This is a portion of an article titled Why the Automotive Industry is Shifting to New Media.

The concept of local marketing encompasses everything already covered. Mobile, search, and social all have branches and integration with local marketing. The component that is unique to local marketing only happens at the dealer level: reviews.

People may read individual vehicle reviews on large websites to determine what they want to buy, but determining where they want to buy often hinges on business reviews on sites like Yelp and Ratepoint. These “customer experiences” are imperative because buying a car is often considered an extreme hassle by consumers. Learning which dealerships have a history of bad customer experiences will often sway consumer choices.

Companies such as Presto Reviews help dealers address the biggest challenge in the review process: happy customers don’t write reviews. When someone is happy with a transaction, they rarely talk about it unless directly asked. When they’re unhappy, they often go out of the their way to tell anyone they can.

Proactive solicitation of reviews is a defensive but effective move that many dealers are employing. By encouraging happy customers to post reviews or testimonials about reviews, they have the best chance of being viewed well through local marketing.

Search, social, mobile – they’re all engaged in some way with local consumer feedback. Dealers are learning this; too often, they’re learning it the hard way. (continue)