Today, Dolan Auto Group announced the winners of their $30,000 School Upgrade Project.

The first entry came January 18th, as detailed in a blog post from Dolan Auto Group:

This month marked the beginning of Dolan Automotive Group’s newest Facebook contest: “The $30,000 School Upgrade Project.” The project allows Northern Nevada principals to submit a proposal on behalf of their students and teachers to fund a $10,000 school upgrade.

The first entry comes from Hunsberger Elementary School Principal Sally Scott. Hunsberger was among the winning schools in this past fall’s “Class Project,” and teacher Chantal Dibble’s 2nd grade class won $2,500 towards their project, “Learning by Leaps with Laptops.”

Principal Scott’s project has a similar theme to Ms. Dibble’s with her entry, “Computers on the Run!” “What has now happened is that our school’s computer lab is being closed for computer-based student testing so often that our students’ computing skills are suffering,” wrote Principal Scott in her submission entry. Her proposal requests one or two classroom sets of laptops and charging carts to house them, so students will continue to have the use of computers while the school’s lab is closed for these mandated tests.

School Upgrade projects must be submitted by Tuesday, February 14th. Voting on proposals will begin on February 15th. For details on the $30,000 School Upgrade, click here, or visit our Facebook page.

As of this blog post, thousands of people are interacting and talking about Dolan Automotive Group on Facebook.

This is a great example of what dealerships should be doing online today.

Social Media initiatives like this can create brand evangelists, and lifetime customers for dealerships.

The posts on their wall speak for themselves, go check them out as there are about 100+ being added daily.

The best part is this is just the beginning, and fortunately since Dolan Auto Group is a client, I expect to share more posts on how dealers can leverage social media as a part of their online marketing strategy.

Dealers are always looking for new ways to reach prospective car buyers, and when a company comes along with a product that will bring people to your showroom floor, dealers are anxious to jump on it.

Of course, the service isn’t free. In fact, it’s $299 or $399 per car sold, with the higher of the two amounts when it’s a used car.

You don’t sell a car, you don’t pay. Or do you?

For one, they aren’t going to call you up at the end of the month and say “Hey, did you sell any cars to the people walking in holding a TrueCar report?” They are going to need access to your DMS. Whether you realize it or not, your DMS is a goldmine of data. It’s got phone numbers, email addresses, and all kinds of stuff you’d never want your competitors to get their greedy little hands on.

The fact is, TrueCar should have access to only the data required to analyze the ratio of people who came in via the TrueCar process, and whether they purchased.

What I would like to know, and what dealers should band together and ask is, what data is being utilized, and if such data is used in a way that may be considered a conflict of interest.

I would request in writing that your DMS provider disclose to you anyone who has access or has requested access to your data, and provide the names and phone numbers as well as a copy of the contract you signed that authorized them to do so. If you’ve authorized it, I would consult a lawyer immediately.

Dealers need to understand that access to their DMS should be restricted to internal use only and any company that requests access should not be permitted to store such data, sell, publish or in any way distribute it to other partners.

Have you ever heard the story of the person who returned a set of tire chains to Nordstrom? Well, it goes like this. A customer walks in carrying a set of tire chains used for winter driving conditions.

Without going into all the details, the customer was refunded in full for something Nordstrom doesn’t even sell.

I’m sure you would agree a story like that would be far more effective than any advertising or marketing effort 10 times the cost.

That was before Facebook, Twitter, etc, but it would be safe to say that such acts are far more likely to be shared today because they are putting the customer before anything else.

Breaking Rules to Help the Customer

I would be willing to bet that even if Nordstrom couldn’t recoup the cost of the chains, the amount of exposure and genuine brand appreciation not to mention resulting sales makes one wonder: Why a company even bothers to spend a dime on traditional advertising?

One more thing before I move away from the Nordstrom topic.

It’s not the fact that they returned something they didn’t have to. It’s the perception I have in doing business with the company should I ever need to return a product I purchased there.

That story gave me the confidence that they’d never try to screw me over if I didn’t have a tag or receipt. That’s the power of creating the perception of a positive experience and it tips the scale’s in their favor even if the competitor has a better price.

Building Relationships And Word-Of-Mouth Referrals

There’s No More Effective Means Of Getting New Business Then to Have Someone Endorse And Recommend You

I’m not going to ask around to see if anyone knows a good place to buy toothpaste. I have enough confidence that the brand, the flavor, size, and the price are going to be fairly consistent between the stores around here.

On the other hand, something like mobile phone service providers is a subject that I might ask a few people about in case they might know of a good solution.

The reason for this isn’t necessarily to find the best price for a new phone, as much as it is to find out about all the rest of it from service coverage, monthly costs, contracts, data plans, and all the other stuff that goes with it. I could literally spend a month or 2 gathering information about all the available companies and by the time I have gone through it they changed every plan.

Same goes for car dealers who have to make a living by convincing someone they can be trusted. This is because every dealer will have different pricing but just like the cell phone deal, it’s what happens after the vehicle was purchased unless of course the customer pays in full in cash on the spot.

So How Can Car Dealers Create Confidence In Prospective Buyers

I think we agree that referrals are big business for dealers. Referrals are a result of someone asking another person for a recommendation because it’s not just about the price. Like I said before, when people are faced with something that can take months to gather enough information they typically start talking to friends and coworkers and family.

So if were talking about creating a good perception than people are going to need a good story that will summarize their experience just like the Nordstrom story.

Just to reiterate, the Nordstrom story didn’t say a word about any prices to convey the message. The message was about what happens after someone buys from them and needs to return it.

People Want To Know That Your Open For Business

Here’s where you use the blog to tie it all together.

Technology has made it easier for people to discover companies that aren’t in the dark ages when it comes to businesses that have ongoing services after an initial purchase.

The car companies, the mobile phone companies, etc. all need to make it as easy as possible to accomplish anything with the least intrusive and time-consuming process. In other words, if I need to speak with customer service more than a dozen or so times during our contractual agreement and each time I have to wait on hold for 30 min, then you can be sure the word will get out.

A little difference in price for the initial product isn’t enough to be subjected to a lack of respect for the customers time.

So do a search in Google I come across another companies blog and I read stuff that talks about how happy the customers were last summer when you launched an iPhone app that contained helpful how-to videos and all the owners manuals and service scheduling.

More recent posts include stories about how someone brought in a vehicle that you don’t sell and honored their warranty when their own manufacturer wouldn’t.

These are the stories people want to hear!

They come from extraordinary employees who break the rules on occasion in favor of the customer.

These are the sales guys who drive to the customer’s home to help them program the integrated garage door opener that they couldn’t get working.

If You Google Your Business, What Does It Say About Your Brand Today?

The last thing you want is to be is up against is a competitor who’s did a Nordstrom-like story, who’s blogging regularly, and building relationships in the public eye making it easy to check their references and find out what they do to help their customers.

They would have the attention of buyers in a “lets build a relationship first” and you’ll be confident the moment you step foot into our showroom. That’s just one of the things you can get from blogging. A predicable experience from a company that’s invested significantly into ensuring the satisfaction of their customers is public information – and readily available on their blog.

There’s a reason Steve Wynn is so successful. You might think it’s the casinos or the property he owns in Vegas, nope.

It is how he talks to people.

The one thing, the most powerful thing you can ever do for your business, is to do exactly what Steve Wynn describes in his video.

I can’t say how brilliant, powerful, moving and remarkable this is because theres no words to describe it.

This is the kind of stuff that gives the chills, because when I hear it I instantly understand how effective it is – it’s pure gold and I think it can revolutionize car dealers if they put this into practice. How?

Dealers Can Do This

First step is to get a blog, then use the blog as a means to publish stories like the one Steve describes where the guy drove 5 hours one way to get a customers medication. You know there are examples of this at your dealership, get them and put them on your blog, immediately.

Give recognition to the ones who deserve it, find ways to reward them and make it the most important initiative across the board in 2011! Find examples of greatness and post them for the world to see. You won’t be worried about competing against the competition because you make the competition irrelevant each time you post something like this.

Still not convinced, there are more stories about Wynn how he treats everyone including random customers in the lobby. Read that – and all the comments that follow, because that my friends is what it takes to be the best.

Wynn’s most recent award: Fortune names Wynn Resorts most admired company in hotel-casino industry

Blog ROI – What can a small business blog do that big brands can’t.  That’s what I intend to share with you, and hopefully you’ll understand the importance of having an asset like a blog.

Blogging for businesses produces strong brand awareness, and builds relationships online where advertising and other direct marketing tactics fail.  The result is an indirect return on investment, in other words just because it doesn’t sell cars doesn’t mean it isn’t worth anything.  A blog is an asset to the business, and over time develops into a priceless component in your overall marketing hub.  A well written blog is one that shares and delivers quality information to visitors in a self-serve type fashion, building appreciation in the eyes of your customers and those who are right now trying to decide why to buy from dealer A or dealer B if price is not really a differentiator.

Most dealers think that price is the only important element that affects a purchasing decision, which I disagree with and am happy to justify by opinion in the comments if asked.  But in short, the reason I believe that your dealership should stop differentiating on price right now, today, is because this sends a message that your sole motivation is to close the deal and make as much money off of it as you can.  In this scenario, at some point one side will win and the other will lose, and treating customers like they’re the enemy in a world where anyone can build an audience and blast their dissatisfaction from the Twitter rooftops is catastrophic to your brand.

Essentially, doing business on your terms despite the consequences eliminates almost any chance you may have had at being given praise in social media where thousands are listening to your every move.  In a world where dealers are guilty until proven innocent, the last thing you want is to substantiate within social media that you are indeed guilty.  What you must do, not next month or next quarter, but right now, is start showing that you are on their side (social media) and that you appreciate and acknowledge any and all forms of appreciation a customer makes about you.

Don’t Worry About Traffic – Look For Other Success Metrics

Some common ROI misunderstandings when trying to measure the value of a blog, is that we try to lump it in with our other dealer websites (or ecommerce) and track success based on conversion rate, traffic and revenue generation.

For blogs, this is the wrong way to evaluate a blogs success and in order to get a better understanding, consider what big brands go through just to get some people talking, even if it’s only a brief moment in time and a direct result of a PR event.

Eventually, once you’re happy with the content, the message and the reach you are beginning to see broaden, then you can start looking at what types of content is getting the most exposure, traffic and high rankings.

Big Brands Are More Vulnerable

• Nike pays athletes to wear their products.
• Starbucks puts logos on their cups.
• Victoria’s Secret photographs beautiful women wearing their product.

Big brands can go anywhere everyone knows them without question.  They have a global reach, an enormous budget and lots of people displaying their brand everyday.

But one wrong move, one stupid mistake in an effort to promote themselves can result in brand suicide.

Small Niche Brands Can Build Loyalty

By simply establishing what your company is about, who your customers are, and perhaps where you come from, you are well underway to building your brand.

Getting a blog and putting content on it is one thing, but establishing a blog so that you can increase your reach in your local market and help your customers love your product more is another.

Car dealers, other small business owners need to wake up.  This isn’t an opportunity to sit on your hands, and let OEM figure it out, then tell you what to do.  Today is the day you start acting on instinct, rather than playing follow the leader.

The customers are there.  They are waiting for you to do something worth mentioning.  People don’t buy cars because your ad tells them to.  They don’t flock to your showroom because balloons made it look like a carnival was going on.

They buy cars because they are fulfilling a dream, and they fell in love with a particular design.  And all you have to do as a dealer is treat them like you’ve just delivered not only their soulmate, but you’ve given them an experience they’ll want to have more than once or twice in their lifetime.

This is why dealers have an opportunity over big brands.  Dealers are small business owners who don’t have billions of dollars to spend on static, one-way, self righteous and big money marketing, but they do have enough to produce an asset that will represent years of helping the community, going beyond in service and giving away valuable information – and this is why dealers need a blog.

Car Dealerships With Blogs

We are at an inflection point in the auto industry, dealers are realizing the need to create their own audience. Things are really changing, and now more than ever you can see the power of this through car dealerships with blogs.

Blogs tell a story. They are extremely effective in helping inform customers, they can quickly address problems and today it’s all about efficiency.

Publishing on a Dealership Blog

I spoke to one of my clients yesterday over the phone, he likes this post I did on the Lexus Enform system and how it works. We discussed content and I said:

“What are your customers calling you about”

“Bluetooth connections is a big one”

and

“How to start the car when the battery in the key is dead”

Perfect, then that’s what we’ll publish on the blog. And the next time you get a call from a customer and they ask you about one of these issues, text them a link to the post on your blog.

Customer Service Via Blogs

Customers aren’t calling because they’re “curious” about how the bluetooth connection works are they? No! They are calling because they are having trouble reading the steps from the manual, they need something that is easier to follow, or someone to explain it to them right now.

So not only will you be able to explain it, but here is how you can visually show them the steps. Sure you can show them a video, but this is an even quicker reference.

The faster you solve their problems, the better they associate their experience in driving your products, and the likelihood of them becoming a lifetime customer.

The more proactive you become, the more content you produce about your product, the more business you will get. Simple as that!

SEO Ranking Reports – Simple SEO Report To Track Rank

One of the dealers we work with is getting some great results with the SEO we’ve done to their site:

SEO – before and after

Good SEO allows dealers to increase their website traffic by improving their placement in the search engines. More traffic to a dealers website means more potential customers.

Its very important for a car dealer to “own” page one on Google for the vehicle brand name as well as the city name the dealer is located in.

In addition to the SEO we’ll get their SEM (PPC adwords campaigns) running so they can own both organic and paid results.

Their blog will rank very well organically and will serve the purpose of educating and informing the customer as they do their research on cars they may want to buy. The blog builds relationships, in the same way relationships can be made through local events and sponsorships the dealer may be involved in. Blogging sends a message, adds a personal touch and is a great way to stay in contact with new or existing customers.

I’m extremely grateful to be working with these clients as they are so interested in learning how all of this works. If you are a dealer and want to find out how our hosted blog solution, SEO/SEM services fit within your current website platform please fill out the contact form to the right of this post so we can do a free review of your current setup.

Dealers we are helping in Maryland are:

Younger Toyota
Younger Mitsubishi
Younger Scion
Frederick Nissan
Mercedes-Benz of Hagerstown

And checkout their new blogs:

Younger Toyota’s Blog
Hagerstown Mercedes Blog

Yesterday I spent half the day looking through one of my clients sites for SEO areas of improvement.  Each time I found a problem to fix, it led to another problem, and another and another.  I wanted to just dive right in, but I had to consider the overall objective in order to keep focused.  My objective is to deliver a very detailed analysis of my findings so they understand before I begin.  I guess its a good thing to be so passionate about my work that I want to jump in, but at the same time I owe my client a complete explanation of what my goals are for this work.

Car dealers care about selling cars, so what I’m doing must ensure that they see it has improved their leads through the site.  In order to increase the leads, its not just about driving traffic to a site using SEO white hat strategies, its being able to produce compelling content for the site to send the right message.  It has to be a balance between keyword density, quality in writing style, and respect for the visitors time.

I have some ideas for this client that will include adding content to vehicle detail page, and using slightly different words with the existing copy.  The majority of the deeper content should remain on their blog so customers can understand the values and passion this dealer has.  After reading a couple blog posts the reader should have been acclimated to the dealers style and won’t need to hesitated on what may occur if they submitted a form.

One example of a great way to use a blog is to see how Lexus Of Reno added a recent testimonial.  This customer, named Joe, is extremely happy in the way they’ve treated him 4 years after buying his Lexus.  This review was first posted on their Facebook page, and it made sense to share it on their blog.  Joe shared that if his business “Rent A Chef” got big he’d be back to his favorite dealer to find a new car.  The background detail may seem like not much, but it speaks of their education, finances (successful business owner), and many more things that may not be shared in words, but still comes across.

The blog and dealer website should be separate intiatives so trying to tackle SEO on a dealer site while building engagement on a blog is a lot of responsibility.  A blog is about building relationships and sharing information and insight from the dealers point of view.  Being a good writer is sharing a perspective and not being too critical about who may agree or disagree, it opens up the possibility of being wrong, which is what people admire and value.

Car dealers are getting into the groove, and blogging is top priority because of the way it provides insight into the dealer and their business.

Finding your next new car might go something like this.  You figure out what vehicle interests you doing car comparison research online, checking out pictures, car reviews, reports, and other materials.  Then when you are interested in going for a test drive you’ll want to see which dealers around you might be a good choice.  After doing a few searches you see one dealer which has a blog which offers helpful information and recent news.  The chances are high you’ll select one that has a blog because it indicates a dealer is not only aware of how people research and learn online these days, but because they are transparent and interested in the commentary benefits of a blog.

Since many dealers do not currently have a blog it seemed like a reasonable service to provide.

Here at “The Dealer Blog” you’ll be able to see the results we get for our clients.  Its not always best to host the blog considering your website is optimized for visitors to browse the inventory and contact you for more information.  If you publish your content on a new blog customers will be able to subscribe and learn more about your dealership as they decide on their terms to take the next step.  A blog is very low pressure so it naturally gives the customer a sense of appreciate for your dealership before even stepping foot into the showroom.