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photo by Sha Sha Chu, via Flickr

The Television Bureau of Advertising announced last week that television revenue fell by 27.6% in the first quarter. Adding to that, spending in the automotive category of local broadcast TV fell a whopping 52.1% in the first quarter of the year.

Traditionally holding the top spot among individual spenders, autos are hitting local stations’ revenues particularly hard.  While bad for local broadcast stations, I think there is some silver lining to this dark cloud. Has the economy finally forced businesses – including automotive dealers – to rethink their television advertising budgets? I hope so.

Television is a traditional medium that offers questionable ROI or tracking ability.  In today’s world, everyone is looking to advertise more and spend less. This isn’t going to happen with TV ads. Autos have long loved this medium where they can catch consumers’ attention. But now, things are changing, and as the automotive dealers are being forced to rethink their tactics, other businesses are also taking note.

Of course, this doesn’t mean the end of “Crazy Eddie’s Used Cars” commercials where Eddie literally saws something in half to demonstrate their slashed prices. TV spots can be useful, but there are so many other ways (more ROI and tracking friendly ways) to reach targets.

Some mediums I think will gain traction are:

• Email marketing
• Using YouTube to launch commercials
• Social Media
• Direct Phone calls to customers (especially for service work)
• Targeted PPC campaigns
• Radio
• SEO

So what are you doing with your ad budget?

You could consider bringing your Internet marketing in-house if:

• You have staff with time to spare. Lots of time. Managing online marketing campaigns takes time and planning to ensure success. If you don’t have the time to manage budgets and tweak ad copy, don’t bother. You’ll end up costing yourself more in the long run.
• You (or your staff) have experience running campaigns. Dealerships aren’t in the position to be guinea pigs for trial campaigns. You need experience working with the major search engines and writing effective ad copy to run a solid campaign; otherwise valuable time and money could be wasted.
• You know your business. I know this seems like a given, but in order to build a list of keywords that will convert for your dealership you must know what people are searching for to find you. Of course “manufacturer + DMA” is a start, but what other keywords drive traffic to your site?  Professionally run campaigns typically begin with hundreds (or even thousands) of keywords, and are narrowed down over time to keep the best converting terms.
• You have measurements and goals set to keep the campaign accountable and on-track.  Clear metrics defining campaign success are imperative. If analytics aren’t in place and conversion rates aren’t tracked then there is no way to see if bringing the advertising in-house actually saved money. This is a key point for all advertising, whether in house or out.

If you agree with all of the above statements, great – this can be a good option for dealerships with experienced staff that makes in-house advertising a priority. But for many dealerships just hoping to save a few bucks this generally isn’t a real cost-saving option.

Here are the key issues:

1. Companies like Lexus and Toyota have spent a great deal of time and money building their brands. How likely is it that they’ll let their brands be diluted by allowing others to use their trademarks without a fight?
2. Cost per click is likely to go up if more companies are allowed to use the terms. This is mainly going to be an issue for Toyota and BMW, as they’re the brands who currently enforce their trademarks. Good for Google, maybe not so good for everyone else?
3. Used car dealers or dealers with multiple brands to sell will finally be able to run a PPC campaign for specific inventory.

Nothing is cut and dried here. What do you think about the issue?

Me? I’ll be keeping my ears out to hear if Google changes their mind about their decision.

That’s why, together with the American International Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA), Auto Dealer Traffic is offering a special webinar to learn real world best practices that can immediately impact your business. Auto Dealer Traffic is the Affinity Partner of the AIADA.

This FREE 30 minute webinar will offer strategies to help dealers more effectively execute internet marketing strategies and how to effectively spend their internet budget.  We’ll cover:

• Online inventory
• How is inventory displayed in classifieds
• Where are your efforts focust
• Getting the most real leads online

The strategies we’ll cover will help dealers get the most from their internet marekting and help cut advertising spend.

Date: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 – 2:00PM EDT

Moderators: Todd Swickard, CEO & Founder of Auto Dealer Traffic and Tanesha Bennett, Director of Sales for Auto Dealer Traffic

To register now, click here.

Personally, I’m a fan of the Wonder Wheel.  Through this, user can see related searches. It’s really a visual aid to see how different related topics are clustered together. When you click on any spoke of the wheel, it then causes that search term to be at the center. Now I know this technique isn’t new, but I don’t know anyone else who has given it such a high profile by inserting it on the main search page.

So, as an example, say gas shoots back up to $4/gallon. As a user, I google “hybrid cars”.  I can now see related searches like “hybrid vehicles list” and clearly see different hybrid models – and even find out about the energy tax credit associated with buying a hybrid.  I can also select to see images from the page, and check out pictures of each model.

I’m also really interested in testing out the recency filter.  At its Searchology event, Google admitted that its #1 problem with search was “finding the most recent information”. Understandably, real-time search is still largely unsolved.  Obviously, even with its new recent results filter, the recent results are only as “real-time” as Google can get. I wonder how this will affect vehicle listings on dealer sites?  Will site updates and date tags affect organic listings? I guess we’ll find out soon enough…

Even with the questions surrounding real-time searches, Google has taken a step forward in pioneering this new display and filtering of search results.  The real thing to watch now is to see what SEO and web development firms take notice and alter their strategies to take advantage.

Admittedly, many businesses are still experimenting with their social media marketing strategy and don’t understand the legal implications of their actions in this space.  But social media isn’t like the Wild West anymore.  Some of the “questionable” actions that businesses participated in years (or even months) ago are no longer dismissed with a “they must not have known better”.  Internet marketing is getting more and more savvy every month.

Mainly, most SMM is okay.  However, if you’re being compensated to talk about a product, then you must disclose it.  For example, if I’m a paid spokesperson / brand ambassador for a car manufacturer and I’m leaving comments on people’s blogs, tweeting about how great this brand is, and/or posting on review sites, you better believe I should be disclosing this relationship. That is, unless I want to spend some quality time with my friends at the FTC.

For most, these rules are common sense and will not affect their SMM strategy in the least. WebProNews gives some great key takeaway points for these new regulations.  Really though, if you’re honest to those you’re interacting with in the social media world and develop an ethical SMM strategy, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

First, do your research.  Don’t go all link-crazy and try to get a link to your site from anyone you can.  Do some research and make sure the site you’re requesting a link from is a good fit.  This is also a good time to mention that adding yourself to a link farm or using other Black Hat tactics is a major no-no.  Not only can/will you get blacklisted from the search engines, but it’s a tedious process to get your URL removed from these sites.

By ByronShell, via Flickr

Second, take the time to get a contact at the other website.  While it may be tempting to send an email to info@whatevercompany.com – it’s just not a good idea. If you want someone to respond, sounding like a spammer is not a good place to start.  This may take a little more time, but will be worth it in the long run.

Finally, insert meaningful content into your message when requesting a link.  Why should they link to you?  Why would you want to link with them?  Don’t be a bully or condescending either.  If you’re linking with an “expert site” (SEO especially) explaining how link building or code insertion works is demeaning to the other website. This might be, however, helpful if you’re linking to other beginner bloggers or mom and pop sites. Again, you need to know your audience.

Below is a good (and real) example of a link exchange email conversation:

Contact Form

In response:

Hi,

Thanks for your appreciation.. I love your blog content too. J

I’m fine on link exchange. Below is the information:

URL: http://www.removed.com

Anchor Text: SEO Blog Sharing SEO Tips

How about yours?

Regards,

(Removed)

See, it can be just that easy with a little research and effort.

A tracking report from Auto Dealer Traffic

Before businesses decide to do anything aggressive online you must first determine what defines success for your online efforts? While this question sounds basic, it deserves some thought and attention.  Is success increasing the number of unique visitors? Just getting consumers to call or submit information? Placing an order?  Before even thinking about starting your campaign you need to know what success means in real, quantifiable language.  Otherwise you, and your marketing partner, will be doomed to failure from the get-go.

This shouldn’t be new news – in fact, I’ve said it before, right in this very blog: Once your campaign is kicked off, you better be tracking it. While this sounds like common sense, the Media Post study says that less than half (47%) of marketing professionals say they currently use analytics to measure online campaign results.  What’s the point of having all those “cool analytics” if you have no idea where you came from and where you are now, and where you plan to be tomorrow. You’ve got to have a documented benchmark in order to show measurable results.

I believe the lack of campaign ROI is because of these reasons stated above. I think businesses are finally realizing these issues with lack of planning and goal setting now, after jumping on so many Internet marketing programs that they forgot the fundamentals. As, businesses actually start to document their progress, I think we will see an increased ROI across the board.

Have you set your benchmarks?

Simple search from Google

What struck me is that Google has been keeping it simple since the beginning – and they continue to be the dominant player online.

We can learn from this. Google is a great example of how to keep things simple. This KISS philosophy (keep it simple, silly) should also be applied to your business.

Yahoo: Search, plus...

Google’s success is because they concentrate on their core “search” capabilities, and don’t let themselves get distracted like their competitors do, with “overcrowding” their information. They keep their focus on what’s really important in what they provide: SEARCH.

What’s your business? What can you eliminate so that you can be focused on your most important capability?