Orbee Auto's long-standing relationship with the National Association of Minority Auto Dealers resulted in another potential benefit for store principals and their staff.

On Friday, the marketing cloud company designed exclusively for dealerships announced a partnership with the association to provide digital marketing courses virtually and free of charge to its members.

Leading these courses will be Daniel Kim, chief executive officer and co-founder of Orbee Auto. The firm highlighted the 10-week educational series is now underway and is aimed at advancing digital marketing capabilities for employees of minority-owned dealerships.

Orbee Auto explained the focus of this training program is based on understanding the shoppers that land on a dealership’s website. The firm said attendees will gain a better understanding of how to source traffic through SEO, Facebook and other crucial online channels.

Additionally, the firm noted dealers will learn how to properly interpret digital marketing analytics. Furthermore, through a segment on marketing automation, the course reinforces understanding and knowing how to best target shoppers.

“I am so excited to have the opportunity to team up with NAMAD and lead this digital marketing course for minority dealerships,” Kim said in a news release.

“As co-founder of a minority-owned company myself, I wanted to be able to help these dealerships find new ways to succeed. With digital marketing being such a prominent aspect in running a successful business today, it was a no brainer for me to partake in this training course,” Kim continued.

Orbee Auto went on to emphasize the purpose of this program is to create the next generation of digital marketing savvy dealership employees and operators.

Upon completion of the program, the firm said participants will:

— Become knowledgeable in improving the ROI of their digital marketing spend

— Know how to make advertising budget decisions based on data and properly manage existing digital marketing vendors to correlate with the dealership's business objectives

— Learn how to create personalized experiences for online shoppers that drive vehicle sales and identify high-intent online shoppers.

“With how fast digital transformation is always evolving, it’s challenging for many dealerships to implement new technologies and services that effectively adapt to the ever-changing needs and demands of their customers. This is particularly the case with online digital retailing, which became almost mandatory for all dealerships large and small during the height of the COVID pandemic,” NAMAD president Damon Lester said.

“I believe that our collaboration with Orbee Auto as a leading martech company, in hosting this training, benefits our NAMAD members greatly by allowing them to dive deeper into digital marketing and challenges them to apply these learnings to their own dealerships,” Lester said.

Dealership personnel who already completed some of the coursework provided this feedback to Orbee Auto:

“So far (this course) has enlightened me on pertinent digital terminology and has given me insight on what is important to focus on for digital ROI,” said Daylyn Turner, who is general manager of JK Subaru.

“This is a phenomenal partnership between Orbee and NAMAD. One of the wonderful benefits of being part of such a strong association like NAMAD,” said Andrea Zadd, vice president of Crestmont Auto Group.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience thus far, and I’m looking forward to learning more,” said Martin Staten, director of digital marketing at Genesis Automotive Group.

NAMAD and Orbee Auto chief revenue officer Peter Fong have a long-standing relationship that began when Fong was the dealer franchising manager for Ford.

At the time, Fong was the liaison between the Ford Motor Minority Dealer Association and NAMAD.

Orbee Auto is a predominately minority company with more than 60% of its employees represented by people of color and more than 30% women, which the firm said can facilitate the understanding of being minorities within the automotive industry.

Throughout the course, Orbee Auto noted that feedback is requested to alter the lessons for students to receive the best possible educational experience.

According to NAMAD’s website, only 6% of American dealerships are minority-owned. The firms said this opportunity provided by Orbee and NAMAD presents participants with the ability to propel and advance in the digital marketing landscape.

“Orbee Auto and NAMAD will both work with minorities to defeat this curve and bring together minorities to become savvy in the modern world of automotive digital marketing,” the firms said.

To qualify for this training, participants must be a current member of NAMAD. To learn more, send a message to learning@orbeeauto.com.