A dealership is often a high-stress environment, and if you don’t have a viable plan to show your employees that you appreciate them, you’re going to have to hire and re-hire over and over and over again…ad infinitum.

So how do you typically show your employees that you appreciate them for their work? The money. You give your team monetary incentives in return for their excellent skills, which helps them feed their families while creating success for your store.

However, some employees are motivated by something other than monetary gain. Some employees, no matter how much you pay them, are really looking for you to show your appreciation through your culture and other resources.

Let’s put this in perspective.

Your employees spend 8 hours (often more) of their life each day at your…

Dealerships are facing an uphill battle in the fight to reclaim search rankings from third-party listings, as well as the attempt to win customers through social media. For both automotive SEO and social media marketing, however, content is the single most important factor for overall success.

You can optimize your dealership’s site to compete for certain keywords, but that’s only going to get you so far with Google. In order to truly impact rankings, you need to acquire links to your site. The absolute best way to do that is to produce content worth linking to in the first place. That is the essence of content marketing.

What is Content Marketing?…

Lead > Contact > Show > Sell (LCSS).

That is the very definition of Automotive Inbound Marketing.

Have you ever noticed that the vendors in the automotive marketing space who are minimizing the importance of leads are also the same vendors that have never been able to generate them with any success?

Marketing is a conversation.

The start of that conversation is a lead. If you’re relying on lot traffic alone, you are not maximizing your sales potential.

By not seeking those conversations prior to the customer coming onto your lot, there is no way to know their motivations for being there. If you don’t know their motivations,…

First, a mini-rant. It will make sense why I'm starting with a rant before getting to the meat of the issue.

I was on the phone with a social client and their prospective search marketing provider the other day when I was blindsided by ignorance. It wasn't what I expected from a company that came highly recommended for their search prowess, so I called later on to talk to someone other than a salesperson to confirm that I heard properly.

They selected their keywords straight from a template. The dealer would tell them the cities and then they would plug in those cities into their keyword template and, VOILA, they had a keyword list to plug into their campaigns.

This is the type of treatment I would expect from an OEM-level provider, but to see it coming from a…

One of the most disturbing trends we're seeing on dealer websites is when they use chat areas as another contact form. It's true that chat is a way to generate leads, but when collecting contact information is the primary goal, the whole point of chat is missed.

Here are some things that we have found to be true with chat that dealers should keep in mind when they determine how to position chat in their digital marketing.

1. Stop Asking for Contact Information Up Front

A few months ago I saw an analogy in a blog post that positioned this statement in the right context. To paraphrase: You wouldn't have your receptionist answer the phone by saying, "Thank you for calling, may I have your name, phone number, and email address, please?"

Help first. Answer their questions…

Former AutoNation Senior VP of Marketing will advise 3 Birds with over 25 years of industry experience

CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina (July 17, 2014) –  Gary Marcotte has joined 3 Birds Marketing’s board of advisors, effective immediately.

Marcotte is most noted for his 13-year-tenure with AutoNation, Inc., America’s largest automotive retailer. Most recently, Marcotte served as Senior Vice President of Marketing for the company, leading the eCommerce department and AutoUSA lead distribution network from unprofitability to several consecutive years of profitability and growth. His previous roles with AutoNation included Senior Vice President of eCommerce, Vice President of New and Used Vehicle Operations, e-Commerce and other Retail Operations. 

With over 25 years…

Used Vehicle Depreciation Rates Rise To Recession Levels

Depreciation rates on used vehicles are nearing levels not seen since the recession, though the trend will soon reverse and likely lead to marginally higher losses for U.S. auto ABS, according to the latest joint vehicle depreciation report from Black Book® and Fitch Ratings. Click here to download the full report.



According to Black Book, both new and used vehicle markets are seeing positive growth after hitting a low of 10.3 million new vehicle sales in 2009. As a result, depreciation has increased every year since 2011. Black Book projects new vehicles sales to finish north of 16 million…

by Heidi Suke, Account Advocate

Are you leveraging all of the tools your website vendor offers to highlight specials on your dealership's site? No?! Why?! Nailing your dealership's Why Buy message is one way to stand out from the competition. But a recent study on the state of…

Last week, Automotive News highlighted Redlands Auto Plaza, a Southern California dealership that is doing some pretty creative things within their service department to increase absorption. General Manager, Loren Campbell, recognized that becoming more efficient within the service department was key to increased profitability and a better customer experience. “Time is the only thing we have to sell. The process is the key: quicker and simpler. That’s what customers want,” Campbell stated in the article. To achieve this, he paired up service advisors to work in teams so that there was always an advisor available to answer questions about any customer’s specific vehicle. Campbell also has…

What's New on the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT Edition? 

For 2014, the all-new Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT is powered by an 8-Speed Transmission that either functions via it's fully electronic automatic mode or via paddle shifters to make driving the 6.4L HEMI loads of fun! Eco Mode and Fuel Saver Technology are also two features offered on the SRT Grand Cherokee for 2014 to aid in fuel conservation. 

The exterior of the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT features blackened bi-xenon headlights with LED run lights, and enhancements to the front fascia,…