It wasn’t all that long ago that mass marketing was deemed an effective manner to share a company’s message and maximize the return on marketing spend. OK, so for people of a certain age, 1990 is “not that long ago,” and we must admit that times and methods have changed quite a bit in the ensuing 30-plus years.
Today, the volume of channels that are open to marketing penetration is enormous. As social media platforms bloom and take on their own personality, the audience fragments by age, income and many other parameters. Some are ripe for marketing/networking penetration, such as LinkedIn, while others (such as TikTok) remain a curiosity and require greater creativity to deliver a message. In the middle lies platforms such as Facebook, which boasts the desired scale but has been victimized (to a degree) by advertising saturation.
On the subject of Facebook, there’s the sinister and spooky Big Brother effect. We know our phones and portable devices are “listening” to us. Otherwise, how can advertisements for a particular product or service automatically start popping up when we haven’t even done a Google search? I had that happen the other day when discussing (aloud, not via text/chat) a new refrigerator purchase with my wife. A slew of Samsung device ads suddenly popped up in my Facebook feed. Unless you turn off your iPhone or android’s microphone, your spoken thoughts are open game.
Regardless, the operative word continues to be creativity—how does one effectively infiltrate a channel in a manner embraced by its audience? This week’s State of the Industry report on marketing covers both nontraditional and innovative means by which marketers communicate the value of their dealership’s wares.
Online Reputation
One of the keys to bolstering a dealership’s online presence is to garner reviews, a method embraced by Datamax of Little Rock, Arkansas (with offices in Texas). Robert Caldwell, vice president of marketing, cites a moz.com Business Review Survey that found nearly 60% of those paneled read online customer reviews of businesses daily or weekly, and 79% cite Google Reviews as their preferred source. Further, 79% trust what customers say about a business, whereas only 11% trust what a business says about itself.
In order to increase its Google Review engagement across all of its locations, Datamax paired its existing resources (CEO Juice post-service call surveys triggered from its ERP service process) with HubSpot workflow capabilities to solicit reviews from its Net Promoters, according to Caldwell.
“The post-service call survey is a great opportunity to solicit Google reviews, by specifically focusing on the one NPS question: How likely is it that you would recommend Datamax to a colleague or friend?” Caldwell explained. “Working in concert with CEO Juice, we developed a HubSpot workflow that pulls any survey respondent who scored that question a 9 or 10 (considered a Promoter) and sends them an email asking for a Google Review. This is done without any intervention on our end. We feel this has helped us improve on Google Reviews from where we were, but certainly feel there is plenty of room to grow here.
“We might say customer-based business accolades are not conventional as a means to market our products and services, but are we actively pursuing the customer’s voice? The stats clearly prove that we should be,” he added.
Open Door
The relationship dealers forge with the local community can go a long way toward fostering business opportunities. While not directly a marketing ploy, Pulse Technology of Schaumburg, Illinois, places a high value on being active in local Chambers of Commerce and other business associations in the region. Further ingratiating the dealer to the regional business sector, CEO Chip Miceli enables these associations to make use of Pulse’s space and technology.
“When we opened our headquarters in Schaumburg, we designed the building with a large, state-of-the-art conference room and showroom and state-of-the-art videoconferencing capabilities,” he said. “We make the space available for community organizations, including business associations, which benefits the organizations and increases our company’s visibility.”
For many dealers, the period prior to the pandemic provided an ample opportunity to open their doors to hosted events. That was the case for Image 2000 of Valencia, California, which held “meet and greets” that mixed refreshments with product demonstrations. Headquartered in a state renowned for its wine grapes, Image 2000 would welcome clients and prospects to taste some of the local flavors while also enjoying cheese and crackers.
“Prior to COVID, it was a fun way to bring in people and showcase some of our products in a relaxed atmosphere,” said CEO Joe Blatchford. “We would have contests among the reps to see who could bring the most people to the event. We’ve used local wineries for various programs like this, and they’re quite effective.”
As businesspeople in the state become more acclimated to in-person gatherings, Blatchford is hopeful he can resume these events on a quarterly basis.
Socially Acceptable
The ability to scale messaging through social media networks is definitely a team sport, and Impact Networking of Lake Forest, Illinois, has taken considerable strides to ensure maximum participation for enhanced exposure. Karlee Travis, Impact’s CMO, points out that the company leverages its three-day training period for new employees to underscore the value of social media sharing. The company’s director of digital marketing gives a presentation on the topic and works with employees to optimize their LinkedIn accounts.
“As a result, we’ve seen such a significant increase in our employees being engaged in our social channels,” Travis said. “That helps make our social channels so much stronger.”
Impact Networking also appreciates the differences between the social media channels, and cultivates strategies that dovetail with the unique characteristics of each. For example, the dealer found its Facebook performance wasn’t up to standards, so its social media coordinator devised a meme campaign that better aligns with the platform’s demographic. Travis, for one, was skeptical about the tactic, but it has outperformed Impact’s expectations.
“We’re seeing tons of engagement with the memes on Facebook, and not just on the sales side. Recruiting is hearing from prospective employees who love the memes,” Travis noted. “I was 100% wrong—the meme campaign is killing it. Just because we’re a B2B and need to be professional, this campaign provided a little break from ordinary content and covered areas such as IoT and cybersecurity. It adds a little personality and is working really nicely for us.”
Partner Prowess
Making an impact on the community while also benefiting nonprofit organizations can have a salutary, if indirect, impact on business. Woodhull LLC of Springboro, Ohio, devised a great concept to that effect. It partnered with a local recycling nonprofit that will travel to the dealer’s customers in its three primary markets to pick up decommissioned copiers, printers, computers and furniture and any other recyclable materials. The bonus is that proceeds from the recycled materials go toward children’s hospitals in each of the markets.
“It doesn’t involve any market spend; there aren’t any contracts involved. It was just a great idea that’s mutually beneficial,” noted Robert Woodhull, marketing director. “We seized the opportunity to benefit the hospital systems that do such tremendous work. It’s also opened up new lead opportunities because [the nonprofit] work with people that we don’t, and they get to work with our customers. It’s definitely been a competitive differentiator for us.”
