Many dealership in the country have something they hang their hat on. Something they feel separates them from the competition. These are known as unique selling propositions or USP’s. While most dealers use conventional methods to promote their USP’s, many ignore the digital element for making consumers aware of their exceptional offer.

Your dealership may offer free car washes or loaner cars with service. You probably have some kind of service rewards or points program, either set up by the manufacturer or a third party. In most cases these offers are posted in the service area, on the website and perhaps in your newspaper ads, but they can become stagnant. When your USP becomes part of the furniture, it becomes less effective.

Do you have a well optimized web page on your dealership site dedicated to each of your USP’s?

At our store we feature a Nationwide Lifetime Warranty. We have plenty of point of sale collateral around the store and on the cars, but we also make sure that we maintain an online presence that keeps it front and center.

One area that is often overlooked are your new and used car custom comments. Your dealers USP’s should always be highlighted in your custom comments. For example; If you have a used car Lifetime Warranty, Lead off your comments with **LIFETIME WARRANTY** you will also want to be sure to have your USP’s added to all of the marketing areas in Autotrader, Cars.com, and any other third party inventory hosting site you use.

One easy way for a dealer to digitally promote their USP is through online press releases.  Free press release sites like PRLog.org and Free-press-release.com are great for marketing your USP’s as well as SEO. Another effective method is by posting articles about your USP on your dealer’s blog, add to that the social media aspect and you have an ideal way to keep your dealers USP top of mind. Here is an example of a recent press release I did for our Lifetime Warranty.

Many of you may have done this already, but have you done it lately? It’s like what we tell our sales people, if you talk about it and the competition doesn’t, then we have it and they don’t. So take the opportunity to take a fresh look at the USP that has been gathering dust and write a new press release about it.

Another great way to promote your dealerships USP’s digitally is with video.

We recently produced a video showcasing our pick-up and delivery service at our luxury import store. You can really bring your USP’s to life with sight, sound and motion. These videos are a great asset on your website and can be optimized online for branding and SEO.

If you don’t have the ability to produce good videos in-house, some vendors like Titan Dealer Solutions; the company that we use for our lifetime warranty can provide you with good promotional video content.  We also use a video search optimization company called Car-Mercial. We have our sales and service USP’s added to our videos so that we can maximize the exposure and branding opportunities.

Finally, get your sales and service teams talking about your dealerships unique selling propositions again. Treat them like they are new and breathe life back into your USP’s making them as effective as you wanted them to be at the start.

What are you doing to showcase your dealership Unique Selling Proposition?

Since the AutoTrader.com announcement to purchase VinSolutions in mid May, I have been polling dealers and industry leaders on their perspective of the acquisition.

Some have said that the consolidation wave in our industry was started when ADP decided to purchase Cobalt.  Some commented that this acquisition marked a new push to provide more value to dealers while other were unsure of what the future would hold.

The commentary that I did not hear is that Autotrader’s buying spree may not deliver anything more significant than an attractive package to roll-up into an IPO.   Could Chip Perry be more focused on creating a shiny IPO apple rather than delivering real value and integration for dealers?

The jury of the automotive community is divided.

If you have not been watching the financial news lately, there is a strong uptick in initial public offerings (IPO).  In fact some have said that the market has IPO fever once again.

With the recent IPO success of LinkedIn, I can guarantee that a wave of new filings and IPO debuts will be scheduled this year.  It’s once again fashionable to be in the IPO game. The small float of shares made available in the LinkedIn IPO created a high demand which resulted in the stock trading over double it’s opening price on its first day of trading.

The LinkedIn IPO, according to popular Mad Money TV host Jim Cramer, was reminiscent of stock market games that got us in trouble with the dot com bubble.  While smaller IPO’s come to market, the granddaddy of IPO’s will surely be Facebook.  This will surely heat up the IPO market and that means spill-over in our industry.

I’ve been told stories of how past acquisitions in the automotive service sector from larger entities resulted in nothing more than a media bubble.  These consolidations lost momentum once the shine was off the apple.    Is the Autotrader buying spree a new breed of roll-up activity?

Only time will tell what the Autotrader acquisition spree of the last 12 months will yield, but I predict they are preparing for an IPO.

Is this good for dealers?  Let’s see how this plays out.

Santa Monica, California (April 5, 2011) – TrueCar, Inc., the automotive industry innovator in new and used car pricing, trends and forecasting, has announced that GR Match, an affiliate of Guthy-Renker LLC, will make a significant equity investment in the company. The seminal partnership will allow TrueCar to give millions more Americans access to truthful, transparent, upfront prices and a no-hassle car buying experience through Guthy-Renker’s highly successful and proven method of targeting, messaging and network strategies to increase awareness of the brand on a mass scale.

“Guthy-Renker believes in TrueCar’s mission, value proposition, and ability to revitalize and transform the auto sales industry – a landscape that currently provides few positive experiences for the consumer and shrinking margins for the retail car dealer,” said Scott Painter, CEO and Founder of TrueCar.

Guthy-Renker will play an integral role in shaping TrueCar’s brand visibility by broadening and amplifying the power of its  reach beyond the internet through the use of TV, print, radio, and other powerful advertising channels.

TrueCar has already helped more than 250,000 consumers save nearly $1 billion dollars on auto purchases, while simultaneously helping its nation-wide network of certified dealers increase velocity and maintaining margins through operational and marketing efficiencies, and a steady stream of in-market customers who are ready to buy.

For dealers who join the TrueCar certified network, the Guthy-Renker partnership opens up the floodgates for exposure to millions of potential car buyers – men, women and families who are in search of a fair price and a positive, no-hassle car buying experience.

“TrueCar offers a paradigm shift for an entire industry.  It is fundamentally changing the way cars are sold,” said Ben Van de Bunt, co-CEO of Guthy-Renker. “We are excited to partner with TrueCar and help them bring transparency and customer empowerment to an industry requiring both.”

TrueCar is poised to move beyond the services provided by traditional websites such as Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds – solutions that have provided a measure of information to car consumers over the years, but have never provided the kind of transparency, accuracy or context of the unbiased data provided by TrueCar.

“The days of lead generation and haggling over price are over,” said Bernie Brenner, Chief Strategy Officer for TrueCar.  “Moving forward, every car buyer in the United States can get a fair deal and a positive experience at the dealership.   It starts with the power of information and continues with real upfront pricing.  We are changing the game for both the dealer and the consumer.”

Brenner continued, “Guthy-Renker understands the art and the science of reaching a wide audience.  We believe this relationship is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take the TrueCar brand national.”

Ford Motor Company and FordDirect, a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and its franchise dealers, today announced the launch of iPad-optimized versions of the Ford and Lincoln Build and Price online customer shopping tool, specifically designed for the iPad and iPad 2 as well as the iPhone and Android smart phones.

The newly optimized versions of this tool provide iPad and smart phone users with immediate access to the Build and Price feature of the Ford and Lincoln sites, allowing them to virtually build a car from top to bottom, receive a price estimate and find a local dealership that can facilitate the purchase.  Since its launch, the iPad Build and Price and smart phone experience has generated nearly 750 leads per week for Ford Motor Company dealers.

DEARBORN, Mich. June 1, 2011 – Ford Motor Company and FordDirect, a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and its franchise dealers, today launched iPad-optimized versions of the Ford and Lincoln Build and Price online customer shopping tool, specifically designed for the iPad and iPad 2 as well as the iPhone and Android smart phones.  This functionality is available on Ford.com, Lincoln.com and on the FordDirect dealer websites, DealerConnection and DealerConnection Premier Customization Service.

Increasing numbers of auto shoppers are conducting online research before buying a vehicle, and a growing proportion of them are using mobile phones and other wireless devices to price and compare products as they shop.  Now iPad and smart phone users can access the Build and Price feature of the Ford and Lincoln sites, allowing them to virtually build a car from top to bottom, receive a price estimate and find a local dealership that can facilitate the purchase.

When a consumer accesses the Ford.com or Lincoln.com site on an iPad or iPad2, the iPad will automatically launch the iPad-optimized version of the Build and Price pages. The Build and Price feature can be accessed directly on an iPad at t.bp3.ford.com and t.bp3.lincoln.com.

“Our new iPad and smart phone optimized Build and Price features provide consumers with more opportunities to learn about the Ford and Lincoln vehicles they are interested in, whatever their location,” said Stacey Coopes, chief executive officer of FordDirect. “In turn, Ford and Lincoln dealers gain more opportunities to reach consumers and access leads from interested shoppers for Ford and Lincoln dealers.”

Since its launch, the iPad Build and Price and smart phone experience has generated nearly 750 leads per week for Ford Motor Company dealers.

About FordDirect

FordDirect (forddirect.com/dealercenter) is a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and its franchised dealers to create a comprehensive Web presence for dealers and provide digital marketing services that help dealers sell more cars and trucks. Ford dealers sold more than 275,000 new vehicles from FordDirect Internet referrals in 2010. FordDirect provides dealers new and pre-owned marketing services, call tracking, lead management solutions, dealer Websites, search optimization and marketing, database marketing, marketing services for regional dealer advertising groups and other marketing services. FordDirect is headquartered in Dearborn, Mich.

iPad is a trademark of Apple Inc.