Automotive advertising agencies are challenged to provide more for less
to serve a consolidating auto industry and today's Internet has provided
them with the media and the methods to do it. Budget conscious
consumers are firmly in the driving seat on the Internet Super Highway
and auto dealers have directed their marketing messages to their online
showrooms vs. their brick and mortar facilities to get their attention.
More accurately, they are following their customers onto the World Wide
Web and hoping that their past and pending customers will find them
there.
The days of hard sell retail messages in conventional
media like radio, T.V. and newspaper as well as dealer-centric banner
ads and websites promoting daily dealer specials are numbered. Today's
car shoppers have been empowered by the search engines to filter out
dealer messages in favor of information on exactly the new or pre-owned
vehicle they are searching for. In addition, Social networking
communities of online friends have rallied their support and opinions to
help car shoppers decide what they should buy and from which dealership
they should buy it from. After all, what are friends for!
The
consumers' new found source of information on the Internet to assist
them in their car shopping process hasn't replaced the need for
automotive advertising agencies in the retail auto industry, but it
certainly has changed their role in it and the methods that they must
use to earn their agency fees. The first adjustment that an automotive
advertising agency must make in their business model is to recognize
that the internal profits that they used to realize in their radio, T.V.
and print production departments can no longer be supported by their
auto dealer clients. Reduced sales volume and profit margins on the auto
dealers' side of the table demand a better R.O.I. for every dollar and
while these departments are still required to produce digital marketing
material for online campaigns the production costs must be a fraction of
previous pricing to remain competitive with the newly developing online
resources that an auto dealer has access to.
The agency must
still provide creative that is relevant to the market and they must
define the target audience that would be most receptive to it, but once
again the World Wide Web has changed the rules and automotive
advertising agencies must learn what they are and follow them. Top of
the mind awareness is still job one for automotive advertising agencies
who understand that they can't time the buying cycle for everyone on the
Internet Super Highway and therefore they must maintain a consistent
message across multiple channels to be on the short list when the
customer is ready to purchase a vehicle. Diversification across multiple
media and frequency of targeted messages to qualified buyers isn't a
new practice but the methods, media and skill sets required to get the
job done have changed.
Networking and the related referrals and
sales sourced from it has been an integral component of internal selling
processes for auto dealers since the first vehicle was sold but it has
had little to do with conventional advertising -- until now that is.
Social networking and the related Internet media channels that have
grown to support it are now a primary target audience for automotive
advertising agencies. Word of mouth advertising has grown exponentially
as viral messages travel through social networking channels with the
opinions of like minded car shoppers who use these online communities of
friends to share their car shopping experiences before, during and
after their buying cycle.
Initial attempts by automotive
advertising agencies to market to these social networks from the outside
through the use of banner ads or as wolves in sheep's clothing trying
to invade a network of friends were soundly rejected. Members valued
each other's opinions and shared experiences over a self serving auto
dealer or their automotive advertising agency.
Monetizing social
networking has been a challenge but new technologies that integrate
established marketing channels with social networks from the inside out
have provided the solution. ronsmap, for example, is a game changing
consumer-centric online inventory marketing platform that embeds a
social networking engine on their communal site as well as every vehicle
posted on it by participating auto dealers. Their application, vBack,
provides an Ask-a-Friend / Tell-a-Friend feature that solicits feedback
from friends on the various social networks that an online car shopper
trusts. These influences then act as agents of the auto dealer --
without their knowledge -- under the direction of a friend which allows
the automotive advertising agency to market from the inside out vs. from
the outside in. C2C marketing vs. B2C marketing is the key to
monetizing social networking and ronsmap is a new technology based exit
on the Internet Super Highway that has opened this new channel to auto
dealers.
In addition, ronsmap enhances the value of the leads
generated from within the social networks by accumulating the
information gathered through their SellersVantage application. In
addition to the anticipated name, IP address and vehicle information
requests their new Intelli-Leads include the online shopping selection
and vehicle preferences of the initiating car shopper and the comments
accumulated by his online network of friends. These enhanced leads allow
the auto dealer to anticipate the needs of their potential customers
before they open negotiations with them. As a result, the consumer is
provided a more relevant and transparent vehicle selection in response
to their initial inquiry and the auto dealer has a competitive edge to
quote the best price on the best vehicle for the consumer. This is a
win-win scenario that increases closing ratios and profits for the auto
dealer while offering the consumer the advantage of the information and
referrals he gathered from his online car shopping experience.
The
internet is far superior to conventional media on many levels and
social networking is only one of the newest reasons. Automotive
advertising agencies must be prepared to direct their clients beyond
marketing through social media. They must also provide more than advice
on search engine optimization, S.E.O., search engine marketing, S.E.M.
and banner ad placements or transparent and relevant website designs.
The search engines hold the key to the Internet and understanding the
algorithms that determine the rules of the road on the Internet Super
Highway that they control are the responsibility of the automotive
advertising agency.
Google, for example, has clearly stated the
weight that they place on video vs. copy or other means of online
digital marketing. Today's Internet consumer grew up watching television
and the explosive growth of YouTube proves that their preference for
video has survived onto the World Wide Web. One vendor that has listened
to Google and their subsidiary YouTube is SiSTeR Technologies with
their Video CarLot platform. SiSTer is able to take the existing
pictures and vehicle information posted on an auto dealer's website and
convert them into professionally produced videos.
More
importantly, their videos are fully index-able with multiple schema
layers making them interactive and more transparent to the online car
shopper. These videos are placed on the auto dealer's website as well as
any third party advertising sites that the auto dealer is linked to. In
addition they are driven through a dedicated API to YouTube with
individual URLs that extend the reach and frequency of the dealer's
inventory and marketing messages -- a proven formula for success in
conventional automotive advertising that also applies to Internet
advertising.
Automotive advertising agencies are not reinventing
the wheel by extending their reach and frequency with consistent
messages across multiple channels by leveraging access to social
networks or by manipulating the algorithms on the search engines. They
are simply applying proven and established advertising wisdoms and best
practices to an auto industry that has only one constant -- change!
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