UnityWorks! Media // Industry Articles

Flashlight Versus Laser Tag Marketing
How Targeted Web Video Can Help Focus Your Ad Strategy
By Phil Sura, VP of Automotive Sales

The advertising industry is undergoing as much of a transition as the auto industry. A recent article in Wired (magazine) had a great point that should ring the bell for auto dealers.

"	The state of the Old Commercial Broadcasting Model can be summarized like this:
	A spiraling vortex of ruin.	"
	- Bob Garfield, Editor at Large of Adversiting Age in the December 2006 edition of Wired Magazine

The traditional approach of broadcasting advertised messages to the entire market is being replaced with a more targeted and less costly option. There is even a term for this transfer of advertising dollars within some automotive dealerships; "marketing migration". This simply means that advertising dollars which once went towards radio, TV and newsprint are now being spent with online opportunities. The retail car shoppers which once drove from dealership to dealership are now conducting their research online and they are visiting the dealerships online before they physically come to the dealership. What are the automotive retail leaders doing to adjust to these changes in the advertising world? How are dealers leveraging the Internet and technology to sell cars?

Step I. Getting the Customer to Your Website is Critical
The vast majority of customers use the Internet to look for automotive options in the market. The customer is attempting to determine where he/she should invest his (her) time. Even if an auto shopper is inspired by a half page news print ad, he (she) will still likely use the Internet to gain additional information about that specific dealership by visiting the website before coming into the dealership. The dealers that have a strong presence with the search engines spend time and money to accomplish this. All dealers should have an understanding of the basics of search engine optimization and search engine marketing in order to stay competitive. Here are the definitions of both (as defined by Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_marketing

In Internet marketing, search engine marketing , or SEM , is a set of marketing methods to increase the visibility of a website in search engine results pages (SERPs). The main methods of SEM are:

	•		Search engine optimization attempts to improve rankings for relevant keywords in search results by improving a Web site’s structure and content.

	•		Pay per click advertising uses sponsored search engine listings to drive traffic to a website. The advertiser bids for search terms, and the search engine ranks ads based on a competitive auction as well as other factors.

Search engine optimization ( SEO ) is a subset of search engine marketing, and deals with improving the number and/or quality of visitors to a website from "natural" (aka "organic" or "algorithmic" search engine) listings. In effect, SEO is marketing by appealing to machine algorithms to increase search engine relevance and ultimately web traffic. This is analogous to foot traffic in retail advertising.

Step II. Getting the Customer to Move From a Passive Position to an Active Party
Once the customer visits your site, how do you communicate your message? Does your Web site stand out from every other dealer’s site, or does it have the same look as every other dealer’s site in your market? Are you communicating your latest campaign or event on your site? How do you display your actual inventory online? Does a customer get inspired to visit your Web site when they see your site? You may have the most impressive retail facility in your community but if you have a boring website, customers may never see your operation.

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 Web site does two things: (1) More information is retained and (2) the customers will stay on your site for a longer period of time. Examples of dealer Web videos include testimonials of happy customers, a message from the owner, a tour of the facility and video virtual tours of the new and used cars. Professionally produced video content on your site will help push the customer from a passive position of simply browsing the site to a customer more likely to get engaged in the next step of the sales process. Possibilities for the next step include calling the dealership, sending an e-mail to the dealership for more information or visiting the dealership in person.

Smart dealers today must develop a strategy to display both their new and used inventory through Web video. New car Web videos or virtual tours can be created by repurposing OEM running footage and can then be featured on the dealer’s Web site. This approach can give a Web car buyer who is researching new car options on the Web the ability to get information about a new car from the dealer’s site without having to leave the site and go to a manufacturer’s site. Keeping customers on your site is critical, and this is a great way to do it.

In selecting a company to provide new car videos, it is important that you work with a company that also has the ability to incorporate and highlight not only footage about the new car but who can also highlight your dealership’s brand message as well. Used car virtual tours are important, as well.

Some leading vendors of these services can create these video walkarounds from the digital pictures. Each video walkaround may include an overview of the features of that specific used car, with background music, and a “call to action” at the end urging the buyer to come into your dealership or to call or e-mail for a test drive. The call to action pushes the customer to take the next step of visiting the dealership or e-mailing for additional information.

These used car virtual tours are then linked to a dealer’s used car display page. Most of the major Web site providers are allowing video content to be added directly to the used car display page. A video icon informs the customer of the units that have a virtual tour.

Used car virtual tours can also be linked to a third party such as CarSoup. Data shows that a car with a video tour is likely to be clicked on four times more than a car with only pictures. These virtual tours can be sent as a link to a customer making an inquiry. Think of the impact that video has on a customer. Video is more dynamic, more emotionally engaging and more interactive. Remember that these videos are opportunities to brand your operation. The voice talent should be professional and the introductions and closes should “wow” a customer.

III. Using video to drive Loyalty
Once a customer visits your operation, what then? Do you send a thank you card or an Email? Why not send a video message from the owner thanking him for the visit? The same approach can take place when a customer buys a car. E-mail addresses of customers are gold. This data base of e-mail addresses can be used to maintain contact for future events. Dealers have the ability to include video links on these e-mail campaigns. Video e-mail campaigns are more effective than the campaigns without video content. Dealers have enjoyed as high as a 15% click through rate when video content is added to an e-mail campaign. Your results will vary widely depending on the quality of the list you use but it is clear that video content should be included in at least some of your e-campaign efforts in the future if you wish to get the most bang for your marketing buck.

Some dealerships have struggled with how to get customers to provide their personal e-mail addresses. A customer's biggest fear in releasing an e-mail address is that they will receive an e-mail every week from the dealership. If you commit to only send relevant information that could include service specials, you are more likely to be successful in collecting these addresses. Other relevant information would include manufacturer recalls, dealership specials and key events. Every dealership cashier, service advisor, sales person and finance manager should be trained on getting customer e-mail addresses. E-mail addresses are gold.

So, summing up, here are some key points to look for when interviewing web hosting and video streaming companies:

	•		The key when interviewing a video streaming company is to work with a nationally recognized company.

	•		Make certain that the company hosting and streaming your videos can deliver on a national basis and not just your local market.

	•		Work with a video streaming company that has the ability to reach a wide audience of users. Over 30 percent of online users still connect on a dial-up connection (not because they don't want to connect faster, but because often, even on a broadband connection, the pipe is full and the actual connection is only at a dial up speed). Can the video streaming company reach this percentage of the market? Don't take their word, test it out yourself on a dial up connection.

	•		Find a company that will perform individual connection diagnostics. Make it as easy as possible for the customer to view the video in order to serve the best possible video viewing experience for each user. Don't use a company that makes your customer answer questions or select a video speed themselves since often their selection will be the wrong speed for their actual environment at the time. Never use a company that forces the customer to download a certain type of media player to watch a video.

	•		Work with a company that provides online reporting (# of streams per video and the average viewing time).

	•		Finally work with a video company with people who understand the retail automotive space.

Video streaming, SEO, SEM and video e-mail campaigns have become a key focus of most national dealer groups and many progressive dealerships. The future of advertising has already shifted from a flashlight approach to a laser focus. How focused are you?