Tablets are displacing PCs and smartphones as the “couch computer” of choice: 85% of US tablet owners use their tablets while watching TV, and according to Nielsen, 30% of total tablet time is spent while watching TV. The tablet’s complementary nature to the living room TV gives a raison d’etre to “second screen” apps like Miso, GetGlue, and Viggle that engage consumers in conversation and content related to what’s on the big screen.

Still think your TV ads are valuable?

What about DVRs? The article didn’t even mention that.

Details here.

For the life of me, I can’t think of one good reason for NOT making online video part of a dealership’s overall marketing mix.  It’s surging ahead as a preferred medium that reaches, holds, and engages customers on their home computers, tablets, and smartphones.  And primes the pump for – ultimately – the sale.

The truth is: We humans love watching videos.  To laugh.  To learn.  To ogle.  To shop.  To find the best price.  To keep up with the conversation at the water cooler.  And to stay in the mainstream.   Your customers are curling up at night with their mobile devices.  To surf.  To “Play”.  And to watch.  Play.  Watch.  Repeat.  Play.  Watch.  Repeat.  And because everyone is watching videos – guess what Google is looking for?  Videos!  Have you ever performed a Google search and noticed that a video link always pops up in the first few results?  Video gets you noticed.

A leader in measuring the digital world, comScore, released data recently from its comScore Video Metrix service, showing that “183 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in November (2011) for an average of 20.5 hours per viewer.  The total U.S Internet audience viewed for 40.9 billion videos.”  Other notable findings from November 2011 include: “85.9 percent of the U.S. Internet audience view online video,” and “the duration of the average online content video was 5.5 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.”

As a dealership, you’ve got to put your product front and center in the visual field of your customers.  And doing that, most strategically, means presenting your inventory via online video on your websites.  Video can showcase each vehicle in your inventory, from floor mats to moon roof, from wipers to wheel wells, and everything in between.  Videos can show vehicle specs, features, fuel economy stats, cargo capacity, safety components.  You name it on a vehicle, and video can spotlight it.

Your dealership’s video can boast slick images, professional narration, and data overlays, and be underscored with music that complements each make and model.  Your videos can feature satisfied customers giving their testimonials and endorsement of your dealership.  They can be educational to help your customers master vehicle operation and maintenance steps – or they can show feel-good footage of a community event sponsored by your dealership and its dedicated colleagues.  Your video can walk your customers through a virtual tour of your multi-faceted dealership to give them a sneak peak of all that you have to offer.  Best of all, your videos can easily be shared by your customers with their friends, family, and coworkers.

Play.  Watch.  Repeat.

To put a new twist on an old joke – What’s the last thing a customer says before he buys?  “Hey, watch this.”

Brian Cox is president and CEO at Dealer Impact Systems and can be reached at b.cox@dealerimpact.com or at (877) 334-9638. 

Picture this—an ad for your dealership on the world’s leading social networking site with over 150 million users in the United States.  Now envision a truly relevant, interactive ad that is precisely targeted and customized to reach the Facebook pages of the exact demographics groups you select—created and combined with monthly performance monitoring, analysis, and strategy management so you can continually fine-tune your approach to achieve your evolving marketing goals.  The result: super-targeted ads that generate more “Likes” and traffic, and ultimately, more revenue opportunities for your dealership.

Introducing The “Like” Accelerator Service

With the “Like” Accelerator Service, your ads are created, targeted, monitored, managed, and adjusted, as needed, to maximize effectiveness on the ever-expanding universe of Facebook.  In seconds, you can exclusively pinpoint which customers or potential customers you want to reach—all by specific groupings, such as:

• Age
• Gender
• Location radius
• Workplace
• Education
• Interests
• What they like—and what they’re talking about on Facebook
• Your dealership’s current fans or customers
• Or individuals who are not yet fans or customers

Your dealership’s color logo, active “Like” button, and promotional messages stand out in the right column on the Facebook pages of your targeted users.  When a user clicks the “Like” button in your ad, they automatically begin receiving daily News Feeds from your dealership on their profile page—which provides yet another vital touch point to share your unique deals, discounts, rebates, and specials with users.

The “Like” Accelerator Service gives your dealership the power to:

• Leverage the unparalleled distribution potential of your dealership’s ad on Facebook
• Handpick the targeted audience members who can see and respond to your dealership’s ad
• Accelerate “Likes” and interaction from those who view your ad
• Deliver customized, call-to-action messages to the right individuals at the right time—who can share word-of-mouth details about your dealership with their friends, family, and coworkers

• Identify promotional opportunities through ongoing ad consultation to further target specific groups to optimize impact and response
• Deepen your dealership’s Facebook presence through highly-focused, strategic marketing
• Generate engagement online that translates offline into increased leads and revenue opportunities for your dealership

The “Like” Accelerator Service is available to you as a cost-effective standalone service, or as an add-on option for any of our existing R1, R2, R3, and R4 Digital Marketing and Social Media Packages.  The Service is standard as part of our R5 and R6 Full-Service Packages.

To learn more about leveraging the “Like” Accelerator Service for your dealership, please call Dealer Impact Systems today at 877-334-9638, or send email to us at innovation@dealerimpact.com.

Posted by Brian Cox on December 13, 2011

Gone are the days when the big three of traditional media marketing—newspaper, radio, and television—had exclusive dibs on every last penny of a dealership’s marketing budget.  True, those old-school mediums still hold a place in a dealership’s overall marketing spend.  But, make no mistake—they’re fast being reduced to a lesser role as the majority of marketing dollars are being earmarked for digital and social media initiatives at dealerships of all sizes across the country.

The seismic shift from traditional marketing to digital marketing is being driven by progressive, forward-thinking dealerships, who are tipping the scales in favor of stores that take calculated and strategic steps to capitalize on digital marketing’s vast reach, immediacy, and cost-effective benefits.

“Digital marketing is eclipsing traditional media,” said John Roth, internet director at Roseville Toyota-Scion in Sacramento, CA—northern California’s largest Toyota-certified pre-owned store.  “It completed the waxing stage—and traditional media is waning.”  Roth notes that over the last five years, the dealership has shifted from a mix of 20 percent electronic and 80 percent traditional media marketing to approximately 60 percent digital marketing and about 40 percent traditional.  ”Up to 70 percent of our dealership’s sales can be attributed to web-based media, digital and social media, Facebook, and Twitter.  Five to 10 years ago, it was the other way around—30 percent from digital and 70 percent from newspaper, radio, and TV advertising,” said Roth.

Why make the shift from traditional media to a digital media marketing focus?  “It’s the same reason why we did away with the horse and buggy and got into transportation in automobiles,” said Roth.  “The writing is on the wall.  It’s the 21^st century, and this is the way we’re doing business.”

 Whatever the size, inventory, or location of your dealership—whether it’s a family-run Mom-and-Pop operation or a sprawling franchise mega store—incorporating digital and social media ventures into your overall marketing mix is flat-out crucial to a dealership’s ability to compete and survive in today’s environment.

Digital marketing boasts a host of attributes.  It’s affordable.  It’s immediate.  And it’s more targeted, more trackable, and can deliver more substantial value to your dealership by facilitating true interactive engagement and building long-term relationships with your customers.  Online marketing offers countless, ongoing opportunities for personalized, one-to-one communication and genuine give-and-take interaction with your customers—while at the same time spreading the word, far and wide, about your dealership through strategic content syndication in the digital realm.

“We started the transition from traditional to digital marketing in 2009—because that’s the future,” said Mark Cowart, general manager of Car City West in Des Moines, IA, a dealership with a five-star rating on Google Places.  “There’s no benefit to newspaper anymore.  I’m not doing any print.  I’m getting rid of radio.  We’ll have 10 percent TV ads and 90 percent digital marketing.  We drive 70 percent of my customers through digital,” he said.  “The number of people who shop online before they buy a car has grown considerably—and soon roughly 90 to 95 percent of people who own a computer will be shopping the Internet before they walk into a store to buy a car,” he added.  When it comes to adopting digital marketing, Cowart said, “I have no fear factor to it.  I want to be the creator, the innovator—I don’t want to be the follower.  If you’re not in the digital marketing and social media game, you’re hurting your profits.”

Your customers and potential customers are in the digital space daily—and that’s where your dealership has to be.

Behold.  The next frontier is here.  And it is digital.

Brian Cox is president and CEO at Dealer Impact Systems and can be reached at b.cox@dealerimpact.com or at (877) 334-9638.