Google Panda refers to changes made in search algorithms used to improve Google search results. The changes took effect in early 2011 and continue to be tweaked and changed by Google in order to give the user the best search results possible. The new machine-learning algorithm affects both page and website ranking in several ways, with the goal of weeding out poor content and content that is irrelevant to the search term entered. Many sites had a dramatic loss in traffic as a result of Google Panda, and with each change, they risk losing the traffic they’ve rebuilt. What does that mean for dealerships looking to optimize their sites and increase traffic through Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing?
It’s important to understand that SEO needs SEM. In a perfect world, a dealership could spend lots of money upfront on SEM and then once they’ve built up their campaigns and their content is filling up the first few pages of Google, they could stop spending on SEM and rely solely on SEO. Well, it’s not a perfect world, and Google isn’t going to continue making billions of dollars from advertisers without SEM. Therefore dealerships need to be spending in order to stay relevant and keep their ranking as high as possible.
It’s important to know where to focus your SEO efforts. Panda’s most recent update seems to be focusing on video content and favoring sites with lots of it. Therefore, it’s important for dealerships to make sure they’re uploading video in the form of test drives, walk-arounds, service video and anything else that will drive traffic. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, with many consumers going directly to the site to search for video of the products they’re purchasing. Staying current with video content is essential to boosting SEO.
That answers a few questions on SEO, but what about SEM? How does a dealer make sure they’re optimizing SEM dollars? The most important word in SEM is content. Make sure your keywords and descriptions are accurate and relevant to your campaigns. Having good content will increase your quality score which means your ads will come up more often in searches, which means a greater opportunity to drive traffic to your website. Make sure you’re advertising in both search and display networks. Image ads are just as important as keywords to drive traffic through clicks, and they have the added benefit of impressions. Be proactive and constantly monitor and optimize your campaigns. Don’t set them up and leave them to run – you can’t cook a perfect turkey without basting it, and you can’t run a great SEM campaign without optimizing it.
Learn more about how how your dealership can benefit from a well planned SEO strategy.
By: Rob Morton
There’s no customer as valuable as a loyal customer. Bring them in to your dealership’s service, parts and collision departments, and they are certain to stay with you when it’s time for their next vehicle purchases.
Search Engine Marketing is a great way to reach the casual customer, and get them in the door. Promote your fixed operations department at a cost that is far more competitive than broadcast and cable, using a Video Pre-Roll Campaign.
Video Pre-Roll is a great way to promote your dealership’s latest special on oil changes to customers in your market. While potential customers are watching video content on YouTube, reading the news on their local paper’s site, or checking the weather, your 15-second video ad can be playing as a part of their online experience. A creative video pre-roll with a good call to action and a competitive offer can help your dealership’s SEM campaign convert the unsuspecting YouTube viewer into a valued customer. You will be encouraging click-throughs to gain access to information on tires specials, while continuing to promote your brand to a qualified audience through measurable impressions.
While you will generate clicks over to your website and conversion page, it is best to place bids for Video Pre-Roll campaigns per thousand impressions. What this does is guarantees that a larger majority of the audience will see your message even when they are not actively researching where to buy a new set of tires.
Video pre-roll should be a part of your overall search engine marketing approach. SEM campaigns are effective because of their ability to target an audience based on relevancy by using keywords specific to your video pre-roll campaigns.
Video Pre-Roll is just one portion of a multi-faceted approach to internet marketing. If you’re looking into ways to incorporate an SEM strategy at your dealership, then I invite you chat with us on our website.
By: Erin Miller
I often find myself torn between the eco-friendly cars that preserve our environment, and the toys and muscle cars with the speed and power of yesteryear. Finally, Honda put together a new hybrid concept called the Mugen CR-Z RR that not only gives you fantastic eco-friendly fuel mileage (50 mpg in eco-mode) and emissions, but provides that get-up-and-go with 197 bhp and 158 lb ft torque. Then…they took it away. But not before announcing to the world, making us all excited, and even having a lot of automotive marketing buzz about it, thanks to the internet.
No longer in line for production, the CR-Z RR could have started a whole new trend in the hybrid and electric car market. My first vehicle, the first I made payments on at least, was a Nissan Sentra Se-R Spec-V 6-speed stick shift with almost 200 bhp and was so much fun to drive. While it got good gas mileage, it didn’t get anywhere near 50 mpg like the CR-Z RR, and it was not considered an eco-friendly car. The CR-Z RR was a model that has an ability to blend the foreign toy cars with the continually changing green market. Not to mention creating some major changes in the auto marketing world, as this type of car would create a fun and exciting marketing campaign for anyone to design.
Many of the hybrid and electric cars share the trade off of power, speed, and overall performance for cleaner emissions, better gas mileage, or even no gas at all. The CR-Z RR was a beautiful blend of these features all wrapped into one odd looking but speedy little package. Many young adults and first time car buyers are looking to get into an eco-friendly car, but some of that group want something stylish that doesn’t force them to drive like their grandparents. Plus, the marketing strategy to go with this car would be fresh and new, utilizing search engine marketing, mobile marketing, and the newest fad, QR codes. The Mugen CR-Z RR was the answer to this gap in the hybrid/eco-friendly market, but alas for reasons unknown, we will never see it.
Never say never though. It is only a matter of time before manufacturer’s bring this idea back to the table. As technology and our understanding of how vehicles can be made to work with the environment instead of against it, there will be more changes ahead, increasing the variety and abilities of these hybrid and electric vehicles and expanding the limits of the automotive marketing industry. With that said, Honda may have dropped the ball by deciding to not continue with the CR-Z RR concept, because if they don’t put out a car like that, someone else will. It will be interesting to see over the next few years how the eco-friendly car market changes and the new choices that will be brought to the buying public and showcased in automotive marketing. I for one cannot wait until the day comes where not only can I get a fun-to-drive, super speedy car, but can also feel like I am doing my part to make the environment better.
Are you looking for a knowledgeable team that is ready and willing to evolve with your dealership and automotive marketing campaign, visit this page to see more information and contact us now.
By: Cathie Wright
Newspaper circular ads are standard practice for most dealerships, and are easily recognized by auto consumers. With Google’s recent announcement that it will be offering online circular ads for retailers such as Best Buy and Macy’s, dealers now have the opportunity to use a format they’ve dominated in print to compete in the online advertising world. Retail ads are a large source of revenue for Google who is hoping the new platform will drive online customers into stores for the holiday season and beyond. This can also drive consumers from the web to your dealership when implemented properly.
Online ads have become increasing visual, with video and graphics featuring product images taking the place of more traditional text-only listings. This new circular ad format will build on that trend by allowing for multiple images as well as multiple links, resulting in a greater chance for clicks. Clicks = $ for Google, who grabbed 74 percent of search-based ad revenue in 2010 and expects that number to be 78 percent in 2012 with help from this new platform.
While Google itself is an obvious beneficiary of this launch, the consumer will also benefit from circular-style ads through promotions based on query topic and location. The new style ad will also be available in display and banner ads, which is a benefit for businesses who already use those formats for their campaigns.
This is great news for dealerships looking for an integrated advertising plan utilizing both traditional and digital strategies. The new online circular will allow you to recreate your print ad online, further enhancing brand recognition and allowing for more synergy between campaigns.
Are you looking for a knowledgeable team that is ready and willing to evolve with your dealership and automotive marketing campaign, visit this page and contact us now.
Upon opening the Apple.com website today, you will be greeted with the words “Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will be forever the foundation of Apple.”
Steve Jobs was indeed a visionary. He was a man who constantly developed new ideas and successfully pushed the envelope time after time. The first Apple’s computer was introduced January 24, 1984 and, I feel as though I speak for many when I say they have certainly continued to influence our culture. For starters, the words iPod and iPhone are now household names.
Whenever I used to think of a Mac, I would picture myself as a 16-year-old trying to do a high school forensics assignment on an old Mac without a clue as to how to use it. But here I am years later, and the word Mac has become an integral part of my vocabulary. Today with the breaking news of the death of Steve Jobs, Apple’s former CEO and co-founder, I take a moment and look around the office here at Potratz, where Apple technology surrounds me; it is an essential part of our business.
Here at Potratz we use Apple technology to offer your dealership the best of our traditional and full service advertising programs. Our graphics department isn’t the only group that depends on the reliability of Apple products; they are embraced by every employee. Our video department uses Final Cut Pro, an Apple software package, for developing television advertising to help promote your dealership.
Many of Steve Jobs’ inventions affect the way we do business today. Even if you don’t own a Macbook , iPod or an iPad, there is no doubt something in your professional and personal life that has been touched by the genius of Steve Jobs. If you’ve ever received a phone call from Potratz, it was probably made from an iPhone.
Potratz prides itself in following the same innovative and forward thinking philosophy as Steve Jobs and thanks him for his many years of inspiration.
Of course, this headline is no surprise to us here at Potratz. According to the article, “Interactive advertising revenues totaled a record $14.9 billion in the first half of 2011, a 23.2 percent increase over last year,” and “Digital ad spend growth has out-performed every other category measured. For some context: In the same period, cable TV grew 20.1 percent, network TV fell 3.1 percent, spot TV grew 9.7 percent, magazine advertising grew 3.6 percent, and local newspapers fell 7.7 percent.”
These numbers are taken from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) which sponsors the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report which is conducted independently by the New Media Group of PwC. The full report is issued twice yearly for full and half-year data.
At Potratz we are very excited to see that once again we are at the forefront of this marketing trend. Our clients have seen the power and reach that digital automotive marketing campaigns possess. As consumers continue to rely more and more on the internet for their news and shopping needs, advertising and marketing campaigns will continue to see this growing trend of more dollars being added to the digital ad spend.
To see the report from IAB Click Here
To see ADWEEK’S article Click Here
Are you looking for a knowledgeable team that is ready and willing to evolve with your dealership and automotive marketing campaign? Visit this page to see more information or contact us now.
The average American is exposed to 3,000 commercial messages each day. I know what you’re thinking: How can someone possibly see that many commercials in a day? Well it’s easy; ads are everywhere. We normally think of advertising in the simplest sense of TV or radio commercials, but the truth is they are much more prominent in our daily lives than we realize.
Picture this, you’re walking down the street for ten minutes and, whether you notice it or not, you’ve probably already seen at least a dozen advertisements. They can be on local business’ windows, bus stops, and gas pumps. They are even posted on the sides of a buses or cars driving by. In addition you also see ads while checking your email, going on Facebook and searching the Internet.
So as an advertiser how do you make your advertisement memorable? With the excess amount of commercial messages an individual is exposed to each day, you need to make sure yours will stand out.
There are some very simple ways to do just that, I think first and foremost it’s important to come up with something both unique and fun that people will want to talk about. One great example of this is the mayhem commercials for Allstate; these commercials are humorous and entertaining so that people associate them with Allstate. In the mayhem commercial series even though the general idea remains the same — mayhem happens — each commercial takes a different plausible situation and puts a humorous spin on it to make the spot memorable.
Another way to establish your company’s presence and ensure audience recall is to develop a slogan. Right off the top of my head I can think of various slogans that stick out in my mind; Just Do It, Breakfast Of Champions, You Never Know, and Have It Your Way. I would be willing to bet that most people can name which businesses those slogans belong to without having to give it too much thought. A slogan is a specific way to differentiate your organization and to tell the consumer something memorable about your product.
Sometimes, a commercial can lead a consumer to make a purchase. The information given, or the memorable impression made can stand out for an individual and bring them to your product.
Are there any advertisements that stick out in your mind? Are you willing to take that step to help ensure your commercial messages are memorable?
If you are looking for a knowledgeable team that is ready and willing to evolve with your dealership and automotive marketing campaign, visit this page to see more information and contact us now.
Google Panda refers to changes made in search algorithms used to improve Google search results. The changes took effect in early 2011 and continue to be tweaked and changed by Google in order to give the user the best search results possible. The new machine-learning algorithm affects both page and website ranking in several ways, with the goal of weeding out poor content and content that is irrelevant to the search term entered. Many sites had a dramatic loss in traffic as a result of Google Panda, and with each change, they risk losing the traffic they’ve rebuilt. What does that mean for dealerships looking to optimize their sites and increase traffic through Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing?
It’s important to understand that SEO needs SEM. In a perfect world, a dealership could spend lots of money upfront on SEM and then once they’ve built up their campaigns and their content is filling up the first few pages of Google, they could stop spending on SEM and rely solely on SEO. Well, it’s not a perfect world, and Google isn’t going to continue making billions of dollars from advertisers without SEM. Therefore dealerships need to be spending in order to stay relevant and keep their ranking as high as possible.
It’s important to know where to focus your SEO efforts. Panda’s most recent update seems to be focusing on video content and favoring sites with lots of it. Therefore, it’s important for dealerships to make sure they’re uploading video in the form of test drives, walk-arounds, service video and anything else that will drive traffic. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, with many consumers going directly to the site to search for video of the products they’re purchasing. Staying current with video content is essential to boosting SEO.
That answers a few questions on SEO, but what about SEM? How does a dealer make sure they’re optimizing SEM dollars? The most important word in SEM is content. Make sure your keywords and descriptions are accurate and relevant to your campaigns. Having good content will increase your quality score which means your ads will come up more often in searches, which means a greater opportunity to drive traffic to your website. Make sure you’re advertising in both search and display networks. Image ads are just as important as keywords to drive traffic through clicks, and they have the added benefit of impressions. Be proactive and constantly monitor and optimize your campaigns. Don’t set them up and leave them to run – you can’t cook a perfect turkey without basting it, and you can’t run a great SEM campaign without optimizing it.
Learn more about how how your dealership can benefit from a well planned SEO strategy.
By: Rob Morton
There’s no customer as valuable as a loyal customer. Bring them in to your dealership’s service, parts and collision departments, and they are certain to stay with you when it’s time for their next vehicle purchases.
Search Engine Marketing is a great way to reach the casual customer, and get them in the door. Promote your fixed operations department at a cost that is far more competitive than broadcast and cable, using a Video Pre-Roll Campaign.
Video Pre-Roll is a great way to promote your dealership’s latest special on oil changes to customers in your market. While potential customers are watching video content on YouTube, reading the news on their local paper’s site, or checking the weather, your 15-second video ad can be playing as a part of their online experience. A creative video pre-roll with a good call to action and a competitive offer can help your dealership’s SEM campaign convert the unsuspecting YouTube viewer into a valued customer. You will be encouraging click-throughs to gain access to information on tires specials, while continuing to promote your brand to a qualified audience through measurable impressions.
While you will generate clicks over to your website and conversion page, it is best to place bids for Video Pre-Roll campaigns per thousand impressions. What this does is guarantees that a larger majority of the audience will see your message even when they are not actively researching where to buy a new set of tires.
Video pre-roll should be a part of your overall search engine marketing approach. SEM campaigns are effective because of their ability to target an audience based on relevancy by using keywords specific to your video pre-roll campaigns.
Video Pre-Roll is just one portion of a multi-faceted approach to internet marketing. If you’re looking into ways to incorporate an SEM strategy at your dealership, then I invite you chat with us on our website.
Recently I came across an article about an incredibly large settlement that the American Suzuki Motor Corporation had been ordered to pay out to a dealer in Kansas City. Jeremy Franklin successfully sued American Suzuki, after his brother, Chad Franklin (also a Suzuki dealer) ran a campaign that offered “No Payments For Life.” Sounds too good to be true, right? It was, and it created a disaster for Suzuki in the Kansas City market. The campaign had been approved by a co-op advertising that had been paid for by American Suzuki and made all of the calls on the appropriateness of the campaign on American Suzuki’s behalf. Luckily for Jeremy, he did not participate in his brother’s crazy gimmick, and was able to keep himself out of the private lawsuits by consumers claiming they were entitled to what the offer promised.
I have often been aggravated by the wording of advertising, which can be especially confusing while never actually bringing what it offers to fruition. At least the “No Payments for Life” was so obvious even a 5 year old could understand what the offer promised. However, considering that Chad Franklin had no actual intention of giving away free Suzuki vehicles, this advertisement made consumers understandably furious. Everyone has to make money, especially those with their own businesses, but why is it necessary to “trick” buyers into your dealership? It isn’t fair and by now it is pretty obvious that society is not going to put up with stuff like that. If I had been denied my free Suzuki (Kizashi AWD would be my choice) not only would I have taken the steps that the other consumers did, but I would have put this dealership on “blast” everywhere from walking the city streets to Facebook to Yelp.
It is just bad business to lie to your customers, not to mention unethical. There is a reason that car dealerships and their salesmen have reputations that are less than squeaky clean. One would think that ANYONE who owns a dealership would try to change that stereotype instead of propelling the stigma that comes with selling cars. I am not saying ALL car dealers are like this. In fact, there are many, even in your local area, who attempt to offer the best prices with the best quality, and don’t lie on their advertising. But as the saying goes, there is always one bad apple in the bunch.
Jeremy Franklin will collect a total of $18.5 million in damages from American Suzuki as his brother has single-handedly killed the Suzuki market in Kansas City making it difficult for Jeremy to sell the brand. Learn from this nutty situation and make sure your advertising does not embellish the truth, mislead, or flat out lie to your customers. No one likes to feel taken advantage of and consumers these days are vicious, not only will they let you know, but everyone on their continent will be aware as well. Plus, if you mislead your customers, when they do realize what has happened, they aren’t going to seek you for further services or goods. Not to mention, creating a campaign and then not honoring what it says is completely unethical and can ruin your business and career.
Keep on top of your advertising, if you use a Co-op or firm, make sure they are someone you can trust to make your advertising decisions for you. Lastly, don’t come up with something “too good to be true.” If you, the creator, thinks it is one of those deals, chances are it probably will turn out to be. Cut ties and just start over, it isn’t worth being forced into bankruptcy to save face and make sales.
About Potratz:
Are you looking for a knowledgable team that is ready and willing to evolve with your dealership and automotive marketing campaign, visit this page to see more information and contact us now .
Need a representative to handle co-op for your dealership, please visit our page to learn more about our experience.
