Are our manufacturers worse than we are?

[Jeff Kershner]

Alex,

Great posting. I too would like to see more ISM’s comment on how well they think their manufacturers are doing with their online marketing presence.

I think overall Mercedes-Benz does a decent job. I use the word decent lightly because there is a lot more they could and should be doing.

Being apart of the Mercedes-Benz Internet Marketing Dealer Advisory Committee I see where Mercedes-Benz is focusing a lot their online marketing efforts. I know the new MBUSA.com website is going to be a huge improvement over the current. Redesigned dealer OEM sites are also in the near future. They are hardly spending the amount they should be on online marketing but the “new crew” over at Mercedes-Benz corporate that is in charge of online marketing are trying desperately to change this. I can only imagine how difficult it is to deal with the old school German mentality of Mercedes-Benz.

Mercedes-Benz doesn’t have a choice BUT to be aggressive with their online marketing. Their direct competition all but crushes them when it comes to internet efforts from the manufacture and dealer level.

Can you say Lexus? Lexus seems to do a better job then any other premium vehicle manufacture in the United States (I’d give Audi a close second but only on the manufacturer advertising level). I know Mercedes-Benz USA does recognize this and will continue to push forward. They just need to better tap into the younger market. The new C-Class can and I hope will do this. It’s the prime opportunity to do so.

 

[Donny Beckman]

Ah yes, The mfg.Crm tool. What always amazes me is when they start to present this tool they always go to the dealer principal with response times. Then the Ism pulls the report , takes it to the Gm and shows the response times are in line. But, they never match the Mfg's clock. I always ask what metrics were used to formulate this clock from a variety of lead sources and really never get an answer back. In fact many times after deep research I have actually found that leads took the longest arriving from many Mfg's programs. They only start the clock, when they forward to you. I would like to see their response time!
Donny

 

[Lindsey]

What I don't understand is why the manufacturer forces us to use vendors for our dealer websites that use Flash and Frames and are not SEO friendly. If we want to make our Flash website SEO friendly, we have to pay extra for this service. I considered going out on my own and not using the manufacturer's vendor, but then we lose our Dealer Website Link on the manufacturer's site. Now, all of the dealers in our market have similar websites. Any advice?

The automotive industry is starting to catch on to the fact that online marketing is the future, but the "recommended" vendors and the vendors so highly praised in the dealer publications are outrageously expensive. The online marketing vendors exclusive to the automotive industry charge 10 times more than other industries. They want to charge thousands of dollars per month to host websites, manage email marketing and SEO. Why would I want to pay my website vendor thousands per month to "optimize" my Flash website. Shouldn't that be included? Why not use a different platform? And I don't even want to go on about the outrageous fees for managing SEM. Even if the manufacturer co-ops 50% of your Google budget, you still have to pay their vendor an outrageous fee to manage the SEM for you. Anyone else relate to this?

 

[Joe Pistell]

Lindsey,
I totally agree, the last thing I wanted was to look like every other competitor. We're 80% done with http://www.breseechevrolet.com/

AND...
I'd like to take a minute to thank all the other web site providers for making it easy for me to dominate our local SEO rankings.

Joe

 

[Brian T in Etown]

@alex
Just curious who your account manager is over at dealer.com.
I really like your website and I am curious how you went about setting it up. I use dealer.com as well.

 

[Alex Snyder (blog)]

Brian,

My email address is axsnyder @ Checkeredflag dot com - I'm more than happy to discuss Dealer.com with you. How's the young Swope? I had fun hanging out with him at the last smart Car meeting.

By the way, I just got back from two days at Dealer.com headquarters in Vermont - great bunch of people, very cool facility.....I had a great time! Some cool stuff in the works - be on the lookout for a new Checkered Flag.com!

 

[Brian T in Etown]

Cindy at Dealer.com mentioned that when I spoke to her on Friday.
I will be in touch with you shortly. Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge with me.
Not sure which Swope your talking about.....quite a few of them in these parts that dabble in the car business; 22 franchises spread through the state, last time I counted.