Customers want more VIDEO - What is (or would be) your strategy?

[Steve Stauning]

Of course, all this "engagement" talk begs the question: Does it sell cars? The list is long of efforts and solutions where dealers wasted time and dollars. While there are certainly examples of video driving sales, there are more examples of video wasting money and time... Anyone have any real ROI stats or proven best practices to share, or should dealers just go with their guts on this one?

 

[Jim Barisano]

Sprout Social's recent post - 9 stats social media marketers need to show their bosses ASAP
they summarized the 9 stats from their Social Index, one of those stats pointed out that 45% of consumers say they would like to see more video (particularly live) from brands.

I guess dealers could point to the manufacture, it being their responsibility but if you're looking for actual results from your own dealer's social marketing efforts then of course the videos would need to come from and represent your dealers "brand" AND the make you sell/represent.

"It’s clear that live video will become a must-have for social media marketing, and with live streaming options available across all the major social networks, there’s no easy way for brands to overlook this feature going forward."

"63% of social media marketers believe live video will become more important in the upcoming year, yet only 24% intend to create a strategy around video"

If this question were polled to only dealers, I'm sure the 24% would be closer to 1-2% that would have any intention. In-house production for 99% of dealers is out of the question and outsourcing would tend to be expensive and I doubt too many dealers would allocate the budget.

HOWEVER - I'm curious if any dealers out there ARE implementing a strategy around video and if so, mind sharing some of your strategies and how it's been successful?
What are the subject(s) of your videos? Feel free to share any examples...
Are you producing in-house (amature-ish) or outsourcing to an agency?

Okay, I'll go out on a limb here and highly doubt no one from a dealership answers the above questions BUT let's PRETEND you're at a dealership and you have the budget allocated - what WOULD BE your strategy?

Maybe you know of a dealer(s) that already has a strong presence and strategy with video and you can point to some of their examples?

Let's even open this up to any agencies out there in the industry that's producing video, or would at least like to produce and develop a strategy for a dealership... what are/would be some of your ideas?

ANYTHING you got, or you've seen from a dealership hitting it hard in the social video department that's worth sharing - please do so below!

I'll quote one dealer, Joel Davis of Matthews Auto Group to demonstrate ROI of video test drives: "Matthews Auto’s 6 Dealerships and 11 Websites have been utilizing the WheelsTV Showroom since before 2017. Since this time, we have seen a tremendous jump in not only our Website VDP Views, but also, Time on Site, Page Views, and Conversions. Wheels TV for Matthews has not only been a great addition to our websites, but more importantly it is heavily utilized by our Sales and BDC teams when attaching Videos to email blasts in our CRM. It provides the Customer that “WOW” factor so to speak. In addition to the Websites and CRM emails, our Sales teams have utilized the Social Sharing of Wheels TV Vehicle Videos from their own logins through Facebook.

CRM Integration has been incredible! Each of our BDC Reps has created Video Templates in our CRM, and attaching a Wheels TV video is very simple. We have seen Email Open rates sky-rocket – to the tune of 42% on 5th to 20th Day Emails, with Click Thru Rates averaging 32%. As Google has stated the top types of videos auto shoppers search for include; Vehicle Test Drives, Highlights of Features and Options, and Walkthroughs of the interior and exterior of the vehicle… This is Exactly what our Customers see on Wheels TV Videos.

There are a couple of other Video companies that provide a similar service, and we have been approached by them on a few occasions, however we have no intention of switching. Jim, and his Training and Technical Teams provide Exceptional Customer Service. Whenever we have a question or a concern, it is answered immediately, many times by Jim himself! It is a rarity to see the CEO of one of your vendors answer a question or concern. That type of Customer Service and attention goes without saying."
Sincerely,
Joel D. Davis
Director of Internet Sales
Matthews Auto Group

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Of course, all this "engagement" talk begs the question: Does it sell cars? The list is long of efforts and solutions where dealers wasted time and dollars. While there are certainly examples of video driving sales, there are more examples of video wasting money and time... Anyone have any real ROI stats or proven best practices to share, or should dealers just go with their guts on this one?

@Steve Stauning I don't believe anyone in this community would go with their "gut" when it comes to deciding which marketing efforts are working.

"Does It Sell Cars?" What does a marketing channel NEED to do to justify being an answer to the question Does it Sell Cars?

Does paid search sell cars?
Does a strong SEO strategy sell cars?
Does a website with a strong conversion sell cars?
Does utilizing Social Media sell cars?
Does listing your inventory on Cars.com sell cars?
How should a dealer justify VIDEO selling cars?

 

[Jonas Dominique]

Love the suggestions and feedback! We use it more as a branding tool and highlight why we are different. This is something we are very proud of and it is completely free -

You're spot on. I see way too many dealerships with NO BRAND, NO VOICE, and NO DISTINCTION. If all you are is the next best incentive, you've lost your storefront, your reputation is going to be only as good as your next worst competitor, and you're wasting most of the money you spend on lead gen paid ads.

My advice on the video front: Don't overproduce it. Keep it positive and lighthearted. Remember, the world of a sales team is "high pulse, high energy, red bull, yelling, and screaming - the world of a consumer, while consuming media on facebook, is "oh look, a cat video, hey - Rhonda had a baby, oh no there's only one rhino left in the world, CAR COMMERCIAL?" Make it something that fits into the channel you're posting it to, so that it rewards the consumer for giving you their time and leaves them with an emotional response - you want them to recall your brand for the right reasons. Make them laugh. Keep them informed. DON'T SELL TO THEM. You'll have a negative effect.

 

[Alexander Lau]

The right video marketing strategy gives you complete attribution, and complete bi-directional control of the customer experience, across your entire video marketing network, and in real-time.

Does this help you sell cars and how? Which ones? What attribution system do you have in place to make sure you are able to measure it?

 

[Todd Thompson]

@Todd Thomspon - VERY AWESOME. Thanks very much for sharing with the community. I hope everyone takes a moment to watch https://www.steeleauto.com/steele.m4v

So even though this comes across more directed towards an internal communication, you're getting this in front of actual cuy buying and service customers? What has been the overall results you have seem from this video?

The videos go to our customers in sales, service and subprime. Like in the video, the chev store alone sent 60,000 videos to customers in 2018. Some notes: at this rate they expect over $300,000 in customer pay over 2018. Sold more filters then anyone in Canada. Brake service up 220% etc

Much like the video says: nothing comes close to the change in the past 10 years in service

Sales sends average 150 videos per day as does service (open and closed RO). They send a thank you video in service for CSI for example

 

[Todd Thompson]

I posted a link but I understand this may be more convenient for those who may be interested.

One of our stores won the GM Innovation Award for 2018 (first time ever for a Canadian dealer) for an application I developed for our group in-house. There is no doubt whatsoever that personalized, direct video answering questions or concerns wins deals and service work... zero doubt. If you don't have this as a process, I can guarantee, you are missing out. We have the stats, the dollars per RO, the sales, the comments from customers, the uptake in business despite a downturn in the overall industry. Simple as that.

Few caveats to remember in order to succeed:

1. You need a decent and preferably integrated system
2. You need to push the usage every day
3. You need to review that weeks best/worst videos at sales/service meetings weekly
4. Has to be the way you do business

Couple surprises/revelations along the way:

• People love this - the transparency
• We can have less higher paid service advisors as the videographers do the upsell and service simply takes the order
• Enforcing the video process has ensured all steps are taken whether it be sales or service, reps, advisors or techs
• You may be surprised that without this kind of process, your service advisors are determining for your customers if they want the additional work and may not be presenting the options... just saying, its probably happening

 

[Eley Duke]

I posted a link but I understand this may be more convenient for those who may be interested.

One of our stores won the GM Innovation Award for 2018 (first time ever for a Canadian dealer) for an application I developed for our group in-house. There is no doubt whatsoever that personalized, direct video answering questions or concerns wins deals and service work... zero doubt. If you don't have this as a process, I can guarantee, you are missing out. We have the stats, the dollars per RO, the sales, the comments from customers, the uptake in business despite a downturn in the overall industry. Simple as that.

The videos go to our customers in sales, service and subprime. Like in the video, the chev store alone sent 60,000 videos to customers in 2018. Some notes: at this rate they expect over $300,000 in customer pay over 2018. Sold more filters then anyone in Canada. Brake service up 220% etc

Much like the video says: nothing comes close to the change in the past 10 years in service

Sales sends average 150 videos per day as does service (open and closed RO). They send a thank you video in service for CSI for example

This is really cool, and should win awards. We do some video through text and use to through You Tube a while back then changed BDC managers. Is this 100% home grown and run in house or are you all using some outside vendors or apps? Thanks

 

[Eley Duke]

I'm curious what vendors or apps dealers are using and the results. Such as "is it selling cars" - and "is your team utilizing it 100%"

I'd like to find a product that is like what Todd describes, one platform for sales and service, simply able to text and email video with ability to reply quickly to approve repairs and communicate about sales.

 

[DoWhatYouSay]

Excellent use case Todd. Congrats! Service side certainly has a lot of compelling reasons to leverage this. I believe that in order to get similar leverage from the sales side of the house, a one-off video would also be most effective and relevant. Here lies the conundrum... is it prudent to allow a sales team member to shoot and put out whatever video content whenever he/she wants? Maybe not. But think about the impact of starting a video with "Hi Tim. This is Jeff down at ABC Toyota, and I wanted to give you some more details on the 2017 Camry that you asked about." Sure, this takes time and effort, but why wouldn't you use every club in your bag to get a dialogue started?

Yes, you want video it to be candid, cordial, relevant, (and personal, wherever possible). What you don't probably don't want is to include an overly-wrinkled shirt, mustard stained sleeve, or something that may not be flattering for the individual or the dealership. It may not require a pro, but should include some pre-shooting thought.