Clickmotive, Xi Group and other technology suppliers and vendors.
How much do you know about the rapidly growing online community of automotive marketing professionals located at www.AutomotiveDigitalMarketing.com?
Did you know there are now over 1010 members on Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community? Have you reached out to connect with important ADM member contacts by asking them to be your Friend?
Did you know that there are over 221 blog posts on Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community? When was the last time you posted a blog entry and let important ADM industry professionals know what you are up to?
Did you know that there are over 174 forum topics on Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community? Have you checked the forum lately to see what your associates, clients and colleagues are saying? Have you posted a forum discussion to see what other professionals have to say about the topic?
Did you know that there are more than 21 professional groups on Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community? Have you joined any groups so that you can send messages to all other group members?
Did you know that there are more than 6 upcoming events listed on Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community? Have you posted what you consider to be important upcoming events on the ADM calendar so that other professionals will know about them and consider attending?
Did you know that there are 379 songs on Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community? Have you checked out what other automotive professionals are listening to? Did you know that many of these songs are best practice Podcasts and examples of highly effective radio spots, along with powerful and engaging dealer website soundtracks?
Did you know that there are more than 464 videos on Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community? Have you seen how many of those videos are actual examples of marketing campaigns and business processes used successfully by some of the leading and most successful dealers in America?
Did you know that there are over 1859 photos listed on Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community? And, do you know that many of these images are actually charts and graphs of the latest marketing trends and research? Or, that many of these photos are actual ads used by dealers that worked exceptionally well?About the Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community
The Automotive Digital Marketing (ADM) Professional Community website serves Car Dealers and their management teams, Internet Sales Managers, BDC Managers, Marketing Managers, OEM Interactive Media and eBusiness Managers, Automotive Advertising Practitioners, Web Site Managers, Developers and Designers, Automotive CRM, Lead Management and Information Technology Suppliers as an online exchange for strategy, tactics, best practices, files, resources and contacts within the auto industry.
Ford Motor Company recently announced that they are launching a Digital Advertising Program for Ford and Lincoln Mercury dealers. This program is being timed to correspond with the Dealer Co-Op advertising program that was kicked off in April, 2008. What I find most interesting about this development is it marks the first time a major OEM has taken an effective course of action designed to leverage the buying power of their national Tier1 advertising buys to the benefit of their dealer network's Tier 3 media buying benefit.
Strategically, this sets the stage for the Ford and Lincoln Mecury brands to benefit from the infusion of well over $100M in additional online advertising media buys coming from a point of entry much closer to the consumer, and theoretically more aligned with regional and local markets. Without doubt, the Ford Digital Advertising Program for Dealers is an innovative development that could provide competitive advantage to both the brand and the dealer network.
BACKGROUND:
The recently launched Ford and Lincoln Mercury Tier 3 Co-Op advertising program includes Digital as an eligible component for reimbursement. In an effort to provide your dealerships the best Digital Advertising solutions currently available, we are pleased to announce the Ford and Lincoln Mercury Digital Advertising program.
This program leverages Ford's relationships with Top Internet providers to offer Ford and Lincoln Mercury dealers with exclusive digital advertising opportunities and incentives. In addition, for those dealers who would like additional support, Ford has partnered with ADP to offer a complete digital advertising solution including training as well as management of dealership digital advertising.
This program is simply about giving Ford and Lincoln Mercury dealerships new advertising options, and offers will be constantly updated.
PROGRAM MATERIALS:
Materials for this program, as well as the current advertising offers available for June, are posted to the Lead Management portal within FMCdealer.com. For more information, go to FMCdealer.com, Select "Lead Management & Reporting" link, and then "Home Portal". A link to the Digital Advertising manual is under "Recent Updates" and will take you to the Training aids page where you must select "Show all". The guide is under "Job Aids".
QUESTIONS:
Contact the Digital Program Headquarters at 866-206-3995 or email them at digital@flmdmc.com
DEALER ENROLLMENT:
An online enrollment form for Ford and Lincoln Mercury dealers to participate in this program has been set up at: www.flmdigital.com
ACTION ITEM:
Ford and Lincoln Mercury Dealers who would like to receive a proposal from the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury Digital Advertising Program for Dealers can complete the online enrollment for an initial Search Engine Analysis at no charge to the dealer at: www.flmdigital.com
The form presented at this URL will ask you for information regarding your dealership, like address, phone number, hours of operation, types of payment you accept and a description of your products and services.
You will then be asked to select the business categories that fit your dealership. You should type in "Automobiles" and Google will list several recommendations.
Go ahead and select "Browse all categories" (after your "Automobiles" search) you can view all available categories. Scrolling down to "Retail Stores - Automobiles" will take you to the ones that are auto-related.
Select up to 5 categories that best suit what your dealership sells.
Google then allows you to enter additional information regarding your services or products including costs, specialties, images, etc. You should add as much detailed information as you can because a more thoroughly detailed out listing within Google Maps will help make it easier for customers to see your dealership's listing show up on their search results.
You'll then be taken to a section where you can preview your listing and make any necessary edits.
Google will then require you to select how you would like to verify that you are a representative of the dealership.
You can choose to have a postcard sent with a verification PIN that must be then entered into an online authorization and verification form, or you can choose a phone call, where you enter the PIN during the automated call.
It will then take awhile for Google to set up your listing in the online map, but most dealerships have found that the listing is well worth the time and energy to get it done.
You will find hundreds of active forums filled with information and files posted by automotive marketing professionals throughout the industry. There are well over 775 members at this point in time and hundreds of blogs filled with valuable insight and content from each member.
The conference will be held at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando, FL. For information on attending this event, contact Jan Cobb at: Phone: (678) 936-4009 or by E-mail: jcobb@premcor.net
Learn how to buy $125 prime drive time radio spots for less than $10 each!Enterprising dealers in all areas of the country are discovering that multiple web-based services allow them to bid and buy conventional radio, TV and newspaper advertising in their local market at a fraction of the cost when purchased through conventional methods. Discover how you can regain or expand your competitive advantage by learning how to use the web to buy both online advertising and conventional media at far lower costs than ever before available to car dealers.
Ralph Paglia joined the ADP Dealer Services Division, headquartered in Hoffman Estates, IL as their director of Digital Marketing responsible for OEM and National Accounts in March 2007. He is focused on developing ADP’s Digital Marketing growth opportunities with car companies and enterprise level dealer organizations.
Prior to joining ADP, Ralph served as OEM Partnership Executive for the Reynolds and Reynolds Company of Dayton, OH. He left Reynolds to accept a full-time position at Courtesy Chevrolet in Phoenix, AZ as their CRM / eBusiness Director in August, 2005.
Paglia implemented marketing channels and sales processes at Courtesy Chevrolet that both GM and leading dealers have come to recognize as best practices within automotive digital marketing. While Paglia was at the helm of the eBusiness department, Courtesy’s total retail sales went over 11,000 vehicles in 2006. Over 4,000 of the 11,000+ total sales originated from Courtesy’s BDC and Internet sales teams. Paglia’s responsibilities at Courtesy Chevrolet included leadership of over 50 people who handled inbound and outbound communications with previous, current and prospective customers. Using the Phoenix market as his laboratory, he developed digital marketing practices that were successful and had never been previously deployed by a single-point dealer.
PRINCETON, N.J. — More and more dealers plan to start using Web 2.0 technology in their advertising campaigns, and most intend to increase spending on Internet marketing in the next year, according to a recent study. A survey from The Kelsey Group indicated that 59 percent of dealers said they would utilize Internet video on their Web sites in the next 12 months, versus the 33 percent who already use the technology. Additionally, the number of dealers who implement online customer ratings and reviews is expected to rise from 29 percent to 43 percent, officials indicated. Meanwhile, 33 percent of respondents (dealers) indicated they will use social networking sites, an increase from 15 percent.
"These findings point to a significant disruption in the auto dealer advertising space," explained Neal Polachek, chief executive officer of The Kelsey Group.
"There are valuable opportunities for traditional and new media companies that tune into dealers' adoption of Web 2.0 technologies and align with dealers' online media-buying intentions," Polachek added.
Dealers are also shifting the manner in which they advertise. Sixty-two percent of respondents claimed they plan to boost online media spending in the next 12 months. Only 17 percent said they will do the same for traditional media.
Likewise, only 8 percent of dealers intend to cut online spending, while 46 percent will decrease traditional media spending.
The Kelsey Group gathered information for the study through an online survey in February 2008. The next study is scheduled for the fall. For more information, visit www.kelseygroup.com.
