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Advertising ideas and best practice for 2026

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dfitz21

Green Pea
Apr 19, 2020
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Daniel
#1
We have been doing the same thing for 20 years. There is so much new technology out there and I think we are behind the curve. I would love to suggestions from the group. Here is what we are doing currently.

Dealercenter DMS
Dealercenter website - which I really don't like and would like suggestions
autotrader.com - not sure how effective they have become
cars.com - same
cargurus - largest lead source right now
google adwords - current provider hasn't made any changes in 4 years - not sure how to gauge its effectiveness
facebook - we currently don't post, need to figure out how. Was looking at shiftly but I am open to any suggestions
autosweet - facebook retargetting - not sure of their effectiveness.
Photobooth - we have one but the pictures still suck. Should we be using software?

If you were to start over what would your strategy look like? I don't think we want to switch from dealercenter as a DMS. I just want to streamline and measure our online adverting. Open to all suggestions. Really appreciate it

Dan @ Geneva Foreign - www.gfs1.com
 
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#2
That's a LOADED question Daniel. I'd recommend sticking around and participating in the conversations. Over some time, you'll have some answers to your question. There's 20 years of conversations on here so feel free to utilize our Search.

Photobooth - we have one but the pictures still suck. Should we be using software?

Many many MANY threads and conversation on this exact topic are here in the forums. This will get you started...

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Richie, there is a full spectrum of BGR (Background Replacement) services, including fully manual services from third world countries. CarCutter is a good one. I talk to dealers all day. Everyone has a different preference like Bill, Richie, Joe, Dan, and Dalton. That’s why we provide a...
forum.dealerrefresh.com forum.dealerrefresh.com

Photo Booth Services

We are a large used dealer looking to add a photo booth. We photo are 150 cars per month. Currently running a DealerOn site with Spincar. Does anyone have experiance with some of these bigger name photo booth companies and purchasing one outright? What would be our best course of action? We have...
forum.dealerrefresh.com forum.dealerrefresh.com

Picture Quality

One of the biggest issues we deal with in regards to pictures is that not only do we not have a picture booth, we really don't have ANY good place to take pictures. We actually take pictures in our service drive because it seems to be the only place we can get any consistency. It of course has...
forum.dealerrefresh.com forum.dealerrefresh.com

Wow - new photo filter PERFECT for cars

I'm heavily thinking about buying this filter for my Fuji X100VI and letting it live on that camera. My purposes are very different, but this thing would ROCK vehicle photography. It is called the Everyday Filter by PolarPro in collaboration with one of modern photography's biggest badasses...
forum.dealerrefresh.com forum.dealerrefresh.com
forum.dealerrefresh.com

People's Choice Awards for Best Vehicle Photos?

Great examples, thank you, and keep them coming! Question for the group: I along with others have advocated getting images of high-value, differentiating options early in the photo carousel. So instead of a 24-photo carousel having 12 exterior, then 12 interior photos, we would instead capture...
forum.dealerrefresh.com forum.dealerrefresh.com
 
#3
What about Staten Digital? ever heard of them? Seem promising to help manage my online ad spend. Tired of trying to put everything into a spreadsheet and get nothing out of it. Dealership accelerator looks promising too. Doing a demo with them tomorrow. I wish the was just one silver bullet to solve the whole equation or at least manage it.
 
#4
Nope, first time hearing of Staten Digital. Though the funder Martin Staten looks familiar to me. As for Dealership Accelerator, that's another new(er) service I'm not familiar with.

There seems to be a swell of "consultants" and resellers popping up in the industry here lately. Be sure to get plenty of referrals and do your due diligence in researching them out.
 
#7
Dealership Accelerator / Drive AI is a GoHighLevel whitelabel (popular with affiliate marketers). They pay $297/month for unlimited GHL client accounts and then resell it at whatever price they choose.
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#8
dfitz21 said:
We have been doing the same thing for 20 years. There is so much new technology out there and I think we are behind the curve. I would love to suggestions from the group. Here is what we are doing currently.

Dealercenter DMS
Dealercenter website - which I really don't like and would like suggestions
autotrader.com - not sure how effective they have become
cars.com - same
cargurus - largest lead source right now
google adwords - current provider hasn't made any changes in 4 years - not sure how to gauge its effectiveness
facebook - we currently don't post, need to figure out how. Was looking at shiftly but I am open to any suggestions
autosweet - facebook retargetting - not sure of their effectiveness.
Photobooth - we have one but the pictures still suck. Should we be using software?

If you were to start over what would your strategy look like? I don't think we want to switch from dealercenter as a DMS. I just want to streamline and measure our online adverting. Open to all suggestions. Really appreciate it

Dan @ Geneva Foreign - www.gfs1.com
Click to expand...
Hello, My name is Jerry and I am an owner of Northway Automotive in NJ. Been in business 27 years
Some of these are for sure outdated in my option.
Currently what we use - have 3 locations and around 200 vehicles in stock

Automate DMS - will simplify your accounting/billing/parts/service/payroll process - all in one solution and considering what you get with it fairly priced.
We were on Dealer On but currently switched to Overfuel and could not be happier - I can send you info on person that offers great discount vs going with just direct inquiry to them.
we use Autotrader/cars.com/car gurus just cancelled Carfax - too expensive and not enough leads from them
Have a company that will automatically post your units to Facebook daily
Photos - yes and yes, we use company and process is super quick with great results - no need for photobooth :)

If you want to chat feel free to reach out directly and I can recommend more for you and get you with good people,
Are you using anyone to track your leads, and give you metric on which advertising vendor does well for you ?>
What do you use for CRM? if dealer center I think you need to switch to get better engagement.
What do you use for vehicle merchandising/appraising/ and descriptions?
Using any recon tool to know what each vehicle needs/locations/and time to retail metric ?
 
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