The internet is dead, long live the internet!

What are the current internet trends and how are they impacting my business?

 

Understanding the internet and its changing direction is relatively easy. The biggest barrier is the time required to search and read through the mountains of articles, papers and comments. While the internet is huge, within itself it is mainly dominated in the west by a few key and very large players. When on the net you think you are master of your own destination, but behind the scenes the likes of Google and Facebook have a lot to say about what you see and how you find it. In a micro way, Trade Me operates the same way with the presentation of listings based on featuring, listing order and user profile. This being said, the easiest way to spot trends is to follow the major players and their moves.

Presence is a much overused word when discussing the internet, however the reason why is due to the fact that it is very important and the key step to being found. Without a well thought-out strategy on gaining a high profile presence, any online expenditure is wasted. A balance needs to be found between finding the right mass of prospects within a marketplace and then standing out from your competition.  This is where we face the first trend within the internet which is driven by two factors:

1.       Companies marketing on the internet understanding the value of guaranteed product  placement within the first page of a users search

2.       Search engine providers being able to value the first page real estate higher than subsequent results 


Users are under the impression that when they ‘search’ they are searching the entire web, when the reality is that they are searching an indexed database of the search engine provider they have chosen. From this point the results are displayed based on the highest paid bid to the search engine provider and the quality of clicks.  If you Google “Auckland Bars” for example, you will see what I mean. All those bars that have paid Google for advertising are displayed first and down the right hand side.  Next are the bars that have registered with Google Places and last, but not least are the non-paid-for listings which are termed “organic”.  This trend is growing throughout the web and online market places and to be on the first page you need to pay more, however the positive side of this is that it guarantees you high quality presence.

 

Community is nothing new as a concept and as humans we love to feel that we belong.  In a setting that we belong to, we feel trusted, share advice and are comfortable in promoting our products and services.  Understanding Facebook for most of us is an easy task as it just takes what we know in the real world and moves it into the online world where time and distance become far less challenging. Trend two is the collection and use of this personal data and behaviour for targeted sales. We see this emerging in a number of ways from the rapid growth of one day deal sites through to the business offerings from Facebook and Google+.  For years companies large and small have invested heavily into customer databases and Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRM) and nowadays, done correctly you can create your own community of customers encouraging interaction and information sharing. Now this can be implemented with very little or no direct cost. We spend a lot of our time with customers helping them to understand this concept and the opportunities it provides.


Trend three is easy if you learned to type at school. I sit here typing with my two figures as my time at school was Tech Drawing and Wood Work while the girls learned to type.  Our Gen Y friends want more and more of any transaction completed online; in practice this means that any online interaction counts and the rules of first impressions are just as important online as face to face. The visit to the dealership is being pushed further down the sales cycle and our research shows that prospects may have been researching their purchase for up to 6 months before approaching the dealer directly.  That first email or online enquiry really counts and may lose the prospect if not handled correctly. Another fact to consider is that just fewer than 49% of the prospects who visit your dealership could have traveled over an hour to get there after online research and interaction. Not only has online research grown, Gen Y are also quick to jump online to rate and comment on their purchased experiences; have a look at dealer rater.com for the shape of things to come.  Remember that this is nothing new for most industries like restaurants where sites like MenuMania have been well established for a long time.


Mobile internet access is growing at a rate faster than the adoption of any other technology or service in history, with Apple raining supreme with the iPhone. Microsoft, and Google with the purchase of Motorola want to become major players within this growing trend.  Ubiquitous and mobile access to the internet allowing users to spend more time online brings new value to all the current internet offerings and spends. If you do not have a smart phone you need one as they are easy to use and allow instant and quick access to your Gen Y customers and it has to be said that this is a winning trend for us all!

*AutoBase provide Mobile websites for AutoBase dealer websites. Email us here for more information. 

When the Big Boys come to town

What can automotive businesses learn from the likes of Google? Well, a lot. When the opportunity arose to attend the iStrategy Global Digital Media conference with keynote speakers from Google, Facebook, Microsoft, ESPN, MTV and Dell, I was not going to turn it down.  One of the best attributes of the internet is that it is ultimately a scalable business model and what works for Dell (who earned $10B US last year in online sales alone) can work for any NZ based car dealership.

Before I discuss the learnings and hopefully provide you with thoughts and ideas on improving your internet results, I would like to cover off the difference between tactics and strategy. There is a lot of great information forthcoming from the US on internet based automotive sales and they do set the benchmark. When watching a pitch from a person perfect hair, bright white teeth, a blue shirt and brown dockers, it is generally a vendor that has identified a revenue leak in your business which they can plug with a product. These are tactical solutions.  

Understanding internet trends and merging this with your business direction is strategy.  

While the internet is not owned by any single entity, it is shaped by a number of very large players. For most of us Google dictates what we see and the order we see it, Facebook provides access to the third largest country in the world (with 650 million virtual inhabitants), Microsoft powers the desktops and gaming consoles we use, Twitter distributes news and information faster than light and the online media companies are replacing broadcast TV in the supply of content. The world is changing rapidly.

At AutoBase we have an advantage that most businesses do not have.  The internet is our day job and we spend many hours ensuring our understanding of the above is translated into value for our customers. Lesson One - Partner with a company that can keep you up to speed and provide advice on emerging trends within the internet environment. Your main focus should be on your strategy for results not buying more and more vendor solutions.

Lesson Two - Presence is the key to strong internet sales. The internet is not a friendly place; it is very competitive and not free. This is the part Google loves as businesses want more and more presence on the web and they are prepared to pay for it. Organic search results (which are the ones where Google does not receive a dollar) are dropping further down on the first page and the sponsored searches and paid for advertising is increasing.  With the Rugby World Cup coming up, try to Google ‘Auckland Bars’.  What you see is the face of the internet future with hotly contested competition for first page internet real-estate. We have a model that we share with our customers outlining that 70% of online spend needs to be on gaining a strong web presence. In our unbiased view this should be directed to Trade Me Motors. A scattered spend on the web gets you nowhere, it needs to be focused to get you to the top of the page.

Lesson Three – 20% of online spend should be targeted at enhancing your listing to ensure a great click through rate.  Using the Trade Me Motors example, a feature listing can be used to place your listings at the top of each relevant search category. While the internet can be a bit hostile the 80/20 rule applies. It is very easy to represent your business within the top 20% as 80% of businesses put very little effort into their web presence. Again, have a look at Google to see this.

Lesson Four - Treat anybody you communicate with as well read. The last Nielsen Automotive Report found that after completing their online research 48% of customers were prepared to drive between one and two hours to visit a dealership. There is also the Gen Y factor where they wish to have more and more of the transaction and discussion completed online.

Lesson Five - Social Media is the panacea.  Well to be honest that is a lie. What social media or what now just seems to be called ‘Social’ provides is access to a secondary customer base. In old school terminology we know it as referrals and repeat business.  These tools and applications provide a great way to stay engaged with existing and potential customers.  The key is not to get too hung up on the hype and to choose what suits your business to communicate with your future customers the best. If you can write an entertaining and engaging blog relatively often (a few paragraphs a couple of times a week is good) - write one; if it does not come easy - don’t.  Twitter may be for you if your customer base is more niche and fast, quick communication is the goal.  Facebook works well if you run community events or provide sponsorship as part of your business strategy. If you are a dealership, do not just blast your cars out there because as the young of today will say ‘Epic Fail’. You want a conversation that leads to a sale.

If some of the above has been of interest we will be running seminars for our customers in the coming months covering these topics and more.  On the chance you have read to here and been totally uninterested drop me a note and I will supply you a list of the best bars and restaurants we found in Melbourne.

Print a copy of this article HERE.

Pimp that listing!

Our dealers often ask us, ”How do I make the most of my online advertising?” The key is to have a simple plan and work your online provider as hard as you can. Henry Ford said about his Model T “Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants. So long as it is black.” Luckily, that’s no longer the case. Online classified websites contain thousands of vehicle listings of every price, model, make and type. So how do you get buyers to locate and look at your vehicles?

An online classified provider like Trade Me Motors gets almost two million Unique Browsers a month (that’s individuals, who have visited the site one or more times in a month, who are counted once). You want to funnel as many of these potential buyers as you can toward your vehicles, so start by placing as many ‘arrows’ as possible pointing to your vehicles. The more vehicle and brand information you have displayed, the more likely a buyer’s search enquiry will pick up on your vehicles. One way to do this is to utilise the ‘comments area’ to the max (i.e. the area where you enter free flow text to describe the vehicle). On most automotive classified sites vehicles can be searched for by categories such as region, body style, make, model, price and year, enabling buyers to filter down to exactly what they want. So be specific and include as many descriptive keywords within your vehicle descriptions as you can such as colour, CD player, AA Appraised, turbo or remote locking to further refine a browser’s search.

Also think about how you would approach a customer and sell that vehicle if you were on your yard. Parlay that same approach and information into your online listings - tell the story. What is special about this vehicle? What condition is it in? What would you say if someone was inspecting this vehicle on your yard? This might sound obvious, but you would be amazed how many scant, lack luster listings we see.

One of our dealers rang me recently concerned that he wasn’t getting many enquiries on his vehicles. When I had a look at his listings the answer was clear – the descriptions listed were very brief with no features, and nowhere near enough information in the description. Most of the comments contained just one word – “petrol”! There was only one poor image on some vehicles and some had none at all. The pictures were taken on a cloudy day and on a funny angle that either cut the back off the vehicle or a corner. We had a chat and the dealer went back and updated all of his listings, adding more information, features and photos plus benefits of buying from his dealership. Within a week he had seen a good increase in his enquiries and vehicle views. We continued to monitor his vehicle views so that he could see which vehicles were getting less views, and figure out the reason why. In most cases, the reason was a lack of information or poor photos. The solution was basic, but it was the difference between working the vehicles and not.

To further attract and drive buyers to your vehicles, use any upgrade features that your online provider offers - feature your listings so that they appear at the top of searches, add a hyperlink to your website, showcase your vehicles in an online showroom or store. If you have a company website, promote it. Putting your website on your business cards and signage is great, but having a hyperlink to it online when someone is already sitting at their computer is far better and there is much more chance of them clicking into your website. Having a website but not advertising it properly is like having an advertisement for your yard on the 100th storey of a building – yes it’s out there, but who’s looking at it?

Also, think beyond just your product. Having your vehicles online is one thing but having your brand online is another. Sell your proposition as well as the product - what does your dealership offer that the next may not? Include information about special services, warranties, finance, deliveries etc. Work your listing space to its absolute capacity to sell not only your vehicle but your brand and proposition.

Finally, work to a plan - but make sure you understand it and you can follow it through. What is your budget? Where will you get the most bang for your buck? Identify your target audience. Where can you reach them and how? Online advertising has rapidly become the foundation to automotive dealers’ marketing plans. New Zealand’s online advertising spend for 2009 was $213 Million - a 10% growth since 2008. So seek out business partners who will put your brand and products in front of a large, relevant audience. In my next article we’ll drill down into how to create and work a simple, targeted sales plan. In the meantime if you are using an online classified website, work that site to your benefit to promote your vehicles and your brand and you should start to see results.

See this article also for 5 free and easy Tips on improving your listings. 

Internet to Inventory

We know that one of the key issues facing dealers at the moment is how to best manage their internet presence – in terms of resources, budget and time. Following we have compiled some of the most common questions we receive from dealers, and our views on them.

How do I maximize my online presence in line with my budget and resources?

Put your stock where the most people are looking. It makes sense to choose a provider who gets the most traffic – Trade Me runs auctions and classifieds and they put a great deal of money and effort into optimizing their search results in Google, so you don’t have to! We suggest following this plan. Put 60% of your marketing spend into online classifieds, 30% into promoting those listings so they stand out, and 10% managing leads and your staff to make sure those leads are being followed up.

How do I encourage people to look at and buy from my online listings? 

Once your inventory is online, use any upgrade features that your provider offers as ‘arrows’ to drive viewers to your listings. Feature your listings so they are highlighted and pushed to the top of searches. If you have a website add a hyperlink to your listings. This will drive traffic into your website. Showcase your vehicles all together with your company branding, logo and promotional text. The more arrows pointing to your stock = more views = more enquiries.

How do I create a point of difference within my online advertising and differentiate my dealership from others who advertise in the same place?

Once you get your stock online, you need to drive traffic to it.

• Make sure your main photo for each listing is fantastic, showing the vehicle at its best.
• Make sure there is as much information as possible about your stock and dealership. Tell a story about each vehicle. Include as many descriptive keywords, features and unique selling
  points as you can 
• Promote your dealership’s services – what extra services do you offer? Focusing on service attracts.
  more leads.
• Entice viewers by running a campaign or special deal. Do you have any specials coming up for the Christmas period? Are you running any competitions? Are you giving anything away with purchase? People love a bargain, so promote any services, competitions or deals in all your listings as well as your website.

How do I bridge the gap between online and offline sales? 

Develop a solid marketing and sales plan:

• Work the 60/30/10 plan and use your classifieds website and all it provides to its capacity.
• Put the same effort into selling your car online as you do into selling your car offline on your yard.
• Ensure your staff following up on all enquiries and provide easy directions to your dealership.
• Provide a rapid connection with the customer.

How do I promote my website and get more traffic to it? 

You can pay for Search Engine Optimisation to drive more traffic to your site, but why not utilise a classified website already available and working successfully? Promote your website by adding the address to all of your business cards, email signatures, signage, stationery and brochures. Even better, get a hyperlink to your website from all of your online listings. When someone is already sitting at their computer there is much more chance of them clicking into your website rather than trying to remember the address. The more arrows that point viewers to your website, the better.

How do I get better qualified leads and drive a higher conversion rate from those leads? 

To give online viewers the confidence to make an enquiry, ensure that you have quality listings with good photos and lots of information about your business and services. This is essential. Make sure that you have a tight follow up process for your staff to help bridge the gap between conversions and sales. It is vital that your staff are following up on all internet enquiries quickly and effectively. Speed is extremely important to consumers. Invest in a smartphone so you can reply to emails immediately. No matter how odd every enquiry should be followed up. We know that enquiries that are answered promptly are significantly more likely to convert to sales.

What are the tools required to convert internet leads to sales? 

• Reply to email leads immediately 
• and appropriately (get a smartphone). Give prospects confidence that you know what you are talking about, and be happy with the customer service they are receiving. Ensure that your replies include:
• Knowledge – Answers are thorough and informative to create creditability with the customer
• Proposition – What is your point of difference? Are you running any deals? Do you offer any special finance packages? Do you have similar vehicles?
• Offer – Have a call to action. Offer other vehicles within their budget, a test drive, or a chat over a coffee or beer (if it’s Friday of course!) to discuss your vehicles and proposition further.

Other than using online classifieds, what should I be doing regarding advertising, such as a banner ad on Trade Me? 

Look at the plan – put your money into the place that will get you the most sales. Most large sites have banner advertising starting at around $10,000 per week, which is often shared with other advertisers. Go back to the 60/30/10 plan and distribute your budget accordingly - where you are getting the most exposure and the most bang for your buck?

Try this - pull out a piece of paper and draft up a 60/30/10 plan using the budget you spent last month. Try some of these suggestions, utilize others strengths, follow up every enquiry and make sure you take great photos and use the maximum allowance. Every little bit helps to make a difference once you have these things in place. And once you do, work on fine tuning them and enhancing them. As Dale Carnegie said: “Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.”