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I have been following the Cash for Clunkers bill for a few months and decided to create a handful of blogs to capture the potential consumer response to the bill if it was approved.  My early work writing about the Cash for Clunkers bill has been rewarded.  We had created a number of blogs because the official name of the program was fluctuating between “Cash for Guzzlers” and “Cash for Clunkers”.

One of our websites hit the mark.  www.cashforclunkersfacts.com that now has over 40,000 page views a day and has helped thousands of consumers learn about the bill.  The website has also helped over 500+ forward thinking car dealers better position themselves in Google search.  

Dealers everyday are being added to our blog’s marketing directory because of our organic search visibility.  If you type the word “Cash for Clunkers” and then add any state name or any car brand, our website will most likely be on Google Page One search results.

• Cash for Clunkers Florida – Page #1
• Cash for Clunkers Ford -  Page #1
• Cash for Clunkers Toyota – Page #1
• Cash for Clunkers Phoenix – Page #1
• Cash for Clunkers Bill – Page #1
• Cash for Clunkers Program – Page #1

Our website has assisted consumers with specific questions about the program by directing them to the right answers.  Often those consumers concerns were best answered by directing them to the NHTSA hot-line.  We have also provided the most active consumer forum to discuss the Car Allowance Rebate System.  Our WordPress blog project is the perfect example of how Internet marketing professionals can help our government launch a consumer facing program.

The Cash for Clunkers bill empowered the NHTSA to administer the $1 billion in funding and they created the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS).  The official government website is http://www.cars.gov.  Our non-government consumer blog and forum is most likely the second most visited website in the USA about the consumer clunker credit program.  We are working side by side to help consumers learn about the program.

Hundreds of car dealers have contacted us to be listed in our free marketing directory.  Many others have called us to promote their dealership with press releases, corporate profile pages and lead generation.  We believe that the services the PCG Digital Marketing offers will deliver the best return on their investment.  In addition to our services we have recommend the excellent third party services offered by Cubic Marketing and ADP Digital Marketing.

Cash for Clunkers Marketing

Here are some things that we have learned from this project and past marketing efforts on a national scale:

1. Many car dealers were reluctant to spend any money in advance of the official start of the program despite our urging that the “early bird” gets rewarded in Google organic search. 
2. In this economy car dealers are not in the mood to take unnecessary financial risks. The uncertainty on how the CARS program would work chilled their heels on spending and continues to hold back funding until the final rules are released on July 24, 2009.
3. Organic search optimizatioon takes advance planning. Car dealers have been late to that game because of their cautious stance on this program.
4. Being late to organic search optimization increases car dealer online advertising costs because accelerated visibility is more costly.
5. Car dealers as late as today (7/15) have called us to say that they are now ready to start online marketing and that they have not done anything yet to connect with local consumers or customers about the program. 
6. Regardless of how well we predicted the future in this one case, car dealers are very cautious on increasing their advertising budgets on new things.
7. Database mining of existing customer databases as well as sources like Polk may providing the best lists to target for mailers and telemarketing calls.
8. Our consumer data collected on www.CashforClunkersFacts.com was the first published study of what models consumers would be trading in and what brands they were most likely to purchase.  This data should be guiding car dealer data mining efforts.

No Sure Things for Automotive SEO

As we look back at previous national marketing campaigns that we were asked to create, not all have been as successful as the Cash for Clunkers program.  When BMW announced that they would bring the BMW 128i and 135i to the United States we created the #1 websites for the search phrases “bmw 128i” and “bmw 135i”.

When BMW announced the final pricing on these cars the air was let out of the Internet marketing balloon.  In this case having the #1 website in Google nationally doesn’t make a difference if a car is in tight supply and is priced to compete with the 3 series.   

We are grateful that most of our organic marketing campaigns have generated great traffic for our clients that have delivered a strong ROI.

Car dealers would would like to leverage the power of our WordPress microsites for sales, service or parts should give us a call at 732-450-8200.

The consumer interest in the Cash for Clunkers (CFC) program is  red hot.  If your dealership is not preparing for the Cash for Clunkers program start date (July 1st) you better get moving.  Some consumers have been holding back to purchase a new car as they waited to see if the bill would pass the House and Senate votes.  Thursday, Senate Republicans failed to strip the Cash for Clunkers provision from the wartime spending bill.  Now, it’s a green light to the President’s desk.

The bill is all but signed and it is attached to the wartime spending bill that has to be signed. Dealers can start to prepare and educate their staff on the program.  The big problem for car dealers is that while the program starts on July 1st, there is no define systems in place outlining how they will get paid. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will be picking a vendor to implement the dealer back-end system this week.

Car dealers will have to prepare for the “float” of monies that will be due to them as cars are sold.  A car dealership selling 100 cars in the first 30 days could have close to a half a million dollars owed to them.  Aside from the money issues, dealers need to prepare for the storage and salvaging of the cars that are traded.  The process and paperwork has not been defined for qualifying trade-ins yet so it looks like dealers will have to stockpile these cars until it is clear what paperwork and validation must be in place before the car can be scrapped.

Cash for Clunkers: Holiday or Headache?

For a sales professionals in high demand brands (see below), Cash for Clunkers will be a holiday celebration.  For dealer principles, this will be a compliance headache as well as added liability.  From data collected from www.cashforclunkersfacts.com the top 10 brands that consumers have indicated they will buy are:

1. Toyota 18.2%
2. Honda 14.7%
3. Ford 13.3%
4. Chevrolet 10.1%
5. Nissan 5.4%
6. Hyundai 4.1%
7. Dodge 3.6%
8. Volkswagen 3.3%
9. Acura 3.2%
10. Kia 2.9%

 To view the top 20 list visit: Cash for Clunkers Top 20 List

Cash for Clunkers Website

The website the Pasch Consulting Group was asked to create to help car dealers and consumers with the Cash for Clunkers program has been a great success. We are responding to over 100 emails and 200 calls per day from people asking about the Cash for Clunkers program.

For car dealers, we have created a National Cash for Clunkers Dealer directory and a Participating Dealer logo to display on your website.  The directory is voluntary of course and will not replace the registration that dealers will have to do with the federal government.  To be added to the directory follow these instructions: 3 Steps for CFC Directory

We have also made up some free CFC banners branded with your dealership car brands, if you want to use them in email blasts or on your website.  Logos and banners are free.   Banners can be download on Vox.

Consumers Aware of Cash for Clunkers Program

On Friday June 19, 2009 we had over 65,000 visitors to the www.cashforclunkersfacts.com website which confirms that consumers are aware and ready to purchase a new car with their Cash for Clunkers voucher.

For additional information on the Cash for Clunkers program, read our FAQ sheet which gets updated almost daily.  Cash for Clunkers Answers