This year’s Black Friday chaos and record-breaking Cyber Monday sales created quite the stir around the Potratz lunch table. Sharing pictures of our weekend steals and comparing our shopping lists, my co-workers and I discussed 2013’s hottest items over our cups of soup and sandwiches. Remembering the Tickle Me Elmo craze and iPod madness of holiday’s past, we each pointed out our favorite “must haves,” but were sure to mention that the best gifts were the ones we didn’t even think to ask for. There will always be big-ticket items to market each holiday season, but retailers and dealers need to remember that those forgotten wants will also sell. For dealers, this means promoting service.
It’s important to focus both on sales and service when creating incentives for this upcoming holiday season. You might not find a mother looking to buy three new vehicles for her sons, but she could go home with Oil Change certificates as stocking stuffers. Promoting both vehicle specials and service specials provides gift options for all price-points. This season, take the time to create a menu of services that your dealership would be willing to offer for gift-hungry customers, bonus points go for creativity. Bundle together a fuel injection and throttle service for the ultimate Gas Saver or “Holiday Brake” Special for college students home on break. From snow tire deals to a detailing package, busy holiday shoppers will understand the value of these needed gifts, especially if they are being offered at a discounted rate.
When it comes to planning these specials, be sure to keep your customer’s schedule in mind. For example, the day after Christmas finds many scheduling the “to do” items that they never have time for. Why not offer a free state inspection for those who need to get their vehicles renewed? Doing a little extra work in tailoring your specials will stand out in a sea of flashy “hot item” advertisements and it adds value to your dealership. As we’ve discussed in past blogs, service is what builds customer loyalty. Maybe when that lucky gift recipient brings in her oil change coupon, she realizes she’d like to browse the New Year models or get her tires rotated. Service allows customers to interact directly with your sales team and technicians and opens up opportunities for future sales or services. Like a perfectly knotted bow, those small service specials can create lifelong customers and make the holidays merrier for dealers and customers alike.
Picture this: you’re in a situation where you don’t know what to do. Maybe you have an important decision to make or need to fix something. When you need an answer, how do you get it? In situations like these, I always turn to someone who has worked through the problem in the past. I trust their advice because they offer something that not many others are willing to provide: honesty and past experience. In the future, I’ll return to this person for the answers because they took the time to help me when they didn’t have to. This is the kind of relationship dealers should build with their customers, but how?
Virtually every dealer’s website contains a form for setting or requesting a service appointment as well as contact information and directions. The general idea is to get the customer to contact the store by phone, email, chat, or by physically visiting the store. However, hundreds of customers visit service sections of a dealer’s website without ever taking these actions. The website should do more than help loyal customers know where to call for service; it should help service shoppers find the information they need to know they found the right store for service.
At Potratz, we’ve developed a series of 16 Service FAQs to answer questions that site visitors seek. Going out of your way to provide this information to shoppers may seem counter intuitive. After all, why would a dealership want to help someone confidently change his or her battery when the store could turn a profit on that service? A dealer achieves Trusted Advisor status with shoppers by sharing information with them. The fact is many shoppers seeking do-it-yourself information do not end up doing it themselves. Having explored the alternative, they approach the store more confident in their decision to pay for professional service. They value the service and generally have a high trust level in the store providing candid information relative to service providers who are simply open for business. Offering help lets the customer know what kind of store you run and what kind of helpful attitude toward the customer they can expect. Saying you are friendly does not carry as much weight as demonstrating you are friendly.
It’s hard to establish the type of bond I explained above with someone you’ve never met before. That’s why it’s crucial to personalize your website and provide ways for customers to see your team as people; caring people who can offer the assistance they need. With these FAQ pages, a dealer can demonstrate their expertise and willingness to help at the exact moment a customer is searching for an answer via a search engine. The next time that customer has a car problem, who do you think they’ll turn to? My bet would be you.
Throughout the automotive marketing industry we have seen potential buyers adjust their shopping trends. Buyers have begun to migrate from traditional desktops to their smartphones and mobile devices. To support this trend, it is crucial to have a mobile strategy in place for all automotive dealers.
Danny Brown of American Express OPEN states that, “ Seventy-two percent of small business owners planned to increase or maintain their mobile ad spend this year, with 65 percent of these increasing their spending by up to 30 percent.” This trend is not just for small businesses. Brown continues, “Google and Facebook have now begun to shift more of their revenues to mobile devices.” Your digital strategy should have a robust digital presence. With competition on AdWords becoming increasingly competitive on mobile devices, you must tailor your campaigns to appeal to mobile searchers. An example of this can be editing your keyword list to include terms more likely searched on mobile devices (short terms & abbreviations.)
Let’s face it: mobile advertising is beginning to sweep the marketing world. Due to its convenience and accessibility, it is now the preferred way to do business. Before you know it, this inevitable change will be here in full swing!
Are you the type of person who plans every aspect of your life, months or even years in advance? Or are you the type of person that does everything on a whim? I’ve always considered myself the latter in my personal life because I like the thrill of spontaneous plans. However, I take a different approach when it comes to working in automotive advertising.
In automotive marketing, it is best to plan for the future months instead of working in the current month. There are plenty of reasons why this works best for the industry, but here are three that are key to remembering the importance of thinking ahead:
1. You can analyze your current marketing strategy and decide whether it is bringing you the results you desire or if you need to go back to the drawing board and adjust your approach.
2. It is more cost efficient when it comes to media buying. Many reps offer a discount for buying months in advance. Buying in advance also could open up more attractive placements considering how few spots have been reserved.
3. You will avoid making rash decisions that could end up costing you money. These are the end-of-the-month panic moments, the quick decision sales events that go awry, and the poorly crafted E-Blast that’s riddled with mistakes and missing information.
When it comes to dinner plans or mall purchases, a little spontaneity is harmless. When it comes to achieving business goals though, you must put a schedule into place that manages your planning. Each of these points above helps explain why circling dates on the calendar three months down the road can get you where you’d like to be, but recognize it could take awhile for the results to show. If you are starting from scratch, your marketing strategy can take some time to lift off the ground. In addition to a little forward-thinking, you need to build a presence on Google, find the right media for your market, build a presence on social media, set up marketing automation sequences, and optimize your website. All of these outlets coincide with each other create the perfect marketing blend. Thankfully, the automotive industry is predictable when it comes to incentives and sales events so we can take that into consideration when planning ahead.
In general, you will never regret taking the time to carefully plan. Mapping out the future will leave you time in the current month to analyze the results of the past and will relieve you of the stress that comes with scrambling for ideas. A little less stress and more carefully executed projects? These results may just be enough reason to change my whimsical ways.
Often I find myself having a recurring conversation with my dealers. The topic? Website Chat. Chat is essential to a dealership if they want to capitalize on all potential leads. Many argue, “It’s a waste of money…it’s a waste of time… and it requires too much attention.” This is where I beg to differ. The average chat provider charges about $250 a month. Even if your dealership only sells three cars in a month directly from chat leads, wouldn’t you say that it’s worth it? As far as managing the chat leads, it’s really not that tasking. Most chat providers allow you to have the leads sent directly to your Droid or iPhone. Let’s be honest, if you work in an automotive dealership, you’re most likely glued to your phone anyway.
Still not sold? Consider the traditional car shopping experience. A consumer visits your brick and mortar store and is immediately greeted by a salesperson to determine their needs and answer any questions they may have- right? So how would you expect a consumer to react if they came to your dealership and there was no one around to assist them? In today’s world, the shopping experience begins online. Your website is a virtual showroom, and live chat serves as your sales person.
With all of the money spent trying to get consumers to your website, what are you doing to engage the prospect once they’ve arrived? Usually they have come looking for information, so give it to them! Over time, shoppers have become increasingly needy and seek instant gratification. Even I want to be able to keep my shopping time to a minimum. I could be shopping for product at 7PM and by 7:15pm, I’m out walking my dog. Although responding to chat leads may take a few minutes, it’s certainly a worthwhile use of time if your goal is to move inventory and appease shoppers.
On January 22 at 3:00PM, Potratz – a full service automotive marketing agency– is set to launch its latest web series, Digital Marketing Dialogue. The series will feature live discussions on best practices associated with all aspects of digital marketing. Sarah Adamo and Renee Benedetti, Search Engine Marketing Managers for Potratz, will host the new bi-weekly series. The company has also launched both a Facebook and LinkedIn group for discussing latest episodes as well as current trends in digital marketing.
The live event will encompass all of the major digital avenues that Potratz currently offers for clients. These include search engine marketing, social media marketing, marketing automation, web and graphic design as well as content marketing strategies. The hosts will take on-air questions from a live online audience looking to gain insights into the latest trends in the digital marketing world.
Digital Marketing Dialogue will follow in the footsteps of Chief Operating Officer Paul Potratz’s web series, Think Tank Tuesday in delivering quality marketing tips and best practices for professionals seeking advice to improve their business and sales. “Think Tank Tuesday has become a staple in the field of automotive marketing; we hope to continue delivering quality information through our series,” said Benedetti.
Adamo and Benedetti have led trainings for Potratz’s current digital marketing apprenticeship program, a paid training that assists young professionals looking to obtain Google Adwords Certification. “We have an opportunity to improve the amount of qualified individuals in the area and to position our company as a resource for young professionals looking to gain experience,” said Adamo. The last group of apprentices all obtained certification and some were offered full-time positions as members of the Potratz team.
To keep up-to-date with latest episodes for the series, sign up for email updates at digitalmarketingdialogue.com. The team is also set to appear at National Automobile Dealers Association convention January 25-27 in New Orleans, and will be offering live demos and workshops on current products and services.
If you would like to make an appointment to speak with Paul or the team, please call 518-631-5505 or visit ppadv.com.
SCHENECTADY, NY- Last month, Potratz, the industry leader in digital automotive marketing located in Downtown Schenectady, releases Version 8 of their website platform. The enhanced platform builds new features such as multiple video integration on “every last page” on top of an already advance user interface, enabling the platform to increase conversions and ease navigability.
In the beginning stages of the platform’s creation, Paul Potratz, COO of Potratz, sought a different approach to its design. He offered, “Think about a new sales member. They don’t feel like they’re making a sale unless they’re talking. That’s what other platforms do.” Instead, Potratz believes in the power of listening to the consumer by tracking their website interactions. “By utilizing mechanisms to lead visitors through the sales funnel, our website is listening; we are listening.”
Among the updates includes website and homepage sliders that utilize video content based on post-click analysis. The Potratz web team has also amped up the already-robust analytics dashboard, which gives clients the ability to view data on all devices including mobile phones, tablets, and desktops. Moreover, the dashboard precisely indicates which specific vehicles have the highest viewer interest. With access to every aspect of a site at one’s fingertips, the updated platform minimizes maintenance time, leads to increased customer satisfaction, and helps boost conversions. By taking the time to “listen,” Potratz aims to provide a unique and engaging web experience for dealers and visitors alike.
Potratz is a full-service automotive advertising agency specializing in digital marketing. The agency was founded in 2003 by Paul Potratz in Schenectady, NY and received a Dealer Satisfaction Award from Driving Sales for Search and Behavioral Marketing every year since the award’s inception. Paul has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NY Post, and CBS and has been a featured speaker for NADA, Driving Sales, Auto Dealer People, Dealer Elite, and Automotive Digital Marketing. You can see Paul every Tuesday on the Think Tank Tuesday series available on iTunes.
By: Jenn Mayer
Previously, Google Places was always on the “SEO checklist” for dealerships and other businesses that were interested in climbing to the top of the search results page. Creating a Google Places page for your business was fairly simple and required little attention afterwards from the business owner.
All that has changed. Google recently announced its new platform for businesses, called Google+ Local. Those businesses with Google Places pages will automatically be merged to the new platform, but the time-frame for this to happen is not certain. Now, your Google presence is not just a vertical listing, but also a social media page. Google+ Local is a necessity for SEO value, but it also enhances your social media presence. However, with this new development, businesses looking to stay ahead of the competition can no longer “set it and forget it” as they could before.
Google+ Local Pages will give businesses a method to communicate with users in much the same way businesses can use Twitter and Facebook, and therefore needs to be maintained in order to keep pace with the competition. The new layout is part of Google’s mission to expand it’s own social platform, Google+. Google+ users will be able to see local businesses on their sidebar, and you must have a Google + account to review a local business. Google hopes that this will prompt people who have previously avoided Google+ to create an account and become more active users.
Google+ Local Pages will be much more visible than its predecessor. Google+ Local Pages will get precedent when a user makes a Google search for a place. So, if you have a Google+ Local Page, you will automatically get an advantage over the competition. In addition to being integrated into search, Google+ Local pages will also appear in Google Maps, the mobile version of Google and as a new tab in the Google+ sidebar. In essence, it’s crucial to build and grow your page as quickly as possible in order to appear at the top of the search results and above your competition.
A new and integral feature of Google+ Local pages is the scoring system. Since Google bought Zagat last year, they have integrated their famous reviews and scoring system into all Google+ Local pages. Because Google+ users can now leave reviews that are seen on your page and affect your score, it is essential that you are constantly monitoring your page and its content.
Another intriguing thing about Google+ Local is that Google has actually scarified a large part of its ad revenue in order to promote these pages. Now, there is only one paid aid showing up on these local searches. Now, the top organic, or unpaid, listings are even more valuable – and completely free!
Your Google+ Local page is now a vital part of both your social media and SEO efforts, and it is indispensable in placing you on the first page of the Google search results. Google uses an extremely complicated algorithm that takes hundreds of factors into account. While you can’t control all these factors, the number one driver of ranking results is a strong presence on Facebook and other social media accounts. Effectively, search is now social. If you want to be successful in search, you have to be successful in social media.
Does this new platform seem like a lot of work? Let us manage your social media presence. Contact us today!
Who went the extra mile for our clients or a fellow team member? Who had a great attitude all week? Who was able to brighten up everyone’s day?
During our weekly staff meetings, each team member votes for the Fish Award winner. The criteria? They display one or more of these four principles:
Play: Have fun! Make our clients feel as though they can have fun while they’re here too.
Make Someone’s Day: When a client stops by, make them your main focus. Is it a day where it’s just the Potratz team at the office? Always find out what you can do to make your coworker’s day easier or to make them smile.
Be There: At some workplaces, people will be there in body but their mind will be elsewhere. ‘Be there’ means there’s no disconnect. You should be completely focused on your work and others around you. Don’t hesitate to help your coworkers maintain a positive attitude too.
Choose Your Attitude: When you wake up in the morning, you choose whether to be nice and friendly, or to be mean and surly for the rest of the day. The right answer, of course, is to ‘choose’ to be nice and friendly every day. That good feeling will spread to others!
On October 24, 2013, Instagram announced that they would become the next social media giant to offer up advertising space on their mobile platform. From the consumer’s perspective, it’s easy to understand the resentment towards the announcement. One of the biggest perks of the platform was that users could actually choose the content they were exposed to. You didn’t have to worry about an overabundance of promoted posts or news stories getting in the way of the information you were truly concerned with information pertaining to our friends and family.
On the business end, however, Instagram’s announcement provides branding opportunities for companies worldwide. According to Instagram’s website, there are currently 150 million active users with over 60% of that population lying outside of the United States. To date, there have been 16 billion photos shared, 1.2 billion daily likes, and an average of 55 million photos shared per day. There is no arguing that Instagram has become one of the most popular social media sites to date, but how will users react when advertisements pop up in their newsfeeds?
Instagram users got their first taste of what can be expected from Instagram advertisements when the platform released its first official ad by Michael Kors. While the ad did receive mixed reviews amongst Instagram’s population, the results were visible within just a few hours. According to Mashable, “as of mid-morning Friday, the ad had more than 65,000 Likes and more than 540 comments,” a statistic which speaks for itself. Over the next few weeks, it will be interesting to see how consumers react to more businesses adopting advertising on Instagram, as well as how businesses incorporate Instagram into their existing digital marketing strategies.
