On August 14, 2011 an amazing team of digital marketing and social media experts will be coming to St. Louis to offer dealers the opportunity to refine their advertising and marketing strategy.

The recent changes with Google Places make a strong case why dealers need a marketing strategy that is continually updated based on market conditions.  Your strategy must be fluid and flexible to adapt to change.

I’ve been flooded this week with calls and emails asking for guidance on how to adjust Internet Reputation Management (IRM) processes since Google cleaned up their star counting policy. This is a major opportunity for dealers who adapt first.

Google Places is not the only digital marketing opportunity that has changed recently. There are a dozen major shifts that we have seen this year that impact a dealer’s operating strategy and budget.

Fluid or Inflexible?

• Are you properly identifying customers with Google accounts?
• What are you doing to have your digital assets tagged with +1?
• Are you using the Google Authorship tag in your blog posts?
• Are you preparing for your Google+ brand page?
• What is your strategy to build mobile text marketing lists?
• Are you leveraging ALL of the opportunities to remarket to your monthly unique visitors?

Without a winning strategy, dealers will be wasting time, money, and losing competitive opportunities.

Jim Flint To Speak in St Louis

We are also pleased to have Jim Flint from the John Eagle Group speaking in St Louis. He’ll be sharing how his Dealer Group has changed their automotive advertising budgets and strategies to be more effective this year.

Jim will share what got cut and what stayed in the budget. This will be an eye opening discussion that smart dealers will not want to miss.

Dealers should reserve their hotel rooms and register for St. Louis this week. We also also proud to be jointly promoting this event with the St. Louis Automobile Dealers Association, a great partner in advocating education for Missouri car dealers.

So book a flight, drive your car, or walk over to the conference on Sunday August 14th and make the decision to build a smarter and more efficient marketing strategy for your dealership.

The workshop schedule can be found on the link below. See you in St. Louis and all dealers that register in advance can request a free digital marketing evaluation with a report delivered to you at the conference.

PCG Digital Marketing announced today three new digital marketing services specifically designed for savvy automotive retailers that seek to leverage social media, consumer review portals, search marketing and paid advertising strategies to expand their brand(s) online.

The three monthly marketing packages offer a comprehensive approach to digital marketing for car dealers.  PCG Digital Marketing’s proven strategies in Search Engine Optimization, content marketing, Internet Reputation Management, social media and now inventory advertising raise the bar for the automotive industry.

The core PCG monthly Digital Marketing Package offers dealers a powerful combination of off-site and on-site marketing and search engine optimization strategies which include customized microsite development, a complete Google compliance review of their current site, online Press Release distribution, blogging, content development, social media management and more.  Their core monthly digital marketing package is priced at $1,195 per month.

In addition to PCG’s core Digital Marketing Package, dealers can now enhance their digital marketing strategies with three new packages:

• Internet Reputation Management  (IRM) – $595/month
• Google Adwords Management (GAM) – $400/month
• Automotive Advertising Network (AAN) – $995/month *

Monitoring Car Dealer Reputation Scores

According to Brian Pasch, CEO, “Internet Reputation Management will be one of the key metrics for success in 2010 and beyond.  Mobile phone apps that reward consumers for on-site reviews make a clear case why dealers in 2010 need a reputation management policy and strategy.”

The PCG’s Internet Reputation Management (IRM) package, priced at $595 a month, includes customized reputation management policies and procedures for dealers, design of a Reputation Management Portal (RMP) and full reporting that monitors each month the dealer’s online reputation scores.

PCG’s IRM team also assists dealers with contacting customers to participate in online review websites.  The assistance provided by PCG and the creation of a Reputation Management Portal (RMP) simplifies the process of engaging customers to post online reviews.

Innovations in Car Inventory Advertising

The Automotive Advertising Network (AAN) consists of a network of car inventory advertising websites that target national, regional and local search phrases that consumers use to research new and used cars.  The AAN features hundreds of regional websites containing automotive buying news, tips, resources which also advertise local dealer inventory.  (http://www.automotiveadvertisingnetwork.com)

In addition to the AAN’s network of regional and local websites, dealers can leverage and advertise their cars using CarPort App„¢, a software application that allows cars dealers to post their cars on social media websites and popular blogs like WordPress.  With CarPort App„¢ car dealers can leverage the search engine power of blogs to write about the cars they sell and include sample inventory inside the blog post.

CarPort also allows dealers to create a custom tab on their Facebook Fan Page which displays cars that are in stock and ready for sale.

The AAN package is currently being offered at a Founding Member price of $995 per month. The AAN provides unlimited leads at one low monthly price.

Dealer professionals who would like to learn more about the enhanced monthly marketing packages can contact PCG Digital Marketing at 732-450-8200.

PCG Digital Marketing was recently recognized by DrivingSales.com, the leading Automotive Social Media website as a Top Rated SEO Vendor.