Now that we’re well into 2014, hopefully you’ve taken action in getting your digital marketing handled. If not, what are you waiting for? Remember, your competition is either already doing what you SHOULD be doing, or is about to. In other words, don’t be last to the party.
In the last few weeks, I’ve touched on three marketing solutions that are changing the way the industry connects with past, present and future customers. You know how powerful display ads and video can be, and you should understand the importance of quality content. If not go back to the beginning and get familiar. There is one more piece to this puzzle; handling your online reputation.
About ten years I was packing up my toolbox and getting ready to move it to a new dealership. Up until then I was a lube tech at a failing Chrysler/ Jeep dealership in the Boston suburbs. Once my box was loaded up into my buddy’s van, I went around and said my goodbyes. My shop foreman was an insufferable you-know-what, but he was one smart cookie! He gave me two pieces of advice that have stuck with me ever since. The first one was simple; Listen. Next he told me, “remember all you have in this business are your tools and your reputation, keep them both clean.”
So let’s talk reputation. I’m sure you’ve had vendor after vendor after vendor preach to you about how important reputation management is. To be direct, they are correct. Your online reputation is incredibly important. Give it 18-24 months, and you’ll likely start to see your allocation tied directly to your online reputation. So you need an effective, results driven campaign to grow online reviews.
You may have noticed up above it says reputation MARKETING. Vendors preach reputation MANAGEMENT, but the truth is that there is no money in the management; the money is in the marketing. So what’s the real difference? With reputation management, you’re typically paying a vendor to simply monitor your online review outlets like Yelp! and Google. If they’re the type that goes above and beyond, they might even print you up some postcards to hand to customers asking for reviews. If a negative review shows up on any of those sites, they’ll email you to notify you and either work with you to craft a response, or simply respond to it on your behalf.
That’s all well and good, but this type of solution (or, lack thereof) is painfully passive and mediocre at best. So what’s a dealership to do? Well, you could fire your current reputation vendor and hire a reputation marketing specialist, someone who can work with you to implement an aggressive, proactive strategy to grow your online reviews. OR, you can take the following steps to begin growing a positive online presence today.
First, since we’ve defined reputation management, let’s define reputation marketing. Reputation marketing is the act of growing positive reviews, and then marketing your dealership as the leader in your area, WITH A 5 STAR REPUTATION! But how are you supposed to grow positive online reviews? First and foremost, it starts with your floor staff, both sales AND service.
It is simply NOT enough to tell your floor staff to “get the customer to leave a review.” First off, the customer isn’t going to simply leave a review just because you ask. Your associate needs to build a rapport with the client. For the sales staff this will be much easier as the sales process is far more interaction based than a service visit is. One thing to do during the relationship building process is to find out whether or not your client uses sites like Yelp! or if they have a Gmail account. Find out if they use Yelp! actively, if they do, then getting them to leave a review on Yelp! will be a piece of cake if they feel comfortable with you. If they don’t use Yelp! but have a Gmail account, ask for a Google+ review. If you’ve exhausted both avenues then the best alternative is to ask for a review on Dealer Rater.
Focus your energy on Yelp! and Google, as they are the two review sites that consumers know like and trust. You may have great reviews on Dealer Rater, but take a step back and think like a consumer. If they see little to no reviews on Yelp! and Google, but a nearly flawless score on Dealer Rater, what do you think is going through their mind? Especially on a site called Dealer Rater!
But again, how do we get the floor staff on board? Simple, make it a contest! Tell your sales and service staff that for each 5 star review they receive on any of those platforms, they receive a bonus. Nothing crazy, we’ve found that $25 per 5 star review is a good incentive. But, let’s go a bit farther, shall we? Paying a staff member per 5 star review is great, but why not set a goal? Give your staff several months to get a certain number of 5 star reviews. Whoever meets or exceeds that number wins a big prize. A larger bonus ($$$$), flat screen TV, extra week of vacation, two tickets to a sporting event, etc… The possibilities are endless.
There are other ways of getting 5 star reviews, but it is imperative that your staff is on board, and making it into a contest that pits everyone against each other is a great form of friendly competition, just like setting sales goals. Now that you’ve had some time to get reviews in, it’s time to begin the second half of this and that is the marketing side.
One of the easiest and most effective ways of sharing your online reviews is to simply post them on social media! You don’t have to do it for every single review, but choose a handful of really positive ones and post them from time to time. This is especially great for anyone following you on social media who has not yet bought from you, as it will make them far more likely to do business with you over your competition.
Another option that will require a bit more time, effort and of course expertise is to build a separate review website. Yes, I’m suggesting you have a website built where you can post your online reviews for all to see. Why you ask? Hop on Google and type the full name of your dealership. There’s a good chance that the famous drop down “suggestion” box will appear and one of the options will have the word “reviews” after your dealership’s name. By building a separate review page and implementing some good on page and off page SEO, you can easily rank the page at the top of the search engines for easy viewing.
Finally, this last strategy will not only help build your online image but also your sharable content. I mentioned this idea in my video marketing article; tape footage of your customers talking about their positive experiences while at your dealership. Everyone loves video; it’s easy to share, easy to rank and makes great content for any type of social media platform.
Regardless of whether or not you take these strategies and run with them, doing everything in house, or you hire a specialist, it is crucial that you begin to formulate a reputation marketing plan and through the implementation of your staff and management, build a reputation marketing CULTURE! Changing your business culture will change your business in general. Keep the cars pulling off the lot, your customers happy and the phones ringing. Reputation marketing is how to do it!