Ford's Lincoln MKT crossover SUV rides high with inner style.

Ford's Lincoln MKT crossover SUV rides high with inner style.
By James R. Healey, USA TODAY,NEW YORK

Oh, MKT, how we would love to loathe thee for thy overwrought grille, gratuitous sheet-metal bump, compromised third-row headroom.But we just can't.
MKT, in case you've lost your way in Lincoln's thicket of MK-something nomenclature, is the Lincoln version of Ford Flex; a full-size crossover SUV.
Usually, hopping back and forth between a Ford and the equivalent Lincoln vehicle leaves you wondering what's the point of the Lincoln.
The Ford's generally as nice if you lard on the options, and hardly anybody has been taking Lincoln seriously as a status brand.

PHOTOS: See more of the 2010 Lincoln MKT MORE TEST DRIVE: Archive of Healey's columns SIDE BY SIDE: Compare this vehicle to others This time it's different, based on impressions from a pre-production MKT test vehicle put to normal daily duty, and driven from Northern Virginia to here and back, and in Manhattan traffic.
The tester had a lovely feel behind the wheel. Calm. Unruffled by most road irregularities. And quiet. Until you nailed the throttle and put the optional 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 to work. At that point, the big Lincoln broke into a gallop and issued a distant snarl from under the hood that invariably provoked a sly smile from the driver.
The base engine wasn't tested. It's a 3.7-liter V-6 with more power than Ford Flex's 3.5-liter base engine, setting Lincoln apart even at the lower end.
Ford Motor bills the EcoBoost as a V-6 that gives you V-8 power and V-6 mileage, courtesy of direct fuel-injection technology and two turbochargers. But - big but - if you drive it like you'll want to, like the V-8 it credibly apes, then V-6 fuel economy is just another broken auto-industry promise.
MKT steering, brakes and shifting are all responsive and not soggy the way Lincolns' of yore often were. Interior appointments - elegant upholstery, authentic wood trim, harmonized dashboard lighting, general ambiance - went together, finally, to craft a distinct personality, something that suggests it could be worthwhile to pay extra for the Lincoln.
"Best interior we've ever done at Lincoln," asserts Frank Davis, executive director of product development for Ford Motor.
Gripe: The third-row seat has a lot less headroom than the Flex does, because of the tucked and tightened rear styling, vs. Flex's box shape.
Ford Flex, driven briefly for comparison, felt - sorry, Ford - really brittle, down-market, cheesy stacked up against the Lincoln. Doors didn't open and close with the same premium, high-quality feel. Surfaces didn't seem as high-end. Noise levels were higher.
You have to make peace with MKT's oversize grille, of course. Lincoln calls it a "bow wave" grille. "We felt it would be a look we could grow the brand with," says Pat Schiavone, Ford Motor design director.
Another identity element Lincoln is reviving is what Schiavone calls a haunch. It's a kick-up or shoulder at the rear edge of the back door. He says it harkens to the Lincoln Continental of the 1960s, among others.
Can't live on heritage alone. These days, gotta have the techno goods. MKT surely does, and here's a breathtaking development: They seemed to work well. MKT gave you no sense that the engineers did things just because they could.
Best example: Active Park Assist, a self-parking option. Whips into a parallel-parking spot faster than you could, and better. Tried it in Midtown Manhattan traffic and delayed other drivers barely long enough to get a honk.
Lexus pioneered such a system, but that one is cumbersome compared with MKT's.
In the Lincoln, you push a button to tell the system you're cruising for docking space. It uses ultrasonic waves to find a hole big enough, and alerts you via text in the driver information center. It tells you just where to stop, invites you to select reverse, and instructs you to touch nothing but the brakes.
In the oft-cited two shakes of a lamb's tail, MKT spun the steering wheel one way, then the other and was tucked in remarkably close to the curb.
MKT, like other Ford Motor models, has an option that looks sideways when you back out of a conventional parking spot to alert you if cross traffic is barreling along and might not notice you in time. Handy in the mall at holiday-shopping time when crazed drivers are speeding to grab that parking spot coming open 100 yards down the line.
Adaptive cruise control, an option getting common throughout the premium brands, lets you specify a following distance and will yank the rig down smartly if someone cuts in front and leaves too little space. When there's little traffic, it maintains a set speed, like an ordinary cruise, kicking into distance mode when traffic tightens. You can't shut off the distance mode and use the system solely as a conventional speed-based cruise.
Small but important details were nicely done. Instrument lighting, for example, was a crystal white; no sparkle, just presence.
Two things say that Lincoln's finally sure of itself:

+ No chrome wheels; you get polished aluminum for shine. Chrome's a bit tacky, Schiavone says.
+ No more "Lincoln" badge on the console.

The MKT is a bit hard to embrace at first glance. But inside, things are so remarkably right, you don't care about the outside.
It's breathtaking, and presumptuous on Lincoln's part, to note that the full-boat model is some $61,000. On the other hand, you can get a very nice one for $50,000 (roughly $5,000 more than a similar Flex) - still a lot but not quite as ridiculous for those luxury shoppers who want a big crossover.
MKT really does put Lincoln back in the luxury category and might be the first big step toward rescuing - redeeming? - the brand. Don't laugh. General Motors did it to Cadillac.
2010 LINCOLN MKT
•What? Full-size, six- or seven-passenger crossover-utility vehicle derived from the Ford Flex. Available with front-wheel drive (FWD) or all-wheel drive (AWD).
•When? On sale since September.
•Where? Manufactured at Oakville, Ontario, using Ohio-made engines, in a factory that also builds the Flex.
•How much? Base FWD starts at $44,995 including $795 shipping; AWD starts at $46,990. EcoBoost, available only with AWD, is $49,995. About $61,000 with all factory options.
•How powerful? Standard: 3.7-liter V-6 rated 268 horsepower at 6,250 rpm, 267 pounds-feet of torque at 4,250 rpm. Available FWD or AWD. Optional: 3.5-liter, twin-turbocharged EcoBoost V-6 rated 355 hp at 5,700 rpm, 350 lbs.-ft. at 1,500 rpm; comes only with AWD.
All use six-speed automatic transmissions with manual-shift mode.
•How big? Less than an inch shorter, about three inches narrower, than Lincoln Navigator large SUV. MKT is 207.6 inches long, 76 in. wide, 67.4 in. tall on a 117.9-in. wheelbase. Weighs 4,680 to 4,924 lbs. Passenger space: 114.9 cubic feet. Cargo: 17.9 cu. ft. behind third row, 39.6 cu. ft. when third row's folded, 75.9 with second and third rows folded.
Tows up to 4,500 lbs. Turning circle diameter, 40.7 ft. curb-to-curb.
•How thirsty? FWD rated 17 miles per gallon in town, 23 on the highway, 19 in combined driving. AWD models: 16/22/18.
Trip computer in EcoBoost AWD test vehicle showed 16.4 mpg (6.1 gallons per 100 miles) in mixed city, suburban use; 19.2 mpg (5.21 gal./100 miles) in high-speed interstate highway driving.
Ford specifies regular for both engines but says EcoBoost needs premium to get the advertised power. Ford won't say how much power the EcoBoost engine loses on the lower-octane fuel.
Tank holds 18.6 gallons
•Overall: What a pleasant surprise. Finally, a machine with the distinction and premium feel a Lincoln should have.




Thank you,
Thomas Ieracitano
Thomas@Ieracitano.com
http://DigitalCarGuy.com
(229) 251-2462

The Best Place to Find New Vehicle Buyers Online: Not Where You Thought They Would Be Posted by Arianne Walker

The Best Place to Find New Vehicle Buyers Online: Not Where You Thought They Would Be Posted by Arianne Walker

Understanding where exactly to locate new-vehicle buyers online is challenging, especially when you want to make sure your marketing message is seen by new vehicle buyers.  In the past, demographic targeting and behavioral targeting were the only ways to find your target audience online.  The good news is that there is now a way to target that new-vehicle buyer online using the true behavior of verified new-vehicle buyers. 

The J.D. Power and Associates/Compete Inc. 2009 In-Market Buyer Behavior (IMBB) Tool is designed to help automotive marketers and media planners determine where and how to allocate their online advertising and marketing communications resources in the most targeted manner.  This tool uses clickstream technology to examine new-vehicle buyer Web site visitation in the 6 months prior to purchase.  Now auto marketers and media planners have the ability to answer challenging questions surrounding their online marketing activities such as:

• Which Web sites best reach the target audience?
• What portion of media budget should be spent on each site?
• How much time are target vehicle buyers spending on these sites?

In-Market Buyer Behavior allows you to compare thousands of sites from a variety of categories.  Let's take a look at just how well lifestyle sites can deliver new-vehicle buyers in the month of purchase.  In the Wave 2 release (November 2009) we see that quality health.com has roughly 2 million unique visitors in a month, which is about one-third of edmunds.com's 6 million monthly visitors.  However, the In-Market Buyer Behavior tool highlights the composition differences between the two sites.   In this particular case, quality health.com's index of 1,845 (that is, a new-vehicle buyers is over 18 times more likely to be on the quality health.com site compared to the general Internet population) is much stronger than popular automotive site edmunds.com's index of 325.


This occurs because so much of edmunds.com traffic is made up of shoppers who either initially intend or ultimately end up buying used, as well as visitors who are not in-market at all. We can also observe that in the month of purchase quality health.com delivers 159,258 new-vehicle buyers to edmunds' 81,447 buyers.  Having information like this allows you to target more effectively and efficiently, and perhaps even leverage the cost structure of current relationships.

Targeting even further into the type of new-vehicle buyers is also possible with this tool, going all the way down to specific vehicle segments and customizable competitive sets.  Want to target effectively for the new Mercedes-Benz C-class?  What works for some segments doesn't necessarily work for all segments.  Take babycenter.com for example, only 3% of Midsize Conventional buyers (which includes vehicles such as the Toyota Camry and Ford Fusion) are visiting the site in the month of purchase with an index of 120.  On the other hand, 13% of Compact Premium Conventional buyers (which includes vehicles such as the Mercedes-Benz C-class, and the BMW 3-Series) visit in the month of purchase (index of 507).  Nuggets such as these are not only possible to find using this In-Market Buyer Behavior tool, it is what the tool was designed for.


This isn't to suggest that automotive marketers shouldn't place advertising on automotive sites.  Quite the contrary: segment by segment, the more traditional third-party automotive sites also provide different levels of targeting efficiencies.  Understanding which vehicle segments and competitive sets are best suited for advertising dollars among the third party sites also provides opportunities for efficiencies and smart marketing decisions.  For example, taking the same vehicle segment as above, the compact premium conventional segment, it is possible to identify a site like automotive.com, which has an index of 216 compared to the general new-vehicle buyer market.  That is, beyond a higher propensity for this segment of buyers to visit automotive.com compared to the general Internet population, they are also more likely to visit automotive.com as compared to the new-vehicle buyer population. 


In order to learn more about how you can use these new tools, please contact your J.D. Power and Associates account representative.

Thank you,
Thomas Ieracitano
Thomas@Ieracitano.com
http://DigitalCarGuy.com
(229) 251-2462

FORD FUSION NAMED 2010 MOTOR TREND CAR OF THE YEAR

FORD FUSION NAMED 2010 MOTOR TREND CAR OF THE YEAR
Click here to download related images.

• The 2010 Ford Fusion is MOTOR TREND magazine's pick for its prestigious Car of the Year® award

including the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord,

The Fusion bested a field of 23 contenders-to win the prominent award

BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class -Fusion is now among America's top 10-selling vehicles and the No. 1-selling domestic car

Ford Fusion is America's most fuel-efficient midsize sedan for both hybrid and conventional gasoline models. The Fusion Hybrid with an EPA estimated 41 mpg rating in the city and 36 mpg on the highway tops the Toyota Camry hybrid by 8 mpg in the city and 2 mpg on the highway, while the four-cylinder Fusion with best-in-class highway fuel economy at 34 mpg tops the Toyota Camry four-cylinder by 2 mpg

SOUNDBITES: Ford Fusion, 2010 Motor Trend Car of the Year

DEARBORN, Mich., Nov. 17, 2009 - The Ford Fusion - America's most fuel-efficient midsize sedan - today was named MOTOR TREND's 2010 Car of the Year®. The award comes hot on the heels of Fusion setting record-breaking sales for 2009.

"Ford has proven its resilience in these tough times by delivering to market a car with broad appeal to a broad range of consumers," said Angus MacKenzie, MOTOR TREND editor-in-chief. "The Fusion range has matured into a competitive roster of midsize sedans, able to compete with sales juggernauts such as the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. It is no surprise the Fusion now ranks in the top 10 best-selling cars in America."

The prestigious award from MOTOR TREND comes at a time when Fusion sales are already at an all-time high, further positioning the vehicle as a formidable contender in the competitive midsize sedan market.

"The MOTOR TREND Car of the Year award is another testament of our commitment to delivering a world-class car lineup," said Derrick Kuzak, group vice president, Ford Global Product Development, who accepted the golden calipers on behalf of the Ford team. "Whether it is the best-in-class fuel economy or quality unsurpassed by Toyota or Honda, the Fusion and Fusion Hybrid are clear evidence that Ford is serious about our car lineup."

To win the coveted Car of the Year award, Fusion outperformed the competition - including the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan - in six new categories: design achievement, engineering excellence, intended function, efficiency, safety and value.

"The Fusion brought a vast assortment of choice that has the potential to appeal to every type of driver, from the eco-conscious to the sport-minded," said MacKenzie. "The Fusion's combination of comfort, fuel efficiency, assortment and technology made it a clear winner among our panel of judges."

The 2010 Fusion and Fusion Hybrid are the most fuel-efficient sedans in America. The new models offer more power; class-exclusive technologies, such as Blind Spot Information System (BLIS®) and Ford SYNC®; and more total passenger and luggage capacity than the Toyota Camry.

The Fusion lineup expanded in the 2010 model year to include all-new Hybrid and Sport models and a new selection of gas-powered engines - all paired with six-speed transmissions - that deliver even more horsepower and better fuel economy.

Fusion: A hit from the start
The Ford Fusion has been generating excitement among journalists and consumers alike since the nameplate first launched in the fall of 2005. In fact, the introductory model - which marked Ford's re-entry into the midsize sedan market - was a finalist for MOTOR TREND's 2006 Car of the Year award.

Since then, Fusion's popularity has continued to soar - and so have sales. Fusion set a sales record in April - the first full month of sales for the redesigned 2010 model and the new Fusion Hybrid - and overall sales are already at an all-time high for 2009.

With its quality unsurpassed by Toyota or Honda, best-in-class fuel economy, class-exclusive technologies and significant residual value improvement, the 2010 Ford Fusion is clearly delivering the key attributes that midsize sedan buyers want.

"Even at a time when industry-wide sales are down 26 percent, Fusion sales continue to grow," said Ford Sales Analyst George Pipas.

The new Fusion Hybrid model has played an important role in Fusion's success. The vehicle delivers an EPA estimated 41 mpg rating in the city and 36 mpg on the highway, topping the Toyota Camry hybrid by 8 mpg in the city and 2 mpg on the highway. It also offers innovative new technology - SmartGauge^TM with EcoGuide - that coaches hybrid drivers to maximize fuel efficiency.

According to Fusion Marketing Manager Jonathan Richards, car buyers are so passionate about Fusion that they are choosing to buy the high series models - Hybrid, SEL and Sport.

"Data show that high series models account for 50 percent of sales," he said. "Customers are also embracing technology offerings like voice-activated navigation, SYNC and Sony® Audio."

Richards says the introduction of a Sport model is also drawing praise from Fusion customers, as is the new six-speed gearbox with SelectShift^TM transmission.

About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 200,000 employees and about 90 plants worldwide, the company's automotive brands include Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Volvo. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford's products, please visit www.ford.com.

Thank you,
Thomas Ieracitano
Thomas@Ieracitano.com
http://DigitalCarGuy.com
(229) 251-2462

What Have You Learned From The Downturn?

Posted on Dec 04, 2009 - 04:26 PM

The other day I was speaking with a dealer about how his business was doing - with all of the turmoil and new challenges we all face today. He told me that he was doing OK, not fantastic, but OK. Then he asked me about our business...how it was doing and I responded with the same response...OK, it's OK. I went on to tell him that the last year had been tough - with dealers going out of business and cutting back - but that we really focused and made some hard decisions and did what we had to do. I told him that to be honest, in some ways, I am glad for the downturn we went through...it made us leaner, meaner, cleaner and smarter. Actually, I said, we have really learned a lot from what happened and are better off because of it. The more we talked, he realized that he too had done what he had to do and was more involved in his business than he had been in the past. He also agreed that  he had learned a lot...and that it was good - but we both agreed we had learned enough - we didn't want to learn anymore, we both chuckled.

I have always been a true believer that everything happens for a good reason - even when what is going on around us doesn't make sense. I guess my belief is so strong because frankly, it has never, ever let me down. Every time in my life that something bad happened, something good - even better happened down the road. I sometimes had to wait for a while, but I kept on believing and eventually I ended up better off because of the bad thing that happened.

When I talk to dealers about this and get them to reflect on the past - they agree that even though bad things happened in the past, they are really good things in disguise. I spoke with a dealer a few years ago that was really disappointed that he didn't get a store he was trying to buy...he was telling me how much money he spent on accountants and lawyers trying to put the deal together...and how at the end, the deal just didn't come together.  He was really upset the deal didn't go through. I kept telling him - Man, you've gotta believe that everything happens for a good reason. His response at the time was - what could possibly be good because of all of this...eight months later, General Motors sent the old dealer the Death Letter and closed the store down. He called me and told me about it...and said that even though he had spent a lot of money trying to buy the store that he will not get back, he was so glad the deal didn't go through - he would have lost a lot more if it had.

A dealer called me the other day that knows about my "everything happens for a good reason no matter what" concept, (it's not like it's a secret) and said that he finally gets it. That because of the car sales issues he had finally really gotten involved with his fixed operation and that he was having a great time learning and working it like it should be done. He was really "into" customer retention and service advertising. He was training his service team, including his managers, on how to answer the phone, how to sell, how to identify and overcome objections and how to keep customers coming back. He said his profits have nearly doubled in service and parts and he was having a ball - all because of the bad stuff that happened in car sales.

Then I talked to a dealer that said he didn't know what all of the hub-bub was about regarding car sales, and financing and recession and all of that negative stuff. He was enjoying record car sales, record service sales and record profits. He said he didn't know what the big deal was all about and didn't understand why everyone was not doing well. Then we talked further. He went on to say that he has always been focused on customer retention. He was always focused on service and advertising and training his people and selling. His store has a great reputation both in sales and in service and the more we talked, he realized that the thing he has that a lot of other dealers don't have was a realistic view of the big picture. He did say that all of the economic issues did cause him some concern, but because of that information, he just focused even more on retaining his customers. He actually spent more on service advertising and doing what was right. He has consistently mailed service reminders - and now he increased his service budget a bit. He has always had a rewards club that enticed customers to return for service and car sales, and he re-energized that concept with his people with a re-kick off meeting. He never stopped advertising cars - and because of that he never stopped selling cars. So, then he said - he got it... the downturn that others are experiencing and the news about it had caused him to step it up a notch - so he says - "I guess everything does happen for a good reason!"

The message here is a simple one. No matter what has happened to you, you have to believe it is for a good reason. If your store got a Death Letter, you get the chance to find a new career that you just may like more than being a dealer or you may find a store that you enjoy running a lot more with a different franchise. If your store suffered a slump in car sales, you had the time and the opportunity to learn and work in your fixed operation departments. If you lost "what you thought" was a great manager - one that you just couldn't imagine doing without, you eventually will find a better one that makes you wish the change had happened years earlier. Truth is, no matter what happens to your business, it isn't that bad. The old cliché, when one door closes, another one opens, has never been more true than it is today.

Keep your chin up. Keep your eye on the ball. Keep in touch with your people and let them know you are positive that things will be ok. Work hard...harder than you ever have in your life and learn more than you ever have - that's what I am doing and I have to admit - I am loving it. Now is the time to get serious about your customers, your employees and your future. I believe the future for the car business is bright and that all of us will be better off because of what has happened. I believe that everything really does happen for a good reason - do you?

Thank you,
Thomas Ieracitano
Thomas@Ieracitano.com
http://DigitalCarGuy.com
(229) 251-2462

Why Service Customers are Leaving

Why Service Customers are Leaving
...and what you can do about it
by Kevin T Root, VP Product Strategy, DriverSide.com

Current economic market conditions are creating dynamic shifts in the automotive service industry, which have led to consumers keeping their vehicles longer. This trend does not translate into more traffic to the dealership service department.

Consumers feeling the economic pinch are taking their business to independents and national light repair chains. These firms are becoming more aggressive in their pursuit of what has traditionally been a dealers' service customer. Recently published data from NDP research illustrates where new car service department customers turned to when their dealership closed due to recent point reductions by General Motors and Chrysler.

Only 51% of those previous dealership service customers continued servicing their vehicles at another new car dealership. Of the remaining 49%, a full 24% moved their service business to an independent auto service center, while 12% remain undecided at the time of the survey.

To better understand this, DriverSide.com conducted research to learn more about consumers' perceptions of dealership service departments, national light repair centers (like Pep Boys, Precision Tune and independently owned local service providers).

We were amazed to learn that most consumers felt they would get higher quality of work from their local independent mechanic than at a new car dealership service department or light repair center-even if price were not a factor.
 

In addition to fighting consumer perception, dealerships are increasingly feeling pressure from national light repair chains that are successfully pursuing the dealer service customer with aggressive marketing campaigns and incentives. More challenging is that 66% of consumers feel that new car dealerships will overcharge them for service work.

The final battleground for the service customer is being fought on the social media front. Ratings and reviews of vehicle service providers are rapidly gaining scale and influence. 86% of consumers read online business reviews before making purchase decisions and 90% say they trust these reviews (Kudzu.com survey of 600 users, December 2008).    A staggering 74% of consumers report that they choose companies and brands based on what others say online about their customer service experience (Society for New Communications Research, May 2008).   The good news is that dealers can look at this as an opportunity. Given that consumers expect to be overcharged, dealers that are competitive and highly transparent in pricing will be rewarded by positive reviews from consumers who are compelled to tell others about their unexpected experience. Vehicle service providers will begin to see that their online reputation will either drive their business or erode it. 

All of these dynamics mean dealers must change the way they manage their customer base and acquire new customers. Service marketing and prospect acquisition must evolve beyond simple oil change window sticker reminders and CRM system mailers that are not highly specific to the actual service history of the vehicle.

Customer communications must be highly relevant to the customer and their specific vehicle needs. Dealers will benefit from helping their customers understand the tangible advantages of using a dealership service department, like parts quality, technician certification and access to specialized tools and the latest OEM technical advisories. When you combine this information with additional tips and tools that are helpful to the customer, you create relevancy and break through the clutter.

The way that dealerships grow their service customer base must evolve. Advances in technologies that leverage disparate database mining, consumer profiling, multi-variant testing and incentive optimization are combining with new media marketing techniques to produce impressive results in the areas of service marketing and prospect conquest. 

Social media must be leveraged, specifically managing and growing the online service department's reputation. New services covering the task of 'Reputation Management' are available to help retailers embrace social media and do so in a fully automated way that does not burden daily operations. 

Forward thinking dealers who combine service customer retention, new media marketing and social media to stand out from the crowd will not only gain competitive advantage, but also market share.

This article is a summary of research and service marketing information that is available in a new white paper titled: Service Marketing: New Solutions for New Challenges. Study highlights will be delivered in an upcoming webinar. All participants will receive the free white paper.  

Thank you,
Thomas Ieracitano
Thomas@Ieracitano.com
http://DigitalCarGuy.com
(229) 251-2462

Three ways a company blog can LOWER costs for your business

Three ways a company blog can LOWER costs for your business

Let's be clear; most businesses want its blog to generate sales for the company. Either directly or indirectly. But some of the biggest benefits that can be achieved via a blog is to use it as a tool to reduce the cost of running your business. Here are three ways this can be done:

1 - Your blog as a customer service/support tool.Think about how much time and money and energy is spent on handling customer service issues. With a blog, you can handle most of these issues, giving customers the ability to find the answers for themselves, saving them time and energy as well. A win-win for everyone, as this always improves the customer's impression of your company, and makes them feel cool as well since they could solve the problem themselves! In the book Groundswell, the authors calculated this benefit alone as being worth $69K a year to a large blogging corporation.

2 - Organic SEO benefits. Everyone knows that blogging has big SEO advantages. But the organic SEO benefits from your company blog could be enough that you could scale back on the money you're paying that SEO firm, or even stop outsourcing your SEO efforts! That means you can take that portion of your marketing budget and move it to other areas!

3 - Free market research! One of the first things you'll hear about social media is that 'it's all about the conversation!!!' Ok I agree, there's so much more to it than that, and it's often hard to directly monetize 'the conversation'. But here's one area where customer feedback can pay off on your blog,and that's in the form of free research! Think about it, if you have a vibrant and active readership on your blog, then you can use your customers to get insights into new products you are developing,existing or possible marketing campaigns, or really anything! There for an example of this in action with the recent social media survey.

So keep these ways in mind when you are considering launching a company blog, or are trying to sell your boss on doing so. Don't just consider the potential revenue generated, but also the potential to lower the costs of running your business!

Thomas Ieracitano
Thomas@Ieracitano.com
http://DigitalCarGuy.com
(229) 251-2462

Conquer the Social Media Frontier

Conquer the Social Media Frontier
Five strategies to help you navigate the Wild West

Social CRM
Your dealership should already have a storewide Customer Relations Management system to help you track and transact with your customers. Social CRM has a parallel goal to your CRM system: to maintain and strengthen ongoing relations with your customers. However, Social CRM is much less focused on creating transactions and much more focused on creating relationships. These relationships are built and maintained through efficient conversations on social media sites.

High quality content that engages customers and creates ongoing dialogue is the key to social CRM. When your customer has a question about a 60k mile service, the answer should be on your blog. When you sponsor your customer's little league team, you should post pictures, articles and stats about the team. When your local bank raises money for a charity, you should use your social assets to support them. If your OEM has a recall, you need to transparently blog about it as soon as it happens. Anytime someone comments on any of your posts, you should answer them. Likewise, your dealership's social manager should be an active participant on other community forums. Don't just participate on your site, that is not being a good online citizen.

Reach out to your customers in the communities where they already participate such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. You will sometimes bring these users back to your blog through links.

Branding
Your branding goal is to solidify your name in the market as synonymous with the brand values you stand for. When someone hears "Your Dealership Name" they should think, "Best price with no hassle" or whatever your brand stands for. Social media is an excellent medium to build your brand because you do not have any of the constraints or costs of a 15-second TV spot or a 30-second radio promo. Tell your story in conversational ways. Use video, blog posts and tweets. You should create ALL of the content but should share other people's content too.

Remember, your content will be consumed and shared in direct proportion to its quality. Your view on what is quality content and your customers' view are most likely different things. In this case, your opinion does not count! The customer is in control. Give them the quality content they want.

  Reputation Management
Another important part of social media is defending your brand through reputation management. Use a "listening tool" to follow dealer rating sites, blogs and social networks. Track keywords, such as your name, OEM name, competitor's names and other names of interest to your brand. Have a plan for leveraging good comments about you and engage the negative comments to solve problems.   A note of caution: you need to be nimble, transparent and calm in responding to user reviews. If there is a problem at your store fix it, and let the customers know of the resolution. You will be rewarded not because you are perfect in execution, but perfect in effort.

Traffic Generation
The future of marketing is about content. So, the better your content, the better advantage you will have at building traffic. There will be a natural boost of traffic from your participation in other communities as users follow quality links that you leave.

 

Think of links as paths back to your website. The more legitimate paths you create, the more traffic you will garner. The better your content, the more reason people will have to share your links. Become a destination site by sharing good content and measure the traffic gains and leads from your analytics. Inbound marketing is important, so be a magnet for consumers by being the best place for them to get information.

SEO Value
Links around the web not only create multiple paths back to your site for human visitors, but they also act as "votes" for your website when Google determines your site's authority. The more quality inbound links you have that say, "Honda Accord Boston" helps Google rank your site higher for the search term "Honda Accord Boston." Now, there are lots of other factors in determining your site's ranking, and poor link building can actually hurt you in Google's eyes. But correct social media participation can be an excellent source of link juice.

In addition to the value of the links you will notice that pages you create on social sites can often rank quite easily themselves for long-tail keywords. For example, perhaps you create a presentation about "getting the most for your trade-in" and share the presentation on a site like slideshare.net. That page on slideshare could rank for the term, "getting the most for your trade-in." Google visitors that are searching for help with trade-in valuations will find this slideshare page, and if your content is good, will go from there to your site.

In this example you will get positive branding, link value from the post, another page that ranks in the SERPS and additional referral traffic. All of these benefits can come from one high quality post on a social site.

It's not rocket science. Don't be afraid because of the nay-sayers. Social media is the Wild West right now and there are lots of people causing dealers to fear this medium. The critics often do not understand social media. But there are substantial benefits to being involved. Don't be shy. Invest some time and try things out.

I hope these five strategies help you gain a better perspective and direction. If you are looking for more social media tips and strategies, visit  DigitalCarGuy.com.

Thank you,
Thomas Ieracitano
Thomas@Ieracitano.com
http://DigitalCarGuy.com
(229) 251-2462