For many dealerships like Hillsboro, Oregon’s Royal Moore Toyota, embracing innovations in marketing is extremely important. Dealerships are seeing that today’s auto shopping experience ‘overlaps’—from the technology consumers use to shop—to the personalized engagement they now prefer. Consumers demand a faster and more helpful customer experience—from start to finish.

Big news from GSM
The automotive industry is a niche market, making it extremely competitive for marketing providers like GSM. This means these companies must quickly and continually adapt to any change in order to provide clients with innovative and effective solutions. To continue helping our Toyota clients look like rock stars, GSM has launched a new Life Cycle Marketing solution called OCP+ at the most competitive price. 

To learn more about OCP+, please follow the link below:

Learn More about OCP+

The industry-wide challenge--
Your service department provides more opportunities for sales and revenue than any other department; however, dealerships across the nation are losing customers left and right. This industry-wide problem is often addressed with customer-centric marketing and conquest marketing, but dealers shouldn't stop there. These strategies alone are not enough to tackle the issue head-on.

Keep your customers safe--
Declined service marketing should never be overlooked. It is a protective measure for consumers and dealerships alike. Failure to recommend a declined service repair could cost your dealership millions, or worse, it could cost a customer’s life. Informing customers of declined service repairs not only protects their safety, but it also prevents further damage to their vehicle and establishes trust with your dealership.

Dealers in today’s marketplace must carefully choose strategies and solutions that will best serve their business. Virginia based dealership, Steven Toyota recently did just that and took new steps to be more responsive and improve communications with their customers. They adopted a dynamic, direct marketing strategy provided through GSM called Lifecycle Marketing powered by atom.

The Difference Between Omnichannel and Multichannel Marketing -

One of the biggest marketing challenges, especially in the automotive industry, is keeping clients’ interactions consistent across multiple channels. This 'omnichannel' strategy provides a consistent experience throughout the entire customer journey.

As technology and customer brand-interactions continue to evolve, dealerships will need to adopt an Omnichannel Marketing strategy in order to remain competitive.

During the digital age, social media can either make or break your brand. Word-of-mouth spreads faster than ever as customers have the power to share and create content with the click of a button. No matter what industry you are in, relationship management plays a key role in both your brand’s and company’s success. A healthy relationship with your customers is critical because at the end of the day, your brand is what your customers say it is. Knowing what to do when your brand hits the fan is important for salvaging your company’s reputation and success. 

What is a Social Media Crisis?
A social media crisis can be defined by three main criteria – information imbalance, material impact, and overwhelming negativity. When there is information imbalance, a company either knows less than the public on a situation, or just as much. This is important because it creates a power imbalance where customers know more, and can take control of the situation – they decide the fate of your brand. 

Material impact refers to the scope and size of the issue. If it is something that will have a material impact on the company – financial, company image, and reputation – then it is considered a material impact. Overwhelming negativity can also affect your brand. It can cause a “me-too bandwagon” effect where customers share or agree with similar negative experiences. This can cause potential clients to choose another brand over yours, or cause the issue to grow based on common disagreement. 

What to do when crisis strikes
Your first response, and any response to a social media crisis, is the most important. Unhappy customers will be waiting for it, they will have something to say about it, and they will share it. Below are a few tips to help you prepare for, or respond to, a social media crisis: