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First Class Educators has announced that Dealer.com, the global leader of online marketing solutions for auto dealers, has signed on as a sponsor of the 2012 Automotive Boot Camp taking place May 15th-17th at the Monte Carlo Hotel, Las Vegas. This is the first time select Boot Camp sponsors including Dealer.com will have increased audience exposure by way of exhibit hall space.

Dealer.com is a top sponsor of this year’s Boot Camp event and will be exhibiting in a 10×20 booth at the Boot Camp vendor exhibit hall. The exhibit hall gives Dealer.com unprecedented exposure to hundreds of the top dealers in the country that are focused on growing their business online and becoming more competitive by way of innovative digital marketing strategies. Matt Murray, Director of Digital Marketing for Dealer.com, will also be a keynote presenter at the conference.

About Dealer.com

Dealer.com is the global leader in online marketing solutions for the automotive industry, providing award-winning e-marketing solutions to OEMs, auto dealers and media companies. More dealerships use the Dealer.com platform than any other platform in the world.

Recent national and international accolades include: The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, top ranking in The Net Promoter® Score Survey of customer satisfaction, Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 and the Web Marketing Association’s Automobile Standard of Excellence. In addition, Dealer.com was the 2008 top rated web provider on leading online rating websites, as well as the Diamond Award winner from the Dealers’ Choice Awards for best dealer website solutions.

http://www.dealer.com

About the Automotive Boot Camp

The 2012 Automotive Boot Camp is designed to give dealers access to the top industry experts to refine their automotive marketing strategies and operating processes that have been implemented for 2012. It is an intimate event limited to 300 dealer employees that gives all attendees one-on-one time with industry leaders, market experts, and innovative vendor partners.

This year the 2012 Automotive Boot Camp has been expanded with eight “core” curriculum tracks as well as 16 elective courses. This gives attendees a total of 48 workshops to choose from plus the additional keynote speakers, special events and networking sessions.

Some of this year’s workshop topics include:

• BDC/ISM
• Search Marketing
• Sales/F&I
• Social Media
• Fixed Operations
• Website Management and Merchandising
• Organization Development/HR
• GM/Dealership Management

The 2012 Automotive Boot Camp is organized by First Class Educators, the same company responsible for other high ranking automotive marketing conferences like the Digital Marketing Strategies Conference, which took place this past February in Las Vegas, and the Pit Stop marketing tour.

Group discounts are available. For more information or to register, please visit http://www.automotivebootcamp.com or contact Carrie Hemphill at Carrie@firstclasseducators.com.

 

This Automotive Zero Moment of Truth Infographic is a great discussion piece to have with your dealership team about how the car shopping eco-system is working today.

Stimulus Investments Drive ZMOT Activity

Stimulus investments (Radio, TV, and Newspaper) for a majority of consumers do NOT create a direct beeline to the dealership (FMOT).  Stimulus investments encourages further online research prior to direct dealer contact.

This research, prior to dealer contact, is called the Zero Moment of Truth.  This term was coined by Jim Lecinski in his book “Winning The Zero Moment of Truth“. (download book)

It is at the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) that dealers need the most help in creating an effective strategy.

For many dealers offline stimulus investments are a large part of their budget. However when a consumer goes online to research, the dealer is often not showing up to the party to the same degree as their offline influence.  You could make the case that dealers who are weak at ZMOT are actually funding traffic to their competitors.

Consumer Reviews Impact ZMOT

Prior to the Internet, whether a consumer was treated professionally or poorly they had little power to hurt or help a dealer’s sales goals.  Today, consumers have tremendous power to negatively or positively influence sales during the Zero Moment of Truth.

Sites like Google Places, Yelp, PrestoReviews, and DealerRater often appear on Page One of search results when a consumer researches a dealer by name. This fact should remind all members of the automotive community to treat every consumer, regardless if they purchase, with utmost respect and clarity.

Not all sales that are “lost” result in a negative review. Consumers in the end will choose who they feel most comfortable with and the dealer not getting the business could have done everything right accounting to their playbook.

However, for some dealers that still use “bait and switch” advertising will find a a tsunami of negative press building that will educate future buyers to stay aware from unethical business practices.

Improving ZMOT

So, how do you know if you have a well balanced budget for marketing in today’s eco-system?    I have listed some actions that will help improve your visibility in the Zero Moment of Truth.  If you are not doing all these things, you should revisit your overall strategy and rebalance your budgets.

Improving FMOT

Once a consumer has narrowed their choices and has decided to contact you, it is very important that your sales team recognizes that the consumer has been shopping.  They most likely are considering more than the ONE car that they inquired about.  Failing to ask “what other cars have you been considering?” would be a mistake considering the Infographic above.

I would also like to add that dealers who are not recording their incoming calls, inspecting, and scoring how consumers are being handled most likely have a big profit leak.  Compared to overall operating budgets, phone inspection companies like www.PhoneNinjas.com are worth their weight in gold.

Here are some investments that will make the FMOT a stronger and more positive experience for consumers:

Improving SMOT

Once a consumer has purchased a car or serviced a vehicle with your dealership how do you keep them connected?  Leveraging a consumers positive experience with your dealership can be worth thousands of dollars of equivalent advertising.  Here are some thoughts to consider:

Do You Have A Comprehensive Strategy?

The Infographic can not cover all the aspects of the consumer shopping experience but your marketing and operating budget must connect at all touchpoints of the ZMOT, FMOT, and SMOT.  Dealers only can invest in strategies that they understand and measure.  The good news is that measurement is getting much easier.

If you would like a copy of the ZMOT budgeting spreadsheet I created to help dealers see how their marketing and advertising investments fall into each of these categories, you can request a copy by sending me an email, simply click on this link:  brian@pcgdigitalmarketing.com or send me an email and in the Subject Line please add “ZMOT Spreadsheet Request“.

See you at the 2012 Automotive Boot Camp where we can discuss in greater detail the opportunities to expand your reach during the Zero Moment of Truth.

Brian Pasch

PCG Digital Marketing is pleased to announce that Rob Fontano, Digital Sales & Marketing Director at Marazzi Motors, will be a featured presenter at the 2011 Automotive Marketing Boot Camp.

In his workshop session Rob Fontano will reveal which are the best strategies for achieving and maintaining long-term Google page one search results.  In addition to many other tools that will help dealers secure top page rankings, Rob will demonstrate how dealers can utilize what, Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO) for top rankings. Video offers the search engines rich and relevant content that can easily be displayed and provides the consumer with information in one of the most popular mediums available. When deployed properly, video not only achieves extremely fast SEO results, but also has incredible longevity at the top of page rankings.

PCG Digital Marketing organizes the annual Automotive Marketing Boot Camp, which attracts dealers who seek to increase their competitive edge through education of automotive industry best practices, strategies, and technology.

Attendees of the Boot Camp will benefit from a diverse roster of automotive marketing experts and automotive leaders that include Dave Winslow, Tracy Myers, Jerry Thibeau, Sean Wolfington, Brian Pasch, Jeff Kershner, Andrew DiFeo, and Gary May.

Topic to be covered during the 2011 Automotive Marketing Boot Camp include digital marketing, social media engagement, lead management processes, BDC structure and workflows, video publishing, reputation management, Google Places marketing, Google Adwords strategies, automotive blogging,  content syndication, website analytics, as well as Automotive SEO.

Automotive Marketing Boot Camp to Feature Latest Vendor Innovations

The Automotive Marketing Boot Camp is very unique and effective because participants receive conference materials in advance of the class and come fully prepared to engage in actual demonstrations.  Participants use their own accounts during the classes so that they can then continue to work with them on their own long after the boot camp.

This year the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp has introduced longer workshop sessions and labs (2.5 hrs) to allow important topics to be covered in greater detail.  The 2011 Automotive Marketing Boot Camp will also feature Technology Showcases, which will offer attendees a glance at the latest vendor innovations for the automotive industry.