July 27, 2010 • 8:32 pm 0
RV dealers take note of this blog post:
“Dear Car Dealerships – Stop Sucking” (specifically, stop w/ the bad websites, you can do much better and that’s where consumers shop!) via Chris Brogan’s blog http://bit.ly/baXmOB
*photo credit Electric Images
Filed under: Local Biz Tools, The Basics, article, Chris Brogan, dealer marketing, dealer website, interactive marketing, mobile marketing, mobile website, online presence, RV marketing, RV sales, RV website, to read
July 12, 2010 • 12:48 pm 2
After posting last week about the importance of collecting addresses and the advantages of email marketing (here), we thought that we’d share a great article, the “7 top tips to integrate email with social media” to help get your brain churning even more!
These two forms of marketing (email and social media) can join forces to help your dealership get the most out of both of them! Check out this article, “7 top tips to integrate email with social media” (by Tink Taylor) for some great and practical ideas on how to combine social media and email marketing efforts.
Our favorite tips from the article:
1. Include ‘share on social network’ links in your email messages.
This makes it easy for your email readers to share the content they find valuable. If you make it easy for someone to share, they’re more likely to do it (and sharing is what it’s really all about)! Add “share” buttons to content and links you focus on in your email efforts. AND, if you don’t already, make sure that you have these same share buttons on your blog. Make it easy to share every piece of content your dealership creates!
2. Use blog posts as content for email newsletters.
A lot of people think that having a newsletter and a blog is going to be a lot of extra writing work, but that’s not always the case! Get the most out of your writing by using it in multiple ways. Feature your best blog posts in your email campaigns (and conversely highlight newsletter material on your blog).
Filed under: Email Marketing, article, customers, dealer marketing, Email Marketing, email newsletters, Email Promotions, email tips, Obtaining Email Adresses, rv dealership, RV sales, social media, social media marketing
July 9, 2010 • 9:56 am 1
For most RV dealers, summer is the busy selling season, the time when customer traffic is at it’s peak and the camping season is underway. It also happens to be a great time to collect your customer’s email addresses and build a list your dealership can use for the rest of the year (and years to come!).
Email marketing is a great way to stay in touch with customers. You’re not only reaching them where they are (on their computer or their phone) but you’re providing them with a dynamic message – giving them links, images, and a way to respond. Best of all, you’ll save a ton of money doing by utilizing email marketing. In comparison to traditional marketing mediums, email marketing costs only a fraction (it’s way cheaper than print, TV, radio, or outdoor advertising). To top it all off, email marketing campaigns provide fairly advanced tracking methods. You can easily see who opened your email, how many times they opened it, what links they clicked on, when they clicked on links, and much more! Email tracking provides important metrics for follow-up and marketing planning.
Today, we just want to remind you that the first step in being able to use email marketing effectively is to build an up-to-date list of your customer’s email addresses (you should not plan on buying or renting a list). So, get on it! Ask every prospect and every customers for their email addresses (We’re sure you can think of a tasteful way to do it)!
For more information on email marketing and the importance of recording all your customer’s and potential customer’s email addresses, click here.
Filed under: Email Marketing, Quick Tips, campaign tracking, customers, dealer marketing, email lists, Email Marketing, Email Promotions, Obtaining Email Adresses, reminder, rv dealership, RV sales, sales prospecting, Tracking
July 7, 2010 • 3:53 pm 1
Without a doubt, social media is a powerful marketing tool for your RV dealership. BUT, with that said, social media should not be used to push an advertising message.
The bottom line:
Nobody is checking their Facebook or visiting Twitter to be sold to, they’re not there to listen to “Sale!” “Buy!” “Visit today!” or “Shop now!”. People in social media do not want to be inundated with sales messages. People are on social media to connect and engage in conversation.
So, you might ask, “Without an advertising angle, how is social media a helpful marketing tool?”
Our answer:
Marketing, in it’s most basic form, is about finding out what a customer’s needs are and explaining your unique solution for meeting those needs. Marketing in social media is no different. Use social media to listen to your customers and prospects. Find out what they’re talking about, what they need, and then offer solutions/help/recommendations/advice. Use social media to become a resource for your customers, to establish a relationship, build trust, and help them with their RVing needs (whether it be camping advice, parts recommendations, service tips, or product knowledge)!
Social media allows you to differentiate your dealership on something other than price. It allows you to capitalize on your dealership’s strengths, know-how, customer service, and products. In social media, you’re can actually communicate with customers and prospects, not just hit them with a sales message.
Social media is not meant for shouting sales messages.
Photo credit: Tim Parkinson
Filed under: Strategy, The Basics, Why social media?, Consumers, customer service, customers, dealer marketing, dealership, Listening, marketing, marketing basics, push message, rv dealership, RV sales, sales message, shouting, social media, social media marketing
