Microsite news

Earlier members of the Automotive Advertising Network have been experiencing the many benefits offered to members.  The dealers have been able to tap into the network’s content publishing system to post their press releases, sales and new cars on local advertising portals.

The AAN represents a new Automotive Advertising model which can offer car dealers a package of digital advertising strategies to benefit their sales and search visibility.  Automotive Advertising Agencies can also contact Digital Compass Marketing, creators of the AAN, to inquire about reseller packages.

The dealers have also been able to integrate the automotive social media sites like Facebook, WordPress and NING with their car inventory which has increased the exposure to their cars and traffic to their car detail pages.  Car dealers in the AAN have also seen a jump in high quality inbound links to their main website pages, as well as links to service and parts.

Targeted Car Inventory Advertising

Some of the early members of the Automotive Advertising Network are listed below.  You can see that for larger dealer groups that sell multiple OEM brands, they can have separate advertising pages for each brand that they  represent.

• Ohio Buy Here Pay Here
• Boston Toyota
• Atamian Honda
• Atamian VW
• Rochester Used Cars
• Raleigh Used Cars
• Jacksonville Used Cars
• Auto Excel Used Cars
• Brickell Honda
• Brickell Buick
• Brickell GMC
• Carson Toyota
• Checked Flag Used Cars
• Norfolk Car Dealers
• Chesapeake Toyota
• Newport News BMW
• Virginia Beach Used Cars
• Classic Chevrolet Dallas
• Kalamazoo Buick
• Kalamazoo GMC
• Kalamazoo Pontiac
• Kalamazoo Cadillac
• Sarasota Chevrolet
• Sarasota Mazda
• Albuquerque Ford
• Turnersville Used Cars
• Greenway Dodge
• Indianapolis Chevrolet
• Baton Rouge Ford
• Jacksonville Hyundai
• Infiniti of Norwood
• Manchester Toyota
• BMW Orange County
• Fort Worth Toyota
• Fort Worth Hyundai
• Fort Worth Nissan
• Fort Worth Buick
• Fort Worth Cadillac
• Fort Worth GMC
• Fort Worth Chevrolet
• Albany Ford
• Reno Lexus
• Chicago Honda
• Chicago Infiniti
• Chicago Volvo
• Used Cars Chicago
• Austin Dodge
• Austin Jeep
• Auston Chrysler
• Boston Nissan
• McKevitt Volvo
• McPherson Used Cars
• Hutchinson Used Cars
• Miller Autos Los Angeles
• Fargo Lincoln Dealers
• Fargo Mercury Dealers
• Fargo Ford Dealers
• Fergus Falls Ford
• NJ Used Cars
• Hartford Chryslers
• Hartford Dodge
• Hartford Jeep
• Queen Acura
• Bronx Honda
• Bronx Acura
• Brooklyn Acura
• Brooklyn Honda
• Manhattan Honda
• Manhattan Acura
• Staten Island Acura
• Staten Island Honda
• Queens Honda
• Bergen County Acura
• Bergen County BMW
• Jackson Honda
• Jackson Volvo
• Honda Jackson MS
• Subaru Jackson MS
• Chantilly Acura
• Fredericksburg Nissan
• Fredericksburg Hyundai
• Chantilly Chevrolet
• Fredericksburg Honda
• Marlow Heights Honda
• Morris County Volvo
• Preston Motors Maryland
• Tallahassee Used Cars
• Tallahassee Acura
• Tallahassee Honda
• Thomasville Honda
• Tallahassee Subaru
• Seattle Used Cars
• Seattle Chrysler
• Seattle Jeep
• Seattle Dodge
• Warrenton Jeep
• Warrenton Chrysler
• Warrenton Dodge
• Shelly BMW
• Ford Dealer Lincoln
• Steve White Audi
• Stevinson Lexus
• Berlin City Kia
• Denver Mazda
• Denver Toyota
• Denver Ford
• Portland Toyota
• Portland Honda
• Portland Lexus
• Portland Nissan
• Johnstown Used Cars
• Vacaville Honda
• Buffalo Chevrolet
• Buffalo Honda
• Buffalo Nissan
• Buffalo Toyota
• Buffalo Ford
• Buffalo Buick
• Buffalo Cadillac
• Buffalo Dodge
• Buffalo GMC
• Buffalo Jaguar
• Buffalo Jeep
• Buffalo Subaru
• Buffalo Suzuki
• Buffalo Chrysler
• Long Island Jeep
• Toyota Boston
• World Hyundai Chicago

Automotive Digital Marketing

Car dealers who are looking to increase first party leads and increase the visibility for the cars that they sell, need help.  Car dealers are under attack from larger advertising portals and the Automotive Advertising Network (AAN) gives dealers the tools to fight back.  For more information on joining the AAN, visit: www.automotiveadvertisingnetwork.com

The Summer Sales Event at Columbiana Buick Cadillac Chevrolet turns up the heat this summer with special lease and financing offers on many of the Buick vehicles in its inventory.  Columbiana Buick shoppers will find numerous opportunities at the event to save money on the car they want.

The 2010 Buick LaCrosse is one highlight of the summer sale, available for a low $287 a month ($1,995 down plus 1st payment, security deposit, tax, title and tag due at signing).

The LaCrosse blends luxury styling and refinement with performance and safety to create a truly noteworthy vehicle.  The most recent proof came at the Chicago Auto Show when the LaCrosse was selected as the  “Best Luxury Sedan” in MotorWeek’s Drivers’ Choice Awards.  Last year, the Lacrosse also was named the “Most Dependable Midsize Car” by J.D. Power and Associates and received a five-star crash test rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Summer Sales Event at Leading Columbiana Buick Dealership

The Lacrosse is just one of the vehicles on sale now during the Summer Sales Event at one of the leading Columbiana Buick dealers, Columbiana Buick Cadillac Chevrolet.  View the new inventory at Columbiana on the web: http://www.drivecolumbiana.com/NewVehicleSearch

Stop by Columbiana Buick Cadillac Chevrolet before August 2 when this event cools down.

Applications for the 2010 Automotive Search Marketing Architecture (ASMA) study, underwritten by PCG Digital Marketing (PCG), are now available to automotive website design companies.

The annual study and awards recognize the best automotive website platforms for automotive digital marketing strategies.

Automotive website companies are encouraged to contact Carrie Hemphill, ASMA Award Coordinator, to request the application and data entry forms via email.

Deadlines Announced

Participants in the 2010 ASMA Awards must submit their application by August 2, 2010.  The completed ASMA data form with all survey data completed is due by August 27, 2010.

The 2010 ASMA will be expanded to include survey data for mobile applications, chat, video technology and iPad applications.

The 2010 study results will be announced at the 9th Digital Dealer Conference which will be held in Las Vegas from October 12-14th.  A special ceremony for the award winners will be conducted during the conference luncheon sponsored by PCG Digital Marketing.

In 2009, nine companies out of the 35 included in the study received ASMA awards.   The award is the most prestigious industry award for website design companies.

About The ASMA Awards

The ASMA study seeks to assist car dealers with evaluating automotive website platforms and integrated marketing tools.  The 2010 ASMA Awards will include a comprehensive grid of website features, tools and architecture of all vendors.  The report is the industry’s only comprehensive comparison of automotive digital marketing website technology.

Each year, over 50 automotive website platforms are considers for SEO compliance, data integration, user interface, and search marketing visibility.  in 2009, only 35 were included in the ASMA report and only a fraction receive an ASMA award for excellence.

All of the companies included in the 2010 ASMA study are given the opportunity to submit their most recent examples of technology for review.  This year, the participants can also elect to conduct a two hour presentation of their website and marketing technology to the ASMA review team.

For additional information, contact:

Carrie Hemphill
ASMA Coordinator
PCG Digital Marketing
732.450.8200

www.asmaawards.org

As car dealers look to increase profits and revenue, their marketing agenda lately has focused on social media and how this communication channel can grow their business.

Social media of course is important but a proven money maker for car dealers is being ignored by many dealers as part of their digital advertising strategy.

When I am called into dealership meetings to review their online marketing strategy, rarely does a dealership ask about increasing service revenue through SEO and SEM.

Dealers seem to be content with service direct mail and email campaigns which work very well in most markets. Over the past few months I have been working on an SEO strategy to increase the visibility of car dealers for common service searches in Google.

It is an eye opener to see just how I have been able to increase visibility for car dealers by targeting popular service keywords. A good way to test the service visibility for any car dealer is to type in a common service for a brand that they sell in their own town.

So a BMW dealer in Virginia Beach would test their service SEO by searching Google for:

• BMW Oil Change Virginia Beach  (see Google Search)
• BMW Brakes Virginia Beach
• BMW Tires Virginia Beach

In the first case, PCG’s new Fixed Operations Microsite appears on Google Page One for Checkered Flag Auto Group ahead of all business offering a BMW Oil Change.

The service microsite is www.virginiabeachcarrepairs.com . This added visibility for car dealers over time, will increase service leads, calls and service revenue.  The site is about 45 days old and it appears in Google search for a number of OEM brands and services in their market.

If you search Google Videos or YouTube videos for the Phrase “Virginia Beach Oil Change“, their service video is ranked #1. Christine at Checkered Flag does an amazing job with their service videos.

Dealers who want to gain an edge in their markets should leverage service microsites and videos to communicate an effective message.  Service videos, when they are done so well like this example, can be placed in many places to increase conversion.

Dealers Becoming Price Competitive

In this challenging economy, many dealers have decided to become more price competitive for common automotive services like oil changes, tires, brakes and coolant flushes. I wholeheartedly agree with this strategy.

If dealers have good service advisers, they can extend the dealership brand and customer service experience to owners of cars that dealers do not sell. The service channel can be a more effective sales and lead strategy than any other channel because of the number of car owners they touch each month.

Busy dealer groups service thousands of cars a week and if they were also marketing to all car owners in their market, these numbers could grow significantly. So I would like to cast a vote that Fixed Operations SEO and microsites be on dealership agendas for digital marketing spending.

Dealers should also create a budget to create videos for popular services that they offer which can light-up content pages. Google rewards first responders so before your competitors take the lead for service microsites in your area, make the move.

The most influential automotive executives from around the United States and Canada will be attending the DrivingSales Executive Summit on October 18-20th.  The annual conference will also feature top keynote speakers who are experts in social media, sales, marketing and management. Car dealers who are looking to interact with experts sharing case studies covering innovative best practices in automotive advertising, digital marketing, branding, sales and fixed operations head to this annual event.

Based on feedback from last year’s event, the 2010 DrivingSales Executive Summit is scheduled to span two days.  The executive meeting ground is truly the “un-conference” as it breaks the traditional trade show mold.   The topics presented and the event agenda are created by the votes of automotive dealers and not the the vendor sponsors.  The result is a laser focused automotive marketing and leadership think tank that has no peer.

Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing is scheduled to attend the 2010 DrivingSales Executive Summit on October 18-20th as well as be one of the breakout session presenters. The daily breakout session will feature case studies on best practices in the automotive industry. PCG Digital Marketing, a leader in automotive digital marketing and search optimization, will be sharing a case study based on a group of highly successful PCG clients.  The case study format forces all presenters to “be real” and authentic and to cut down on the traditional trade show sales presentation.

Automotive Leadership

The annual conference attracts to the top executives from the automotive retail, automotive social media and digital marketing, and automotive advertising industry. The conference is unique in its format in that it is geared for dealer principals and executive management. The DSES conference speakers and the subject matter that will be presented are specifically geared to decision makers. 

The 2010 Driving Sales Executive Summit is by invitation only and the first round of invites will be mailed at the end of July.  The top car dealers across the country will be receiving invitations like last year as well as dealers recommended by the DrivingSales.com community; the leading social network for car dealers. 

The 2010 DrivingSales Executive Summit will be held at the Encore hotel, in Las Vegas Nevada. DSES organizers have negotiated an excellent package for all attendees to enjoy the luxury of the Encore, at a very low rate.

When registering for the event, please notify DSES if you will be staying at the Encore and they will book your reservation for you. For additional information visit: http://drivingsalesexecutivesummit.com/

Automotive SEO

Last year, Brian Pasch, CEO and Founder of PCG Digital Marketing participated in an expert panel on the topic of  Automotive SEO search strategies.  In the photo, Brian is joined by Jared Hamilton, Paul Rushing and JD Rucker.  The panel format offers automotive executives to ask questions to the panelists and get straight answers in front of their peers. 

For more insights into Automotive Digital Marketing follow Brian Pasch on Facebook or Twitter:   http://twitter.com/automotiveseo and http://facebook.com/pcgdigitalmarketing