Hi Edward and DealerRefresh Members:
First and foremost, I have enjoyed this board, I once thought about running a car dealership back within my hometown of Greenville, SC. I sold Jaguar/Volvo during this time. I could not do it, it takes a certain talent.
Second, I did want to respond to Edward regarding digital marketing. As I found that my talent was not a glove-fit for being that of a car dealer, I have gone back to my grain in that of digital marketing. In an effort not to spam, I hope that the below is read in a genuine fashion...
Curations has been created to put an end to the digital manipulation market. My father ran his own small business, he sold lumber wholesale, and would receive calls from individuals that represented themselves as an employee of Google. It was the typical pitch, 'Sir, for $3000.00 a month, we can provide you SEO services, content and so-forth.' At one point, he bought in when I was away at college. He did not think about consulting me, as at that time, there was not a clear picture of what the term digital marketing meant. Anyway, needless to say, he was scammed from an overseas company.
So, I created Curations. And we are actually a Federal nonprofit (509a sub-category; public charity). By no means does the nonprofit label mean, or should imply, that we do half-ass work. In fact, being a nonprofit is a marketing strategy within its own: our clients, whom we call Curators, can expense, with their tax expert, the majority of our services. We obviously provide our IRS Determination Letter, EIN and so-forth.
Further, we are backed as only a service-volunteer role with the Grow with Google Team. I have read on this board about new Google My Business Updates, especially as it pertains to vehicle inventory. As a Grow with Google Partner, we can assist with Grow (formally, Google My Business Pages). We can offer advice, and in many cases, provide services completely for free only for edits/advice on the Grow pages. Again, we are only volunteers within the Grow with Google program but do have additional resources and tools.
And speaking of Grow with Google, here are some free workshops that I believe could help all of you. You can do an in-person workshop based on your location, or virtually: https://growonair.withgoogle.com/#upcoming
Lastly on the topic of Grow with Google, The Grow team commenced a series in 2021 October, entitled: Showcase Your Business and Products to Shoppers Online. Again, the series, and website linking to the series, are all Official Google: completely free. I thought that this series in particular could help ya'll within automotive.
And I hope that I am not spamming, but if I am, I truly apologize. If not, then I welcome anyone to Curations.org. Though we are revamping to a new CMS, we can be reached in the email posted. We have flex budgeting for design, marketing and development.
I value small business. Not saying that your dealership is or is not, but I wish that Curations had more competition in the water as it pertained to marketers being digital stewards as opposed to manipulaters. I could assume that we all value organic-digital word of mouth. At Curations, we hope to achieve such by curating a genuine bond: referrals can sometimes beat a big paid invoice.
Long post, but commend you all for being dealers. It is hard to have not only inventory, but I am sure to manage many different personalities. I hope that there was a good freebie of a takeaway within this post. Took a bit to write, likely long to read!
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