DealerRefresh

Obstacles, Observations and Opinions of an Automotive Internet Sales & Marketing Manager

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Digital Marketing: It’s Time for OEMs to Rethink Their Co-Op Programs

Digital Marketing: It’s Time for OEMs to Rethink Their Co-Op Programs

This article was not written to be cute or semi-controversial. It was also not written for dealers to read, nod their heads and then do nothing. It was written for dealers and OEM executives to get beyond the bullshit being fed to them by their digital marketing partners (and sometimes even by their own marketing teams) and stop the digital marketing waste and fraud that’s costing the average OEM and their dealers hundreds of millions a year.

Digital marketing is likely the biggest waste and fraud ever perpetrated on OEMs and dealers; and it needs to stop. OEMs are (unwittingly) facilitating so much of this that the initiative to stop it has to come from their ranks. In fact, for many OEMs, it may have to come from the CEO herself/himself.

If you take a deep dive into the average dealer’s digital marketing spend from last month, you’ll likely see their OEM helped them pay for (via digital marketing co-op) some or all of the following: [Read more…]

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Dear Toyota: Here’s $108 Million to Spend in Your Fight for Share Against Ford

As the Toyota brand works to replace Ford in the top spot for US vehicle sales in 2018 (as of this writing, the Ford brand holds roughly a 14% share of the US Market to Toyota’s 12.4%; source here), you have to wonder how much of a difference an extra $108,000,000 to spend on targeted advertising would make.

I suspect it would make a difference.

By the way, you can replace Toyota and Ford in the headline with any two OEMs you’d like. The bottom line is that the average dealer I encounter today is wasting about $6,000 every month just on fraudulent/wasted SEM (primarily display and pay-per-click advertising).

Here’s my math: [Read more…]

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You F’ing crazy car dealers

I haven’t worked in a dealership for more than 6 years now. Today I’m a vendor; one who works closely with OEMs and dealers… for those of you who don’t know me. During that time, I have been explaining to coworkers and manufacturer representatives how to make life easier for dealers. Unfortunately, neither will ever understand.

People who buy and have their car worked on at car dealerships are the root of all our communication issues.

That’s basically because they’re fukingz crazy!

[Read more…]

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Why OEM Marketing Mandates are a Great Thing for Dealers (at least those who do it right)

Stop the presses! The cow just jumped over the moon. Pigs are flying. Hell froze over. Who kidnapped me and replaced me with an OEM shill?

The answer isn’t that I’ve gone insane. It’s that I looked deeper into the subject and realized it can be easily turned around from being a negative thing for franchise dealers to being something that helps savvy dealers tilt the playing field in their direction.

There have been plenty of posts on these forums, throughout LinkedIn, and on the general automotive blogosphere that call out the obtuse OEM mandates to use accepted vendors (often deemed acceptable because of relationships and deal-making rather than quality) for things like websites, PPC, chat, social media, and most other marketing components. Not all OEMs are doing it, but the trends point to this being the case universally at some point in the future. Most dealers complain and rightfully so. Heck, I’ve complained about it myself.

Something has been brewing in me lately. It started as a subtle seed and was emphasized when I started looking at the numbers. What I found so interesting was this: you can tell the difference between the dealers who are succeeding and the ones who are not based upon the amount of effort they put into enhancing their OEM-mandated marketing elements. While most dealers begrudgingly accept the OEM mandated products and services and leave it at that, others are taking what they’re given and making them better. [Read more…]