Vehicle sales have been stalling as the economy is trying to sort itself out and potential consumers are trying to hang on to their vehicles as long as possible. To combat this, dealerships and manufacturers have been getting creative in attempting to lure buyers to their shops.

In the latest in a string of various incentives Chrysler Corporation announced on Wednesday that it will be limiting the amount its customers will be paying for gasoline when they purchase selected new models.

The idea of incentives is not a new one to the automotive industry. First it was the $0 down 0% interest offers, followed by the employee discount offers. Some dealerships even offered “buy a new car, get a used car free” or Dell desktop computers with the purchase of a new vehicle. But with the price of gasoline increasing and with no signs of stopping, Chrysler thinks they’ve got the next big one.

“It’s something that’s unprecedented in the car business,” said Craig Stickler, general manager of Maxwell Taylor Chrysler. The news “was released night before last and we received probably between, in the neighborhood of 20 to 25 calls yesterday and the phones have been ringing off the hook,” said Stickler.

The plan is to offer purchasers of specific models a special credit card that allows them to purchase gasoline for $2.99 a gallon for regular or diesel fuel for a period of three years. If gas prices raise above the $2.99 per gallon mark during that time period, Chrysler will pay the difference.

Stickler predicts that this is a move that other manufacturers will follow, and Chrysler is already hinting that it will extend the offer beyond the June 2 deadline. Customers also seem to be interested. “I definitely would look into that. I tell you because you feel it at the pump now. You really do,” said Darwin Tanksley, one man feeling the fuel crunch.

Ready to get more buyers through your dealership doors? Check out new information about automotive search engine brand marketing and find out how to get them through Google.

In a sagging automotive industry, it’s easy to get dejected about the state of vehicle sales in America. Automotive dealerships can always find new ways to market their products, but some things seem just about impossible to sell. With gas prices at never before seen levels and an increase in consumer concern about the environment, what do you do with all of the sport utility vehicles and pick-up trucks hanging around the dealership?

According to a recent article in Forbes Magazine, the auto industry has an especially tough time with consumer shifts. It takes about four years for car companies to alter production schedules, and a lot of vehicles get made in those four years. Somebody has to sell them, and that somebody is your dealership.

So how do you sell the cars it seems like nobody wants?

“We all know the saying about one man’s trash being another man’s treasure, and you just need to find the man who treasures your trash,” says marketing professor John Zhang. Instead of just finding new customers, you have to start looking for different ones.

Traditional automotive marketing works in a market that’s operating traditionally. With the current market down-turn, traditional marketing initiatives don’t work as well. This is when you have to start getting creative.

Stephen Hoch, another marketing professor, says that you have to find a way to get around people’s natural objections. You need to “frame an offer to get rid of the objection.” In the case of SUVs, dealerships that are offering free gas deals to combat rising fuel prices are noticing improvements. It only works on people that aren’t buying because of gas prices, but it’s a start.

Zhang advises dealerships and marketing teams truly put themselves in the shoes of their customers.
Envision their objections and see what resources you have to remove them. Don’t be afraid to try new automotive marketing techniques and keep at it. You might be surprised by what works.

It’s no surprise that the auto industry is in a slump. Gas prices are high, most of America is mortgaged to the hilt, and consumers are finding there’s too much month left at the end of the money.

According to information from sales tracker Autodata, April vehicle sales showed surprising information. Despite the sluggish economy, passenger vehicle sales were up five percent. At the same time, sales of trucks and sport utility vehicles plummeted over 17 percent.

Automotive marketing experts suggest that this disparity in sales data results from consumer mind shifts. When the price of gasoline is through the roof, the better your cars are on gas, the more you’ll sell. US auto makers are sitting up and paying attention to this shift in customer focus.

Mark LaNeve, the VP of Sales, Service and Marketing for GM North America says, “Consumer preference is shifting and we’re shifting with it.”

Both GM and Ford are planning to cut back second quarter truck and SUV production as more and more customers are opting for smaller vehicles. George Pipas, a Ford sales analyst, says that people who bought F-150 pickup trucks as fashion accessories just a few years ago are now looking at sedans. “People who didn’t need the utility of pickup truck are trading them in.”

What does this mean to the average local auto dealership?

Whether you’re looking at your automotive marketing online, your radio slots, or your print publications, the important thing to focus on right now is fuel efficiency. This is the time to play up your vehicles that are great on gas, especially hybrids.

“It’s clear that gas prices are weighing heavily on car-buyers’ minds,” says Jesse Toprak of Edmunds.com. If you take the opportunity to highlight your vehicles with great fuel efficiency you have the chance to capitalize on this trend before your competitors and ride out the slump.

“So what do you do for a living?”

How often have we all heard that question come out of someone’s mouth? Usually uttered at cocktail parties where few people know each other, this question establishes a framework for the relationships we have with everyone around us.

When we find out what people do for a living, we can determine what they can do for us and what we can do for them, creating networks that can last a lifetime. And who doesn’t want a friend who sells cars?

Except there are only so many people you can invite to a cocktail party, and only so many cocktail parties you can attend. So how do you turn this handy piece of information into more car sales without spending the next 30 Saturdays at cocktail parties?

- Utilize social media to make local contacts -

Social media has changed the way the internet — and the world — works. People are connecting with other people in ways they never could before. They would never have the time or ability to meet before this new technology became available. Now they’re not only meeting, but becoming friends.

To use social media to forward your business goals, the first thing you have to understand is who it is that buys your product. In the auto salesperson’s case, those people are local. Focus your energies on meeting new online contacts that you know are within driving range of where you are. There are local communities on all of the major social networks, most prominently Facebook. These are where you’ll meet the people who can come out and buy your cars.

- Make them aware of what you do -

Don’t hide your occupation. Make it easy for them to find out that you sell vehicles, either by putting something simple in your forum signature line or making sure to fill in the occupation and employer categories on Facebook and LinkedIn.

- Don’t sell anything -

Social media is just what it sounds like — social. This is not a way for you to sell cars. It’s a way for you to meet people to whom you may eventually sell cars. Do not try to sell through your social media profile, ever. Just be social.

- Go about your business -

Probably the most important thing to remember about building a personal social networking profile is that you have to be yourself. You can be yourself on your best behaviour, but you have to be honest about who you are and what you’re doing. Don’t pretend to be a churchgoer or a Democrat or a kite-lover, just to sell cars. Do what you would do anyway and meet like-minded people. That will be the secret to your success.

A few short decades ago, automotive dealerships tacked advertisements to telephone poles. Except in smaller, rural communities, telephone poles have gone the way of this form of advertising - disappeared - simply because we now have better ways of doing things.

When we place calls today, signals fly through the air instead of zipping down a wire, and so should advertising messages. There is still the option of television advertising or print promotion, and maybe you still use those mediums.

There’s also a very convenient, inexpensive way to get your product and your brand out there. It’s called Online Brand Marketing.

Online Brand Marketing is the communication equivalent of telephone pole ads on leaflets. Get that name and product out there, everywhere - in your email signature file, in comments on blog postings, etc. Communication doesn’t end at your website. Keep it going in every online transaction, correspondence and message posted. It’s easy, and it doesn’t cost much.

Beware of too much self-promotion, though. When talking about your vehicles or your dealership in a message forum or blog, be careful to serve the topic at hand and avoid posting just for the sake of getting on the board.

Talk about the related post or subject at hand and work your brand into your comments lest you be branded yourself: as a spammer. No one wants that label, so find a way to correlate the subject with your brand.

Be sure to use a healthy brand signature at the bottom of all online correspondence too, whether it be in an email, forum or blog comment. Your name, telephone number and email address aren’t sufficient if you’d like to let everyone know about the great deals you offer.

Add your branding message into your signature or your comments. Readers will see it, even if it’s a quick discussion about next week’s game. That’s called online brand marketing, and it’s the telephone pole of today.

Are you interested in keeping your current car-buying customers while still reaching out to potential new customers? Do you want to do this while keeping costs down? In today’s economy, cutting costs is the name of the game for any business owner, especially automotive dealers. Here is how you can use your advertising budget, your satisfied customers and the Internet to reach out to new customers.

Sponsor a Video Contest
Imagine the impact on your bottom line if dozens of your satisfied customers created a YouTube video based on their pleasant experiences at your dealership. As nearly everybody has a video camera and a computer nowadays, customers can easily create a video and post it to the site. And it’s free! Offer a gas card or some other incentive for the winner of the best video, and you’ll be surprised how much publicity your dealership receives from such a simple request.

Share Experiences on Your Site
You’d be surprised how many people will create a blog or a video with a promise that you’ll link to it from your dealership’s website. They’ll appreciate the traffic they receive and the publicity, too. Simply ask your satisfied customers to create something on their websites that discusses their experiences at your facility, and be sure to include a link on your website. It doesn’t get much more inexpensive than that!

Stir Up Their Creativity
Ask existing customers to create a short, 50-word description of the car they bought from your automotive dealership. Ask them to allow you to put it on the inventory section of your website. Many customers will just enjoy knowing that you used their descriptions, but you can offer a small prize for their efforts.

If you want to keep your customers engaged with your dealership so they’ll come back when it’s time for a purchase, use a variety of methods that appeal to them. These three ideas utilize social media and online automotive marketing, but using other ways is important, too.

Wanted to take advantage of message by Seth Godin in one of his recent blogs. The blog touches on the subject of how Search, or search engines, makes the infinite more finite. It’s a valid point. The masses have come to rely on search engines for helping to initiate or at least narrow down a person’s infinite number of choices. But what does this mean for businesses?

Businesses, Car Dealerships included, can not be everywhere in Search and so you must be selective about where you position your website. If you focus entirely on where your competition is then you are missing out on opportunities to reach market share where you competition is not. By the same token, if you focus solely on where your competition is not then you will miss out on a lot of your market share. Alas, you need a balanced strategy for both.

This is where data and research become important. There is data available and there are tools that are accessible for determining where and how to position your website. For instance, Axandra and Web CEO which are two of the more popular software programs for researching and managing SEO (and to some extent your PPC efforts). There are also good online tools such as Webmaster Toolkit which are good for researching Search Markets too.

Car Dealerships have two choices…they can invest time and training into utilizing these tools effectively, or else they can rely on trusting providers to assist with or even manage these things on their behalf. Regardless, someone needs to be on top of these things in order for dealerships to thrive in today’s online marketplaces. For Dealers that do rely on providers to do this, which is the majority, they still need to be responsible for where and how these providers do position their dealer customer websites.

It’s all about supply and demand and while you do want to position your site where there is an abundance of demand, you also want to position yourself where there is little supply. You can obtain a lot of market share by positioning your site in spaces that are frequented and not saturated with suppliers.

So when it comes to Search Engine Marketing for Car Dealers, remember that you do not need to be everywhere for everyone. You do need however, a well-balanced mixture of visibility within your competitor markets and the market spaces where you can be the bright and shiny star in a galaxy of infinite possibilities.

Shouts out to Andy at Vinart for forwarding the Godin article.

As an automotive dealer, you know it’s more difficult (and more costly) to find new customers than it is to keep existing ones. It’s simply not easy to bring new people to your dealership with so much competition in the automotive industry. That’s why it’s so important to keep your existing customers engaged with you and your facility as much as you can.

But how do you do that?

Many automotive dealers send out birthday cards and maintenance reminders to keep their names in their customers’ heads. But they are overlooking one major possibility: Internet marketing.

I’m not talking about using Internet marketing on your part to reach car-buying customers, though. I mean you can put a large amount of advertising for your business on your customers’ shoulders. With social media websites, YouTube and other popular online gathering places, your customers can spread the word about your dealership for you.

Think of it like this: The Internet is the new “word of mouth.” And any business owner knows that word of mouth is the best way to advertise. Unfortunately, unsatisfied customers are more likely to spread their dissatisfaction than satisfied customers are to spread their satisfaction with their experiences. Most satisfied customers won’t even take the time to post their pleasant experiences without any incentives.

If I’ve piqued your curiosity, come back on Wednesday to see how you can encourage and engage your existing customers to help promote your business by doing more than simply telling their friends.

If you’re an auto dealer, you simply can’t dispute the importance or effectiveness of online brand marketing. This type of marketing not only spreads your name to potential customers on the Internet but also gives you a distinct and unique reputation apart from your competitors. But if you’ve been noticing a lower level of effectiveness or fewer sales recently, your campaign may need a boost. Here are some ways to strengthen your online marketing quickly and easily.

• Reevaluate Your Brand Name
Successful car dealers thrive on short, catchy, easy-to-remember names for their businesses. The same is true in the online world. Make sure your brand name is easy to spell and simple to remember. If you can think of a cleverer name that will grab more attention, consider using it instead of your current one.

• Showcase the Importance of Your Brand’s Products
Why should customers care for your particular brand over another? Why do they need your products? Answer these questions on your website and you’ll undoubtedly notice a positive difference. Don’t be afraid to brag, either. It’s a great attention-getter.

• Focus on Your Brand’s Success and Purpose
People will remember more about your brand if it performs well in the marketplace. If people are talking about it and it’s creating a buzz, even a longer, more complicated name can’t hinder its success.

• Consider Revamping
Customers get excited when they log on to a website they’ve seen dozens of times before and it has a fresh, new look. Consider changing your logo, your storefront and the entire feel of your website to excite your customers once again.

You can’t turn on the evening news in the United States without hearing about the impending recession. Althoujgh some won’t yet commit to saying we’re in a recession, nobody can deny the troubles the economy is having. So how does an auto dealer stay afloat at a time when fewer and fewer people are investing in luxury items and more and more people are simply trying to put food on their tables?

Affiliate marketing.

While advertisers are tightening their budgets, companies are looking for more efficient and less expensive ways to reach customers. And because advertising on the Internet is cheaper than advertising on print mediums, they are turning to cyberspace to reach out.

If you haven’t tried affiliate marketing with your automotive dealer’s website, there’s no better time to start participating. But there is one way you can supplement your income through the Internet when car sales are slow.

By expanding your online horizons, you can increase your chances for reaping some income from affiliate marketing. The more websites and blogs you have, the more chances there are for a potential customer to see your name and learn about your automotive dealer facility. Think of it as being like real estate. In a bad economy, people with money buy property and “ride out” the recession. When the economy recovers, they sell the property for a profit.

It’s the same idea with the online world. Increase your online presence as much as you can when people aren’t spending their money. When they are confident and start buying again, you’re already in a position to provide them with a product.