Paul Potratz tells the story of a dealer who broke all the rules. When he stops spending on paid video and creates his own show, promoting it on social, he not only sees amazing engagement but saves thousands of dollars. This is revolutionary digital marketing.

By now we’ve all gotten used to the fact that artificial intelligence machines are watching our every move. It’s not even that we’re resigned to it– we welcome it. Most people would probably admit that if they’re buying a cellphone on Amazon, suggestions for a matching case and screen protector are actually really helpful. And think how much time you save if an online grocery store remembers your last order and can automatically fill your cart with the items it predicts you’ll want.

I get asked at least daily now, "can you post our inventory on Facebook Marketplace?" (spoiler alert: no). Today, I was thinking about what that question really is: "Can you post my lower priced, used inventory on a market style website with tons of visitors local to my store?". Yes, yes I can. The problem is, too many dealers don't think the original marketplace has value. Here's the thing...they're wrong.

Dane Saville is a Founding Partner and Brand Manager for Reunion Marketing in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he has continued to develop the craft of content creation with a focus on automotive digital marketing. Reunion Marketing is a full service digital marketing agency with a focus on automotive dealerships and healthcare professionals and specializing in SEO, SEM, Social, Content, and Re-Targeting.

Setting Your Dealership’s Google Analytics Goals 101

Your dealership’s Google Analytics account is live and ready for action. The next step is knowing how to measure — and eventually benchmark — the data points most important to your business objectives.

Facebook is without a doubt the hottest marketing outlet in the automotive space right now. However, many dealers aren't maximizing the value of Facebook. Here are 3 simple ways you can drive real results for your dealership from Facebook, and it won't cost anything more than your time.

Sean Welsh spent over 15 years working in dealerships, becoming an expert on digital marketing and automotive sales and processes. In 2013, Sean founded Car Biz Done Better with the sole purpose of being an advocate to dealers and helping them manage their vendors, evaluate their marketing, and polish their processes to become more efficient, profitable, and sell more cars. Sean has spoken at venues like Driving Sales Executive Summit and was the closing speaker for Digital Dealer 24 in April. 

Sean is passionate about changing a commonplace conversation in Automotive Digital today; Sales Attribution. We at AutoSweet share Sean's belief that sales happen on a showroom floor, appointments are booked in the BDC, and opportunities for both are created by digital marketing. For a dealership to identify their gaps in execution, they have to measure the success of all those processes and not try and attribute a marketing dollar to a sale, missing the rest. Sean's podcast, "5 Minutes with Sean" is a special edition this week to talk about these ideas for AutoSweet's Website.

Check out the video below.

Thanks Sean!

I get it. We're mad. Facebook probably dove deeper, collected more than they were supposed to. Some people or groups probably used that data for nefarious plots. But really, aren't we all looking to use data...as much of it as we can get...to further our own goals in business today? I know that in automotive digital we certainly are. We want to be more targeted than ever before. We want more clear attribution than ever before. We want to mine, leverage, analyze, and manipulate data on our way to bigger top lines, lower customer acquisition costs, and record ROI. Instead of getting angry, let's just acknowledge that Facebook has a lot of data and make that work for us.

Dealerships have been buying email programs for years that are targeting "in market shoppers" and "auto intenders", and often that data is questionable at best. I tell my clients all the time, if I had a list of 50,000 shoppers who were truly in market for a BMW in a 50 mile radius...I wouldn't sell it, I'd go sell BMW's for a month. Why make 5 grand when I could make 50? The data is vague, incomplete, and misrepresented. What Facebook has gathered is different. They know how I shop online, they know what my interests are, they know what I've shared with friends and family. They know who my friends are, who my ex-friends are, my political views, my religious views, who I'm dating. They know this because I told them. I would hope that someone is smart enough to leverage that. I want to be smart enough to leverage that, and I hope my clients are as well.

Instead of the generic "auto intenders", Facebook provides the opportunity to learn more about your existing customers...and find other people in your DMA that are just like them. They like the same things, make the same money, shop the same way...and at some point are in market for a vehicle. AutoSweet is going to help you leverage that at your dealership. We're going to find those "look a like" shoppers, market to them, and then use your DMS and our certified interface to report on how many of them became your customers, how much income you made on those transactions, and attribute it to an actual click instead of just an impression. We can do this because Facebook has our data...and that's awesome.

Talk to me today to see a demonstration of Facebook Conquest, see the power of data in action and what real attribution can look like.

 You receive a call from a potential customer about the luxury car you have posted on craigslist. They say they'll give you cash on the spot since it is only $500. WAIT. $500? Where did that low price come from? You quickly go to your local craigslist market and search for your vehicles. Every single one of them has a $500 price point. As the day goes on, you become flooded with calls from customers asking about the vehicles that are clearly not priced correctly. By the end of the day, you have your "sorry for the inconvenience" messaging down pat.