News

The Digital Dealer Conference being held  from November 1-3rd will cover the latest strategies needed for Internet Sales Managers to compete and succeed.  Included in a full roster of expert speakers are Matt Clark and Tim Jennings, experts in the field of advanced Automotive Internet marketing strategies for managers.

Brian Pasch, CEO of the PCG Digital Marketing, will also be a speaker at this year’s Conference and will provide tactical advice for Internet Sales Managers (ISM) on how to use quality content to draw in more local customers and first party leads.  Brian’s blog at http://www.dealer-seo.com is a popular destination for ISM’s to learn about Automotive SEO.

The position of Internet Sales Manager (ISM) is now a strategic role for a majority of car dealers as the convert their off-line marketing tactics into a full-fledged online marketing campaign.  Clark and Jennings will both discuss where and when to advertise on the Internet and how to make the Internet marketing department the most powerful weapon in a dealer’s repertoire of sales tools. 

Matt Clark is a senior e-Business consultant for the Reynolds Consulting Group, and has over 20 years automotive retail experience. An early advocate of using the Internet to drive sales, increase revenue and maintain positive customer relationships, he also has expertise in using the Internet to generate new business. Clark has launched numerous successful Internet departments and has hands-on consulting experience in over 550 dealerships in the past six years.

Matt most recently functioned as a liaison for a major OEM in an expansive west coast market, raising Internet close rates, accelerating lead response time, and creating revenue for both dealers and the manufacturers.

Clark’s seminar will show attendees how to craft e-mail templates that get  responses, use free technology to gain market share, sell more cares in less time over the Internet and more.

Tim Jennings has 18 years of automotive selling experience. Jennings welcomed the task of running an Internet based marketing department in 1999 and built it into one of the best returns on the dollar departments at his dealership. He spoke at the 2007, 2008 and 2009 Digital Dealer Spring Conferences.

Jennings will showcase free and easy to use Internet technology that Internet sales managers can use to boost their relationships with shoppers and increase the likelihood of sales in a competitive environment.

This year’s Digital Dealer Conference takes place in Nashville, TN, November 1^st-3^rd. 

Car dealers who would like to learn more about the Digital Dealer Conference or wish to register to attend can visit http://www.digitaldealerconference.com/ for more information.

On June 25, 2009 the stakes to be in the Cash for Clunkersadvertising game just got higher.  Google Adwords costs skyrocketed over 1000% in a matter of days; I was able to get my ads in position one, Google page one for 12 cents a click,  before Obama signed the bill. 

The only consistent advertisers for the term Cash for Clunkers in the prior weeks was Edmunds.com and our company for www.cashforclunkersfacts.com.  Now the page is filled with Pay-Per-Click ads from national brands; some have good ads and others do not.   I’m surprised that some manufacturers have PPC ads going to landing pages that just suck.  

I think GM and Ford are doing to best job  with Cash for Clunkers landing pages right now and Mazda is one of the worst.  Their landing page doesn’t even mention the CARS program.

Automotive Microsites

Our advance planning was rewarded us well which shows that WordPress automotive microsites can compete with the big boys if you plan in advance.  In fact one day our website received over 70,000 vistors and is now averaging over 40,000 visitors a day.  This is good news because the program has not even started and we are on Google Page One, in the top spot for the term “Cash for Clunkers”.

We are also at the top of the search results for other related phrases like:

• Cash for Clunkers Florida
• Cash for Clunkers Ford
• Cash for Clunkers Chevrolet
• Cash for Clunkers Toyota
• Cash for Clunkers Fort Worth

First Responders Get Rewarded in Automotive SEO

Brian Pasch has been advocating for the last two months that dealers get a jump start on the bill through blog articles on Automotive Digital Marketing, Driving Sales, Automotive SEO as well as this website.  Few dealers were willing to step out in advance of the bill becoming signed into law.  Those who took my advice are at the top of organic search results.

We were the first company to come up with a marketing logo to help car dealers communicate with consumers about the upcoming legislation.  Today, hundreds of car dealers are using our marketing logo to draw attention to the program and get consumers to call.  We have offered to use of the logo to as many companies related to the auto industry as have contacted us for permission.  Dealers can download logo here.

You can go to Google and Type “Cash for Clunkers Phoenix” and see that Bell Honda is #1 in the state for ALL brands.  If you type into Google “Honda Cash for Clunkers Arizona“  you will see that Bell Honda is #1 again.  Hats off to Travis Holt for his foresight into planning ahead for strong Honda car sales in Arizona.

Budget For SEO and SEM

Car dealers know that the official start date of the CARS program will not be until the end of July.  That gives dealers approximately three weeks from today to put in a plan that can have some real search visibility by the end of July.

Dealers should consider building an organic marketing plan today as well as budgeting for an SEM campaign.  We have seen some impressive SEM ideas from ADP that dealers should consider.  You can contact Ralph Paglia about ADP advertising packages that can be up and running quickly.

The PCG Digital Marketing can assist dealers with on-site and off-site SEO strategies like press releases, blogging and dealer profile pages on www.cashforclunkersfacts.com. A dealer profile page is optimized for your brand, state and city.  Here are two examples of dealer profile pages:

• http://www.cashforclunkersfacts.com/dealers/california/nissan-cars/los-angeles
• http://www.cashforclunkersfacts.com/dealers/texas/chevy-cars/fort-worth-chevrolet-cash-for-clunkers 

In the end, our marketing plan was to educate consumers and to motivate those with an old clunker to get in and buy a new car with the limited time offer that CARS presents to consumers.  If you need help implementing an effective online organic marketing plan, call us at 732-450-8200