Automotive Internet Media

AIM Team

Does Batman Have Superpowers?

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If you think you know the story. If you think you know the legend. THINK AGAIN!

When it comes to marketing you may think your campaigns have super powers but really they’re more like Batman. Sure Batman has a cool car and a utility belt but he has no amazing super-powers.

On the other hand, CarClicks Campaigns have superhuman strength and are faster than a speeding bullet, has super-stretching abilities and can teleport customers to your dealership.

Take the CarClicks Challenge and let us show you the superhero powers of CarClicks Inventory Marketing.

TAKE THE CARCLICKS CHALLENGE

CATA Dealer Strategy Summit

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Just this past week on May 14th at the Chicago Automobile Trade Association (CATA), dozens of dealership owners and management teams gathered to listen to top industry professionals speak on both digital and social media marketing.

Those in attendance were able to take away effective advertising solutions for their dealership. For those who were not there, here are the main ideas to take away brought to you by us at Automotive Internet Media.

Adam Pavkov, a client partner at Facebook, talked about how today’s consumers are using social media to influence how they shop for a vehicle. His research showed 87% of car buyers are on social for active research during the buying process, and half of the 87% said that the ads influenced their decision. Since the effect is so great, Adam gave key strategies dealers can use to have a more effective ad budget. The following were dealership branding, in-market targeting, retention and after sales messaging, & promotions support from events.

Our team discussed ways to increase your sales velocity by using social media marketing. Social marketing can shorten the time to buy because it gives awareness, research, consideration, and engagement to the consumer. This is important when you are looking for ways your dealership can grow.

There is a lot of opportunity within different platforms, but Instagram especially when you are talking influencer marketing. Research shows 34% of people on Instagram have said that they used an influencer/blogger to make their buying decision. Instagram stories, a recent feature, has over 500 million daily and active users- making it another opportunity to advertise in the platform with an affordable CPV.

Fred Lobo, a partner of our team, did a presentation on BDC management. An important take away was how to enhance your dealership’s digital sales process in the business development center of your dealership. Time-tested and proven processes to increase your market performance were discussed to achieve higher customer engagement rates, more appointments, more sales, and more profit.

All of the discussed topics during the event were important advertising solutions that your dealership should use to increase your profits. Digital and social marketing are the key to connecting you with your customers. So why wait to start? See how we can help grow your dealership today by visiting us at AIM.

That Awkward Moment When…

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...you're trying to achieve your goal but not making the right decisions.

CarClicks will transform your campaigns to help you achieve great results!

Flex those marketing muscles and get a move on driving more vehicle sales today!

Regardless of what marketing company manages your ad budget, it’s critical that you are constantly reaching new potential customers.

CarClicks Inventory Marketing is a great product to reach low-funnel, in-market auto shoppers. Allocate a specific portion of your ad budget to drive inventory exposure to reach the most auto shoppers for the lowest cost per click. Add CarClicks to your marketing strategy. Stretch your ad budget, promote your inventory to more shoppers and sell more vehicles!

TAKE THE CARCLICKS CHALLENGE

What Day Is It?!

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Guess what day it is?

Anybody? I know you can hear me?

Hey, dealership marketing professional, guess what day it is?

It’s the day to take the CarClicks Challenge!

Why take the challenge?

CarClicks is more effective and efficient than most any other digital marketing campaigns.

Our cost of acquisition is over 50% less than our competitors, resulting in over 100% higher return for dealer!

Dealers that take the CarClicks Challenge are happier than a camel on Wednesday.

You want to be happy too?

 

Is Your Advertising Budget Tightening?

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“A man who stops advertising to save money, is like a man who stops the clock to save time.”
Henry Ford

We know you can’t cut your way to growth. The key point is, driving vehicle sales requires an investment in advertising expense.

As a former General Manager turned marketing AdMan, I’m painfully aware when things get tight for dealerships, one of the first things we’re tempted to cut is the advertising. It’s like a survival tactic that kicks in and all we want to do is shore up our resources so we can make it to the other side. I get it, but dealerships should not make the mistake of sabotaging their own success in the meantime. Dealers should evaluate their campaigns and determine which are performing the best for both short-term and long-term results.

When dealerships advertise, in addition to generating immediate vehicle sales, you’ll bolster consumer confidence in the future of your business. Consumer confidence builds market share. Market share leads to profit. Those that continue to advertise in tougher or slower times will actually gain a bigger piece of the pie when vehicle sales starts back on the upswing…leaving other dealerships (who cut way back on their advertising efforts) in the dust.

 

NADA Convention to Be Held in Chicago in 2025

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The NADA Convention is the automotive industry event of the year. I have been attending the convention for over 25 years. I’ve missed a few because my wife, daughter and son’s birthdays all fall around the time of year the convention is usually held. Otherwise, I’ve been to most of them.

 

I’ve participated in the convention as an employee of three (3) different companies. My first several conventions were with Pat Ryan and Associates (Resource Automotive). One year while attending, I won a $500-dollar bill for collecting the most leads (which I still have). A few years later, I was working with FirstLook (now Max Digital). I arranged to have the NASCAR Driver Danica Patrick sign autographs at our booth and have dinner with a few select dealers at Morton’s. Yes, she’s hot (and sweet) in person. I remember her husband at the time being a nice guy, not sure what happened there. I guess that’s good for Aaron Rogers though. Something to keep his mind off not making the playoffs. After a couple years of founding my own company, we made the decision to invest in exhibiting at the convention. We participated as an exhibitor for 5 years. Not sure if I’m just lazy or the ROI never worked out, but now I just show up. I must admit, it’s much more enjoyable now.

 

Every year when I walk into the convention, I feel like I’m Bill Murray from Groundhog Day: like time is caught in a loop. Sure, things have changed. For example, Cox Automotive has taken over the show, booth sizes have blown up, new companies have emerged, some acquired, and some have just disappeared. However, for the most part, it’s still the same exact convention with one exception: Bill’s not waking up in Punxsutawney. He’s either in Las Vegas, New Orleans or San Francisco.

 

For years now, the convention has been held in Las Vegas instead of New Orleans or San Francisco. 2013 was the last year it was held in Orlando.  I realize dealers and their employees like to go to Vegas, but I’ve spoken to many of them and even they get tired of the same cities every year. That is probably the reason many dealers do not participate.  There is nothing new to attract more dealers that like to attend the conference.

 

Why not try a great city like Chicago? I’m not suggesting holding the conference in January – March, but what about April? There’s no heat wave in San Francisco this weekend. Today alone the high was 57 degrees, but the low was 45.

 

Other than the convention itself, going out on the town is one of the reasons dealers, their wives, and employees attend.

Here are my reasons why Chicago will be a great city to host the NADA Convention:

  1. Midwest location: Chicago is centrally located enabling more people to attend, particularly from the east coast. The current locations are all “west coast” oriented.
  2. Restaurants: I’ve traveled the world and Chicago restaurants are the best. Period. The food scene is amazing and has something for everyone.
  3. Chicago hotels are amongst the best in the world.
  4. Shopping: Magnificent Mile – 13 blocks of shopping, entertainment and hotels. An indulgence for every passion and every pocket.
  5. Catch a Cubs game (or White Sox if you must).
  6. History, Museums and Architecture: World class attractions like the Shedd Aquarium.
  7. National and International appeal.
  8. The 4am bars and vast number of breweries. You can hear the blues every night of the year.
  9. McCormick Place is a premier convention located just minutes from downtown Chicago.
  10. Friendly people!

 

As the attendees travel to San Francisco and gather into the Moscone Center again, they’ll discover the day’s events are exactly the same. They’ll assume it’s still Groundhog Day and they are trapped in a time loop that only NADA attendees are aware of – living the same convention over and over. That is until 2023 where they escape the time loop and travel to Dallas, Texas.

 

Since the time loop is broken, maybe the 2025 Convention can be hosted in Chicago? What do you think fellow attendees?

Revolutionize Your Dealership’s Advertising

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Revolutionize The Way Your Automotive Digital Advertising can be Delivered

Revolutionize Your Dealership's Advertising

Data Driven Targeting has revolutionized the way automotive digital advertising can be delivered. It has enabled dealerships to be precise in how and whom they target, and improve how effectively they manage their ad budget.

 

To reach auto shoppers with marketing in today’s digital climate, dealerships need highly accurate and relevant advertising campaigns. Multiple touch points from different channels usually precede the purchase of a new or used vehicle. In the digital environment, the consumer-purchasing funnel might involve touch points from channels such as paid search (i.e., Google AdWords, CarClicks Inventory Marketing, etc.), social media (e.g., Facebook ads) and email campaigns. This makes it important to understand the complex customer journey across marketing channels prior to a vehicle purchase.

 

Consumers are multitasking with different devices which lowers the attention towards each channel and thus complicates the dealership’s ability to get the attention of the shopper to their ad promotion. For example, a shopper may be watching TV and shift attention back and forth between their smartphone and TV. Today, consumers are getting bombarded with ads from different channels on different devices, which can be overwhelming causing them to block their attention to the ads.

 

We at Automotive Internet Media, Inc. saw an opportunity in the automotive industry to build an advertising product that moves from mass advertising to individual-level personalized vehicle ads that breaks through the clutter and grabs the auto shoppers’ attention.

 

We have built a product that leverages proprietary algorithms to determine auto shoppers that are most likely ready to buy. We place the code on your website that allows us to create an individual user profile for each shopper that visits the dealership website. Our algorithms are enhanced with machine learning and big data; note that I didn’t say artificial intelligence!

 

Once we determine the individuals to target, we begin delivering ads. Data Driven Targeting drives new sales by serving dynamic personalized inventory ads to attract and inspire each auto shopper. We target those auto shoppers at the right moment in their purchasing process.

 

It is also very important to recognize the auto shoppers across different devices. Over 72% of buyers use at least 2 devices and switch at least 3 times before they purchase. Our cross-device matching technology and a shopper identify graph ensure we deliver an integrated ad experience which helps gain efficiency in ad delivery, costs and results.

 

Media buy is critical for success. Our ads are served on the largest network of premium publishers in the automotive industry. Other networks may have more publishers, but Data Driven Targeting has better ad placement on higher quality websites.

 

Data Driven Targeting will increase auto shopper engagement, efficiency and consumer purchase behavior. Data Driven Targeting is one of the most effective products in automotive marketing by enabling personalized vehicle offering to every visiting auto shopper.

 

Convert auto shoppers and maximize sales with Data Driven Targeting.

The Secret Tools Advertisers Use to Follow You

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The Secret Tools Advertisers Use to Follow You

The Secret Tools Advertisers Use to Follow You

YOU’VE PROBABLY SEEN magicians doing magic tricks and wondered how the hell they do them. The golden rule of magic is to never reveal the secret of the trick or how it’s done. There is simply no benefit or gain in sharing the secret, in fact it kills the magic and you will not be able to perform the effect again.

Advertisers aren’t as disciplined as magicians. It’s easy to learn that most retargeting programs add cookies (tiny snippets of data) to the shoppers’ browser which changes the way the browser interacts with certain pages (websites). This is how they follow you.

Now you know the secret of most advertisers but what you didn’t learn was the secret of highly effective marketing programs like Data Driven Targeting.

The secret is understanding the power of dynamic inventory ads and how it makes static display advertising obsolete. The trick is about integrating dynamic and personalized ads into your marketing strategy. It may sound expensive, but Data Driven Targeting makes dynamic advertising affordable even for car dealerships.

Ultimately, Data Driven Targeting creates a personalized advertising experience for every auto shopper. So instead of everyone who lands on your site seeing the same thing, each individual will see something different depending on how they interacted with your website.  Some shoppers may not even be served ads because our “secret” algorithm indicated they are not in the market for a vehicle. The future lies in marketing where we know enough about each customer to make relevant and custom ads to each shopper.

Of course, as with any unfamiliar trick or technology, learning about methods and implementation can be challenging, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Understanding the benefits and how Data Driven Targeting works is relatively straightforward. To learn the secret of Data Driven Targeting is easy. Just complete the contact us page to schedule a 20-minute demo.