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1 Billion Served ..And Counting

Don’t think viral videos are worth the investment? You may change your mind after hearing the recent news that YouTube has surpassed 1 billion views a day. That’s 11,574 views per second! These amazing numbers prove what Dealer Impact has long believed—people love videos. Now it’s time for dealerships to fall in love, too.

Done well, video is a low-cost, high-reward marketing tool. For very little time and money, you can create hundreds of videos to distribute on thousands of websites to be viewed by millions of potential customers.

Producing videos is easy using Dealer Impact’s Video Generation System (VGS). The automated system combines photos and audio with CarFax information and pricing to create inventory-specific videos. The clips can be distributed to sites like YouTube and Cars.com, creating mini-websites for your dealership that drive traffic back to you.

Posting a video on YouTube doesn’t mean 1 billion people will find your website. Ignoring the phenomenon, however, guarantees they won’t. To learn more about integrating VGS into your website or blog, visit http://www.dealerimpact.com/vgs.

Celebrating 10 Years in Business

Long before many car dealerships had even heard of the World Wide Web, Dealer Impact was building web sites for businesses. We opened our doors in 1999, working at wobbly card tables and relying on slow-as-snails dial-up Internet service.

Despite the humble surroundings, Dealer Impact created the auto industry’s first tool for publishing inventory online. This innovative technology allowed dealerships to put photos and complete vehicle information online, without knowledge of complicated coding.

Today, we offer the most comprehensive product line in the industry and work with dealers all over the country. While we may have grown a lot in 10 years, some things about us will never change.

We got our start because we listened to dealers’ concerns and worked with them to solve their problems. Dealer Impact remains committed to providing amazing customer service and to being innovative in how we help our clients succeed. For many dealers, that means using our complete iDeal Marketing System. Others pick and choose products and adapt them to their current processes or websites.

We are so proud of what we have created in the last 10 years that we’re giving our products away as an anniversary gift to you. To learn more about our risk-free, 60-day “Drive Before You Buy” promotion, go to http://www.dealerimpact.com. This offer expires on October 31, 2009.

Hybrid Marketing?

With $4.00 gas putting a slow down on the automotive business, and the economy in general, auto manufacturers are clamoring to develop and build hybrids and other energy efficient vehicles.

Amid all this, you’re still trying to run a dealership. Chances are, you’ve had to make cutbacks across the board. And even if you’ve had to cutback marketing, that doesn’t mean you want to cutback the number of customers walking through the door.

So that raises the question: What are the most energy- and cost-efficient marketing strategies you can employ? Mass marketing is certainly out. You’ll have to go direct… very targeted. And get creative… chase after a new audience or trying a medium no one else is using. What would you do if you had to reach the same number of customers on one-fifth the budget? What can you do that costs nothing at all? The dealerships that use a downturn to get stronger and wrestle away market share are the ones that will dominate the next age of automotive retailing.

What are you doing to make the most of your marketing dollars?

D. Jones
Marketing Strategist/Creative Consultant
SmackDabble, LLC