AdAgencyOnline.Net

AdAgencyOnline.Net is an automotive advertising resource / networking portal that finds and reviews cutting edge automotive advertising applications for automotive advertising agencies.  Philip Zelinger, the President of Ad Agency Online, L.L.C. and host of the blog talk radio station – WAAOL, All Automotive Advertising News All The Time – featured on AdAgencyOnline.Net, will be reviewing DealerFire in an interview with their founder Eric Hoopman on the Automotive Advertising Experts show airing Friday, November 05th., 2010.  The show is scheduled from 12:00 Noon EST to 12:30 PM EST.  It promises to provide valued insights into the unique features and benefits that earned DeaklerFire their recent AWA award presented in a private ceremony preceding The 9th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas. 

Philip Zelinger explained his reasons for selecting DealerFire to review on the Automotive Advertising Experts show which is often a prelude to being featured as a preferred automotive advertising vendor for the automotive advertising agencies that support the online networking portal. “I was surprised when DealerFire received their AWA award presented by Brian Pasch at his recent ceremony preceding The 9th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition.  Brian is a nationally respected S.E.O. expert who is also a contributor to our shared network of networkers featured in a special section on AdAgencyOnline.net titled Auto Industry Insiders.  I figured that if DealerFire was good enough for Brian it was good enough for me.  Frankly, I was embarrassed by the fact that I didn’t know anything about them.  This Friday’s interview with their founder Eric Hoopman should fix that oversight for me and mine to learn about him and his.  After all, what are friends, and WAAOL for!” 

About Eric Hoopman

Eric Hoopman, graduated from the University of San Diego in the late 90s and has been in the technology sector ever since. Founding an internet marketing firm, may seem like an unorthodox path for a USD grad who majored in French, however,  Eric was already envisioning how the Internet could shape business.

In 1999, Eric launched Neleven, a company dedicated to providing quality custom websites.  After Neleven helped their first automobile dealership create a successful online presence, Eric launched DealerFire in 2004. Today, Eric’s passion for eCommerce motivates the award-winning DealerFire group to take inspiration from and to integrate with the best practices from web platforms both automotive and beyond.

About DealerFire

Through its flagship Engine 5 Custom Automotive Website Platform, DealerFire is connecting thousands of internet car shoppers every day with car dealerships throughout the US and Canada.

Founded in 1999, DealerFire is leading the industry in innovative and award winning custom automotive websites. With a complete suite of cutting edge user friendly website features, along with advanced SEO, SEM and analytic tools, DealerFire is paving the way for automotive dealerships to sell more cars. Based in Oshkosh, WI DealerFire’s commitment to unparalleled customer service and good old fashioned values has placed them as a forerunner in today’s highly competitive website design commerce currently serving hundreds of dealerships nationwide who have turned to DealerFire as their solution for their online marketing needs.

For more information visit http://www.dealerfire.com or call 877.828.9719. Read the rest of this entry »

Philip Zelinger, the President of Ad Agency Online, L.L.C. and the host of the automotive advertising resource / networking portal AdAgencyOnline.Net, will be reviewing Advanta-STAR for his affiliated automotive advertising agencies during an interview with the President of Advanta-STAR, Withan Lemmon, on the blog talk radio station WAAOL, All Automotive Advertising News All The Time featured on AdAgencyOnline.Net.  The interview is scheduled for The Lunch With Phil Discussing Automotive Advertising show that is airing on Monday, November 01st, 2010 from 12:00 Noon EST to 12:30 PM EST.

Philip explained his reason for reviewing Advanta-STAR for consideration as a preferred automotive advertising vendor.  “My self delegated role in Ad Agency Online is to find and review cutting edge automotive advertising vendors and applications for consideration by our affiliated automotive advertising agencies to benefit their auto dealer clients.  I discovered Advanta-STAR at The 9th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition and I instantly recognized the value of their competitive comparisons for my clients.   There is a trend by independent vendors to link complimentary  applications into more comprehensive platform solutions and/or to share proprietary technologies or data and Advanta-STAR may prove to be a perfect marriage for some of our dealer/vendor clients that is worth considering.”

About Withan Lemmon 

Withan is described on Advanta-STAR as a “Self-made, self-educated automotive expert, computer programmer and marketing guru.  He is the founder of the only feature-benefit comparison company in the world. Primary creator of the most advanced computerized automotive expert system ever.”

Withan also produced and co-hosted an automotive consumer call-in radio show in the Metro New Orleans Market that aired on Saturdays from 12 – 1 PM.  He was a successful sales representative at Bergeron Chrysler-Plymouth after serving as the Trainer/Inventory Manager at Ray Brandt Dodge. 

Withan was also a walk-around regional winner for Chrysler multiple times.  He served as a consultant to Chrysler in the 1990’s which provided him the experience and insights needed to develop Advanta-STAR and earned him his current position as a national walk-around judge for a publicly traded automotive retail chain.

About Advanta-STAR

Advanta-STAR has been in business under the same management continually for nineteen years and has an excellent reputation with all of its customers. They collect every type of specification, test and statistic on all new cars and light trucks. They use this collection to carefully review all the advantages of every vehicle, documented, with hard data and third-party tests. This material is prepared on a complete cross section of the competition: over 30 competitors on most vehicles. 

Every area of customer concern is covered, including:

• Safety (6 types of crash tests, safety features, statistics)
• Warranty
• Reliability (Features, J.D. power and Consumer Reports statistics)
• Engine (horsepower, torque, acceleration data)
• Transmission (number of gears, gear control)
• Drive Train
• Brakes and Stopping (Stopping distances, brake specifications, features)
• Tires and Wheels
• Suspension and Handling (Specifications, features and magazine handling tests in grip, slalom and emergency lane change)
• Chassis
• Passenger Space
• Cargo Space
• Towing
• Payload
• Servicing Ease
• Ergonomics (Features, design)
• Model Availability
• Economic Advantages (Insurance costs, resale value, maintenance costs, repair costs)
• Recommendations (Awards, comparison rankings in magazine tests, recommendations, sales figures)

Advanta-STAR is an independent research company that uses third-party sources for test data that provides an exhaustive survey of thousands of features, specifications, test results and statistics.  Advanta-STAR presents a dealer’s advantages objectively, never becoming inflammatory and it helps keep an interested prospect in the dealership longer without coercion or deceit.

Benefits

Advanta-star Consumer Research provides salespeople with a new source of product knowledge that keeps them informed about the competition. It will help to convince customers they are making the right choice, increasing closing ratios and SSI. It builds value in the product, improving gross profit for the dealership and customer satisfaction in their purchase.

It will make dealerships more profitable, helping them to invest in areas that retain professional salespeople and enhance customer satisfaction. It promotes pride in the dealership’s products for the entire staff.  Advanta-STAR can be used to enhance your dealership advertising, driving advertising with product more than price.

References

Southeast Toyota Distributors has continuously used Advanta-STAR Consumer Research in their dealerships since 1997. Many of the dealership standards in SET dealerships are based upon Advanta-STAR and its use.

Subaru of America, Inc. has utilized Advanta-STAR for its training and advertising.

The GMMDA lists Advanta-STAR as a preferred vendor. Read the rest of this entry »

The consolidation of the auto industry was in response to free market conditions reacting to a weakening economy accelerated by government intervention that many believe went beyond the rules of law.  The impact on auto dealers and the businesses that served them in their surrounding communities was immediate as they were shuttered by the thousands.  Automotive advertising agencies and technology vendors serving the retail automobile industry were similarly affected, however, the resulting changes are only now coming to light.

Philip Zelinger, the President of Ad Agency Online, L.L.C. — a national network of independent affiliated automotive advertising agencies linked by their online communication / distribution system — recently commented on the changing landscape of the automotive advertising industry and the technology vendors that serve it during an interview on the blog talk radio station WAAOL, All Automotive Advertising News All The Time.  WAAOL is hosted on the automotive advertising resource / networking portal AdAgencyOnline.Net. 

“The consolidation of the auto industry has forced automotive advertising agencies to take on new areas of responsibility that include integrating sales processes that begin on the virtual showrooms being built on the Internet Super Highway with real world brick and mortar facilities.  The internet has sparked new vendor applications and technologies that have forever changed the role of automotive advertising agencies who are now challenged to insure that the message on the street matches the message on the real and virtual showroom floor.  Technology has always determined the media used to deliver a targeted marketing message with human nature shaping the messages and methods applied by automotive advertising agencies tasked with maximizing the R.O.I. for every automotive advertising dollar.  The Internet and the impact that social media is having on the shopping and buying habits of consumers is being reflected in the emerging technologies and applications focused on providing efficiencies and short term R.O.I. analytics.”

“It is no longer enough for automotive advertising agencies to simply drive customers to their auto dealer client’s websites and/or showrooms.  Until and unless their efforts can be sourced to specific vehicle sales and/or repair orders they have not earned their agency fees.  Fortunately, new vendor applications have been developed to handle the warp speeds that customers are travelling on the Internet Super Highway.  These integrated solutions are being consolidated into comprehensive platforms built on best in class applications that  follow customers all the way to the showroom floor and/or the service drive — and beyond with after sales follow up to improve customer satisfaction and retention. Technology vendors that provide specialized applications for the auto industry have been consolidating their products and services to improve selling processes by linking new and pre-owned vehicle sales with fixed operations.  Efficiencies in processing customer contacts through integrated ILM and CRM systems tied to in store desking applications and DMS platforms allow automotive advertising agencies to manage and monitor customer contacts with a verifiable R.O.I..  This kind of R.O.I. analysis was not possible when these sales and service functions were handled by individual vendor solutions that did not communicate efficiently with each other.”

The consolidation in the automotive advertising technology sector has been evidenced by the increased market penetration by extensive product suites such as those offered by a group of individual vendors that comprise Dominion.  Similar platform solutions have been developed by individual vendors who have extended their products and services to include applications that compliment their initial offerings. 

Philip Zelinger recently interviewed Len Critcher from eCarList on The Automotive Advertising Experts blog talk radio show. The eCarList inventory management / marketing application has been complimented by new offerings that were discussed in detail

About eCarList

eCarList provides web-based inventory management, distribution, and marketing services to over 1,000 leading franchise and independent automotive dealerships nationwide.  The company’s comprehensive product lineup includes Inventory Management, Vehicle Pricing Analytics, Award-Winning Custom Websites, and a full-suite of Online Marketing Services including Search & Behavioral Marketing, Managed Chat, Video Mobile Websites and more. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, eCarList is an eBay Motors Preferred Provider.   For more information, visit www.ecarlist.com.

About TrueMarket Mobile

TrueMarket Mobile is the first and only mobile appraisal and inventory management application on the market to deliver both wholesale and retail data including Cars.com, AutoTrader, eBay, BlackBook, NADA, AuctionNet, Carfax, AutoCheck and more.  All data is complimented with intelligent market data including Market Days Supply, Price Variance, Option Filtering and Real-time competitive views.

Features of the app include an intuitive VIN scanner, VIN paste and quick-adds if you’re away from the vehicle, and direct integration with the eCarList desktop software.  Our dealers have the ability to photograph, price, edit and upload vehicles directly from the App to our inventory management software which instantly updates the website and retail sites.

Another respected vendor that recently expanded their core application into more of a platform solution is Higher Gear.  Philip Zelinger interviewed Robert Gruen, the founder of The Higher Gear Group, on WAAOL to discuss their CRM application and the newly expanded products and services being introduced to compliment their initial application.

The Higher Gear Group Team enhanced their platform under their new Overdrive banner which includes showroom, customer relationship and lead management systems.  The new products and services that have been added to their simple to use CRM — Done Right application include their integrated eZDesk system defined by their slogan — Multipayment Desking Made Easy, their eZBDC — Follow Up Made Easy and other products with descriptive names including their MyGarage — Be-back system, Super form — All-in-one lead generation, Bargain Button — Interactive Offer System and feature functions like their One-click Navigation, Mobile Site solution, Social Media Integration, High-indexing Search Technology, Affiliate Tracking, Dealer Care Proactive Site Maintenance and their Automated Credit Application Integration. 

About The Higher Gear Group

The Higher Gear Group, an industry-leading provider of software and services to the automotive industry, today announced the completion of an investment in the company by an affiliate of H.I.G. Capital, a global private investment firm with more than $7.5 billion of equity under management. Founded in 1998 by industry veteran Robert C. Gruen, The Higher Gear Group provides customer relationship management (CRM) software and related services to automotive dealers throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada. The Company’s software tracks the entire lifecycle of retail automotive customers, facilitating the management, retention and conversion of customer leads at dealerships.

Based in Schaumburg, Illinois, The Higher Gear Group was a pioneer in the automotive CRM sector, developing custom software solutions specifically tailored to address the unique process of selling cars, trucks and other motor vehicles at retail dealerships. The Company’s leading software was rapidly adopted throughout North America by dealerships seeking to realize a higher return on their significant investments in sales and marketing. In the decade between 1999 and 2009, the Company grew its customer base at an average annual rate of 60%, outpacing its competition and establishing itself as the leading independent player in the industry. The Higher Gear Group currently serves customers in 47 of 50 states.

These examples of best in class products and services offered by auto industry focused vendors integrated into platform solutions link vehicles sales and fixed operations to improve efficiencies and provide more comprehensive R.O.I. analytics.  Auto dealers and automotive advertising agencies that have survived the consolidation in the retail auto industry have turned to technology to leverage their limited resources.  The future for auto dealers and automotive advertising agencies clinging to old school business practices without embracing the internet, social media and technologies to maximize the efficiencies that they represent is bleak.  Similarly, vendors serving the auto industry must expand their products and services beyond their initial core products to provide complimentary and integrated solutions or they will be swept aside by platform solutions that address their auto dealer clients needs in a more comprehensive manner. Read the rest of this entry »

Automotive advertising agencies are flocking to The 9th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition to learn about new automotive advertising technologies and applications that will help their auto dealer clients sell more vehicles and service with less staff, inventory and money to advertise.  AdAgencyonline.Net is an automotive advertising resource / networking portal that reviews new technologies and vendor solutions on the Internet.  However, the opportunity to meet the visionaries behind the new technologies driving the automotive advertising industry in the real world is a critical part of the process.  Philip Zelinger, the President of Ad Agency Online, L.L.C. and host of AdAgencyOnline.Net, will be unveiling his latest discovery at the conference, a mobile sales presentation / training platform — IntellaCar — being introduced by his newest vendor client Hughes Hunter.  

Philip described IntellaCar as “The next generation of mobile technology being applied to real world selling processes and sales training.  Their game changing mobile sales presentation / training platform delivers relevant information to a sales consultant wherever and whenever they need it that is always current, always correct and always relevant.  The proprietary information is delivered through an iPhone, iTouch or iPad controlled by the sales consultant in a form and manner that is not available on or through any other venue in the real or the virtual world — including the showroom brochures or even the auto dealers, O.E.M.s or third party websites.  New vehicle information and competitive comparisons include features and benefits that are prioritized to fit the customer’s individual profile delivered in a flexible presentation  designed to sell more vehicles at a higher gross profit.  The ability to empower a sales consultant to stay one step ahead of today’s educated customer as well as the competition is a required tool for a professional salesperson who must command instant credibility with his customer’s to earn their trust and their business — in that order.”

The 9th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition is being held at The Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas October 12th – 14th, 2010.  It features vendor exhibits from nationally recognized providers of products and services to automotive advertising agencies and the auto industry that they serve, along with sessions on a variety of issues that face auto dealers in today’s challenging economy.  Philip Zelinger will be hosting a session at the conference on social media on Wednesday,  October 13th. at 2:30 PM in Room #217 titled — C2C + B2B = B2C SQUARED; Learn How This New Social Media Formula Provides New Revenues, New Efficiencies and Greater Profits. 

In addition to hosting his session, Philip will be walking the vendor exhibit hall to maintain existing relationships while looking for a few new ones.  A number of vendor clients of Ad Agency Online and members of AdAgencyOnline.Net sponsor events at the conference, host sessions and/or set up exhibits to display their products and services.  This year Philip will be introducing Jim Hughes and Bruce Polkes to his affiliated automotive advertising agencies and fellow vendor/dealer clients while allowing them to experience the conference themselves.  Philip anticipates that they will be ready to exhibit IntellaCar at the 10th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition that is already on the drawing board.

Philip’s plans for the conference may serve as a road map for those who want to follow his lead to maximize their own R.O.I. from the event.  Philip provided the following recap of his agenda to share with his affiliated automotive advertising agencies during his most recent blog talk radio show, Lunch With Phil Discussing Automotive Advertising.

“I have been invited to host sessions at the last eight Digital Dealer Conferences and I am excited to have been invited to the 9th. one; and counting!  Ad Agency Online and many of our vendor clients as well as supporters of AdAgencyOnline.Net have set up exhibits in past conferences with great success and a verifiable R.O.I. but this one promises to be the best of the best.  I recently interviewed Susan G. Tyson, the Marketing Director for the conference, on our blog talk radio show Automotive Advertising Experts and she convinced me that the sessions, exhibitors and special events planned in Las Vegas will support our decision to be there.”

“My plans start on Monday evening, October 11th. from 6PM to 8PM at the Japonais Lounge in the lobby of The Mirage Hotel where I will be co-hosting a Pre-Conference Networking Party with Hughes Hunter to start building the buzz around their new mobile sales presentation / training platform appropriately titled Intellacar.  Jim Hughes and Bruce Polkes, co-founders of Hughes Hunter and the visionaries behind Intellacar, will be joining me to share their plans to introduce their game changing solution to empower the sales consultant to stay one step ahead of today’s educated consumers as well as the competition.  They deliver the right information at the right time and in the right place; always current, always correct and always relevant.”

“My day starts early on Tuesday, October 12th. with Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing, while attending his PCG Automotive Website Awards (AWA) that are scheduled at 8:00 AM to kick off the daily events at the conference.  The 2010 Awards Program will add coveted industry awards in a total of three categories: Search, Design, and Technology.” 

“Brian explained that the new award categories are a result of the industry response to the popular Automotive Search Marketing Awards (ASMA) which will continue under the AWA “search” category. The ASMA awards are the standard bearer for recognizing website platforms that excel in organic search.” 

“In the Automotive Website Design category, awards will be given for three classifications of automotive website platforms: dealership websites, manufacturer websites, and third party automotive advertising websites.” 

“In the Automotive Website Technology category website platforms will be evaluated on innovative core technology that stands above their peers. I entered my vendor client ronsmap in this category.  Next year I hope to enter IntellaCar and in my humble opinion they have a shot at winning … so wish us luck!  In the past year the automotive industry has witnessed numerous technological advancements in car dealer websites. Mobile integration, geo-targeted marketing, chat, CRM, and advances in search advertising and all will be considered.” 

“After the AWA I will be hosting a Peer Networking Roundtable at 10:00 AM in room C1 which promises to be a highlight of the conference.  I have registered to conduct the session at the table for Internet Sales Managers / e-Commerce Directors over multiple stores or for e-Commerce Directors of large, multi-point dealer groups.  Experience has taught me that I will be able to
listen and learn from these groups as much as I may presume to teach them and I am looking forward to the experience and shared best practices that will be surfaced in our discussions.”

“I will be visiting many sessions during the day on Tuesday and Wednesday but frankly my real objective is to meet the vendors exhibiting at the conference to renew established relationships and start a few new ones.  I will be walking the isles check book in hand with the expectation that I will bring back some new opportunities for my affiliated automotive advertising agencies to help them better serve their auto dealer clients.  Of course I also have scheduled meetings with some potential new vendor clients for Ad Agency Online so I anticipate some very productive days during the conference for me and mine.”

“Tuesday evening will be taken up by several parties that often represent the most fertile ground for developing new opportunities.  In my opinion, the must attend parties of the night include Ralph Paglia’s ADM party from 8PM to 11PM that he is hosting at his suite followed by one that I am co-hosting with a vendor client, SiSTeR Technologies Video CarLot.  Their party is called The Johnnie Walker Blue Thank You Party also planned in their suite at The Mirage as a V.I.P. party to follow Ralph’s.  The suite numbers won’t be available until we check in on Monday, but suffice it to say that it will be easy to follow the buzz that surrounds them to join in on the fun.”

“Wednesday will be dominated by meetings and filled in by my session on social media scheduled for 2:30 PM in room #217.  I have been told by friends that my title — C2C + B2B = B2C SQUARED — may sound like new math to some attendees but I am confident that the auto dealers and automotive advertising agencies that attend the conference will get it.  The market is a conversation that begins before, during and after a customer makes a buying and/or servicing decision and automotive advertising agencies know that their auto dealer clients must be in it.” 

“In today’s consumer driven world, customer to customer opinions shared by likeminded consumers seeking advice from their online friends coupled with similar online opinions shared in automotive advertising and auto industry facing social networking communities develop an online identity and reputation for auto dealers that virally extends their marketing messages to their customers.  As a result, customer to customer conversations plus business to business networking equals business to customer marketing messages squared.  It’s not as complicated as it sounds once you understand human nature and the customers’ desire to do business with people that they like.  After all, what are friends — and social media — for!”

” My Wednesday evening will be capped off with a party being hosted by Brian Benstock described as a private reception for industry leaders.  I received my invitation from Sean Wolfington, a valued friend and an icon in the auto industry technology sector.  Sean is the C.E.O. of The Wolfington Companies.  The Wolfington Companies own eight technology and marketing companies in the automotive industry. These companies include Level 5 Advertising, Tier 10 Marketing, Vin Solutions, the Automotive Advertising Network, Team Velocity, Car-mercial, Call Revu, and the American Dream Network.”

“Sean founded some of the most successful marketing and consulting companies in the automotive industry – Automark and Cyber Car (sold to Reynolds and Reynolds in 2001) and BZ Results (sold to ADP in 2006). BZ Results was recognized as the “Innovative Company of the Year” for pioneering digital marketing in the automotive industry and enabling billions of dollars of retail sales over the Internet.”

“I only reference Sean’s remarkable career and accomplishments to date so that I can explain the exclusive nature of the reception for industry leaders and to justify my apologies to my affiliates since I can’t invite them to join me.  Of course I can tell them where the party is but the armed guards and private security may be too much of a challenge for them to overcome, although based on the guest list it might be worth a shot; just kidding Sean!”

About the 9^th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition:

The 9^th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition, October 12 – 14 at the Mirage in Las Vegas: New Ideas, New Revenues, New Efficiencies, Greater Profits. More than 600 dealership attendees are expected. www.DigitalDealerConference.com

The sessions for the 9th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition  will feature speaking sessions, roundtables and a vendor exposition for dealership managers and directors who are interested in learning more about successfully doing business on the Internet.  The speaking roster include leading industry trainers, consultants and thought leaders covering topics that are of crucial interest to today’s successful automobile dealership managers.  

The 9th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition is the ideal learning and networking venue for general managers, dealer principals, internet sales managers, e-commerce directors, BDC managers, CRM managers, pre-owned managers, F&I managers and fixed operations managers. More than 550 dealership attendees are expected at the fall event along with as many as 90 exhibitors and sponsors. 

For more information about the 9th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition, go to www.digitaldealerconference.com or contact Susan Tyson at styson@dealer-communications.com, 312 558-1799.

The conference is owned and operated by Dealer Communications, the leading multi-media information source for the automotive retail industry. Connecting with franchised automotive dealers and managers over ten million times per year, Dealer Communications publishes the monthly print Dealer magazine, and online editions of Dealer, Digital Dealer and Dealer Fixed Operations magazines. Online weekly newsletters include Dealer; Digital Dealer; Dealer Fixed Operations, Dealer Pre-Owned; Dealer F&I, and Dealer Sales and Marketing. To see all that Dealer Communications offers, visit www.dealer-communications.com. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »