Spent the day at Kings Volvo in Southampton talking to their Marketing Manager. Very interesting that car dealerships are now waking up to the possibilities presented by being able to monitor what's being said by their customers online. In essence, they wouldn't ignore a customer complaining in their showroom so why would they ignore customers complaining about them online.
After all, a customer in a dealership will be heard by a few passers by. A customer who complains on a forum or board can be seen by the whole world!! That soon makes most open their eyes.
But with a few free-to-use tools set up, they'll start to understand their place in the online landscape and start communicating with their customers in a language that their customers want to use - every one's a winner.
Friday, May 8, 2009
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Hi Duncan..
ReplyDeleteGreat to see some inspiration from within the motor trade, great blog!
I wholeheartedly agree that the importance on internet marketing should not be underestimated by UK Businesses, including those within the motor trade. I am head of Business Development for a company that successfully promotes a product into the motor and insurance sectors.
Since attending thre excellent Google courses, getting to grips with publishing our own blogs, we have seen a marked improvement in the traffic visiting our website.
Furthermore, we were asked by some of our insurance and motor partners to prepared some internet marketing guidance for them. I'm happy to share this for your benefit and for any of your dealerships.
If you visit our motor trade blog at http://motorandfinance.blogspot.com and our consumer awareness blog at http://theftprotect.blogspot.com you'll get the idea of what we're up to.
In particular you might like the post on business blogging at :-http://motorandfinance.blogspot.com/2009/05/business-blogging.html and our post on business twittering at :-
http://motorandfinance.blogspot.com/2009/05/uk-businesses-are-twittering-at-record.html
Hope some of this is echoes your views that businesses need to grasp the baton of internet marketing if they are to compete and really connect with their customer... including the social networking sites. Should you want to get in touch to exchange ideas, you'll find my contact e mail address on our blog http://motorandfinance.blogspot.com
Best of luck with your efforts Duncan
Kind Regards
Steve Bennett
Nice 1 Limited
twitter me at http://twitter.com/niceoneuk
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteSounds like great minds think alike. I'll have a look at the blogs and let you know. I believe that the crucial point is the nobody is doing this stuff yet because for some rerason, they're scared of it. No idea why, I'm just trying to break down the barriers for those who want to embrace it, and gaining a competitive advantage from those who don't.
Ah well, all's fair in love and war!
Best regards, Duncan
Absolutely right, Duncan. I my experience monitoring online social media internationally for several car brands, the dealer/service network and customer service is one of the worst valued elements which can ultimately make an undesirbale impact on purchase decisions.
ReplyDeleteHi Jonathan. In my view, it's about the whole customer experience. The manufacturer can so anything he likes to engage with audiences online and talk to customers in their language but if that all falls down when they enter the dealer world, all the good work falls apart. Getting them on board would be a great development.
ReplyDelete