Phil Zelinger - AdAgencyOnline.Net Automotive Advertising  

ENCORE; This "open business meeting" offers an inside look into automotive advertising agencies using cutting edge automotive advertising technology. Today's show will review the role of social networking vs. SEO / SEM along with vendors on the "short list" that were reviewed at the 2010 NADA Convention during an interview with Ken Luna, the President of http://TeletextSolutions.Com. Philip Zelinger reviews automotive advertising technologies that "blur the line between the real and the virtual world" with several automotive advertising vendors that cross that divide by turning car shoppers into car buyers. A special focus of today's show will be on TeletextSolutions, a mobile text solution being considered by AdAgencyOnline.Net as a preferred automotive advertising vendor as well as a a new vendor client of Ad Agency Online, L.L.C. - http://ronsmap.com . ronsmap is a new marketing platform that leverages inventory and social networking tools to sell more vehicles and service including a free listing opportunity for auto dealers and for sale by owner vehicles. Hosted by Philip Zelinger, President of AdAgencyOnline.Net, author of two books on the auto industry and a well known automotive advertising consultant. Philip will also review automotive advertising best practices to maximize R.O.I. using online transaction and conversion tools with enhanced video capabilities provided by SiSTeR Technologies, Laser Stream Video and Argistics AutoTransaXion along with leveraged resources provided by third party automotive advertising websites like the soon to be introduced http://ronsmap.com. Real Estate opportunities with Colliers Abood Wood-Fay and their CARS - Colliers Automotive Real Estate Services - and new vendor clients including http://DealerMouth.com and http://GetAutoAppraise.com will also be discussed as part of this automotive advertising forum as well as DealMaker.Com, CityTwist, Bulldog Marketing Technologies and Argistics AutoTransaXion.

ENCORE: This "open business meeting" offers an inside look into automotive advertising agencies using cutting edge automotive advertising technology. Today's show will review the role of social networking vs. SEO and SEM along with new vendor clients during an interview with Barry Brodsky, the President of a new vendor client --http://GetAutoAppraise.Com Philip Zelinger reviews automotive advertising technologies that "blur the line between the real and the virtual world" with several automotive advertising vendors that cross that divide by turning car shoppers into car buyers. A special focus of today's show will the newest preferred automotive advertising vendor on AdAgencyOnline.Net -- http://GetAutoAppraise.Com as well as - http://ronsmap.com. GetAutoAppraise is a conversion tool and lead generator and ronsmap is a new marketing platform that leverages inventory and social networking tools to sell more vehicles and service including a free listing opportunity for auto dealers and for sale by owner vehicles. Hosted by Philip Zelinger, President of AdAgencyOnline.Net, author of two books on the auto industry and a well known automotive advertising consultant. Philip will also review automotive advertising best practices to maximize R.O.I. on your real and your virtual showrooms using online transaction and varied conversion tools with enhanced video capabilities provided by SiSTeR Technologies, Laser Stream Video and Argistics AutoTransaXion along with leveraged resources provided by automotive advertising websites like http://ronsmap.com. Real Estate opportunities with Colliers Abood Wood-Fay and their CARS - Colliers Automotive Real Estate Services - and new vendor clients including http://DealerMouth.com and http://GetAutoAppraise.com will also be discussed as part of this automotive advertising forum as well as DealMaker.Com, CityTwist, Bulldog Marketing Technologies and Argistics AutoTransaXion.

According to Philip Zelinger, the President of a national network of independent affiliated automotive advertising agencies -- Ad Agency Online, L.L.C.-- and the host of AdAgencyOnline.Net and their featured blog talk radio station -- WAAOL, All Automotive Advertising News All The Time, automotive advertising agencies must re-evaluate who they actually work for.  Of course their auto dealer clients sign their pay checks but in today's pull/push Internet market the customer is driving the deals on the Internet Super Highway.

Consumers prefer to go to the Internet to shop for a vehicle to get information to make a buying decision without having to visit a dealership.  Sometimes they turn to the World Wide Web vs. their local car row to avoid being pressured by a self serving car salesperson -- real or imagined. Other times their objective may be to save gas and time before they jump into the real world where they may be pressured into making a premature buying decision based on emotion and limited information. Frankly, in many cases, they are right; can you say -- spot delivery.

Job one for search engines, like Google, is to provide relevant information to their online customers to help them narrow down their list of vehicles of interest and answer associated questions like trade-in value, payment options and the many items that must be addressed before they can select -- the -- vehicle vs. -- a -- vehicle.   Once those issues are resolved, they need to help their online shoppers find an auto dealer that can provide a vehicle that best satisfies those terms and conditions; in that order -- vehicle first and dealer second. My point is that when Google first directs their customers to the most relevant source for their desired information it is not necessarily limited to a particular dealership.  Today's car shoppers are much better educated than yesterday's. They know what questions they need to ask before they can make a buying decision so their online search words are more able to target vehicles that warrant their consideration rather than limiting their search to their local car dealerships.  For better or worse, auto dealers can't put that horse back in the barn!  

The adversarial relationship between consumers and auto dealers that governed old world selling processes originated in the real world to help auto dealers control the shopping and negotiation process and they survived briefly on the virtual showrooms being built one on the Internet, but -- today and tomorrow -- not so much!  Once auto dealer's realized -- or more correctly -- once customers told auto dealers that they no longer controlled the access to the information that they needed to purchase a vehicle the dealers tried to control the information on the Internet; how is that working out for auto dealers!

Automotive advertising agencies first assumed that S.E.O. and S.E.M. was a way to put Google on the auto dealer's side of the Internet Super Highway.  If they placed the right search words, meta tags, URL names -- and the various manipulations of the Google search algorithms that automotive advertising agencies have memorized as fast as Google changes them -- then they could manipulate the search results to place their auto dealer clients as the most relevant source for the information that customers were searching for and earn the auto dealers a position on the car shoppers short list.  Given the vertical priority placed by Google to position a listing on page one based on relevancy to their customers search words or phrases, that technique certainly has value. However, since customers are prioritizing finding a vehicle before a dealer and/or to answer related questions before they open negotiations on a specific vehicle at a particular auto dealer, auto dealers that base their online marketing efforts to accomplish that priority are positioning themselves mid-sales cycle and they may be a day late and a dollar short for a large portion of today's and tomorrow's shoppers/buyers.

Automotive advertising agencies have attempted to answer customer's questions on their auto dealership' websites in an attempt to earn them a top position on vehicle based searches. Their assumption is that the more information the better -- as long as it is relevant -- however, once at the auto dealer's site the more accurate priority is "transparency!"  More time on page, and more page visits used to be considered a good thing but today, once again -- not so much!  The easier and faster the online car shopper can find the specific information that they need to make a buying decision the better! Site designs are being simplified with more intuitive user interface and dedicated landing pages or linked micro sites to allow customers to limit the amount of "clicks" or wasted exposure to information that may be relevant to the dealer but not necessarily to the customer; at that time in their shopping cycle at least.

Once the shopper actually ventures onto an online showroom the plan is to keep them there by providing direct or linked access to anything that they need to move themselves further down the sales/buying funnel. The dealer may see these information resources as a conversion tool or a lead generator but if they lose track of the truth -- that the customer is still in charge -- they risk losing them with the click of a mouse. Sorry, but throwing their trade-in keys onto the roof won't work in your virtual showrooms!

The solution is for auto dealers to listen and learn from their online customers before they presume to sell them anything!  Human nature has survived on the World Wide Web and relationship based selling still has a strong influence on consumers. Today's online shoppers are being directed by Google and the other search engines to social networking sites because the marketplace is a conversation and people are social animals. Auto dealers who want to attract customers with a message that they are the best source for information to serve the customer's interest vs. their own are better served to have their customers make that case for them.

Next generation inventory based search portals -- like ronsmap.com -- accept an auto dealer's inventory for free with the ability to push their vehicles into social media using their vBack application to Ask-A-Friend or Tell-A-Friend about the vehicle -- and the dealer --that they are considering within their social networking communities of online friends. Google has already admitted that they are prioritizing real time social media to establish relevancy, and automotive advertising agencies already know that more vehicles on a site provide more relevancy to more online car shoppers. As a result, they have found that the way to attract more online customers to find their auto dealership as the place to go to get all of their questions answered will be the message that is carried along with their individual vehicles listed on this communal consumer-centric site; which is what the customers are looking for to begin developing their shortlist of dealers to do business with!

Customer friendly applications that distribute the information on an auto dealer's individual website which have the secondary value of functioning as a conversion tool or lead generator are also key differentiators that quickly build branding value for an auto dealer's virtual showroom and enhance their online reputation as the place to go to get customer's questions answered vs. their being sold something.  For example, GetAutoAppraise.Com is a next generation appraisal tool that provides credible third party trade-in values sourced through NADA with integrated inventory information that allows the customer to review the entire transaction more efficiently. Their trade-in appraisal form includes vehicle, price and payment information to and from both parties to the transaction in one easy transparent and customer friendly process.  

Video platforms, like SiSTeR Technologies Video CarLot, is another transparent Google friendly application that converts pictures on an auto dealer's website into interactive videos with human voice that are also pushed out onto the World Wide Web through their dedicated API to You Tube and soon to be announced applications that push their vShock platform onto social networking communities like Face Book. Their proprietary video platform is fully index able for the search engines and it provides relevant information to the customer from within the video as well as direct links through their vShock application that opens a dedicated micro site with similar vehicles chosen from the dealer's inventory using algorithms and business rules custom designed by the dealer to improve the customers vehicle selection. This process is another example of a customer friendly information delivery system that will improve transparency for the customer once they find an online dealership which will also extend the auto dealers S.E.O..

The point is, the more information that an automotive advertising agency provides through their auto dealer client's websites in the most relevant and transparent manner the better.  However, auto dealers need to get online car shoppers to find and visit their virtual showrooms first, and since information is a key differentiator between them and their online competition -- or according to Google and online shoppers, it should be - then the information alone won't make it! Automotive advertising agencies must focus on consumers' interests in order to best serve their auto dealer clients because Google does; and Google does it because their customers demand it!

Talk directly with decision makers in the automotive advertising industry. Today's show will review selected automotive advertising vendors that exhibited at The National Automobile Dealers Association Convention in Orlando Florida. Special Guest - Ron Morrison, President/Founder of http://ronsmap.com Philip and Ron will update their previous discussion regarding their new online car selling and buying portal that officially launched their Beta version on March 01, 2010 as well as their proprietary social networking engine - vBack. This week's show will ad to previously reviewed automotive advertising best practices and new technologies that ronsmap has developed as well as those offerd by the other preferred automotive advertising vendors featured on http://AdAgencyOnline.Net. Philip Zelinger will also recognize contributions by some new vendor clients including ronsmap.com, http://DealerMouth.com and http://GetAutoAppraise.Com to his affiliated automotive advertising agencies. http://ronsmap.com is a new online car selling and buying portal for both consumers and dealers. What makes it game changing is new technology that provides dealers with unprecedented levels of sales intelligence on consumer leads, and enables them to promote and engage via social networks, something that to date, they have not been able to leverage. ronsmap was designed to drive better returns for dealers dealing with increasingly diminishing online ROI. Your host, Philip Zelinger, was a General Manager and auto dealer principal for 25+ years before founding AdAgencyOnline.Net. His network of affiliated automotive advertising agencies and auto industry vendors represent cutting edge automotive advertising technologies that blur the line between the real and the virtual showrooms of today and tomorrow!

After twenty five years as a General Manager and Auto Dealer Principal, followed by 10 years as the President of a national network of independent automotive advertising agencies -- Ad Agency Online, L.L.C. -- I am a self described car guy.  However, my definition of my chosen career and professional identity has been irrevocably altered by technology that has created a paradigm shift in the powers that govern the retail auto industry on many levels.  Fortunately, the changes have all been for the best for those who embrace them to improve on what was, and with the vision of what could/ should be if technology is allowed to integrate old school wisdom with new world opportunities.

I first recognized the impact that technology was having on the retail auto industry when I started using computer driven processes and specialized software applications to enhance internal communications at my auto dealership.  Efficiencies made possible by advanced DMS computer hardware supported by applications that allowed real time management of our P&L coupled with CRM applications, Inventory Management Systems and specialized tools that integrated processes across all departments to maximize my R.O.I. on many levels suggested the role that technology would have on future operations. 

When I transitioned from the retail auto industry into automotive advertising I took my confidence in technology driven processes with me.  I developed an internal communication / distribution system to replicate the inter-department management and monitoring processes that I enjoyed at my auto dealership. I was surprised at the universal nature that it had when applied to the day to day operations of my automotive advertising agency.  Then came the Internet which exponentially increased the power of the computer technology that I had learned to leverage.

I immediately shifted my internal server functions onto more efficient online resources with the advantages of redundancy of data storage for added safety and of course the convenience of remote access from anywhere on the World Wide Web.  The light bulb went off when I recognized the leverage of linking remote facilities with diverse products, services and skill sets to enhance my offerings to my auto dealer clients.  Frankly, at that time I was still focused on using computers and the related technology -- even on the Internet -- for my own operations.  I operated for seven years with the confidence that I was ahead of the technology curve; until I realized that I wasn't and that I never would or could be. My first experience in expanded opportunities offered by Internet technologies that extended beyond my own operations was when I hosted an automotive advertising resource networking portal -- http://AdAgencyOnline.Net -- and the blog talk radio station featured on the portal -- WAAOL, All Automotive Advertising News All The Time.

Technology is a moving platform that must constantly evolve to take on new challenges as human nature drives people to seek the path of least resistance in life as well as the marketplace.  As a result, the Internet has created an explosive growth in linked and leveraged resources for auto dealers as well as consumers.  The technology driven change that impacted the retail auto industry the most has been consumer acceptance of the virtual auto dealerships on the Internet Super Highway vs. the less efficient brick and mortar facilities on car row.

Online shoppers now represent 93% of today's car buyers who prefer to bypass the auto dealer and their automotive advertising agency's self serving marketing messages -- real or imagined in both the real and the virtual world -- to get the information that they need to choose a new or pre-owned vehicle as well as the auto dealer that they want to purchase it from.  The impact on established selling systems and required skill sets and resources for auto dealers who wish to remain competitive has created new opportunities for some and unforeseen challenges for many.

The Internet and technology has leveled the playing field for small independent auto dealerships to compete with larger better capitalized operations.  The multimillion dollar facility and six figure monthly advertising budgets that allowed large dealer groups to dominate conventional media and community recognition have been equalized by the efficiencies and reduced costs offered by Internet showrooms and integrated selling processes anchored by much smaller real world facilities with less staff and inventory.  Virtual showrooms can be built and managed for a few thousand dollars per month vs. a monthly debt service and operational expense to manage and  maintain a brick and mortar facility that can easily run into six figures.  The obvious savings in expense and exposure can be passed onto consumers who are demanding more for less in their vehicle purchase.  The trickledown effect is that auto dealers must demand more for less not only through expense reductions at their facilities but from their automotive advertising agency in the form of reduced fees and advertising budgets to preserve bottom line profits.

Fortunately, forward thinking automotive advertising agencies can realize similar efficiencies in delivering their marketing messages through new media channels in a variety of new lanes on the Internet Super Highway.  Conventional media such as radio, T.V. and newspaper have proven formulas to monitor results that rely on reach, frequency, cost per point, cost per impression, etc. to maximize R.O.I.  Fortunately, many of the same philosophies can be applied to Internet based marketing, however, the rules of the road on the Internet Super Highway are very different than in the real world and in some cases they draw inverse conclusions with varying results.

For example, social networking is not a new phenomenon since it relies on the fact that human beings are social animals.  Selling to friends, neighbors, relatives and personal spheres of influence has always been part of any professional sales process, however, the Internet and related applications have created efficiencies and challenges that are just now being realized.  The efficiencies are evidenced by the explosive growth of social networking sites like Face Book, Twitter, My Space and personal access to the Internet with blogs and individual websites.  The challenges are less obvious but equally important since a single mistake that used to impact one sale or a small group of shared friends is now amplified on the World Wide Web as it is virally distributed to millions of potential customers.

Applications that can insulate auto dealers from making mistakes in social media are being developed that are expanding the opportunity for those who apply them.  DealerMouth.Com, for example, is a new application that allows an auto dealer to empower their sales staff to develop their own websites to market to past, present and pending customers with a centralized dashboard that monitors content before it goes live onto the Internet.  The auto dealer hosts the individual sites and links them to his own information resources, such as inventory and related marketing material, while managing and monitoring the sales person's activities to make sure that they fit established guidelines as to content as well as limiting use of the linked social networking sites to business related activities.  Additional site analytics are available that compare individual activities on the site to share best practices amongst the staff, develop training processes and monitor make-a-deal meetings to quantify the R.O.I. realized by the auto dealer in his social networking activities. Monetizing social networking is the challenge of the day, and applications like DealerMouth provide a simple solution that is both cost effective and easily scalable to apply to staff in vehicle sales or fixed operations.

Leveraging and monetizing social networking beyond the auto dealer's staff is also available through technology driven Internet solutions like the game changing car buying/selling search portal -- ronsmap.com.  ronsmap serves consumers and auto dealers alike with market intelligent leads that maximize the R.O.I. for the dealer by engaging consumers via social networking while empowering consumers to more efficiently select the vehicle and dealer that serves their needs. 

Search engine fatigue is a recognized phenomenon that is created by the endless lists of individual vehicles that are presented by the search engines -- like Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc. -- as well as conventional third party vehicle inventory marketing portals -- like AutoTrader.Com, Vehix.Com, Edmonds.Com, etc. -- after applying their filters based on key words entered by the online shopper.  ronsmap is configured like Google Maps with geo-targeted zones reflecting every vehicle for sale in concentric circles from the online shoppers' location identified by the IP address of the computer that accesses the site.  Rather than presenting vertical pages of individual vehicles in the selective order prioritized by paid premium positions or enhanced S.E.O. techniques applied by the dealer, ronsmap aggregates every vehicle for sale on the Internet horizontally on a map with vehicle listings sourced through direct data feeds from participating auto dealers as well as for sale by owner listings supplemented by their proprietary ontology semantic extraction and indexing process that functions like a mini-Google search engine focused exclusively on new and pre-owned vehicles.   The result is a level playing field for all automobile dealers and private sellers that allows consumers to easily find, select and compare new and pre-owned vehicles of every make and model for sale in a pre-determined distance from their home or office.

Even more uniquely, ronsmap has integrated social networking feature functionality that allows consumers to solicit opinions from their online friends to help them make a buying decision.  Their vBack application pushes the information on the vehicles that the ronsmap shopper selects directly to their personal social networking communities.  In addition to the community voice that this solicitation generates, Google has learned to weight real time social media messages in their search algorithms to enhance the relevancy of their customers' searches which further extends the S.E.O. of the posting dealer to the entire World Wide Web.  The back end analytics available on the site which is made available to the posting auto dealers provides them with a social networking profile of the online shopper as well as real time viral coefficients associated with the messages sourced from vBack that quantify the R.O.I. realized by the dealer through the extended social networking activities provided by ronsmap.  The added reach and frequency of message provided by these integrated applications extend the online footprint of the dealer and improve the shopping experience for the consumer in a win-win scenario that was not available before the Internet and this related technology was developed.  More relevantly to this article, the entire process is built on proven characteristics of human nature that have survived onto the Internet. 

The leveraged resources that it takes to sell more vehicles, for less money, with fewer staff and dedicated resources could not have come at a better time.  Automotive advertising agencies that apply these cutting edge technologies designed to accommodate consumers in a pull/push manner on the Internet vs. old world push/pull marketing methods are already picking up market share.  When the market comes back -- and it will -- these same agencies will be positioned to better serve their auto dealer clients through their use of technology powered by social media that leverages human nature to maximize the R.O.I. for their auto dealer clients.

This regularly scheduled open discussion with Ralph Paglia, National Director Of Digital marketing For ADP, covers cutting edge automotive advertising technologies and applications for automotive advertising agencies in their real and virtual showrooms. In today's show Ralph Paglia reviews his experiences at the 2010 NADA Convention in Orlando in a discussion with Philip Zelinger. These two Auto industry insiders and automotive advertising experts will share their insights in today's automotive advertising world. Both Ralph and Phil will also discuss their plans at the upcoming 8th Digital Dealer Conference scheduled for April 20th through April 22nd, 2010 as well as some of the best practices they will be sharing with automotive advertising agencies and auto dealers that attend the event. Hosted by Ralph Paglia and Co-hosted by Philip Zelinger.