As the convergence of search and social continues to become a reality, it's important for dealers to understand that they need content on their websites that can be shared. People will not share inventory on Facebook. They won't tweet specials out to their followers. They won't click the Google +1 buttons on your…

Awhile back I wrote a blog on the rumors of a Facebook, “want” button and this rumor turned out to be true! While this new feature is still in beta testing and it’s not really a want button but a product page to collect all your favorite products that are then added to your timeline, I still think that this is the beginning of something pretty amazing.…

If you’re a local or regional business looking to advertise on the cheap, you probably use social media. Most everyone is on Facebook, but does your company have a Twitter? If not, you’re missing out on one of the most powerful and reliable social media…

There are plenty of tools out there that help people post the same piece of content across multiple networks. Sendible, Hootsuite, Buffer - all make posting easy and convenient. While they can be great time savers and allow heavy social media users the ability to scale properly and plan accordingly, they also create problems and do not always maximize exposure.

Facebook will "batch" images posted from the same tool when more than one is posted through it in a 24 hour period. This is a…

According to this recently published study by J.D. Power, 59% of auto shoppers with smartphones access dealership websites from the dealership. But why would a car shopper go to your website when they’re already in your store? Consumers today are more wary than ever of car sharks – and now they…

There's something to be learned from this Forbes article with the average dealership spending $2,610,000 on payroll in 2011.

Driver Connect Mobile App to be presented onstage during DrivingSales Executive Summit

DAYTONA BEACH, FL and SALT LAKE CITY, UT – October 9, 2012 – DMEautomotive’s Driver Connect, Mobile App has been named a finalist for the DrivingSales Innovation Cup Award for the Most Innovative Dealership Solution of…

Although recently we have decided to focus our social media marketing efforts away from Google+ they do still have some valuable things to offer. Google+ Local, which used to be Places, is a very valuable resource for any business. The idea is that you…

There has been a lot more talk over the last several months about mobile. It has transitioned from a "check box" item where dealers ask their vendors the simple yes or no question, "Do you have mobile sites in your package?" Today, the questions are more along the lines of, "What makes your mobile websites better than my…

Are you executing your processes???

When it comes to Marketing using Facebook, are you focusing on quality or quantity? It’s easy to fall into a rut when you’re posting daily, but it’s important that the quality of your posts doesn’t drop off. I’m sure you already know that…

I am a vocal advocate for leveraging Google Analytics to guide a dealership's online marketing strategy.  Despite my pleas, a small percentage of dealer operators have a consistent process for analyzing Google Analytics data every month to spot trends or to prioritize marketing investments.

So I thought that I would write a few articles that utilize Google Analytics data charts to show hungry automotive marketing professionals and dealer operators how to leverage this great…

I just read this post by Dave Logan

Published on MoneyWatch/ October 4, 2012

(I haven't read anything lately that made me look at how I lead and manage, more than this article.  Hope someone else finds it helpful).

The mindset of great…

5 Popular Aftermarket Accessories and How to Sell Them

If you are in a dealership that has an accessories profit center you already understand the revenue potential. The fact is consumers are constantly looking for ways to personalize everything from their electronic devices like…

This new guidance was posted on August 31, 2012 by the IRS, in collaboration with the Department of Treasury, Department of Labor, and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The guidance explains how employers can use a moving average to determine the status of full time employees, and answers questions employers might have about handling automatic enrollment of new…

I’m not really sure when the first time was that I heard somebody curse or that I even knew that it was a curse word at the time. I assume the first time I probably cursed myself was sometime in my teens, all the knuckleheads I hung around with did so of course I didn’t want to be odd man out… thats when it all began.

Nobody cussed on TV and none of the movies I was allowed to go see had any cussing in them, can’t recall hearing either one…

Winners are always Optimistic and NEVER give up.  When a reporter asked Thomas Edison about his "failures" in discovering the light bulb, he simply said, I NEVER FAILED.  I just found 9,999 ways not to make a light bulb. 

Everyone need to LEARN from a variety of mentors and take the best practices from each and discover the techniques that best works for their personality and style.  When you don't give up, YOUR LIGHT can burn…

Award recognizes the most innovative auto dealership strategies of 2012; Finalists include Daniel Boismier, Alan Krutsch, Wendy Lowen, Matthew Smith, and Bryan Wilson

Salt Lake City, Utah – October 8, 2012 – DrivingSales today announced that five auto dealer finalists have been selected for the 2012 DrivingSales Dealer Best Idea Awards. The awards…

Conner’s presentation “Close the Dealer ‘App Gap’” joins an agenda that also includes Billy Beane of ‘Moneyball’ fame, Facebook, and Google

Medford, OR – October 8, 2012 – Mark Conner, assistant vice president of Marketing for Lithia Motors, Inc. has been selected to present at the fourth annual DrivingSales Executive Summit (DSES), the most authoritative…