UnityWorks! Media // Industry Articles

Using Video Streaming as a Tool to Communicate Your Message
By Phil Sura, VP of Automotive Sales

The volatility of the automotive industry is not for the weak or those who refuse to adapt to the market. The Dealer or General Manager who doesn't constantly look for ways to reduce cost, market to the people who are the closest to a car buying decision and determine how to do more with less (money and fewer people) will be at a disadvantage. One example of how dealers are adjusting is the way that they advertise. The traditional approach has been to broadcast to the entire market and hope that the message is heard by the people in the market that are going to purchase a car within a period of time. This dated approach is expensive and is being replaced with a more targeted and less costly focus.

Step I. Getting the Customer to your website is just the first step:
A SEO/SEM strategy will drive the people who are the closest to the car buying decision to your website. It is a simple process. The majority of the people will use a search engine to look for automotive options in the market. The customer that once drove from dealership to dealership during a Saturday is still taking this approach but that customer is using the Internet to visit the dealerships from home or from work. This customer is trying to determine where they want to invest their time. Even if a customer is inspired by a half page news print ad, they are in many cases, still using the Internet to get additional information about your operation by visiting your site before coming into the dealership. How many customers are visiting your site each month? I visited with a Ford dealer recently who didn't know the answer to this question. After some research, he was pleasantly surprised that the count was much higher than what he ever thought possible. In most cases, driving people to your site requires a plan. It doesn't happen by itself. There are a number of companies who are willing to help you with this step. Some dealers are also creating additional leads by creating "micro sites". One of the speakers at the Summit Seminar in Vegas last month included Ralph Paglia from Courtesy Chevrolet. Ralph is the master of creating "micro sites" with 400 separate micro sites for his dealership.

Step II. Getting the customer to move from a passive position to an active party (coming into the store, calling or emailing for information:
Once the customer visits your site, how do you communicate your message? Does your website stand out from every other dealer's site or does it have the same look as every other dealer site in your market? Are you communicating the latest promotion on your site? How do you display your actual inventory online? Does a customer get inspired to visit your website when they see your site? Only a small percentage of dealers are taking advantage of video streaming. Video content allows you to create a stronger emotional message for the customers who are taking the time to visit your operation online. Video on your website does two things; (1) More information is retained and (2) the customers will stay on your site for a longer period of time. These videos could include testimonials of happy customers, a message from the owner or a tour of the facility. Isn't it our job as sales people to create emotion with a prospect? How emotional does a customer get when they visit a site with text and pictures? Professionally produced video content on your site will push that customer from a passive position of simply browsing the site to a customer more likely to take the next step of calling, sending an email for more information or coming into the dealership.

Dealers across the country are also promoting their new vehicles and used cars with video content. Dealers have the ability to repurpose running footage of each new car model and produce 60 second virtual tours that the customer can visit online. Dealers also have the ability to create 60 second virtual tours of their used car inventory. This is a simple process. The digital pictures that a dealer is already taking are sent in a file to a video streaming company with production capabilities. These specialized companies will then produce a voice over of the features of that specific car, they add background music, add an introduction with key bullet points that brand your dealership and add a call to action at the end. The call to action pushes a customer to take the next step of visiting the dealership or emailing for additional information.

These used car virtual tours can then be linked to a dealer's used car display page. Most of the major web providers are now allowing video content to be added directly to the used car display page with video icons that tell the customer which units have a virtual tour. These virtual tours can also be linked to a third party such as CarSoup. Data shows that a car with a video tour will be clicked on four times over a car with only pictures. These virtual tours can also be placed on a Landing page as a link and sent as a response to a customer making an inquiry (if they didn't visit the website). Think of the impact to a customer visiting ten dealer sites. Nine sites look the same. One site has a virtual tour of the new and/or used cars. The customer can receive an overview of that car and receive an actual presentation of that vehicle from home.

Several streaming video companies have elected to create a computer voice for the critical step of describing the features of the car. Would you ever have robots greet your guests at the dealership? I believe that this is a strategic mistake since it takes away from your branded message. Technology is a tool but it is still the human relationship that sells the car. Robotic voices do not have the same impact as a human voice but the market place will make the final decision with this.

III. Using video to thank the customer for his/her visit, keeping in touch, video e-mail campaigns and adding links to "pay per click".
Once a customer visits your operation, what then? Do you send a thank you card or an e-mail? Why not send a video message from the Owner thanking him for this visit? The same approach can take place when a customer buys a car. Dealers are discovering that email addresses of customers that visit the store are gold. If you have a data base of email addresses, video content can be used to promote new model launches, service campaigns, or sales events. By introducing video, dealers have enjoyed a video click through rate of 6% to 15%. Again, video allows the customer to retain more information. Some stores have struggled with how to get customers to provide their email addresses. A customer's biggest fear in releasing an email address is that you will send an email every week. Make a management commitment to only send your customer list each month or once every quarter for major events. Don't overwork this opportunity. You can also explain that you will be sending service campaigns (and make certain that you do this).

Some dealers are promoting themselves on the Google search page. Again, if you are working with a competent video streaming company, you can add the links of a video and stream content to the viewer rather than simply having a text message.

The key is getting engaged with this exciting medium. New applications will appear next year. For example, Internet teams will be sending video content to customer cell phones by the end of 2007. Does your management team understand these concepts or are they holding on the approaches that worked for a different generation?