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Thursday, October 29, 2009
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Issue 44
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VOLUME 4
ISSUE 44
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Thursday, October 29, 2009
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Issue 44
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VOLUME 4
ISSUE 44
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News
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The Top 10 Initiatives to Implement in 2010
What they are, how to implement them and how to measure your success
More info on the Digital Dealer Conference
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Never Fly Solo
Learn how to recommit to the ‘core wingman values’ of integrity, service, and excellence
More info on the Digital Dealer Conference
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GM says on track for U.S. sales gain in October
In some good news for the industry, General Motors Co said on Wednesday it was on track to post its first monthly year-over-year U.S. sales increase for the first time in 21 months, Reuters reports. More signs of a gradual recovery for the industry and the economy are seen. "I would say that clearly there are signs that the economy is emerging from the worst recession in 70 years," GM sales analyst Mike DiGiovanni said in a briefing with reporters at the automaker's Detroit headquarters. DiGiovanni said GM's October U.S. auto sales were on track for the automaker to show its first year-over-year sales increase since January 2008. "This would be a really positive sign for GM," he said.
AutoNation posts profit on cost-cutting, Clunkers
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Edmunds: 'Clunkers' cost taxpayers $24K per vehicle sold
The government's "Cash for Clunkers" program may have only added 125,000 vehicle sales, according to Edmunds.com, which said the rest of the units sold would have happened regardless of the program, Dow Jones Newswires reports. In total, the car-shopping Web site said about 690,000 vehicles were sold during the program. Edmunds.com said that based on the actual sales gained from the program, the Cash for Clunkers program cost taxpayers $24,000 per vehicle sold. "Our research indicates that without the Cash for Clunkers program, many customers would not have traded in an old vehicle when making a new purchase," said Edmunds.com senior analyst David Tompkins. "That may give some credence to the environmental claims, but unfortunately the economic claims have been rendered quite weak." Edmunds.com Chief Executive Jeremy Anwyl noted that while sales are up in October from September, growth would have been even better without the program. He said that suggests the auto industry's recovery is gaining momentum.
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Join the Twitter conversation
Keep up with the action at the7th Digital Dealer Conference and Exposition by following us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DDCE7. We'll be tweeting regularly, sharing insights from speakers and attendees, providing conference updates and even inside information on where the hot parties are.
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Facebook grabs social networking share
Not only has Facebook surpassed MySpace as the leading social network in the US, it has moved far ahead in terms of market share of US social networking site visits, eMarketer reports, citing September 2009 data from Experian Hitwise. Almost 59% of all social network category visits were at Facebook, compared with just over 30% for second-place MySpace. That amounted almost to a tripling in share for Facebook year over year, while MySpace dropped 55%, according to the report.
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ResponseLogix signs reseller deal with Washington Post
ResponseLogix, Inc., a provider of automotive digital response management software for Internet leads, Wednesday announced the opening of the Washington D.C.-metro market through an exclusive reseller agreement with The Washington Post . One of the top 10 markets in the country, the Washington D.C. market is characterized by high quality, large volume dealerships and an Internet savvy clientele of well-educated automobile buyers who demand an immediate and professional response to their Internet queries.
[FULL STORY]
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VW races to iPhone with GTI ad-app
Volkswagen is, not surprisingly, launching a marketing campaign for its upcoming 2010 Volkswagen GTI. What is surprising is that the campaign is rolling out in the form of an iPhone App – and at least for the time being - will be limited to that platform, audiovox.com reports. The free app, which is called "Real Racing GTI," puts players on the fictional Mayapan Beach racetrack, and is tied to a contest in which, the New York Times reports, registered players can win one of six limited-edition GTIs. Other features of the Firemint-produced app enable users to post racing times to Twitter, add results to Facebook, or rip a video of the race to YouTube. The strategy is a significant development for adver-gaming, according to Andrew Yoon at Joystiq. "A car manufacturer using a video game as a promotional tool is nothing new; Toyota generated a lot of buzz with its laughably bad (but free!) Yaris on Xbox Live Arcade two years ago." What's new, he wrote, is that Volkswagen is releasing a free iPhone game in lieu of a traditional advertising campaign. "Don't expect to see any television commercials for the 2010 GTI - for now, Volkswagen is committed to promoting its new vehicle exclusively through its App Store game."
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Report: 38% of consumers will drive to get best deal
Thirty-eight percent of U.S. auto buyers are willing to drive more than an hour for their best deal, underscoring the importance of aggressive advertising by dealers, the Fall 2009 Ad-ology Media Influence on Consumer Choice survey suggested. It also found online media is now more influential than social or traditional media on auto purchasing/leasing decisions, reports Rbr.com.Manufacturer Web sites influenced nearly half of recent purchasers, according to the study. Search results and online video were also influential, and nearly twice as many males as females reported influence from online video. Traditional media is still influential for automotive sales. Newspaper was the most influential traditional media overall, particularly so for older demographics, Asians, and African Americans. Social media had the most effect on buyers under the age of 54, females, and higher-income consumers. Auto purchasers who use Twitter say social networks influenced their purchase more than users of other social networks.
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Dale Pollak presents new paradigm for online success
There is a lack of understanding of the metrics that measure if a store’s used vehicles online merchandising is hitting the mark, according to author and industry expert Dale Pollak.
[FULL STORY]
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OptiSite called 'next generation' of dealer Web sites
Liquid Motors, a comprehensive Internet marketing solution provider for automobile dealers, today annoounced the release of OptiSite, wh0ich it describes as "the next generation of dealer Web sites." The company said its new OptiSite product was designed to drive more traffic to dealer Web sites and improves visitor conversions in order to generate more leads for automobile dealers. "OptiSite provides extremely targeted search engine optimization on dealer sites for higher organic rankings, thereby driving more traffic. Customized, dynamically written content delivers consistent results," the company said.
[FULL STORY]
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New social media solutions package offered
The Pasch Consulting Group (PCG), announced the launch of a new Internet Marketing package priced at $995 per month. The offering will provide car dealers with customized online marketing solutions that will include microsites, content development, blogging, social media, internet reputation management and Adwords strategies. All of the services are executed on a monthly basis with a predictable monthly budget.
[FULL STORY]
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Move Ahead of your Competitors with Content Based SEO Strategies
By leveraging free and low-cost web publishing platforms, dealers can target any search phrases with effective content-based SEO strategies for Google page one dominance
More info on the Digital Dealer Conference
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Getting to the Inbox is No Longer Enough
What’s hot in e-mail marketing now
More info on the Digital Dealer Conference
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The Best of Digital Dealer magazine
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Learn more about the CRM solution chosen by the Holman Auto Group (as featured in July 08 Digital Dealer magazine). Read about Holman Auto Group here, and visit us online at www.autobase.net.
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E-mail marketing best practices
by Peter Martin
Delivering e-mails today is becoming more of a challenge. ISPs are making it more difficult to get your message  delivered, especially if you are trying to deliver a marketing message. Reputation is now becoming a major factor in e-mail deliverability. One of the key factors that ISPs look at is the “bounce rate” of your campaigns, so sending e-mail campaigns to a “dirty list” can create major delivery issues. List fatigue is a common part of e-mail marketing, yet it is commonly overlooked. You probably spend time analyzing the e-mail metrics and web analytics generated by opens and clicks, monitoring unsubscribes and complaints, and watching for bounces or undelivered messages. All of these things are easy to track and report on and they provide valuable feedback you need to build better campaigns. But what happens when nothing happens? If you aren’t paying attention to the subscribers who ignore or delete your messages you are missing out on a tremendous opportunity. And you’re putting your good reputation at risk. Following is information about the common causes of list fatigue and what you can do to combat it, including the right and wrong ways to handle re-engagement campaigns and the pros and cons of removing subscribers from your list. Read more
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On the Web
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Dealer Communications
Copyright © 2009 Dealer Communications Inc.. All rights reserved.
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