AdAgencyOnline.Net

Automotive advertising agencies are being asked to deliver more for less by a consolidating auto industry in response to reduced sales volume, profit margins and automotive advertising budgets.  The solution, as is often the case, lies in the leveraged use of technology applied to a constant in automotive advertising and the auto industry that it serves — change.  Another constant that can be found in automotive advertising is human nature.  These two constants, change and human nature,  power the explosive growth of the use of social media by automotive advertising agencies.  Unfortunately, the change is happening at warp speed on the Internet Super Highway and automotive advertising agencies don’t know what they don’t know when it comes to new automotive advertising technologies and applications being developed to monetize social media.

Attempts by automotive advertising agencies to provide a presence for automobile dealers on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter fall short for the same reasons that these online communities of friends are so successful with consumers.  People hate car dealers and they often turn to advice from likeminded consumers on social networking sites to get away from them.  Automotive advertising agencies that impose on these personal conversations with self serving sales messages are often ostracized and even virally attacked as an intruder.  The potential damage to the online reputation of their auto dealer clients represents a risk to reward formula that has forced many automotive advertising agencies to abandon social media as a viable channel to deliver a retail sales or service message.

Fortunately, the same social media that teaches consumers how to buy a vehicle can provide automobile dealers with the information and the tools that they need to sell them one.   Social networking portals developed by likeminded automotive advertising agencies, automotive advertising vendors and auto dealers allow their members to share best practices with the common philosophy that a rising tide floats all boats. 

Philip Zelinger, the President of Ad Agency Online, L.L.C. and the host of the automotive advertising resource / networking portal AdAgencyOnline.net, discussed a number of auto industry focused social networking sites on the blog talk radio station WAAOL – All Automotive Advertising News All The Time featured on AdAgencyOnline.Net.  “I host a network of networker in a special section hosted on AdAgencyOnline.Net titled Auto Industry Insiders.  Contributing member sites include Ralph Paglia’s AutomotiveDigitalMarketing.Com, Jared Hamilton’s DrivingSales.Com, Brian Pasch’s InternetSalesmanager.Org, Chris Saraceno’s DealerElite.Net, Jody Devere’s AskPatty.Com, Keith Whann’s Auttr.Com and Scott Monty’s ScottMonty.Com.  Each online community boasts its own personality and rules of the road to keep members in their lane.  The temptation to sell to each other is controlled by the same social pressures that exist on consumer facing social networks for those that forget why they are there — to listen and learn so they can presume to teach their auto dealers how they can sell cars and service to their online friends.”

In addition to sharing best practices, many automotive advertising agencies use social media to discover new automotive advertising technologies and vendor applications that have not yet been discovered by the mainstream automotive advertising industry.  New automotive advertising platforms and vendor clients that Philip Zelinger sourced from his searches on social media include SiSTeR Technologies Video CarLot – an automated video production platform that produces scalable interactive videos from pictures using human voice to narrate them that are placed on the auto dealer’s website and pushed through a dedicated API with You Tube onto the WWW.  An equally revolutionary discovery claimed by Philip to have been discovered using social media was ronsmap.com — a consumer centric inventory marketing platform that offers auto dealers free listings and free leads with the ability to purchase real time market analytics and social networking profiles that empower the salesperson to answer the customer’s questions even before they ask them.   

Each of these vendor applications were introduced to the market through automotive advertising social networking communities that enabled them to listen and learn from their members about how they can improve their products and services before they introduced them to the general market.  Philip claimed that his access to these automotive advertising solutions and new vendor clients of Ad Agency Online was only possible as a result of the time he invested on social media looking for them so that he could stay one step ahead of the competition.

Online blog talk radio stations hosted on automotive advertising networking portals — such as AAOL featured on AdAgencyOnline.Net — provide a another social media forum for finding and reviewing new automotive advertising solutions.  Regularly scheduled blog talk radio shows with live interviews of the developers of bleeding edge automotive advertising applications allow their online audience to ask vendors questions in an open forum.  These open exchanges of ideas in a problem solution format help the vendors as much as the automotive advertising decision makers that follow the shows.  A new mobile sales presentation platform with an integrated training component — IntellaCar by Hughes Hunter — was recently discussed on a blog talk radio show hosted by Philip Zelinger to solicit feedback from the audience.  Their insights were used to modify the platform before IntellaCar began their beta test it in the real world saving thousands of wasted dollars and man hours that would normally be required to mature their application.

The opportunity for automotive advertising agencies and auto dealers to listen, learn and contribute to social networking communities allows them to discover what they don’t know while allowing them the opportunity to share what they do know.  Auto dealers are people too!  The same efficiencies and extended resources that attract consumers to social media to research their next vehicle purchase is sourced by automotive advertising agencies who need to stay one step ahead of the competition in a consolidating auto industry that demands more for less.  Automotive advertising agencies don’t know what they don’t know but they can definitely find out on auto industry focused social media.  After all, what are friends for! Read the rest of this entry »

AdAgencyOnline.Net is an automotive advertising resource / networking portal hosted by Ad Agency Online, L.L.C., (AAOL).  Philip Zelinger, the President of AAOL and host of the blog talk radio station featured on AdAgencyOnline.Net — WAAOL, All Automotive Advertising News All The Time — shared a simple formula with automotive advertising agencies to help them monetize social media for their auto dealer clients; C2C + B2B = B2C SQUARED.  The formula suggests that Customer to Customer, (C2C), comments coupled with Business to Business, (B2B), cross promotions can virally amplify Business to Customer, (B2C), marketing messages through social networking channels without offending the community.

Philip introduced his solution to use social media to sell vehicles and service during his blog talk radio show — Lunch With Phil Discussing Automotive Advertising.  This open business meeting shares best practices with the affiliated automotive advertising agencies, production partners and select automotive advertising vendors of AAOL.  The agencies are linked by a proprietary online communication / distribution system that allows them to leverage their resources in conventional and digital online advertising; now to include social media.

Social media is a growing phenomenon that has automotive advertising agencies scrambling for a way to use it to sell vehicles and service for their auto dealer clients.  AAOL represents a number of automotive advertising vendors who have developed applications that integrate social media with conventional and digital media by applying proven old world wisdom to new world technology.    Automotive advertising agencies are anxious to use social media without offending the social networking communities who consider direct solicitations an intrusion into their ongoing conversations that power the marketplace. Read the rest of this entry »

After twenty five years as a General Manager and Auto Dealer Principal, followed by 10 years as the President of a national network of independent automotive advertising agencies – Ad Agency Online, L.L.C. — I am a self described car guy.  However, my definition of my chosen career and professional identity has been irrevocably altered by technology that has created a paradigm shift in the powers that govern the retail auto industry on many levels.  Fortunately, the changes have all been for the best for those who embrace them to improve on what was, and with the vision of what could/ should be if technology is allowed to integrate old school wisdom with new world opportunities.

I first recognized the impact that technology was having on the retail auto industry when I started using computer driven processes and specialized software applications to enhance internal communications at my auto dealership.  Efficiencies made possible by advanced DMS computer hardware supported by applications that allowed real time management of our P&L coupled with CRM applications, Inventory Management Systems and specialized tools that integrated processes across all departments to maximize my R.O.I. on many levels suggested the role that technology would have on future operations. 

When I transitioned from the retail auto industry into automotive advertising I took my confidence in technology driven processes with me.  I developed an internal communication / distribution system to replicate the inter-department management and monitoring processes that I enjoyed at my auto dealership. I was surprised at the universal nature that it had when applied to the day to day operations of my automotive advertising agency.  Then came the Internet which exponentially increased the power of the computer technology that I had learned to leverage.

I immediately shifted my internal server functions onto more efficient online resources with the advantages of redundancy of data storage for added safety and of course the convenience of remote access from anywhere on the World Wide Web.  The light bulb went off when I recognized the leverage of linking remote facilities with diverse products, services and skill sets to enhance my offerings to my auto dealer clients.  Frankly, at that time I was still focused on using computers and the related technology — even on the Internet — for my own operations.  I operated for seven years with the confidence that I was ahead of the technology curve; until I realized that I wasn’t and that I never would or could be. My first experience in expanded opportunities offered by Internet technologies that extended beyond my own operations was when I hosted an automotive advertising resource networking portal — http://AdAgencyOnline.Net — and the blog talk radio station featured on the portal — WAAOL, All Automotive Advertising News All The Time.

Technology is a moving platform that must constantly evolve to take on new challenges as human nature drives people to seek the path of least resistance in life as well as the marketplace.  As a result, the Internet has created an explosive growth in linked and leveraged resources for auto dealers as well as consumers.  The technology driven change that impacted the retail auto industry the most has been consumer acceptance of the virtual auto dealerships on the Internet Super Highway vs. the less efficient brick and mortar facilities on car row.

Online shoppers now represent 93% of today’s car buyers who prefer to bypass the auto dealer and their automotive advertising agency’s self serving marketing messages — real or imagined in both the real and the virtual world — to get the information that they need to choose a new or pre-owned vehicle as well as the auto dealer that they want to purchase it from.  The impact on established selling systems and required skill sets and resources for auto dealers who wish to remain competitive has created new opportunities for some and unforeseen challenges for many.

The Internet and technology has leveled the playing field for small independent auto dealerships to compete with larger better capitalized operations.  The multimillion dollar facility and six figure monthly advertising budgets that allowed large dealer groups to dominate conventional media and community recognition have been equalized by the efficiencies and reduced costs offered by Internet showrooms and integrated selling processes anchored by much smaller real world facilities with less staff and inventory.  Virtual showrooms can be built and managed for a few thousand dollars per month vs. a monthly debt service and operational expense to manage and  maintain a brick and mortar facility that can easily run into six figures.  The obvious savings in expense and exposure can be passed onto consumers who are demanding more for less in their vehicle purchase.  The trickledown effect is that auto dealers must demand more for less not only through expense reductions at their facilities but from their automotive advertising agency in the form of reduced fees and advertising budgets to preserve bottom line profits.

Fortunately, forward thinking automotive advertising agencies can realize similar efficiencies in delivering their marketing messages through new media channels in a variety of new lanes on the Internet Super Highway.  Conventional media such as radio, T.V. and newspaper have proven formulas to monitor results that rely on reach, frequency, cost per point, cost per impression, etc. to maximize R.O.I.  Fortunately, many of the same philosophies can be applied to Internet based marketing, however, the rules of the road on the Internet Super Highway are very different than in the real world and in some cases they draw inverse conclusions with varying results.

For example, social networking is not a new phenomenon since it relies on the fact that human beings are social animals.  Selling to friends, neighbors, relatives and personal spheres of influence has always been part of any professional sales process, however, the Internet and related applications have created efficiencies and challenges that are just now being realized.  The efficiencies are evidenced by the explosive growth of social networking sites like Face Book, Twitter, My Space and personal access to the Internet with blogs and individual websites.  The challenges are less obvious but equally important since a single mistake that used to impact one sale or a small group of shared friends is now amplified on the World Wide Web as it is virally distributed to millions of potential customers.

Applications that can insulate auto dealers from making mistakes in social media are being developed that are expanding the opportunity for those who apply them.  DealerMouth.Com, for example, is a new application that allows an auto dealer to empower their sales staff to develop their own websites to market to past, present and pending customers with a centralized dashboard that monitors content before it goes live onto the Internet.  The auto dealer hosts the individual sites and links them to his own information resources, such as inventory and related marketing material, while managing and monitoring the sales person’s activities to make sure that they fit established guidelines as to content as well as limiting use of the linked social networking sites to business related activities.  Additional site analytics are available that compare individual activities on the site to share best practices amongst the staff, develop training processes and monitor make-a-deal meetings to quantify the R.O.I. realized by the auto dealer in his social networking activities. Monetizing social networking is the challenge of the day, and applications like DealerMouth provide a simple solution that is both cost effective and easily scalable to apply to staff in vehicle sales or fixed operations.

Leveraging and monetizing social networking beyond the auto dealer’s staff is also available through technology driven Internet solutions like the game changing car buying/selling search portal — ronsmap.com.  ronsmap serves consumers and auto dealers alike with market intelligent leads that maximize the R.O.I. for the dealer by engaging consumers via social networking while empowering consumers to more efficiently select the vehicle and dealer that serves their needs. 

Search engine fatigue is a recognized phenomenon that is created by the endless lists of individual vehicles that are presented by the search engines — like Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc. — as well as conventional third party vehicle inventory marketing portals — like AutoTrader.Com, Vehix.Com, Edmonds.Com, etc. — after applying their filters based on key words entered by the online shopper.  ronsmap is configured like Google Maps with geo-targeted zones reflecting every vehicle for sale in concentric circles from the online shoppers’ location identified by the IP address of the computer that accesses the site.  Rather than presenting vertical pages of individual vehicles in the selective order prioritized by paid premium positions or enhanced S.E.O. techniques applied by the dealer, ronsmap aggregates every vehicle for sale on the Internet horizontally on a map with vehicle listings sourced through direct data feeds from participating auto dealers as well as for sale by owner listings supplemented by their proprietary ontology semantic extraction and indexing process that functions like a mini-Google search engine focused exclusively on new and pre-owned vehicles.   The result is a level playing field for all automobile dealers and private sellers that allows consumers to easily find, select and compare new and pre-owned vehicles of every make and model for sale in a pre-determined distance from their home or office.

Even more uniquely, ronsmap has integrated social networking feature functionality that allows consumers to solicit opinions from their online friends to help them make a buying decision.  Their vBack application pushes the information on the vehicles that the ronsmap shopper selects directly to their personal social networking communities.  In addition to the community voice that this solicitation generates, Google has learned to weight real time social media messages in their search algorithms to enhance the relevancy of their customers’ searches which further extends the S.E.O. of the posting dealer to the entire World Wide Web.  The back end analytics available on the site which is made available to the posting auto dealers provides them with a social networking profile of the online shopper as well as real time viral coefficients associated with the messages sourced from vBack that quantify the R.O.I. realized by the dealer through the extended social networking activities provided by ronsmap.  The added reach and frequency of message provided by these integrated applications extend the online footprint of the dealer and improve the shopping experience for the consumer in a win-win scenario that was not available before the Internet and this related technology was developed.  More relevantly to this article, the entire process is built on proven characteristics of human nature that have survived onto the Internet. 

The leveraged resources that it takes to sell more vehicles, for less money, with fewer staff and dedicated resources could not have come at a better time.  Automotive advertising agencies that apply these cutting edge technologies designed to accommodate consumers in a pull/push manner on the Internet vs. old world push/pull marketing methods are already picking up market share.  When the market comes back — and it will — these same agencies will be positioned to better serve their auto dealer clients through their use of technology powered by social media that leverages human nature to maximize the R.O.I. for their auto dealer clients.