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Taking videos of your vehicles

You can see our approach by clicking on our YouTube channel below. We were the first in our region, and one of the first nationally to start doing the videos, and let me assure you, we had a rough start, lol. However, we were willing to get a couple "black eyes and bloody noses" to learn how to do this in a way that our customers respond to across the last few years. We have made a video of every new make and model vehicle we have (and with 15 brands, that was a tall order). All are done in house, and we use a Sony HD video camera and Pinnacle editing software. For preowned cars, we shoot 15 second clips with digital cameras at each store and send them to folks that are interested (but do not do a full walk-around) Like most - time and manpower are a constraint. Note the link for a Google search for "New 2010 Kia Soul Cincinnati" and see what video SEO can do for you. Share your thoughts...

Jeff Wyler Youtube Channel
Example Search Engine Results using Video SEO
 
Not bad but still not worth the time in my opinion. I looked at the Tahoe video and the quality isn't very good so it would be hard for the customer to see any imperfections or perfections if you will. I still like a lot of detailed, good quality photos of a car over video. Doing the standard shots followed by pictures of specific things (good and bad) that you want the customer to see and disclose does more in my opinion. These guys do a great job with photos as do these guys to give you some examples...and they don't use videos. They both sell quite a few cars via the web.
 
We struggle with man-power. I find it difficult to get things done on the store level, with a few exceptions here and there. Doing individual videos is tough - shoot - taking photos of all new cars is damn near impossible with the inventory we have! The answer is to hire more people, but the times don't allow that :(

The man power is usually the issue AND, for many dealers..it's the hardware and internet access on the dealer level. WEBSENSE!! Old computers that just can't handle video. I tried a few times to integrate walk video arounds into the process of a few of my stores but at the end of the day..the time it took to get it done and not having access to upload video to the video sites placed a quick halt on that.

My team have put together some great videos for several of our dealers, and of course optimized them for the SERPS. I have youtube channels for most of my dealers but have used re-purposed manufacturer video with a little bit of editing thrown in the mix.

Here are a few of the videos we have done in house. They are actually better than what our video vendor produces if you as me!! LOL oops..did i say that?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qJlp2bmReY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MduTkZFoI9E
 
Food for thought: Setting the "tone" for your videos.

I ask you all, what describes the tone & tempo of your videos? Is it fun to watch, or, is it as dry as reading stock tables in the Sunday paper? You set tone and tempo. Be careful of the lifeless "corporate video", you'll be spending time and money and NOT punching thru the noise in the shoppers head... you'll be adding to it.

Shopping on the internet for a car is a 2D experience. Its flat and emotionless. Adding video to your presentation is NOT done to be more of the same. DARE TO BE DIFFERENT. People and video are like a moth is drawn to a flame. Keep an eye out among your staff for personalities that crave the limelight.

I fell off my chair with this outlier from Kevin's work: YouTube - New 2008 Kia Rebates Incentives Specials Cincinnati Wyler Who let this guy out of his cage? hahaha.... I loved it. YouTube - Cincinnati New Kia Funny Rebate Jeff Wyler Fairfield hahahaha... MORE! MORE MORE of that silly guy!

Use the web videos to tinker with new video ideas. As managers, we can look at traffic metrics and see what our audience likes and what they dont like. You can create, test and evolve an idea on the net for peanuts. You'll know if it has legs becuse we can see the traffic data..

Great work Kevin!
 
Thanks Joe. The video links we use within our sales templates are no longer posted on YouTube (we host those at another site - I put some examples below to see, we have a separate set for each of our 9 locations), but trust me - we are very willing to be silly, lol. The golden rule is that you cannot make your people do something they don't want to do, it won't work. If your sales reps don't want to be funny, and they try to force it, it shows. On the other hand, Jeremy (who has the plastic bat and some of the other goofy ones) not only has a loyal following for his videos, he sells cars left and right. At the store level, they shoot clips like that one and post them to the website or use them for email blasts. It works - we know because folks come to the dealership looking for him, lol...

As for "quality" issues, etc - I strongly disagree. First, we do shoot in HD, and if you select the HD button, you get higher quality that way. I have also had several video vendors tell me that our videos are not "professional" enough. I suppose if we spent over $100,000 to have someone else do it, then perhaps they would appear more polished. However, like other dealers watching their money, we are watching every penny. We also learned that people respond to these videos because they are not overly polished - remember, we are a midwest dealer, and our customer base can see that we are making an honest effort to give them useful info. The video is NOT created to try and sell the car online, it is created to provide useful info to our online shopper, and to build value in our name so as to get them to come to us for their next vehicle purchase. And before I fall off my soapbox, lol - everyone that is reading this that is afraid to do this in-house because they are worried their videos might not look the best, etc - take the risk! You have to be willing to get roughed up a bit in this fast moving market to find what works for you. Cheers to all!

Example "Trying to Reach You" video used within our sales templates
Example "Still considering" video used in sales templates
Here is proof that your sales team can have FUN making videos - Bloopers Video
 
Thanks Joe. The video links we use within our sales templates are no longer posted on YouTube (we host those at another site - I put some examples below to see, we have a separate set for each of our 9 locations), but trust me - we are very willing to be silly, lol. The golden rule is that you cannot make your people do something they don't want to do, it won't work. If your sales reps don't want to be funny, and they try to force it, it shows. On the other hand, Jeremy (who has the plastic bat and some of the other goofy ones) not only has a loyal following for his videos, he sells cars left and right. At the store level, they shoot clips like that one and post them to the website or use them for email blasts. It works - we know because folks come to the dealership looking for him, lol...

As for "quality" issues, etc - I strongly disagree. First, we do shoot in HD, and if you select the HD button, you get higher quality that way. I have also had several video vendors tell me that our videos are not "professional" enough. I suppose if we spent over $100,000 to have someone else do it, then perhaps they would appear more polished. However, like other dealers watching their money, we are watching every penny. We also learned that people respond to these videos because they are not overly polished - remember, we are a midwest dealer, and our customer base can see that we are making an honest effort to give them useful info. The video is NOT created to try and sell the car online, it is created to provide useful info to our online shopper, and to build value in our name so as to get them to come to us for their next vehicle purchase. And before I fall off my soapbox, lol - everyone that is reading this that is afraid to do this in-house because they are worried their videos might not look the best, etc - take the risk! You have to be willing to get roughed up a bit in this fast moving market to find what works for you. Cheers to all!

Example "Trying to Reach You" video used within our sales templates
Example "Still considering" video used in sales templates
Here is proof that your sales team can have FUN making videos - Bloopers Video

I watched the trying to reach you one. I think it was awesome.