Larry Bruce's ADM Blog (64)

For almost 10 years now, we have all heard “This is the year for mobile!”…REALLY?!?

We see posts on all over Twitter about the growth in mobile use and web traffic. Ironically, most are coming from people using a desktop.

So, as we always do, we decided to gather the data, set up the experiment and test it!

First, we had to define “What is a mobile device?”…

For inbound marketing, leads determine success. The assumption is that the higher the lead volume and percentage, the higher the sales and service volume. All too often, these do not go in step with each other. Below we identify ten statistics that are the main cause of increased lead quantity not equating to increases in appointment shows and…

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…

Yesterday as I traveled home from Digital Dealer Workshops in Chicago this was the question that was weighing heavy on my mind. I spoke with a lot of Dealers and Internet Managers there and not many had very good things to say about their marketing partners.…

I just read an article in Automotive News by Dave Barkholz entitled, “Lost Leads.” I hesitate to say it. But, within the article some smart people were quoted.  I hesitate because I was also quoted in the article and I don’t want to break my arm patting myself…

COMMUNICATION!

I just got through reading “Is the dealership sales call center obsolete?” on autonews.com. I got the article…

It's coming and there is nothing you can do about it.... THE ADWORDS EQUIVALENT OF PANDA!

Over the next several months ALL Google AdWords accounts will be migrated over to Google Enhanced Campaigns and the changes are…

The basic Law of Reciprocity states: To give and take mutually.

I have thought about this a lot over the last few months. We use this concept very effectively in conversion optimization by giving white papers, special…

"Why"

This is the single most difficult concept for most marketers in automotive to understand.  “Why” is the reason AutoTrader and Cars.com run millions of dollars in ads on TV, then put only a fraction of that budget into real content that consumers go online to find “the expensive kind of marketing” as noted by…

ZMOT its everywhere seems like these days. With Google as the general session at Digital Dealer this year I thought I would talk about how we see the execution of ZMOT for dealers. Below are the slides from my presentation. I think these numbers will add up to a pattern if you look at the slides closely.

There is not ONE ZMOT in Automotive there are TWO

• People spend as much time consuming online media as they do off
• Targeting is getting better & faster online,…

Last Digital Dealer we explored the data behind SEO & PPC and where your efforts get the most bang for the buck.

At Digital Dealer 12 in Orlado April 3-5 will will explore the data behind ZMOT and how to execute it in your store to increase lead volume and most importantly Show Rate in the dealerhips.

Click Here to attend my Digital Dealer 12 Session "Marketing…

That kills a General Manager it’s what he doesn’t know!

Those words spoken to me by one of the smartest dealers I ever worked for, Jay Marks, have stayed with me since 1996. Same principal applies in every position of the dealership but particularly in marketing.

Let’s face it Marketing is quickly becoming a…

Post one of ten posts I will be making leading up to Digital Dealer 12.

If you are one of the best dealers in the country you are using 10% of your Secret Weapon…what is it?…

But you couldn’t be more wrong about microsites!

I have had a few dealers reach out to me lately on Microsites being a bad idea and even one of the largest industry providers asking me if…

An interesting report from comScore and I think some premonitions for retail automotive.

1. Could FREE shipping break open real eCommerce for automotive? I think it is certainly a big hurdle right now logistically and monetarily. Taking away the monetary factor may go a long way toward opening this up. Of course there are still some logistics involved and there is the tactile factor. The need to touch and feel the vehicle is diminishing slowly…

The AutoMazing Podcast is a group of cars guys (Larry Bruce, Chris Saraceno, Eric Miltsch, Bryan Armstrong, Shaun Raines, Tracy Myers & Rob Campbell) that get together 2 to 3 times per month and discuss the topics affecting our industry.

12/29/11 - What Makes A Great Customer Experience & What Is CarMax Doing We Should Be Paying Attention To?…

TrueCar has certainly stirred up a hornet’s nest with “Know the REAL Price”. To be fair they are not the only online lead generator that uses dealership transactional data in an effort to get between the customer and the dealership and get a piece of the car sale either through a pay for lead or pay for sale pricing model.

Both KBB and Edmunds use transactional data also, the difference… their billing model doesn’t require them to dial into your system so it doesn’t appear that they…

One of my most favorite sayings in the world goes like this:

“A sale, like a war, is won by many battles and lost by one”

This is true across every industry and business and why there is no single ZMOT (Zero Moment Of Truth). There are multiple events that take a customer…

This was a question asked on Dealerrefresh by Ed Brooks of vAuto. I find this a very interesting question for a lot of reasons and my answer is YES where you have control over it.

Obviously in a new car franchise you have less control as your inventory is dictated a great deal by the OEM but even they somewhat dictate your allocation by marketing. In our Toyota…

Some people have heard me say this in the past

“It’s not your website provider’s job to give you a working website. It’s their job to give you a functional one; it’s your job to make it work”

What does that mean…REALLY?

     • It’s Your Job – to know what keywords to rank for

     • It’s Your Job – to create good…