Attend 11th Digital Dealer Conference Courtesy of ADM Professional Community

Comment

Comment by Ralph Paglia on October 1, 2011 at 5:12pm

BREAKING NEWS: Announcing the ADM Professional Community Blogging Contest Winner for the 11th Digital Dealer VIP Conference Package: 

 

Mr. Keith Shetterly from the DeMontrond Auto Group in Houston, TX! 

 

Please join us in congratulating Keith on winning this incredible prize package worth $2,660... Keith will be traveling non-stop from Houston to Las Vegas on Southwest Airlines, checking into the ADM Professional Community Executive Hospitality Suite at the Mirage Casino and Resort, then onward to the Mirage Conference center to sign in and pick up his prepaid full access pass awaiting his registration at the 11th Digital Dealer Conference in Las Vegas.

 

Many thanks to the sponsors of this prize package:

• Dealer Communications (Special thanks to Mr. Mike Roscoe)
• Team Velocity Marketing
  
• Tier10 Marketing
  
• CallRevu
• DealerApp Vantage
• ADM Professional Community Advertisers

 

Ralph Paglia

Editor-in-Chief

Automotive Digital Marketing

Professional Community

AutoDigitalMarketing@gmail.com

cell: 01.505.301.6369

Comment by Ralph Paglia on May 14, 2011 at 10:01am

AJ - Yes, it was Red McCombs himself who said that... He was referring to radio advertising at the time but it is applicable to everything and what he stated was closer to (paraphrasing): 

"Don't confuse your inability to measure results with whether or not something generates a positive ROI..." 

 

What he was referring to (I think) is that my inability to directly measure the results of broadcast advertising had little to do with whether or not there was an actual Return On Investment being received by the business.  What I know he absolutely did believe in was that measuring ROI should not be confused with receiving ROI.

 

Since that time I have learned that many people in the car business have taken the ability to measure and confused dealers with results that, although measured and very much for real, have little to do with generating an actual return on the dealer's investment in a program or medium.

Comment by Aj Maida on May 14, 2011 at 7:53am

Ralph, Correct me if I'm wrong because I heard this from you but wasn't the Red McCombs quote something like..." just because you can't mesure it dosen't mean there isn't ROI. ROI is going to happen weather you can mesure it or not." (see I am paying attention.)

Comment by Brian Pasch on May 14, 2011 at 7:11am

My best SEO moments were during the Cash For Clunkers program where our site http://www.cashforclunkersfacts.com was getting millions of page views since we were right under the government site nationally.

Comment by Thomas A. Kelly on May 13, 2011 at 5:14pm

@Brian...so very true! Someone on a forum had made a comment one time around the first of September 2010 where they said "....Automotive SEO strategies cannot place a car dealer on Google Page One for broad search terms like "Toyota Camry", Used Cars" or "BMW Dealer", they went on to say that PPC would be the solution. My team was leaving on September 15th for a twenty group meeting and we thought it would be fun. We are a Chevy dealer so "Toyota Camry" was not in our hearts. On September 15, 2010, exactly 2 weeks from the day we launched our campaign, we (our Chevy store) popped on to page one, position 7 for the broad search term "chevy impala" (still have the screenshot) It took 56 videos, 14 articles and a few in house tricks we developed but we did it. We already owned "best price impala", "lowest price impala" from virtually any machine you searched those terms from on the planet, so we had a good head start but it was still a haul to get there. The three of us still get goose bumps when it is mentioned. Clearly our best SEO moment and we had a blast!

Comment by Ralph Paglia on May 13, 2011 at 4:38pm

Thomas - I had not thought of it from a billing perspective, but was making the ROI comment on a "Cost Per Click" and CPA analytics perspective.  Being number one rarely results in the best ROI on a cost per vehicle sold basis, unless you factor in showroom traffic generation and phone calls... In this particular case the dealer has been engaged with his Search Marketing strategy since 2005 and believes, along with me, that getting the competition off SERP #1 pays far beyond a simple CPC and social media marketing fees analysis.

 

We are just now starting to learn the power of Social Media when combined with TRUE Search Engine Marketing, which includes BOTH paid and organic placements... But, tomorrow is a new day and quite possibly new SERP rankings!

Comment by Brian Pasch on May 13, 2011 at 4:13pm

Aaahh...the joys of SEO and competition.  It still gets my blood pumping, specially when someone says it can't be done.

Comment by Thomas A. Kelly on May 13, 2011 at 4:08pm

@ Ralph,

?? ".....It makes no sense from an ROI perspective....." ?? I was going to say makes perfect sense to me... but then I did not get your invoice...lol...There is nothing quite like the feeling we get watching the competition fall farther and farther back in SERPs. It is a unique feeling indeed and it is nothing but hard work. I ran track a several decades ago and I liken the experience to being the first across the line. Congrats!, and I share your excitement.

Comment by Ralph Paglia on May 13, 2011 at 3:37pm

AJ and Dee - After six weeks of work, I just helped a dealer client knock his competition off the first page search results (paid AND organic) for his "City and Brand" search query... It makes no sense from an ROI perspective, but we are both celebrating the "Winning" aspect of it from a competitive perspective!

Comment by Dee Ramonte Rawls on May 3, 2011 at 8:21pm

Absolutely agree Aj...and, there is no denying that every sales pro wants to lead the board, all UC Managers want the most gross and quickest turn, a GM wants to lead his region, and a vendor wants the most accounts!  All the money we can get is what it ultimately boils down to, and I think the competitive nature and pursuit of getting a bigger check kept me in this space after baseball. 

 

On the digital side of things, all the marbles are about conversion.  A Google Page One listing, a good review or testimonial, or any alert in an email is only as good as the transaction it creates.  At the end of the day, an abundance of handshakes pays the dealer's bills.  A contest like this one is good - All Star Status at DD11, oh yeah definitely competitive.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next ›
• Page