Dealer e-Process , one of the leading internet solutions companies for the automotive industry, explained today a new digital initiative where the primary objective is to foster strong partnerships with automotive ad agencies. Dealer e-Process believes that partnering with the right ad agencies will help open the lines of communication between themselves and the dealers they work with; furthermore Dealer e-Process maintains that such partnerships will help break down the old-school automotive marketing mentality that has become an obstacle in many of today’s digital marketing strategies.
Dealer e-Process believes that partnering with automotive ad agencies will help cultivate a more collaborative relationship between themselves and the dealers they work with. While Dealer e-Process strives to incorporate dealers’ ideas into every website they build, it often finds that most dealers have a hard time adjusting their traditional marketing mentality to reflect the needs of today’s automotive consumers.
Dealer e-Process’ president and CEO, Mike Gillespie, explains that the problem isn’t with proving the success of modern online marketing strategies; rather it is with getting dealers to opt into such campaigns.
“The automotive industry isn’t what it used to be. Ten years ago, dealers worried about three things: location, location, location. In every ad, dealers would want a picture of their beautiful dealership stamped with their face and address because it worked. However, this type of marketing isn’t enough anymore. People are no longer just kicking tires, but clicking tires so we have to be able to answer their queries and concerns just as effectively online as we do on the lot.”
Gillespie thinks there is still room in the automotive industry for traditional marketing strategies but believes there needs to be a better balance between old-school thinking and modern methods.
“The traditional car dealership hasn’t been replaced by online inventory, but in order to be competitive in today’s market, you need both. It is Dealer e-Process’ goal to find a happy medium between traditional and modern digital marketing strategies. In doing do, we hope to see sales on the lot trickle down to sales in the digital space, creating a win-win situation for the dealers we work with.”
Larry Aronson (www.AronsonAds.com) agrees with Gillespie but takes it a step further. While Aronson recognizes the power of digital marketing, he maintains that it needs to be done correctly in order to be effective.
“It’s impossible to ignore the strength of digital marketing; however, it needs to be done right in order to be effective. Dealers just can’t throw a flashy site into the cosmos and hope for the best. There needs to be a plan in place that incorporates both old-school and modern marketing strategies making them all relevant, reactive and responsive.”
While Aronson believes that such marketing plans are possible, he recognizes that these types of campaigns are not easily executed or maintained.
“It’s understandable that some dealers (and ad agencies) are hesitant to work with e-vendors because they tend to promise the world but all too often they under-deliver. However, this is not the case with Dealer e-Process. Dealer e-Process understands that you can’t use the ‘set it and forget it’ mentality when it comes to digital marketing. They are constantly evolving their strategies to adapt to an ever-changing market. Furthermore, they are cognizant of the fact that digital campaigns need to reflect the look and feel of traditional campaigns of a particular brand in order to be successful. Bottom line, Dealer e-Process knows what they are doing.”
Gillespie hopes that his continued efforts will create more positive feedback as shown by Aronson. In particular, he is excited to how Dealer e-Process (and the dealers they work with) will benefit from partnering with automotive as agencies in the way of branding, written content production, video content production and social networking.
“If nothing else, these partnerships will help open the lines of communication between us (the website builders) and the dealers we work with. Our online expertise combined with the creative know-how of an ad agency will encourage a more streamlined process of merging dealer ideas with modern online marketing strategy.”
Gillespie is particularly excited to see what these partnerships will do in the way of social networking.
“The evolution of social networking over the last five years has been tremendous. What was previously thought of as a passing fad within the teen community has since evolved into a tremendously successful marketing tool across several genres. Be it Twitter, Facebook or Digg, these networks provide an awesome platform for automotive marketing at no cost. However, many seasoned dealers are unaware or unwilling to embrace this proven form of digital marketing; hence making my job very difficult. Hopefully, with the aid of automotive ad agencies, we can convince dealers both empirically and creatively that such modern strategies are not just a passing fad but a new standard for digital marketing.”
About Dealer e-Process
Dealer e-Process, an LLC company, is a leading provider in online marketing solutions for auto dealers. Its primary objective is to improve internet solutions for car dealerships.
Dealer e-Process specializes in the production and maintenance of auto dealer websites. Dealer e-Process boasts a robust suite of online marketing tools include Web 2.0 integration, real time inventory promotion capability, complete social networking integration, call tracking integration, YouTube integration, custom dashboards (powered though Google Analytics), automated specials, transcript integration and more.
