What You Don't Know CAN Hurt You

For decades dealers have been searching for an effective way to understand and quantify whether their large marketing investments are paying off. Even when technology came into existence so they could begin to see web traffic and referral sources, most didn't have the knowledge, time or personnel to decipher this data. While that data has become more readily available, it is not necessarily easier to decipher and understand. Many dealers are still struggling to answer that age-old question, 'Is my marketing investment helping me sell more?'As an industry, when it comes to traditional marketing, we've relied on estimates and forecasting in the offline world, which were mostly dependent on subscriber, listener or traffic averages to make decisions. In the digital marketing world, it's all about web traffic attribution. 'How many people are visiting my website and where are they coming from?' has been the dominant way to determine whether those marketing dollars are well spent.While there has always been your CRM, that data has mostly been hit or miss and is dependent on two things: did the salesperson actually ask the customer what brought them into the store; and, did the customer even remember what it was.Today, technology has progressed to the point where you can now pinpoint influencing sources both on your website AND across the customer's entire car buying journey. This includes offline traditional advertising sources and online, across the many touch points the customer used that brought them into your dealership. Despite this fact, many dealers continue to utilize antiquated and inaccurate data powered by last-click attribution methods that don't really provide any information other than at which touchpoint the customer converted. The problem is that the majority of the time that last click wasn't the main influence that motivated that customer's conversion.How are you supposed to know exactly which touchpoints are influencing your buyers, and which are stronger than others?Well, let me tell you -- sprung up from the technology ashes like a phoenix being reborn is a cornucopia of marketing discoveries that are changing the landscape of automotive marketing! Attend my session at Digital Dealer and I will go over these technologies and the marketing results they've uncovered which will open your eyes and shock you, as they involve a new way of thinking and viewing the world.This technological awakening is similar to Plato's Allegory of the Cave. If you're unfamiliar with this story, it involves a group of people who spent their entire lives chained in a cave where they could only see shadows of things on the wall in front of them. This group had no desire to leave for they knew nothing other than the reality presented by the shadows on the cave wall. For this group, the shadows were their reality because that's all they knew. When the group managed to free themselves and experience the real world, they understood that reality is not what they thought it was. They became enlightened and changed their worldview.This story is no different than what is occurring right now in automotive marketing. Dealers have been chained staring at a cave wall, believing the confusing shadows of data they see. However, this data isn't actual reality.What is reality and what can you trust as the truth about your marketing results?Well, multi-touch attribution has now freed dealers and you can accurately view the reality of the results of your marketing spend -- make decisions based on fact, not shadows. For those dealers so enlightened, marketing budgets are more effective, results are better and they're finally able to make decisions about their marketing they can trust, that truly help sell more vehicles.My session, 'Shocking Discoveries in Automotive Marketing ' Your Marketing Will Never Be the Same,' will show you how escaping the bonds of last-click attribution and other inaccurate data sources will put you on the path towards a more profitable marketing future.TheDigital Dealer 23 Conference & Expo will be held this Sept. 18-20th in Las Vegas, NV. Register now to start building your agenda by choosing from more than 100+ sessions!