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  1. ed.brooks

    What in the world did I miss? This changes NOW!

    My boss is a real slave driver. I've been so busy that I really haven't spent much time here recently. That will change right now! Scrolling some posts I saw something I never saw before — a banned user! I needed to do some research! I was curious! Looking at the last hurrah of...
  2. ed.brooks

    No Google Analytics in 2018

    I was in a multi-make franchise dealership yesterday and I asked the Digital Marketing Manager if they had Multi-Channel Funnels set up in Google Analytics with conversion goals, etc. He then pulled up their Dealer.com dashboard... I said, "no, in Google Analytics..." and he replied that they...
  3. ed.brooks

    Cars.com Cars.com Launches Social Sales Drive Technology to Power Social Selling for Automotive

    The Cars.com integration was announced today -- goes live tomorrow. (excuse the spam) Cars.com Launches Social Sales Drive Technology to Power Social Selling for Automotive Latest product in company's suite of social solutions connects car dealers and auto manufacturers with active shoppers on...
  4. ed.brooks

    You can optimize your listings on 3rd-party sites -- and should!

    I make the contention that the 3rd-party sites are the most important search engines for used car shopping. Here's how to optimize your listings. "Car Dealers; How to optimize your used car inventory for third-party sites"
  5. ed.brooks

    What video/photo gear do YOU use?

    Photos have always been important. Videos are increasingly important (see Digital video consumption is skyrocketing). What gear do YOU use for content creation?
  6. ed.brooks

    I know you want more leads, BUT -

    If you concentrate on driving leads from sites that are primarily Price driven (one of the New Four Ps of Automotive Marketing), are you missing out? For more insights download The Cars.com Guide to the New Four Ps of Automotive Marketing...
  7. ed.brooks

    Will the transition to Digital Retailing be difficult?

    I don't think it will be easy - for MOST dealers. At least not today.
  8. ed.brooks

    Getting found is only half the battle - SEO is NOT enough

    This is an AWESOME post from Moz - Location Data + Reviews: The 1–2 Punch of Local SEO “If I could drive home one topic in 2017 for local business owners, it would surround everything relating to reviews. This would include rating, consumer sentiment, velocity, authenticity, and owner...
  9. ed.brooks

    Is Google launching a true attribution tool?

    Yesterday, my twitter feed blew up with the news of the newly announced Google Attribution tool. Finally - we may be able to end Last Click Attribution! Then, as I started to learn more, this seemed more like a PPC Justification Tool. It seems that is designed to put the fat thumb of Google on...
  10. ed.brooks

    Is 'Digital Signage' needed to sell cars?

    This article came up on Automotive News yesterday - 'GM plans digital signage push across U.S. dealerships' According to the article, "General Motors plans to make digital signage part of its dealership facility requirements for the first time, starting next year." The article goes on to...
  11. ed.brooks

    Your CRM is the BEST Marketing Decision Driver, Right?

    I read two fantastic, ground-breaking, eye-opening posts this week -- The first was from Brian Pasch on LinkedIn -- "Stop Guessing And Don't Trust Your CRM" And the second was from Darren Haygood on the Transparency.ai blog -- "NOW HIRING – Hoverboard Department Manager" Both address a...
  12. ed.brooks

    Do you think that if you knew more about the Consumer Journey you could sell more cars?

    On January 16 2017 eConsutancy published this excellent blog post: Mapping the customer journey doesn't have to be difficult A few highlights - 2016 research by Econsultancy in APAC suggested 'understanding of the customer journey' is poor. My initial thought was that most dealers I speak...
  13. ed.brooks

    Interview with CarMax's CIO offers insight...

    Great interview with CarMax's CIO on the Forbes website. This is what you're up against. Recent imperatives include, "online finance and home delivery". Did you notice what's missing? The quest for LEADS! There are 22 instances of the word 'experience' in this interview, and zero instances...
  14. ed.brooks

    Are Dealers Spending Too Much On Paid Search?

    In "It’s Enough to be ‘Found’, Right?" I look at the data; dealers will spend very close to 4 billion on paid search in 2016. Then I look at the analyst's prediction that the paid search spend will go DOWN by 62% in the next two years. My question to you is, do you think dealers are spending too...
  15. ed.brooks

    J.D. Power 2016 Automotive Mobile Site Study - How did your manufacturer do?

    The new J.D. Power 2016 Automotive Mobile Site Study is out, how did your manufacturer do? J.D. Power ranks the mobile sites of both the Manufacturers and the 3rd Parties. This is THE pull-quote, in mind; “Automotive manufacturer and third-party websites are increasingly being accessed via...
  16. ed.brooks

    Seems to me that Ford is cannibalizing their own organic traffic

    "Ford got 93.4% of paid traffic from the keyword “ford,” up from 83.7% in January 2016" Seems to me that Ford is cannibalizing their own organic traffic (free clicks) and they are shifting that traffic over to paid traffic (expensive clicks). Google is laughing all the way to the bank! And...
  17. ed.brooks

    Attribution: Do you give the last touchpoint all of the credit for a sale?

    I read, with a great interest, a post on DMNews.com Marketers' Twisted Cross-Channel Attribution [Infographic]. At one point it was stated "...almost one quarter of marketers (23%) still give the first or last touchpoint all of the credit." I added the emphasis on the word 'still' because the...
  18. ed.brooks

    Did SEO Ever Really Help Sell Cars?

    One of the smartest guys in the automotive marketing world, Eric Miltsch, wrote, “You don’t need to hire an SEO professional, you need to hire a team of marketing professionals who also understand data science, shopping psychology and user intent” under the heading Standalone SEO Gets...