The secret to using Facebook to successfully promote your business is simple. Get your fans involved! One easy way to engage your followers is to run a contest. Experts agree contests are one of the best ways to increase fan engagement. The logic behind it is simple; people love free stuff.
There are many types of contests you can run on your Facebook page. One successful type of engagement practice is weekly trivia. Pose a question to your followers. It doesn’t even have to be car related. It’s actually important to occasionally provide content that doesn’t focus on cars so that your followers see you as more than just a dealership. Variety provides personality. The person with the correct answer to your questions receives a prize. As a dealership you can offer various types of redeemable gifts to potential winners, ranging from service offers to brand related merchandise. The benefit of weekly trivia is that your page becomes exposed to more people than just those who currently like your page. Friends of fans are able to see when one of your fans posts on your trivia question. This is true for most posts on your page. With trivia, however, the likelihood of receiving a response is greater.
Another way to increase engagement on your page is by running a promotion or sweepstakes. It is recommended that you provide a larger prize to fans in these promotions because it requires more for them to participate.
There are two different ways you can create a promotion:
- The person entering does simply fills out a short information form to enter and has a chance to win.
- The person entering has to provide some form of additional information in order to enter. There are many different avenues you can take for these promotions. Examples include caption this photo, the photo with the most amount of likes win, and more. Before launching the competition, you’ll need to decide which promotion you’ll run, and then develop a strategy as to how it will work. Next, create a Facebook app for your promotion and launch!
The benefit with the promotion is that not only can it help increase engagement on your page; it can also increase your likes (depending if you set the application up right or not). In a correctly designed app, a person must “Like” your page to be eligible to win.
Facebook engagement is important because social media is important. It’s a huge part of an individual’s life and it is a main avenue to reach potential customers. Additionally, people who win something from a dealership are much more likely to visit them the next time they need their vehicle serviced or are in the market for a new one. Not sure how to increase your Facebook engagement? Contact us now because, we CAN help!
1. Set Goals
- When you think about your dealership, it might seem that the goal is obvious: to sell cars. While that is true, the important thing to remember is that a more specific goal and action plan is easier to obtain. Rather than the basic goal of “sell cars”, you have to develop a realistic plan and set specific goals for who is going to make these sales, what vehicles, when you need to meet this goal and how your going to meet it.
2. Track Your Progress
- Setting your goals is the first step. The second step is to make sure you are accomplishing those goals. It is important to track your progress to confirm whether you are meeting your pre-defined plan. This action is much easier said than done, but, you have to ensure that you are keeping an accurate report of which goals have been reached. Set a schedule of who will evaluate your progress and how often – then stick to it!
3. Evaluating Your Numbers
- The third step to effectively making sales is analyzing your data; is what your doing working? If not, your next step is deciding how to fix the problem. What efforts will you take to effectively meet your pre-determined goals? The important thing is to keep an open mind and remember to be willing to try various avenues to reach your set goals. It may seem like trial and error, but finding the right strategy will ensure that you meet your goals, and ultimately sell cars!
By: Yasmine Syed
Information and communication technology users are as diverse as the range of technology available today. The Pew Research Center’s “Internet & American Life Project” divides technology users into two core groups: “Motivated by Mobility” and “Stationary Media Majority”.
The “Motivated by Mobility” group comprises 39% of the adult population. Their frequency of online use is growing as their reliance on mobile devices continues to increase. This group is made up of individuals who hold positive and improving attitudes towards mobile access and how it facilitates their availability to others. The “Stationary Media Majority” group is comprised of the remaining 61% of the adult population. These individuals are not enamored by the “always-connected” lifestyle. They are characterized by low-level usage of mobile apps and experience difficulty acclimating to new gadgetry.
Hallmarks of the “Motivated by Mobility” group are varied and are broken down into five sub-categories including: Digital Collaborators (8%), Ambivalent Networkers (7%), Media Movers (7%), Roving Nodes (9%) and Mobile Newbies (8%). Digital Collaborators are mostly male, in their late-thirties, affluent and educated. They enthusiastically use their tech assets to share and connect with others. Ambivalent Networkers are primarily male, in their late twenties, and are ethnically diverse. They use their tech assets to text, participate in social networking and for entertainment. At the same time, they fear that their devices may become increasingly intrusive and feel that it is necessary to take periodic breaks from online use and digital consumption.
Media Movers are mostly male, in their mid-thirties, have children and are middle class. Their online and media habits are varied and they share digital content (i.e. photos). Roving Nodes are the female counterpart to Digital Collaborators; they are mostly women, in their late-thirties, affluent and educated. They use their mobile devices to manage their social and work lives, they use a wide-range of mobile apps, send email, send texts, and use their mobile devices to enhance personal productivity. Mobile Newbies are mainly women in their late forties and early fifties who have lower education and income levels than Roving Nodes. They don’t have very many tech assets and cite that their most used asset is their mobile phone because it helps makes them more available.
The “Stationary Media Majority” group can also be broken down into five sub-categories including: Desktop Veterans (13%), Drifting Surfers (14%), Information Encumbered (10%), The Tech Indifferent (10%) and Off the Network (14%). Desktop Veterans are mainly men, in their mid-forties, affluent and educated. Because this groups skews older, they are content to use their desktop computers and high-speed wired connection to explore the web, connect with friends and family via social media, while allowing their mobile phones to take a backseat. Drifting Surfers are primarily women, in their early-forties, middle class and have average education levels. They have desktop computers and mobile phones but are infrequent online users. They use technology as a basic information-gathering tool and could forgo using the Internet entirely if given the option.
Information Encumbered individuals are two-thirds male, in their early fifties, have an average education and are middle-lower income level. Most individuals in this group feel that they experience information overload on a daily basis and although, they have cell phones, feel that technology is becoming increasingly intrusive. They are largely indifferent to technology and could easily dispense with it altogether. Off the Network individuals are, largely, low-income senior women and are predominately African American. Members of this group have neither cells phones, nor computers or internet access.
The project findings imply that many Americans are deepening their relationship with and dependence on digital resources and tech assets, while others stay stagnant in their consumption of digital resources and tech assets. Both of these groups will undoubtedly ask themselves and others, ‘How did I ever live without a cell phone?” A small percentage of Americans are content to keep technology on the periphery of their lives. They stand in stark contrast to the ever-increasing “Motivated by Mobility” group, whose demand for more and more online content is palpable.
What does this mean for your dealership? In terms of marketing, it means that it’s still important to maintain traditional avenues of publicity, such as radio and television commercials and newspaper ads. These are necessary to reach the portion of Americans who shun technology or still use traditional media to gather information. However, the growing number of people who seek information digitally means that a failure to provide online content is more costly than in the past. Soon, a lack of digital presence could spell disaster for your dealership.
An abandoned Facebook page is truly a sad site. A page that has gone months without posts, no photos in site, and reviews and comments that have not been responded to is enough to depress any social media user. (user can be replaced with a different word..guru, junkie, fan, expert?)
Now, studies show that a poor Facebook page is more than just an eyesore. A recent market research study concluded that a full 50% of consumers value a brand’s Facebook page more than their website.
This study, which can be viewed here, http://mashable.com/2012/09/24/facebook-brand-page-value/, presented a full look at how a brand’s Facebook presence is viewed and valued. For example, 87% of people like brands on Facebook, and the number one motivation to do so is to take advantage of promotions, discounts, and giveaways. Equally important are the reasons why people choose to unlike brands, the number one being that the brand posted too frequently.
How can your dealership use this information to your advantage? First of all, make sure your Facebook page is well attended. Create a dynamic selection of postings, but don’t post too frequently. Make sure you give users an incentive to like your page. That can be by posting coupons for free services or gifts. For example, post a coupon for a discount on an oil change. Or, offer a coupon that will give users a free gift if they test drive a certain car. You can also run contests and award winners with a prize to increase interaction.
Of course, you’ll want to avoid posting too frequently. Don’t post more than 2 or 3 times per day, and space out your posts to reach customers who log onto Facebook at different times during the day. Always make sure your content is important, relevant, and varied.
While it’s essential to brand management to have a quality Facebook page, don’t abandon your website in the process. Keep in mind that 50% of consumers place more value on a brand’s Facebook page, so that means the other 50% will judge you according to your website.
Does maintaining an online presence seem overwhelming? We’re up to the task. Contact us for help.
By: Nick Yocono
You may have heard that you can’t have your cake and eat it, too. But that may not be true, at least when it comes to your new car’s engine.
With gas prices continuing to rise, manufacturers have shifted away from the big engines in favor of smaller engines that produce improved mileage. At the same time, consumers don’t want to lose the power they were accustomed to getting from previous models. So, how do manufacturers give consumers the best of both worlds?
Ford has responded to this new demand with “Ecoboost”. These new engines boast the same specs in horsepower and torque as their bigger displacement opponents, but with much improved mileage and emissions. Ford is not the only one doing this either, other companies have also started utilizing this engine setup, under different names, for their new models. So what is the secret?
The answer is quite simple: turbochargers. A Turbocharger uses exhaust gasses to spin its turbine and suck more air into the engine. That, along with more fuel, will create bigger explosions in the cylinder and therefore more power will be generated. A Ford F-150 equipped with an “Ecoboost” engine has a twin-turbocharged V6 instead of the traditional V8. What the turbocharger allows the engine to do is act like a V6 and get mileage similar to one while driving around. Most of the time you don’t need full power from the engine, such as when you’re maintaining your speed or during deceleration. When you actually do need some power, the turbocharger can spool up and provide that extra boost in power to make the engine perform similarly to a V8. This equates to a engine that will get better mileage and perform the same as a bigger, naturally aspirated, competitor.
Engines similar to Ford’s “Ecoboost” are being used in various new cars. Dodge recently released its new Dart, which on certain models, comes equipped with a 1.4L MultiAir Turbo engine option. The Chevrolet Cruze is equipped with a 1.4L Turbo “Ecotec” engine option. Even luxury manufacturer BMW has switched out the inline six in their 3 series base models for 2.0L Turbo engines. These cars all boast similar performance with much improved mileage to their predecessors.
Fuel mileage is the name of the game when it comes to selling cars in today’s market. Each year more and more small engine turbos show up on the market. If you’re in the market for a new vehicle that gets better mileage than the one you drive now, be on the lookout for setups like these.
By: Jenn Mayer
I have to admit I am late to the foursquare game. Although the app was first launched in 2009, I have only recently joined. After moving away from my hometown earlier this year, I was forced to learn the ins and outs of a new state, new city, and a new neighborhood. foursquare became my ultimate tool for discovery.
foursquare (that’s right, it is not capitalized) is a free app that allows you to share with your friends where you are, tips about your favorite places, and helps you discover new places in your area. foursquare gives you personalized recommendations and deals based on where you, your friends, and people with your same taste have been. The app has also recently undergone a makeover, giving it a simpler look and making it more user-friendly.
foursquare allowed me to discover coffee shops, restaurants, nail salons, and more. If it was lunchtime and I was hungry, I would simply type in “lunch”, and foursquare would search the tips and check-ins that had been logged around my current location to suggest places I should try for lunch. This is different, and possibly more effective then using Google, because foursquare was able to more accurately search around where I was, and also took into account how popular the places around me were. Now, I am addicted to checking into my location on foursquare. Not only do I get points, badges and mayorships that encourage me to keep using the app, my past check-ins help to shape my recommendations.
So, how can your dealership use foursquare to enhance business and marketing? First, you must encourage people to check-in when they visit your dealership. One way to do that is to offer a deal. Many businesses offer discounts to patrons who check in at their location. You could offer a free oil change, or even a discount for someone who checks in and signs a purchase agreement on a new vehicle that same day. People will be encouraged to check in and thus make your dealership a more popular place in the area.
You can also encourage employees and customers to leave a tip, or some advice, about your dealership. For example, you can post any specials you have going on, whether you offer free refreshments in your waiting area, or even the best sales people to work with. When people search for your dealership using the app, they’ll see the great things about shopping there and will be more likely to stop in.
As with all advertising and social media campaigns, foursquare must be interacted with regularly. If no one has checked in recently, or if the last tip is from six months ago, the value is lost. Encourage your employees and customers to download and use foursquare and watch its positive effect on business! Take it from me; I’m the mayor of Potratz on foursquare!
“Branding” is a term heard all over the advertising industry, but what does it mean? Simply put, it’s the way you want others to view your dealership. It’s providing potential customers with the understanding of what you represent. Branding is important because it’s an opportunity to provide an image of your dealership; it’s what can help make you recognizable.
This sounds simple enough right? Not exactly. It’s not just enough to come up with an idea of what your brand means, it’s developing a complete campaign that resonates this brand image to viewers throughout everything you do. You must ensure that the image you provide remains a constant through all forms of media – traditional, digital, social, and so on.
Websites, especially social media sites, provide a great opportunity to tell your customers who you are. Provide these details in web panels, status updates, tweets, blogs, etc, keeping in mind that each of these elements should reflect your dealership’s “personality”. You might think that this is distracting from your efforts to sell cars, but in fact this a tried and true way to increase sales. It’s important to showcase more than just current vehicle specials. Show visitors how you helped the local school raise money in a food drive, or how you volunteered at the local humane society. This helps make you more than just another dealership to potential customers, and therefore makes you have a deeming quality that makes you more memorable. Why would you want to be memorable? I think the answer is obvious, don’t you? If you’re memorable, when someone thinks ‘I need to buy a new car’, they’ll think of your dealership, and possibly buy their next vehicle from you. If you don’t stand out, they might not remember you and might not go to your dealership for their next car.
Are you ready to stand out in your local community as more than just a dealership? Contact us now, to get the ball rolling on branding your dealership!
How have your dealership’s sales been this year? If you said “better than expected”, you’re in the same boat as many dealerships in the country.
Industry experts predict that U.S. auto sales per dealership may climb to a record in 2012. Annual sales per dealer will increase to an estimated 805 vehicles from a previous estimate of 785, with an annual sales estimate of 14.3 million vehicles. The previous record was 784 per dealer in 2005.
What is the reason behind the numbers? One is that automakers have kept their networks relatively flat, meaning that existing dealerships have the opportunity to take advantage of increased sales volumes. Dealers are making a profit for the first time in more than three years without having to rely on their service departments to do so.
Another element that’s fueling sales is an increase in pickup truck sales. Experts believe that people who are buying trucks need them, and have put off buying them for a long time.
NADA points to new-vehicle incentives and rebates as well as declining prices on used vehicles as a couple factors that will contribute to this increase as the summer comes to an end. Reports show that August sales thus far matched July’s pace and could go even higher.
To make sure that your dealership is cashing in on the uptick in sales as much as your competition probably is, use your advertising to push not only manufacturer incentives, but also your used car inventory.
Having trouble getting your message out there? Contact us – we know exactly how to get the numbers you’re looking for!
Close your eyes and think of a store or another place you have visited that had a unique or pleasant smell. Keep your eyes closed and imagine that smell. Can you recall more detail about your experience? Do you remember specific details about the time you experienced the smell? How did you feel emotionally?
Those of you who know me also know I travel often for business, and I enjoy shopping for new pocket squares. On a recent trip to Miami, I visited the Hugo Boss store, and when entering the store, it hit me. I realized every Boss store has the same smell from Paris, France, to Hilton Head, S.C., to Buffalo, N.Y., to Miami. I just assumed it was the cologne they offer, so I continued to browse and started to think how the same aroma gave me the feeling of familiarity with my surroundings and put me at ease. I was then off to my hotel, and when I entered the doors to the Sofitel, it hit me again. The smell was was not the same as the Boss store, but was the same scent as other Sofitels I have stayed at in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Chicago.
I then remembered reading something many years ago about scent marketing, but it was more about the use of scent marketing and oxygen in casinos to keep people gambling longer. I knew there was something more to it, and I started to think of the many chain stores I had visited over the years; the chains would always have the same store layout and furnishings, but a select few would also have the same music and aroma.
This is also known as multi-sensory branding, and it’s an influential marketing tool that can build powerful brand recognition quickly.
How Smells Affect Us
There is a strong connection between smell, mood and emotion. The emotion center of the brain is closely connected to the amygdale and hippocampus, which influence memory, mood and behavior. Think of the smell of chocolate chip cookies and how that affects you. Chocolate chip cookies are a smell that the Hampton Inn uses to make you feel like you have arrived at home. Some boutique hotels use relaxing lavender to calm the senses. There are many businesses using multi-sensory marketing (e.g., Jimmy Choo, Sofitel Hotels, Samsung and even GM when they processed a smell called “Nuance” into the leather of all new Cadillacs).
Double Your Sales
Studies have shown different aromas can increase spending habits of an individual by double, but the studies also showed you can’t just spray some perfume and expect sales to increase. In fact, sales could decrease with the wrong aroma present, so you’d better seek out an aroma marketing company to determine what affects a purchase decision.
Branding Your Dealership Through Smell
Brand recognition by using an aroma in a showroom can create an impression with a shopper and can in fact create an emotional connection. What if you were to utilize that same aroma in a specific and specialized direct mail campaign for lease renews or increased-service-penetration mailers? An emotional connection could be triggered by the aroma of the direct mail piece and remind the individual of the happy day they drove away in that new car, with that new-car smell. Maybe the cliché “smells like a new car” is worth more than we give it credit for. Think of the possibilities of building your dealership’s brand with sight, sound, touch, taste and aroma.
Ethical Versus Non-ethical Marketing
The right aroma has proven it can create a brand identity and induce a sense of well-being, a good mood, a relaxed state of mind, and cause an individual to spend up to twice as much money. The question could come into play that scent marketing can be a form of manipulation. In other words, it is like a drug and can make a person react differently than they normally would.
So, I ask you, is this manipulation of consumers, or is it an ethical form of marketing that you would consider for your dealership?
Have you ever been to a doctor’s appointment and felt as though your doctor was speaking in a foreign language when diagnosing you? Do you find yourself asking, “Can you repeat that in English Doc?” The frustration you feel is normal and happens due to miscommunications caused by unnecessary jargon.
Industry buzzwords can be useful when attempting to create a unified language within organizations, especially when working in a fast paced environment such as an advertising agency or emergency room. Although they can prove to be useful tools in the business world, problems can arise when attempting to use the same buzzwords or “bizspeak” when dealing with clients.
To the outside consumer these complex phrases can seem like meaningless jargon and can cause miscommunications that may result in lost opportunities when attempting to generate leads or conduct business. It’s important to understand when and when not to use buzzwords so that you don’t come across as if you’re speaking Martian.
Here are some suggestions for dealing with non-industry consumers:
- Create a buzzword thesaurus for yourself and your team — provide common translations for complex industry lingo
- Train your team on the importance of using “normal” language with clients
- When sending communications, try to use language that the other person will understand
Consider the following questions before sending an email or leaving a message on an answering machine:
- How much exposure has the person on the receiving end had in the industry in which you work?
- Are there simple substitutions to some of the complex industry words you are accustomed to?
- Could the message be lost in translation if a secretary or intern is the one taking it?
While not all industry lingo is bad, it’s important to find the balance between sounding informative and sounding confusing to the recipient.
Try and keep these tips in mind the next time you have a conversation with a potential client.
