Were Open Sign

How To Let Customers Know Your Dealership Is Open For Business During The Coronavirus

Even if your state has a shelter in place order, dealerships are allowed to and will continue to stay open as you are all deemed essential businesses.

However, your customers may not be so sure of your status. Sales will undoubtedly be down this month and perhaps for months to come. That is why it is essential to communicate today that despite the current situation; your dealership is still open for business. Continue to generate as many sales as possible to help operational continuance during and immediately after the pandemic has passed.

Your dealership has likely also experienced some altered protocols with how you deal with the public to maintain social distancing.  As this has likely altered your normal business procedures, and how customers are accustomed to working with a dealership. It is important to get the word out about any alterations to how the public is to conduct business with your dealership. This includes information such as “the doors are locked, but we are here to meet your needs” type of communication.

Here are four quick and easy ways to let your customers know that you are still open for business during the outbreak.

1. Google My Business

When people Google your business or when they Google the phrase “(Brand) dealership in (town name)” they are going to find the Google maps, also known as Google My Business, as the very first result, except any Google ads that might appear this may differ by specific keyword searches).

Not many people realize that you can post messages directly into Google My Business. This message can be a post, a blog, even a video. If you have claimed your Google My Business (GMB) page, you will have the ability to post messages on your GMB page.

It’s important to realize that the GMB page is different from your website. When a person clicks on your dealership name from the maps, the box that pops up to the right is the GMB page, and within that page, it can contain a link to your website, and it can contain content.

How to Access Google My Business

To get to this for your shop, you need to log into your Google my business account https://www.google.com/business/ and click sign in. If you have a google account, this will be the @gmail.com email that you used to claim the page. If you have not claimed your page, you will need to do that.

Once you are signed in you will see a side bar with options. Click on “posts”

From there you will see a box with some options such as “add Offer, Add Update, Add Event, and Add Product. Click on “Add Update”

From there you can insert a photo and add your text.

Once you are done, hit “publish” and this is what you will see:

Here is an example of a dealership that takes advantage of this Google My business posting option:

It is worth noting that of all the Ford dealerships we searched in this particular are, only one dealership was posting content to their GMB page. Unfortunately, they missed an opportunity to post a message directly to their customers here.

Clicking on “View all” shows a list of posts from this dealership:

2. Website Pop up

Posting a pop-up to your website is the fastest way to disseminate information to your customers. Your website is where people will go to confirm if you are open (if they haven’t looked on your GMB page). Most dealerships are using a platform from Dealeron, Dealer.com, or some other similar dealership platform. Each of these service providers should offer the ability to quickly add a pop-up. If you have a custom-coded website, you may want to contact your website development company to request that they add a pop-up.

3. Social media posts

The third place people will look to see if you are still open is your social media. I don’t need to walk you through how to make a social media post, but our suggestion is you just create a post and make it a sticky post or pin it so that it will always stay on top until you un-stick it.

4. Email blast

Now would be a good time to do an email blast to your whole database. You could either do this on a dealership level or have your sales staff reach out individually to their customer list. Let your prospects know how to reduce their interaction with outside people during this time of social distancing. You may also want to include any discounts or rebates that are happening now.

So there you go, four quick ways to let your customers know that you are open for business and taking every precaution with their vehicle. Stay healthy and stay safe.

March 23, 2020 Business, Education, New and Used Car Dealers No comments yet
Coach statue

Coaching Benefits For Your Dealership You Never Knew About…Until Now

If you knew there was a way to increase the self-confidence of your employees by 80% and improve their performance by 70% (International Coaching Federation), would you do it? 

As the cold months of January and February keep many away from dealerships, this can be a difficult time for dealership employees. Slow days of waiting for customers to show up can be stressful. Doing little or even nothing can be exhausting and frankly, make your employees feel depleted at the end of the day. 

If you’re reading this, and morale and engagement at the dealership are flagging despite you doing everything you can think of to keep your team engaged and upbeat, you’re not alone. If anything, it feels as if you hit a wall and tried every method to create the best possible workplace for you and your team. Is there anything that can be done other than giving your team additional days off to recharge? 

Thankfully, there is a solution: coaching. We’re not talking about hiring someone to blow a whistle around the dealership, but rather implementing some methods that help your employees reach their goals and help managers prepare for the day leaders retire. In other words, coaching “can be used for solving problems, helping with goals and objectives, and improving performance” (Wavelength). 

Here are just some of the benefits that come from coaching: 

Improved Motivation: We all could use a boost of motivation from time to time. Coaching can motivate your employees to get things done, whether it be accomplishing personal goals or goals that will help the business. When people know their role and the work they do is important for the success of the company, it gives them a renewed sense of motivation to accomplish more. As a result, employees are more engaged in the workplace, improving overall workplace productivity. 

Personal Awareness: Another way employees benefit from coaching is because they have an improved sense of their awareness. A coach can help employees become aware of areas they might not know need improvement and can work towards improving them. This will allow them to turn any weakness into strengths, which can be utilized not just for personal improvement but can also positively affect the dealership. Who wouldn’t want that? 

Increased Engagement: Working in a dealership environment can often make employees feel like the sales team are the only people who matter. In actuality, every department is dependent on one another for the dealership’s success, no matter if you’re a powerhouse dealer or a family-run location. Coaching encourages your employees to become more engaged in the workplace. As a result, they feel more desire to participate as a team with the rest of your dealership team and feel like an essential part of the dealership’s success. When employees are actively involved in the workplace, they feel more valued and have increased productivity.  

Planning Ahead: Many people in leadership positions fear the day their top managers retire or if prominent individuals decide to pursue other ventures. These people are critical to the success of the dealership, so what happens when they leave? Coaches can work with your top team members to prepare capable employees to take over once an old leader leaves through a method known as “succession planning.” It’s a process that will most likely require these individuals to acquire “bench strength” or the necessary new skills, in the meantime, to prepare them for taking over one day. Coaching can help throughout this whole process. 

Implementing workplace coaching is important for any business that desires to grow and achieve goals as a team while being prepared for the future. Increased employee engagement, better decision-making processes, and improved communication are just a few of the benefits businesses see from coaching. Give it a try today, and see how a coaching culture benefits your dealership.

Photo Credits:
Top: Caleb Roenigk
Middle: Deb Nystrom
Bottom: Chris Hunkeler

March 4, 2020 Business, Education, New and Used Car Dealers No comments yet
Dealer Metrics Graph

6 Crucial Metrics Every Used Car Dealer Should Track

As you’re gathering everything you need to evaluate your dealership’s performance, what are the metrics that matter most?

February 10, 2020 Business, Education, New and Used Car Dealers, ReconMonitor No comments yet
Hiring handshake

4 Hiring Practices That Can Hurt Your Dealership’s Success

  • Job Descriptions
  • One-sided Interviews
  • Desperation
  • Fact-Checking

Your dealership employees are a reflection of your brand. They are who your customer interacts with, purchases from, and need to build trust with before they make their vehicle purchase. Each new hire costs a dealership an average of $10,000, which can add up if you have a high turnover rate.

According to a 2019 Cox Automotive Dealership Staffing Study, the average annualized turnover rate at a dealership is roughly 80% for sales consultants and 46% for dealership employees overall. You probably have a team consisting of entry-level salespeople eager to help people find their dream car. You may also have non-sales staff such as service writers who pull long hours but feel they don’t make enough money and should be compensated for overtime. 

Rather than discussing the specifics you should look for in the hiring process (every company has its own cultural and skill requirements), we’ve pulled together some hiring practices you may not realize can hurt your dealership’s success. Check them out: 

  • Minimal job descriptions: If you want to attract the best, you have to write a job description that has a bit more information than just the minimum requirements. Be clear with who and what you want out of that position, their required job experience, and what their job requirements would be. A short blurb will come off vague and will get a lot of applications from people who don’t have the necessary qualifications. 
  • One-sided interviews: Job interviews are not just one-sided. You want to present a workplace that would make someone want to work at your dealership. An interview is not just about you checking out candidates for a position. It’s also a first impression of what it would be like working at your dealership. If you instill a desire to work for you right from the interview process, they’ll be more enthusiastic about coming to work. 
  • Making an offer on the spot: When you make an offer on the spot, it comes off as desperate. You need to establish a comprehensive hiring process that includes different interviews, checking out references, and perhaps a trial project at the dealership to show them what a typical day would be. Something freely given has little value, so even if you are desperate to hire, don’t appear to be in a rush.
  • Not doing a background or reference check: Just as bad as it is to offer a job right on the spot, so is not performing a background or reference check. You may feel the pressure to hire someone right away and that verifying someone is who they say they are is a waste of time. In actuality, it keeps your dealership team and customers safe. Not to mention, it’ll save you money by hiring a quality, truthful employee instead of someone who lied about their work experience. After all, a survey conducted by CareerBuilder discovered that over half of hiring managers report they’ve caught prospects lying in their resumes. A simple reference or background check will save you that stress.

There you have it, four different hiring practices that can actually hurt your dealership’s success. Simply rearranging a few areas in the hiring process will not only save you time and future aggravation, but it’ll also save money from hiring people that aren’t in it for the long run. Make your hiring process a priority at your dealership by developing a system that guarantees any new hires you bring on will be the right hires. 

December 4, 2019 Business, Education, New and Used Car Dealers No comments yet
Cideo clapboard

Benefits And Ideas For Video Marketing Your Dealership

  • People prefer to learn visually
  • Visual learners mentally project themselves into the experience they are watching
  • Creating videos is easier than you think

Over the past few years, video marketing has been a proven way to engage with customers and increase sales. Most consumers are conducting online research before they ever walk into a dealership. The more answers they can get online, the more confident they’ll feel in their vehicle purchase. People prefer learning visually over reading a textual explanation. This is where video marketing can significantly benefit your dealership to gain more customers, boost sales, and have a more prominent presence. 

Check out some of these statistics about video marketing from recent years: 

  • A recent Cisco study found video traffic will be 82% of all consumer internet traffic worldwide by 2022. This is a 75% increase from 2017. 
  • 96% find videos helpful when making big purchase decisions online. (Animoto) 
  • 72% of customers prefer to learn about a product through video (Hubspot)
  • 81% of businesses already use video for marketing purposes (Hubspot) 
  • People have a 95% higher chance to retain a video’s message compared to only 10% of those who can retain a message from reading (Forbes) 

There is ample evidence that video is beneficial for any business, and this is especially true when it comes to car buying. Your brand is the cornerstone of how you market yourself online. Dealerships have to stand out or be swallowed whole by competition who have perfected their marketing. If they have video content and you do not, get ready to be swallowed.

You read the statistics and now want to know where to begin. Here are a few video marketing ideas to boost sales for your dealership: 

Virtual Walkaround 

Filming a virtual walkaround of the vehicles you’re selling is a great way to engage with online customers. They can see how the car looks from all angles, inside the vehicle, and any additional features that come with the car. Have the sales rep explain the vehicle the same way they would if a customer was right there with them to create a personal experience, even online. The purpose of this video is to showcase a car before a potential buyer visits the dealership. These videos can be posted everywhere your dealership has a web presence and linked to the vehicle listing. 

Customer Testimonials 

What better way to engage with customers online than to show other customers’ experiences? There is no better proof than filming various testimonials of customers describing their experience at your dealership. It also doesn’t have to be limited to car buying. Get testimonies from specific departments, including Finance, Service, and Parts. Also, testimonial videos create an opportunity for customers to share videos on their social networks. This gives your dealership instant credibility from the buyer’s friends and family members who also might be in the market. 

Introductions 

Filming introductions of your sales and customer service team allow for potential customers to see who they would be interacting with. This is an excellent way for your dealership to engage with prospects because it creates a more personalized experience. Besides, it allows your sales team to highlight their language skills and other specialties that may be better suited for a particular customer. As far as your customer service goes, filming their individualized intros creates welcoming energy to your entire dealership. By the time the customer arrives at the dealership, they’ll feel a sense of familiarity walking in and less like they’re going to be attacked by predators after their money. 

New Model Releases 

Anytime a new model is released, it’s a great chance to create a video showing the upgrades and changes from the previous model. Film it in the same walkaround style as your inventory videos to give a real in-depth look at what the new model has to buy it. You can even film a sales rep explaining why customers might want to consider purchasing the new model as opposed to the previous model or comparable cars in the same category. You might also be able to get video footage directly from the manufacturer in advance of receiving the new model and add in your own audio.

How else can your dealership use this powerful medium to benefit your customers and your bottom line? Ask your team what videos they think would be effective, and let them be part of the process. Video has proven to be a beneficial marketing technique to boost sales and engage with potential customers. It’s easy to do and super fun at the same time. You never know where video can take you! 

September 9, 2019 Business, Education, New and Used Car Dealers No comments yet
How To Avoid A Data Breach At Your Dealership

How To Avoid A Data Breach At Your Dealership

  • Keep What’s Needed
  • Be Aware
  • Be Prepared
  • Destroy Before Trashing
  • Button It Up & Lock It Down

Last July, almost 47,000 files of factory records from Ford Motor Co., General Motors, Tesla Inc., Toyota Motor Corp, and others were discovered in a data leak. The breach exposed company trade secrets that could be used by competitors to have an unfair advantage in manufacturing their vehicles. In addition, the data breach gave employee data, such as their names and ID photos accessible online. 

If you have a data breach happen at your dealership, you’ll not only lose revenue and customers, but your very reputation and brand could be ruined. Reputation is everything, as it is the very essence of who you and your brand are. If your customer’s confidential information is leaked due to a data breach, your dealership’s reputation will crumble. 

So, how do you avoid a data breach at your dealership? Below are ways you can develop a cybersecurity plan and prevent a data breach: 

Keep what you need

When you minimize the amount of collected information or data, this allows you to keep only the necessary information on file. Also, don’t have the data stored in many places. Keep it minimized to know what you keep and where it was kept. 

Cybersecurity awareness 

It’s crucial that all employees at your dealership are aware of the potential of a data breach and what they can do to eliminate it from happening. Assign a management team member to lead a cybersecurity training program. This education can inform your employees what information is confidential or contains sensitive data and what they can do to protect that data. Make it a requirement for employees to log off their computers and lock where they file confidential information at the end of each business day. 

Be prepared for the worst case scenario 

It’s important to be ready if and when a data breach does happen. Have a detailed and document Incident Management Plan already designed to guide you and your dealership through the incident. Have designated roles and assign responsibilities ahead of time, so it’s not a chaotic scramble figuring out who does what, if the breach were to happen. Most states have data breach requirements to follow. Already have someone designated for this and make sure your team knows who that person is. Otherwise, there could be fines and penalties. 

Destroy before trash

Simply deleting files or reformatting a hard drive doesn’t remove the data from existence. Use specific software that is designed to wipe the hard drive completely. All portable media, such as DVDs, CDs, USBs, etc. need to be destroyed. It’s best even to minimize the use of portable media, as these are more susceptible to be stolen or misplaced. Photocopy machines keep a copy of whatever document they scanned, so clear the data on there as well. Eliminate any paper trails by cross-cut shredding paper files before trashing any confidential information. 

Secure Computers and Laptops 

Passwords need to be changed regularly (i.e., once a week) and to something that doesn’t contain any personal information, such as name or birth year. Set up all computers or laptops to require someone to re-login if it’s been inactive for some time. Security software should be installed on all computers and laptops. This includes firewalls, anti-virus anti-spyware, and more, which keeps the security up-to-date electronically. Make sure every employee is aware of not keeping personal information on the computer or laptop unless it is necessary for business needs only. In addition, train your employees never to leave their computer or laptop unattended. 

There’s no saying if or when a data breach might happen at your dealership. But it’s always better to be prepared by practicing these safety tips to avoid it happening to you. After all, better safe than sorry. 

Image credit: blogtrepreneur.com/tech
July 3, 2019 Business, Education, New and Used Car Dealers No comments yet
Rainbow Cars

How Vehicle Color Affects Depreciation

According to a recent study from https://www.iseecars.com/ on 1.6 million vehicles that are three-years-old, the car’s paint color has a significant effect on how long it takes to sell and the vehicle’s depreciation. It may come as a big surprise that orange and yellow are the top 2 vehicle colors that depreciate the least after the three years are up. How is it that these vibrant colors, often seen on sport or exotic cars, depreciate the least? After all, they only make up 1.5 percent of the market. Are we missing something, despite their flashy colors?

Simply put, the reason why these two colors are the ‘least depreciated’ is that they are not a color we’d normally see for the daily drivers. Orange and Yellow cars are for those monthly day trips down the Pacific Coast Highway or a day in Beverly Hills. You’d never see a Yellow Bugatti at a grocery store parking lot. If you do, then the owner is clearly loaded and may have a few more like that back at the mansion.

That said, the top 5 colors making the lowest deprecation rates are listed below in no particular order:

  • Orange
  • Yellow
  • Green
  • Brown
  • Red

As far as the colors that are the most common paint choices and with average depreciation rates, you can probably imagine what made this list. They are:

  • Gray
  • Blue
  • Black
  • White

Beige and silver used to be the most in-demand colors back in the 90s and 00s, so they have an even higher depreciation rate than the ones listed above. However, the color that has the worst depreciation rate (just shy of 34%) is also the third-fastest-selling color: gold. Nevertheless, beige vehicles take the longest to sell and are on the market close to two months before they sell.

Vehicle colors are just part of what contributes to the depreciation. It’s only standard that the value of cars lessens over time. Whether you have a yellow Lamborghini or a beige Hyundai, take care of your vehicle, and you’ll be able to have a better value for your car. Make sure you take it to get its regularly scheduled maintenance and don’t neglect any repairs. If you are a dealership, be meticulous in your reconditioning operations, paying attention to paint correction and matching, regardless of the color. Brighter colors may have the lowest depreciation rate, but a well-maintained car will always have more value than a car that is not.

June 19, 2019 Business, Education, New and Used Car Dealers, Reconditioning No comments yet
Nissan 350Z

Make Your Inventory Pop With These Photography Tips For Dealerships

In the automobile industry, your dealership’s website is just as much a first impression as when a potential customer walks inside the dealership doors. But this isn’t about what you should and shouldn’t have on your website. This article is about the photos you have of your dealership’s inventory. Only having pictures uploaded with the vehicle information just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Your inventory photos need to grab the attention of a potential customer who’s looking to buy a new car. If you have just cellphone quality shots of your inventory, it lessens the quality of your overall dealership. At the same time, if you use stock images of the vehicle but not actual photos of the car on your lot, it’s just as bad as using cellphone quality shots, if not worse.

Here are some ways to make your inventory pop, from actual professional photographers:

Lighting: Every professional photographer will tell you that light is everything. Direct sunlight will create strange shadows, whereas the shade could hide details of the car. The time of day is a good indicator of how harsh the sun will be, which is why shooting early morning or early evening is usually a good time to shoot. Also, overcast days act as a natural “diffuser,” which means it lessens the intensity of the sunlight. It’s optional if you’d want to use any additional lighting. But the same rules for working with sunlight apply to using artificial lights. Even a flash can sometimes be too intense and detract from the overall picture you’re trying to capture.

Background: Your background is just as important as the lighting because you want to make sure the vehicle is the only focus of the picture. Not only is it distracting to see other cars in your inventory in the background, but it will ruin the picture if you have anything else be the focus other than the car you’re capturing.

Take Lots of Photos: The more really is the merrier. The more photos you have of the vehicle, the more a customer can get a real feel of the car ahead of the time. Not to mention, having multiple photos for the customer to look at online makes them even more ready to make a purchase once they come inside the dealership.

Get Inside: When you capture the car’s interior, this shows any future buyers that you really care about the driver. They want to see the condition of the seats, what the car looks like from the driver’s POV, etc. Perhaps they want to see if there are any additional features such as heated seats or a USB cable for their phone. Let alone the fact that they may not want a cream interior or leather seats. All of this plays a vital role when someone is interested in a car. If they don’t get an accurate visual of the vehicle before coming into the dealership, they’ll feel like it was a waste of a trip if the car isn’t exactly as it’s pictured.

Experiment: Sure, you want to make sure that you or your photographer is capturing the images possible for your car. But what about capturing it away from the dealership? Depending on the type of photographer you have, it might be cool actually to capture the car in motion on the streets. Or if you’re near a scenic spot, take the car there to get some really epic and cinematic shots. People are all about the image of what looks best, so why not create some content that adds a unique flair to the typical dealership photos of your inventory?

Another way you can experiment is with the angles. Shoot from below to make the car look more powerful. Or cut off some of the car for a shot if you’re getting a real close-up shot and nothing else is going to detract from the focus being on the vehicle. Shoot vertically as well, since many people will be checking out your dealership’s website while on their smartphone.

Have Fun: It sounds a bit cliché, but having fun with taking photos of your inventory will show to any potential customer. People want to do business where it’s a welcoming environment, full of people who genuinely enjoy what they do. Not to mention, you represent a car dealership. You want the customer to have an enjoyable experience from start to finish because then you earn their customer loyalty (which is something money can’t buy). You might as well give them something they’ll never forget, starting with the photos.

June 10, 2019 Business, Education, New and Used Car Dealers No comments yet
Heavy Storm Hail Ice

The Best Hail-Tracking Software For Your PDR Business

We’re a couple of months in hail season with several more to go. But how can you track the hail before it hits, so you’re ahead of the game? Surely, any weather app can provide you with enough comprehensive data to track hailstorms. But what if there was a way for an app to offer you instant storm reports, provide storm history on a location, and much more? The following are among the best hail-tracking software for your PDR business.

 

Hailstrike

An exclusive feature of Hailstrike is it lets you choose up to 2 states to get instant hail, wind, and tornado alerts from the best data available. An example of where this data would be coming from is NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Another incredible feature of Hailstrike is coming with a Historical Storm Search feature, where you can find every storm that hit a location since 2011. This in-depth analysis will help hail chasers determine if an area would be a good location for business.

Price: The Premium package is $189 a month, while the Ultimate package is $249 a month.

 

Interactive Hail Maps

Similar to Hailstrike, the Interactive Hail Maps software provides you unlimited access to over 5 years of hail history. You can also have unlimited hail impact reports and connect the software to as many devices as you’d like. The Impact Explorer (part of the software) allows you to view the hail affected areas and provides on-the-ground data via NOAA. That way, you know exactly where to go instead of relying on a radar giving you the data.

Price: One state is $749 annually, Three States is $1099, and Nationwide is $1499.  

 

Hailtrace

One of the most significant features of Hailtrace is Client Management Tools. The software will help you manage your PDR clients and provide the necessary tools to know when hail will hit a location. Hailtrace is all about helping you in any way that they can, which is why they’re available with 24/7 “out-of-the-box support.” You can also manage your employees by assigning them different tasks and remind them through the iOS app. They have over 5,000 active users and growing each day.

Price: Call for price inquiry 1-(855)-334-HAIL

 

Map Forensics

Quite possibly the biggest seller for Map Forensics is its SAMS integrated software. SAMS is short for Storm Activity Monitoring System. It is a customer-focused system that helps you identify customers based on their exact location needing your services. SAMS can also provide the history of hail for a specific location in a matter of seconds. Map Forensics also gives 24/7 monitoring of over 2,500 locations with more available, if desired, and you received unlimited hail swaths for one state.

Price: $999 annually for one state. Additional states are available.

 

As we are approaching the halfway mark for hail season, we encourage you to ask around to other pros and see what their favorite storm tracking software is and why. They can offer their first-hand experience using the different apps and you may see that what they enjoyed wouldn’t necessarily work for your business.

Do keep in mind as you’re selecting the best hail tracking software, you’ll want to see what the geographical needs of your techs are as some of these apps offer limited locations. Of course, we hope you’ll be using ReconPro™ to manage your PDR business, regardless of how you chase hail this season. Time is money and we are ready to help you with your mobile business, every step of the way.

 

ReconPro is a trademark of Automobile Technologies, Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
May 14, 2019 Business, Education, Hail Damage Package, ReconPro No comments yet
Digital marketing

How To Market Your PDR Business Online

  • Website
  • Social Media
  • Search
  • Content
  • Email

Online marketing includes any methods and promotional strategies a business will execute on the internet to reach its target audience. 70% of customers will conduct business online before contacting the company. Internet marketing is much more than having a website. It’s answering any potential questions that a customer may have and establishing a “brand identity.” But for someone working in Paintless Dent Repair, phrases such as lead magnet, AdWords, PFI, SEO, and PPC might well be a foreign language. They don’t need to be. Here are just a few of the most effective ways you can market your PDR business online:

  1. Website: When a customer goes to your website, they will instantly know if they want to do business with you or not based on your “brand identity.” Brand identity is when a business shows who they are through text, images, video, and audio elements. You can also include a page or highlighted section that contains the benefits of PDR and why they should choose your business over the competition (without name-calling, of course).

 

  1. Social Media: We are truly living in a digital age, and if you disagree, then you must still be using a flip phone and dial-up internet. Customers expect businesses to engage with them, especially if they are commenting about their experience or inquiring about a service. Facebook Pages and Instagram Business Tools have made this possible for businesses to turn social media into a platform to connect with customers and promote their business.

 

  1. Search Engine Marketing (SEM): SEM is all about marketing through search engines. Businesses can go about SEM in several different ways. One of the most common methods is from organic ranking through search engine optimization (SEO). SEO “is the method website owners use to help search engines find, index, and rank their web pages…” (Duermyer, 2018). You can purchase for your website pay-per-click (PPC) ads in something like Google AdWords. It’s an easy and effective way to drive traffic to your website. A third option is you can purchase pay-for-inclusion (PFI) listings in online directories, similar to Yellow Pages.

 

  1. Content Marketing: This is all about writing articles (aka “blog posts”) relating to your business and publishing them online to reach your target audience. When you write articles that answer questions customers may have, you’re able to connect with a broader audience. You could also have your written content published on other websites, drawing in new leads to your business in a completely different way. There’s always stiff competition amongst local PDR shops, so you want to do anything you can to stand out. Can you stand apart from the rest and prove you’re the best out there?

 

  1. Email Marketing: Email is a proven effective way to create and maintain a connection between business and customer. But how do you get the email list in the first place? You can entice people to give their emails if they want the exclusive website offer, like “half-price headlight restoration!” From there, you have their information to send them additional special offers, a newsletter, holiday greetings, car care tips, etc. Pretty much anything relating to your PDR business so ultimately, these leads can become customers and referrals. That’s the goal.

 

Conclusion

It’s important to keep in mind that as you begin online marketing for your business, the customer is the focus. If your website is challenging to navigate or you’re not replying to Facebook comments, then customers will go elsewhere. Utilizing even just one of the strategies listed above will help your PDR business grow, especially since the industry itself is ever-evolving and growing.

Although it’s possible to get rapid results, consistency is critical. Online marketing is all about long-term results and connecting with your target audience. Once that happens, their referrals will become new leads, and the testimonials/reviews of your customers will be what helps you stand out in the vast frontier of a digital world.

May 9, 2019 Business, Education No comments yet
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