June 1st, 2010 - 
Two pieces of social media advise are combined in Ron’s two basic rules of social media.
RULE #1: Don’t shove retail selling into the social conversation.
Don’t fall in line. If there’s one trap waiting for you in social media it’s following what the pack is doing. This is one time you don’t want to follow. Shoving retail advertising into the social conversation is a no win strategy. However it is the easiest thing to do. And like most things in the world the pack migrates to the easy way.
RULE #2: It’s ok to inject social tools into retail advertising.
On the flip side it is a great idea to put social media into your retail advertising plans, strategies and creative. For example:
- Create a newsletter using the content from your blog. Use a software like constant content. Take 4 blogs and put them into the one of many formats available to you from constant contact. Then take you email data base and mail it out to them twice a month. This amount of frequency is just fine with the type of content you’re sending.
- On a radio spot ask them to comment on your latest blog and you’ll send them a $100 gift card for their next service appointment. You’ll get a new friend and lots of new opportunities for service business. These ads can be done very effectively with 10 second spots.
Be creative but remember to follow ”Ron’s 2 Rules.” If you or your automotive ad agency can these two simple rules you’ll find that social media is fun and effective.
What do you think of my two rules? Let me know!
February 22nd, 2010 -  Here’s a challenge for you.
Can you describe your dealerships unique selling proposition in seven words or less?
Let’s take it one step further …
Can you describe your dealership in seven words “without” using the 10 things most car dealerships say about themselves? I like to call these the industries common point of view.
Ten things dealership are most likely to say about themselves that everyone else is saying:
• We offer great service
• We have great prices
• We have great selection
• We care about our customers
• Nobody beats our deals
• We can get everyone approved
• We do what it takes
• We’ve been in business ____ years!
• We offer more for your trade
• We’re Number 1
If you are up for the challenge, share your description in seven words or less in the comment section below.
Be sure to identify your dealership, include your address if you like.
Be creative! Challenge your automotive advertising agency to come up with a brand new one if you need to.
I’d like to highlight these in a future post and have readers vote on the best.
Here are the first three entries!
• One Price Honda’s. Fast Fun Friendly
• Our Cars Are Cheaper In the Country
•A High Five Experience You Count On
Thanks for participating! Just type yours in the comment box below.
February 16th, 2010 - 
There’s a buzz in the air and it’s not Buzz Lightyear.
What’s the buzz about?
Digital!
Questions abound beginning with what does an integrated digital plan look like and how much should I spend.
It’s become very clear if dealers want to connect with the ever increasing digital customer you’re going to need to spend more in this arena.
That’s the advice of Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP.
”Don’t just do digital because you can,” he said. “You must do it because it is integrated. As a dealer you have to use digital to augment the sales process.” Sorrell said he is seeing signs that automotive brands are increasing their online marketing budgets this year.
He said WPP’s research shows 93 percent of prospective buyers compare vehicles online before taking a car for a test drive, using third-party and automaker Web sites. But dealers only spend 2 percent of their ad budgets on Internet display ads.
We are in a business environment that operates 24/7. You have to expand your thinking as it relates to digital marketing. The future of digital involves mobile applications, social media, social forums and integrated media.
Research says only one in five consumers start their search for a car at a dealers website. To gain market share you’re going to have to connect with these customers before your competitors. Most dealers can do mass media in their sleep. It’s the dealer who integrates it with digital who is going to dominate.
When you see how all the pieces integrate it’s very exciting.
- The dealership blog ties to twitter and facebook. Key search terms from your blog increase the ranking of your website.
- You build a powerful social network that has far extending fingers into the market place.
- SEO program drives your website, blog, facebook and twitter pages toward page one of selected key words.
- Specials on your website tie to your mass media. Mass media push traffic to your website.
- Targeted banner ads connect with in market shoppers and drive them to special landing pages.
- Text messages promote these special events.
- Cross promotions with local media outlets get very creative. Everything touches everything.
Don’t hide from this new world. Get in the game. Get your automotive ad agency to recommend your next step. Market share is up for grabs. Up your digital spending with a well thought out plan and just watch as your market share grows and grows.
February 9th, 2010 -
Another winning promotion I just need to share with you.
The name of this one is Driving for Diamonds!
The premise is simple come take a test drive and you could win a diamond.
Like a lot of promotions of this type the devil is in the details.
Rule #1 of any good promotion is to be sure it’s real and it’s not going to upset anyone. The power of social media will make any mistake you make front line news. So be sure it is a legitimate offer.
Here’s how to pull off this good idea!
- Tie in with a good local jeweler. The bigger the name the more credibility your promotion will have. Don’t be afraid to use their name. You’ll need secure their permission to do so.
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- Determine how the promotion is going to work. In this case the strategy was simple. Put 75 envelopes on the wall. Inside each envelope is a voucher for a diamond. On the voucher the size of the diamond is listed. ¼, ½, ¾ or even a one karat diamond.
- Do your math and figure out how many diamonds you can put up and what your budget is going to be. You need one hero diamond.
- If you choose to, you can augment your envelopes with other prizes.
- Once the customer has taken the test drive they come in and select an envelope. The envelope is pulled down and opened. The consumer then see’s the diamond or prize they have won
This promotion can run for any length of time just plan it out with your automotive ad agency. It’s easy to promote in any media; television, radio, direct mail, email, or social.
Have you done a promotion like this? Let me know.
January 26th, 2010 - 
Cross promotions are becoming very popular for two very good reasons.
Advertising dollars are tight for dealers and everyone is looking for added value items to offer their customers. Cross promotions allow you to do both. Share the cost of marketing and offer a unique value to your customer. How do you get started? I find the best way to create a winning cross promotion is to brain storm.
Here are 6 good cross-promotional idea’s to kick-start your next brain storming session.
- Develop a co-branded advertisement. Try a lunch and service newspaper ad. Offer several service discounts and along with a lunch coupon from a local restaurant. The offer is simple; take advantage of any of the service coupons today and get a free lunch.
- Here’s one doesn’t cost any money. Social Media is going to a very effective strategy to create cross promotions. Have your automotive advertising agency develop a local social media business group where you comment and promote each other on facebook and twitter.
- Co-promote a give away using social media. Once your social media group is up and running create a promotion where you offer a give away of their products for a test drive, trade-in or referral.
- Create frequent buyer card. When the consumer buys a product of certain value from each partner and in return receive a great prize or cash rebate.
- Set up a display of their product in your showroom. Try a College day where you have local Universities at the dealership to answer questions about admissions and scholarships. Or try the old stomach approach. Have a donut shop set up a small donut display on the weekends in the showroom. Activity is key. Plus, this is a great topic to promote socially.
- With every service customer staple a special offer or discount on the receipt from one of your local marketing partners. Be sure it’s an offer they only get from you. In return have them can staple a low, low oil change price on their receipts or into their sacks.
With the power of social media cross promotions will create a life of their own. Every business in your market is looking for ways to capitalize on cross-promotions.
What great ideas have you seen work this year?
January 25th, 2010 - 
I had a wow moment yesterday!
As I looked out my window and realize the world of social media is invisible. It’s like air.
You don’t see it but it’s all around you 24/7. It’s always here and apart of our everyday life. When I related this WOW MOMENT to the dealer universe I quickly came to one thought.
Dealers believe there’s air around them but most are in social media denial.
Because if they can’t see it or touch it… it must not be real! If you’re not engaged in social media it’s very difficult for you to believe the power it holds.
Denial is easy. There’s very little to remind you about social media unless you’re involved. Why? Because it is invisible.
The real scary part for dealers is going to be when you finally decide to get involved. It’s going to scare you to death how far behind you are.
The even scarier moment will come when you learn you can’t buy progress. It takes work and time.
Here’s an out take from a recent study I found that might help you believe social media is not invisible to a growing segment marketing leaders.
Sixty-six percent of 1,068 marketing professionals surveyed by Alterian recently for its Annual Survey said they’d be investing in social media marketing (SMM) in the next 12 months. Of those investing, 40 percent said they’d be shifting more than a fifth of their traditional direct marketing budgets toward funding their SMM activities.
What’s more, the survey revealed that the majority of respondents (67 percent) feel SMM is either “increasingly important” or “critical to success.”
Get in the game my friends. If you or your automotive ad agency is not up to the task find someone who is. Don’t live in denial it will cost you. You may not see social media everyday but it’s there and it needs your attention. Time is ticking!
January 15th, 2010 - 
Up-Your-Ups is getting an i-phone app!
What does it mean? Well I’m not sure!
I know what it is intended to do but what I have found once I begin to use social tools my brain goes into overdrive. I start thinking about how it could work for a dealership. How it could work for our agency.
Bottom line I have found this to be true with all the social media tools. The intent or design of the tool is obvious but the true end use will depend on your business and your strategy.
That’s why it is so important if you want to drive dealership traffic with social media you connect with people who know your business.
There must over a thousand tools one could try. The phone app world has just exploded. I tell our social staff if we stop learning for just a couple of days we’ve gone backwards.
Not just in the use of social media tools, but the strategy and the creative ideas of how our clients can use them. So my advise is this. Try a tool even though you’re not sure if it will help or not. Once you’re engaged with it your creative mind should start filling your brain with possibilities. If it doesn’t, don’t waste any more time with it.
Look for our i-phone app coming soon. I know what it can do right now but when I realize what it can do for you and me in the pursuit of driving dealership traffic I’ll let you know.
If you’re ahead of me let me know what your experiences are with i-phone apps to drive dealership traffic. I can always use some help.
January 11th, 2010 - 
Selling to the old brain is the quickest way to success. I was introduced to Neuromarketing by Salesbrain. They reinforced what I already knew. But I didn’t understand the science behind it. Bottom Line…..Selling to the old brain will drive traffic much more effectively and consistently. Ok, what is the old brain. The old brain goes back to the basics of life. Fight or flight. Simply put a decision really is not made to act until the you realize the pain, your un-easy feeling or other perceived feeling is too much if you don’t change.
At this point you must have an alternative to be able to change. Here are 4 quick steps to see if your message is targeting the old brain. Make sure your automotive ad agency is in step with this.
1) Have you successfully diagnose the customers pain. Infomercials do this well.
2) Can you differentiate your claim from the others. Why you and not someone else.
3) Demonstrate the gain. What is the customer going to receive. How does it affect them.
4) Deliver it to the old brain. Use the word “you “when you can. The word “you” makes your prospect take ownership of the solution you are providing.
Shamwow! Many of you have seen this commercials. Follow their creative and it will duplicate the four steps I just outlined.
Don’t get me wrong y ou don’t have to do a Shamwow type spot to draw traffic but it is a great example.
Your creative needs to focus on one or two of the following stimuli.
1) Self Centered… make it all about that one person in the audience. Lets face it we are all self-centered.
2) Contrast… do something in style, look, presentation that contrasts your competition.
3) Tangible… show the tangible results. Like Shamwow does when it mops up every spill you can think of. Show gain to the consumer.
4) Beginning and End… show where someone begins and where they will end up with your unique offer. This is very powerful.
5) Visual… be visual if you can. Paint a picture. Most people respond to this type of stimuli.
6) Emotional… finally be emotional. Act like your passionate about your solution. If your excited chances are you can make someone excited. It doesn’t work if you not.
Don’t get lost in writing copy to yourself! Talk to the customer. We all get more motivated to take action if the message hits the old brain.
You can get more on Neuromarketing at Salesbrain.net.
There’s a great introduction video at this site.
You might want to join their network as well. There are some great examples are here that will stimulate your thought process. neurmarketing.ning.com
Let me know what you think. The message matters!
December 22nd, 2009 - 
DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A LIBRARY?
Does your blog look like a blog or a website?
The natural tendency of a dealership is to over produce their blog. Your competitive nature will drive you towards developing a blog that looks like a website. A blog is not a web site. Your blog is for building relationships and trust. Your website is for selling.
There’s a book that has been on the market titled Blink.. It describes how human beings are able to subconsciously thin slice life experiences. The book believes thin slicing drives our first impression. The author (Malcom Gladwell) believes thin slicing puts past experiences up against what ever we see and then we make a quick thin slice of the situation. It happens instantaneously. It is what we also call our gut instinct.
You need to be aware of this and use it to your advantage. You need to be sure when the consumer thin slices your blog you get the outcome you want.
Don’t let your automotive ad agency try to impress you with the blog of all blogs. If your blog smells commercialized, smells retail, then it will be branded a selling site and nothing more. Once again this is not a retail environment. This is not the outcome you want for your blog. You will not be successful in social media if you don’t protect yourself from selling.
Social media will drive traffic but it’s a different path.
I understand there’s retail blood running through the veins of successful dealers. However you want your blog to be thin sliced and interpreted as a resource, a depository for automotive information.
Imagine pulling up to a library that looks like a night club. You’d thin slice this very quickly and keep driving. It’s not what you expected and you would quickly judge it to be a poor choice.
Just remember if it looks RETAIL it probably is. If it does you’ve missed the boat. Don’t sell your friends. Let your friends sell you.
December 21st, 2009 -
This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum.
You’ll find it has some great incite into the use of social media and how it can and should be used effectively. The big points are to share relevant content, not to sell, work at building your community and work at making it a two way conversation.
Hook New Customers on Social Media
The first thing you should do is direct new customers to your social media accounts. A good way to do that is to incentivize that act of becoming your friend, fan, or follower. Offer those who have just made a purchase a discount on future business in the form of a coupon, but tie it to your social media presence. For example, retailers could let customers know at point of sale that if they become a fan of your business onFacebook , they’ll receive exclusive offers for discounts on future purchases. Or customers could be given instructions to tweet out a special hashtag with a message about your store after they follow your Twitter account, and once that’s done you could send them a direct message with a special offer.
This is not unlike the common practice of taking down e-mail or mailing addresses for mailing lists, but social media puts the user more in control since, when properly used, it is a two-way medium. That’s actually an advantage to small business owners because active, engaged customers will be more likely to give you their attention.
Concentrate on Building a Community
 Once you have users signed up to follow you on social media sites, the trick to retaining them as customers is to keep them wanting to come back. That means constantly engaging them with new content, exclusive offers and information they can’t get elsewhere. The best way to grow your community is to consistently offer them quality content. That means forgoing the sales pitch most of the time.
Customers join communities because of the quality of information and because they want to be privy to news about sales, coupons, deals, new products, or changes to your business (e.g., new hours, changed location or updated menu items). But that doesn’t mean they want to receive constant sales come-ons. Delivering quality, helpful tips and information to your customers will make them more likely to want to do business with you and help build your online community.
Restaurants could share recipes or tips for properly reheating leftovers, for example, while plumbers could offer instructions for simple home fixes. Retailers could offer honest reviews of new products, and doctors could offer alerts about the latest medical research or health care policy updates. Get creative — what sorts of information can you provide your customer community? This type of content will help to build your social media community and turn new buyers into return customers.
Play Favorites
Social media is a great place to promote your general sales and events, but you should also consider offering your social media fans exclusive deals that cannot be had elsewhere. Online-only offers will keep fans returning for more and it will help to build a community around your store, service or brand, which is what social media is all about.
It’s certainly true that you should treat all of your customers well, but it doesn’t mean you should treat them all the same. Those customers that have taken the time to sign up as your fan, friend or follower have shown a heightened interest in your brand that should be recognized. By plying your social media followers with occasional exclusive deals or discounts, you can help turn customers into fans that will evangelize your business to others. That way, you can turn new customers into return customers, who in turn attract more new customers for you. That’s the type of cycle that social media, when put to work properly, can help you create.
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Ron, Wheeler, Founder/CEO, Wheeler Advertising, Tel-Edge, and the Wright Edge Advertising.
The Integration of today's marketing channels is the single most important task you have as a retail marketer. This blog is designed to assist you in discovering ways to integrate traditional, digital and social media into a dynamic free flowing marketing program. Up Your Ups is "An Integration Think Tank" and we look forward to your interaction with us.
If you have questions or if you have suggestions on how I can improve this site, please don't hesitate to email them to me at rwheeler@wheeleradvertising.com
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