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Cobalt Newsroom - In the News
GM, Chrysler lead dealers deeper into digital marketing
Source: Automotive News
February 16, 2009
Like many dealerships, Pape Chevrolet in South Portland, Maine, is suffering from a deep drop in walk-in customers. But e-mail and telephone leads, Web site traffic and Internet search engine referrals have grown dramatically in the past 10 months.
Manny Mendes, the dealership's director of information technology, credits General Motors' new digital marketing program for dealers. Since Pape Chevrolet adopted the program, he says, its monthly average of leads from e-mail messages and phone calls has increased from 46 to 250.
"What stands out obviously is the increase in leads," Mendes told Automotive News.
GM and Chrysler LLC are working with suppliers to give dealerships new Web sites and other digital services aimed at attracting shoppers and converting them to buyers.
Integrated search
GM hired Cobalt Group Inc. of Seattle. Chrysler is using Dealer.com of Burlington, Vt., and Shift Digital of suburban Detroit. Cobalt and Dealer.com expect more deals with automakers this year.
"They are realizing this is do or die," says Dealer.com CEO Mark Bonfigli. "There's no luxury now in saying, 'We can rely on Super Bowl ads, and life is good.' It's no longer good. It's terrible. They have to start thinking digital."
GM and Chrysler seek to integrate Internet search engine marketing by brands, dealer ad associations and dealerships. Too often, says Cobalt CEO John Holt, these efforts have competed for the same customers.
"Making the dealership Web sites really integrated into the overall marketing effort hasn't been done before," Holt says. "GM went two steps further than anybody ever had."
Web sites produced by Cobalt are installed at dealerships that account for about 95 percent of GM's U.S. new-vehicle unit sales. GM pays for most of the program, called the In-Market Retail Digital Marketing Package. GM declined to disclose the program's cost.
GM dealers get a dedicated account representative from Cobalt to manage the Web site. Leads are delivered into a dealership's software. Mark Degnan, GM's director of local advertising and marketing, cites the digital program's "amount of consumer activity and lead generation."
At Pape Chevrolet, the percentage of visitors to the new Web site who turn into sales leads has risen to 10.4 percent, compared with 2.3 percent for the previous site.
'No-brainer'
Chrysler charges its 3,500 U.S. Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealerships for their new Web sites, which are built to the company's specifications.
But the cost to dealers of the sites is about half the retail price, says Chuck Sullivan, Chrysler's director of interactive marketing.
The Web sites produced by Dealer.com include more than 30 lead-generating forms. Dealers also get templates to customize the site, inventory marketing tools and the ability to post special offers.
Chrysler dealers also can select upgrade packages that enable them to post product videos and to work with a dedicated account representative at Dealer.com.
"We went out not only with the best darn base site, but we gave dealers sufficient options that it would be so attractive to them, it would be a no-brainer," Sullivan says.
Sullivan says traffic to the new dealer Web sites has risen more than 12 percent from the sites they replaced.
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