On October 3rd, 2013, Paul Potratz, founder and COO of Potratz, will be joining Grant Cardone and Mel Robbins in the 10X Your Business Seminar in Orlando, FL. The event is set to gather some of the best in social media, marketing and PR, offering inside knowledge on industry-proven strategies for growing a business.
Grant Cardone has a history of pumping new life into businesses suffering from some of the side effects of economic downturn. His show, “Turnaround King” was responsible for saving companies on the verge of extinction. Syndicated Radio Host, Mel Robbins has made a name for herself as a media and technology expert. Together, the two promise to put together an event that will be guaranteed to increase business and sales for all attendees.
The 10X Your Business Seminar will feature experts from many different business backgrounds. The list includes PR expert for Axia Public Relations and Emmy Award Winner, Jason Mudd, Jack Jackintelle, President and CEO of multi-billion dollar company, Rick Case Automotive Group and best-selling author as well as personal financial expert, Christopher Music.
For more information on 10X Your Business Seminar, click here or to receive information about Paul’s speaking engagements, click here.
By: Yasmine Syed
Approximately sixty-seven percent of American adults use some kind of mobile device, whether it be a smartphone or a tablet. But who are they exactly? It’s important to know, especially if you are serving up mobile ads.
In a nutshell, they’re the ideal target consumer. Mobile device users are more educated and earn higher incomes than their non-smartphone using counterparts. This revelation may prompt you to wonder if traditional print media advertising should be relegated to the ash heap, but a study conducted by the University of Missouri’s Reynolds Journalism Institute proves otherwise. The same consumers who use mobile devices also continue to utilize traditional print mediums like newspapers and magazines. Rather than replacing traditional media with digital, these consumers consume both.
Mobile devices are as diverse as their owners. For example, smartphone and iPad owners are predominately male, while e-readers and small tablet owners skew female. IPhone and Blackberry users tend to be more educated and earn higher incomes than Android users and earn, on average, $75,000 or more annually. In fact, a whopping 81.3% of mobile device users earn more than $75,000 per year while 55.5% of mobile device users have a 4-year or advanced degree. What’s even more interesting is that nearly the same percentage of mobile device users and non-mobile device users read print publications. This data suggests that digital media is not replacing traditional media; it is simply an extension of it.
So just how do individuals us their mobile devices? Most people take their smartphones everywhere and use them for task-related activities like sending text messages and reading and responding to email, while tablets are used for longer-term media consumption.
The following chart depicts tablet use:
Because tablets are largely used for viewing richer content and enhancing leisure time, display ads do not perform as well on tablets as they do on smartphones. Because smartphones are task related they are predominately used while traveling, in a store while shopping, in the car, and in a restaurant.
The following chart depicts smartphone use:
When it comes to automotive advertising, the evidence supports the need for ads to be optimized for smartphone users. Given the fact that they have disposable income, they are ripe potential car-buying consumers.
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!
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.
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.
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.
As I stroll in at 9am I can’t help to feel a bit guilty, because my colleagues have been hard at work for the past half hour. As an intern my hours are slightly less than the regular crowd; not only do I enjoy the extra snooze time but this also means that I do not have to get coffee for the staff every morning. Most days I sit behind my iMac; I am a PC guy so that took a little getting used to. I work on various tasks such as posting in AdWords and checking conversion code links to ensure they are installed correctly.
Every once in a while I get to do something really amazing. One day I was lead carpenter of the masterful construction of six desks and two chairs. Might I add, these are in fact the best six desks and two chairs in the building! When there is no need for my expertise in the carpentry field, I am hard at work learning the daily tasks in the SEM department. One of the most important projects we do is our weekly deep dives – I know what you’re thinking and no we don’t have a pool. A deep dive is done once a week for each account and it’s our way of looking at every aspect of the account to make sure everything is running properly. It’s our time to make sure we’re fixing anything that isn’t performing or that is underperforming and see what is performing well. Completing this task requires me to shadow one of the two stars of the SEM department, Renee and Sarah.
My hero, The Great Dan Allen, VP of Creative Services, will also summon me to do some work in Basecamp, because according to him “no one wants to shadow someone all day.” After an epic adventure in Basecamp in which I help organize the projects for all departments, I usually go to a company training where I am able to meet up with my fellow interns and apprentices. A current employee usually teaches these trainings, and we learn not only about the goofs of past and current employees, but a great deal on how not to make those same goofs. At Potratz, they are always learning how to offer the best possible services to their clients, by analyzing past performance and discovering how they can be better.
One of my new projects is making sure all the websites have perfect conversions for their websites. For all our clients reading this, if you get a form filled out and the customer’s name is TEST, please ignore as that is me. When I have finished testing conversions, I continue to help the stars of the SEM department by assisting in posting ads. Given that this is still new to me, I have questions and will send out an SOS to the one and only Justin, the ‘web page god.’AdWords is not a new concept to him, so he can save my ship from sinking immediately. After I have finished my posting it’s about that time to head home and go to work on my two online classes.
Well, there you have it, a day in the life of a Potratz intern.
In all seriousness, I have learned a great deal about the future of marketing and how to utilize technology to the best of its ability. I am happy to have had the opportunity to work with the Potratz team, as they are all incredibly hard workers and phenomenal teachers. The amount I have learned in my past month of interning has been substantial, and will be an enormous help to my future endeavors. Thank you to the Potratz staff. And, by the way, I promise I am not writing this portion because the staff is required to read every blog.
The CPO Forum announced that, Paul Potratz, founder and COO of Potratz, headquartered in Schenectady, NY, will be speaking as part of the 2013 Used Car Week Conference when it meets November 11-12 in San Diego, California.
Paul’s topic, “13 Creative Ways To Increase CPO Sales, That No One Told You About…Till Now!” is slated for November 11, 2013, at 2:00 PM. It will teach attendees the best selling message to generate leads and sales, where to spend ad dollars and how to measure the results and reallocate efforts to increase the sales.
Paul is very excited to be a part of the CPO Forum’s 2013 Used Car Week Conference and looks forward to helping dealers learn how to sell more cars. If you have ever thought, “What else could I do to sell just 8 more vehicles that would not cost a lot of money?” then this is the workshop is for you!
For more information on the CPO Forum 2013 Used Car Week Conference, click here. For additional information on Potratz or to receive announcements of future speaking engagements, click here.
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
If your company is involved in pay-per click advertising, click through rate, or CTR, is one of the most important metrics to measure. Click through rate is defined as the number of times a given ad is clicked on divided by the number of times the ad is shown, or impressions.
For example, if an ad is shown 1000 times and receives 10 clicks, the click through rate is 1%. Sites like Google Ad Words provide a plethora of statistics about your CTR and your advertising campaign as a whole, and often it can be overwhelming to wade through them all. With more graphs and charts than you can shake a stick at, how do you know what a good measurement of your success is?
A good click through rate depends on how competitive your industry is. Earlier this year, a Google employee said that beginning advertisers should shoot for a 2% click through rate. Other PPC experts say the figure should be between 2% and 5% for competitive industries, and above 5% for less competitive industries.
Most would agree that the car business is extremely competitive, but your company’s market may be more or less competitive depending on the number of people and dealerships in your area.
Additionally, where your ad is placed can affect your CTR. A recent report concluded that ads on Bing have a higher CTR than Google and Yahoo.
Your CTR is also dependent on the quality of your keywords. It’s important that the users who are clicking on your ad are qualified buyers in your target market. Let’s say, for example, that you sell televisions. People who search “TV” might not be looking to purchase a television, but they still might end up on your site. They might be looking for television programs, television guides, or just want to research types of TVs and aren’t ready to buy.
They might click on your ad, but they aren’t considered qualified buyers, so the chances of them converting are small. A conversion is defined as the move from simply looking at your website to taking some sort of action. That action could be to fill out a form, request more information, or schedule a test drive. In other industries, a conversion could be a sale, but since most car buying transactions take place offline, we usually measure conversion differently.
Therefore, a keyword like “TV” might generate a higher click through rate, but those clicks won’t be from people who actually want to buy from you. A click through rate on an ad with specific keywords might not generate a lot of clicks, but the clicks are more likely to come from qualified buyers.
The best way to ensure you’re getting a good CTR is to monitor your ads progress regularly, and ensure that your bids and keywords are appropriate. There are a lot of factors to manage, so it’s best if a professional mans the helm. Need help? We just happen to be digital ad campaign experts. Give us a call!
