I ate reasonably this Thanksgiving, and instead of leftovers, I'm heading over to Qdoba for a post-Thanksgiving Burrito. What a country!
A final thought on automotive marketing. Brandstorming, the marketing blog for Durbin Media Group, covers the issue of blog marketing for auto dealers with a post on reasons to use blogs to communicate to customers. The second point is the most relevant one. How do you build a relationship with a customer prior to them walking on the lot?
B. A Blog is Personal:
Websites are carefully crafted to pitch a message. Today’s customers simply don’t trust what it written on a website, primarily because there is no accountability. Are you really the lowest price in town, or did you pay someone to write that? With a blog, the impression that a human being is behind the writing creates trust between the customer and the dealership. What the blogger writes, the customer can verify, either by asking questions or typing comments or sending an e-mail. Providing a human contact to the website helps the customer build a relationship prior to setting foot on your lot. If you poll your customers, one of their biggest fears is being assaulted by a bad salesperson when they come to your dealership. Giving them the option of connecting with someone prior to showing up in person prepares them to buy and makes them more comfortable, more collaborative, and less combative. Any salesperson who has seen a customer walk on the lot with a series of web printouts knows that building a relationship before you discuss price is important in gaining trust. Why not gain their trust before they ever get to your lot?
Utilizing the Consumer Decoder application from Blast Companies, you can have blog readers sign up to read targeted content on their PDA, by phone, by e-mail, or by text message. It's the ultimate in permission based marketing, and allows you to gain trust prior to someone walking on the lot.
And that sells a lot of cars.
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