The 2011 Digital Marketing Strategies Conference (DMSC) held this year in the Napa Valley is sold out due to high car dealer participation.  The annual conference attracts dealer principals, general managers, and ecommerce directors from the US and Canada to discuss leading digital marketing and social media strategies.

The automotive industry is going through significant changes and the DMSC in Napa is an investment for dealers who want to keep pace with this change.  As marketing and engagement move to the Internet, car dealers are finding that education is the key to staying ahead of the curve.  Automotive Advertising strategies must include Automotive SEO, SEM, SM, and a solid implementation plan to merge these with traditional advertising channels.

DMSC Napa

This year’s conference is scheduled for February 1-3rd and will be held at the Napa Valley Marriot.  At the end of the DMSC, many of the attendees will be traveling to San Francisco to attend the 2011 NADA Convention.  The DMSC in Napa and the NADA Convention in San Francisco are the “one-two punch: for car dealers looking to lead their dealership to greater success in 2011.

DMSC Workshop Leaders

There are six workshop leaders at DMSC Napa as well as four keynote speakers.  Additionally, some of the leader automotive technology leaders will be speaking at the eight meals that are part of the Digital Marketing Strategies agenda. The workshop speakers include:

Gary May

Gary May, Founder and President of Interactive Marketing and Consulting Services (IM@CS) has spent the past 10 plus years involved in different aspects of the automotive online space with a focus on dealers and OEM improving their eCommerce, branding, interactive content and media.

Starting in September 2007, IM@CS has specialized in assisting dealers’ online efforts including website, CRM, social media, vendor and cost management as well as process and core fundamentals from an educational consulting platform. In addition to being awarded their first OEM eCommerce education programs, the company added blogging and other efforts as well as speaking engagements tailored for dealerships in 2008.

Gary’s approach is multi-pronged: key management education and adoption, system leverage and integration, local market penetration and sustainability, sales mentorship and accountability processes. IM@CS’ measurement of success comes from both sustainability and tracked improvements. The company has garnered a reputation for on-time delivery, execution around leading-edge technology, appropriate vendor and solution introductions and management-down buy-in.

IM@CS counts some of the US’ and Canada’s top dealership groups as clients over the past three plus years and has sights set on moving dealers significantly forward in 2011.

Alex Snyder

Alex Snyder is the Director of Product Research at Dealer.com. He is responsible for helping shape the future of the company’s product line.

Prior to joining Dealer.com, Mr. Snyder was the director of e-commerce at Checkered Flag Automotive Group. Alex was instrumental in their becoming a top 100 e-Commerce Dealer in varying automotive publications, as well as the No. 1 dealership website of the year in 2008.

Since 2006 Alex has been a main contributor to DealerRefresh working to better the industry with Jeff Kershner. in 2010 Alex won the Automotive Website Awards (AWA) Lighthouse Award for his contributions to the automotive industry.

You can view more about Alex on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/alexsnyder

Glenn Pasch

Glenn Pasch is the COO of PCG Digital Marketing. He has more than 20 years of experience in training and managing individuals. He has worked in the direct marketing industry, including hands-on sales training, project management, as well as organizational development and performance consultant services.

He has a proven track record of leading diverse teams of professionals to new levels of achievement in a variety of highly competitive markets and fast paced environments. In addition, he personally coached thousands of front line sales and customer service agents as well hundreds of management personnel.

He continues to author articles for industry publications as well as continuing his successful Side by Side Coach Blog. He is a speaker whose energetic, straight forward style of coaching and training connects with audiences and leaves them with tangible tools they can utilize immediately.

Glenn Pasch is a member of SOCAP, ATA, ICF and The American Society for Training and Development as well as a member of the Board of Directors for the NY Metro Chapter of the ATA.

Matt Murray

Matt Murray is the Director of Digital Marketing at Dealer.com. His knowledge of search and social media have allowed him to become an irreplaceable resource for both employees and clients. He is an expert in automotive internet marketing and has helped thousands of dealers maximize their investment in internet marketing and Dealer.com’s tools and business processes.

Matt will be sharing with conference attendees his insights into paid search advertising and how car dealers can plan, implement, measure, and gain rewards from a successful SEM strategy. As paid digital advertising becomes a larger portion of car dealer budgets, it is critical that dealers understand how paid search works and how to inspect operational campaigns.

Christine Rochelle

A freelance writer from the forbidden place known as New Jersey, Christine Rochelle has been writing since she could hold a pencil. Christine dove into the blogging world soon after college and her numerous projects have been featured in The New York Post, Crushable and LifeStyler.

Besides writing her life away, Christine has worked as a production assistant for a network dot com, worked for famed editor Bonnie Fuller and spent four months teaching (and blogging) in Vietnam. Combining all of her media experiences, Christine now specializes in SEO content development at PCG Digital Marketing in addition to providing career advice on AOL.com.

Christine’s goal is to break down what works and what doesn’t work for online readers and why quality content is the key to digital marketing success.

Brian Pasch

Brian Pasch is the CEO of PCG Digital Marketing who is hosting the Conference. Brian is an active writer, educator, and conference speaker on digital marketing and search engine optimization strategies for car dealers.

Brian is a 20 year veteran in consumer direct marketing and founded PCG Digital Marketing in 2005 to focus exclusively on winning digital marketing solutions for growing industries. In a short time, PCG Digital Marketing has grown to over 65 employees and serves car dealers in the US and Canada.

PCG Digital Marketing is also the creator of the 2010 Automotive Website Awards which recognizes the best search marketing, technology, and designs in automotive websites. The 2010 award winners and whitepaper can be downloaded on www.autotomotivewebsiteawards.com.

The Herb Chambers Automotive Group has joined the Automotive Advertising Network (AAN) which will expand their automotive digital marketing strategies nationally, regionally, and locally.

The Herb Chambers network of car dealerships represent over 45 OEM brands in New England. The Herb Chambers organization will leverage their inventory of over 8,000 vehicles and increase the direct traffic to their car dealership websites. Herb Chambers, a leader in automotive sales in New England, picked the AAN for its innovative approach to automotive advertising.

The AAN national advertising website is located at www.CarDealerSale.com and the network has over 300 regional websites that cover the United States. The Automotive Advertising Network is a unique platform for car dealers to increase visitors, leads, and sales for the cars that they sell.

The network also provides Herb Chambers access to the most powerful content publishing network in the United States for car dealers. Members have the ability to published unlimited press releases each month that advertise their sales, promotion, or work in the community.

You can read more about the benefits that Herb Chambers will see as a member of the AAN by visiting: AAN Website.

Herb Chambers Digital Marketing

Here are examples of the local advertising pages that were created for the brands Herb Chambers represent in New England:

• http://boston-honda.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-toyota.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-jeep.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-chrysler.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-dodge.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-chevrolet.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://worcester-hyundai.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://worcester-toyota.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-bmw.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-mini.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://providence-honda.ri.cardealersale.com
• http://worcester-honda.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://infiniti-boston.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://worcester-infiniti.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-porsche.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-audi.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-saab.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-vespa.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-ford.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://worcester-ford.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-kia.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-cadillac.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-buick.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-pontiac.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://providence-cadillac.ri.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-lexus.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-mercedes.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://worcester-mercedes.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-smart.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-landrover.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-rollsroyce.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-bentley.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://worcester-jeep.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://worcester-chrysler.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://worcester-dodge.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://worcester-bmw.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-lamborghini.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://boston-scion.ma.cardealersale.com
• http://worcester-scion.ma.cardealersale.com

Herb Chambers Content Publishing Strategies

You can also view the Herb Chambers press releases, promotions, and community activities on over 15 New England websites that include www.bostondealers.org. www.framinghamdealers.org, and www.concordealers.org.

Herb Chambers dealerships will also utilize the powerful national websites in the AAN that include http://news.cardealersale.com , www.cashforclunkersfacts.com, and www.toyotarecall.org.

Herb Chambers dealers will also be able to post their latest car sales on www.carsalenews.com and include their cars in the world’s largest Wiki exclusively for car dealers: www.cardealerwiki.org.

Herb Chambers will also be using the AAN technology to integrate their cars into their Facebook and NING social networks.

Specialized websites targeting the Boston market will also showcase the Boston Used Cars the Herb Chambers organization has for sale. The Automotive Advertising Network (AAN) is providing the Herb Chambers dealers with a turn-key advertising, branding, SEO, and social media marketing solution.

Car dealers can now create powerful business profile pages and brand specific marketing pages on http://cardealerwiki.org. The site was created by PCG Digital Marketing as a place for car dealer to leverage high quality content about their dealership to increase links and traffic to their primary websites.

CarDealerWiki.org support inventory feeds from members of the Automotive Advertising Network and car dealer review feeds from PrestoReviews.com. The open architecture of CarDealerWiki allows dealers to create localized content pages for the cars that they sell. This increases their local search visibility as well as their POD Score (http://www.podscore.org).

CarDealerWiki Membership

Membership on CarDealerWiki is currently free as long as those registering have an email address associated with a car dealership URL.  Free email accounts from Google, Yahoo, or MSN will not be granted membership.  Once an account has been approved, a car dealer can create powerful marketing pages for their dealership that will appear on Google Page One for targeted consumer searches.

Since CarDealerWiki.org supports RSS feeds, dealers can also feed their pages with their latest blog posts.  By syndicating their blog content, dealers increase the opportunity for consumers to find their articles, sales, and promotions.

CarDealerWiki Templates

Basic templates to create a car dealership profile page are provided which results in a dealership page being able to be created in just 5 minutes.  Here are a few examples of car dealers that have leveraged CarDeaelrWiki to create attractive marketing pages:

• http://cardealerwiki.org/Capital_Ford_Lincoln – Created for Capital Ford in Canada
• http://cardealerwiki.org/Marlboro_Nissan – Created for Marlboro Nissan in Massachusetts

Tutorials and page creation tools are available on the home page of CarDealerWiki.org.  The site also support direct YouTube video integration.

Earlier members of the Automotive Advertising Network  in Buffalo have been experiencing the many benefits offered to members.  Buffalo car dealers have been able to tap into the network’s content publishing system to post their press releases, sales and new cars on local advertising portals.

The new automotive dealer network creates a new Automotive Advertising model which can offer car dealers a package of digital advertising strategies to benefit their sales and search visibility.  In the end, it increases links, trafic and sales for Buffalo Cars sitting on local dealer lots.

Automotive Advertising Agencies can also contact Digital Compass Marketing, creators of the AAN, to inquire about reseller packages.  Contact sales at 732-450-8222.

Buffalo car dealers have also been able to integrate their automotive social media sites like Facebook, WordPress and NING with their car inventory which has increased the exposure to their cars and traffic to their car detail pages. Buffalo car dealers in the AAN have also seen a jump in high quality inbound links to their main website pages, as well as links to service and parts.

Buffalo Cars For Sale

A sample of the Buffalo car dealers in the Automotive Advertising Network are listed below. You can see that for larger dealer groups that sell multiple OEM brands, they can have separate advertising pages for each brand that they represent.

• Buffalo Chevrolet
• Buffalo Honda
• Buffalo Nissan
• Buffalo Toyota
• Buffalo Ford
• Buffalo Buick
• Buffalo Cadillac
• Buffalo Dodge
• Buffalo GMC
• Buffalo Jaguar
• Buffalo Jeep
• Buffalo Subaru
• Buffalo Suzuki
• Buffalo Chrysler

Buffalo Automotive Marketing

Buffalo car dealers who are looking to increase first party leads and increase the visibility for the cars that they sell, need help. Car dealers are under attack from larger advertising portals and the Automotive Advertising Network (AAN) gives dealers the tools to fight back. For more information on joining the AAN, visit: www.automotiveadvertisingnetwork.com

Car dealers who are looking to increase Fixed Operations revenue and leads should download this whitepaper created by PCG Digital Marketing. If you have not been exploiting the profit and revenue associated with a dedicated Fixed Ops digital marketing campaign, there is no better time to start than today. If you need assistance, drop me a line and we can coach you through the process.

PCG has a new Fixed Operations marketing package and stand-alone website that may be the right fit for your business for as little as $395 per month. Give us a call 732-450-8200

Fixed Ops Digital Marketing

Fixed Operations SEO is not widely discussed within online communities or at trade conferences and yet it is a true bread winner for car dealers. I have been working with a number of car dealers that have decided to aggressively advertise that they offer competitive prices on the most common car repairs and service. The key is to take that offline decision to the search engines for consumers to see online.

There are a few ways to attack generating more calls and leads for service so I will create a multi-part series on this topic and also schedule a webinar to help dealers with implementing effective Fixed Ops search strategies.

Before we talk about search strategies, it is vitally important that you do local market research on competing dealers and independent service center. Use this data to establish your pricing and marketing message. Ask your digital advertising agency to create online and offline branding graphics and messages that can be used in print, television, banner ads and on your website.

Once you have the graphics and message worked out, add service pages to your main website or dedicated service website that match your offline message. I suggest that you have specific landing pages for oil changes, brakes, tires, transmission service, etc. Each of these pages should have a lead capture form and a clear call to action button to schedule a service appointment.

Once your dedicated service landing pages are in place, you can start a Google Adwords campaign which buys keywords that can be directed to the appropriate service landing page. For example, if you bought the words “oil change” or “Oil and Lube”, you should direct those clicks to the oil change landing page that you just created. Do not send consumers to a generic service appointment form with no message about why they should have their next oil change done at your dealership.