RIGHT RAIL ADS ARE GONE! Five Key Automotive Trends You Must Know WELL. 1. How Google Has Changed the World.

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1 June 7, How Google Has Changed the World. In February of this year Google removed all PPC ads from the right-hand side of the search engine results page with immediate global effect. There s been a great deal of speculation on what this means for dealers and consumers alike, with many postulating that the top-of-the-page paid search is going to become even more cutthroat (and expensive), organic listings will be pushed even further off the first SERP (Google is showing four ads at the top instead of three for highly commercial search terms). How do you think this will affect dealers and how can you benefit? RIGHT RAIL ADS ARE GONE! 2. Used Cars Are Twice as profitable as new Cars. So Why Aren t You Advertising Them? As New Vehicles become more of a commodity, new vehicle gross margins continue their steady decline. (See Chart Below). However, 2016 Year-To-Date Used Car Gross Profit is $2427 per vehicle versus New Car Gross Profit of $1073. That s 126% more gross profit for used vehicles! Dealers do a great job of marketing their used vehicles on marketplaces like Autotrader and Cars.com, but these sites do a poor job of driving traffic to a dealer s website where all the inventory is theirs!

2 2 How can this benefit you? When would be a good time to advertise used cars? Where would be a good place to advertise used cars?

3 3 3. If content is KING, then TV stations rule with digital video. Are you getting your fair share? Major media brands, including TV stations, are the best environment to watch digital video. They have better user engagement, better control of placement and inventory and much better quality scores. Furthermore, within the past year, YouTube/Google rather clandestinely made a sweeping change. YouTube used to consider the entire mobile video as a clickable area. That is why a click on the center of a mobile video now only pauses and plays that video. Google's attributing factor to that change was that it created far too many accidental clicks, creating a bad user experience What implications can you make from the chart above? From the YouTube changes? How can they benefit you?

4 4 4. TV as stimulus in an Age of Attribution. Do you know ZMOT? Google released an ebook written by Jim Lecinski, Winning in the Zero Moment of Truth. The premise of the book introduces us to instances when shopping decisions break down into a series of Moments of Truths where each require special understanding to help nudge customers along their journey. For example, when a customer is considering a purchase, whether driven by a stimulus or need, in the Zero Moment of Truth or ZMOT, customers are essentially going to Google it. In Google s ZMOT model, TV is considered Stimulus and according to Google, is also the most effective means of driving shoppers online.

5 5 In an Age of Attribution, it is important to understand TV s role as Stimulus and how it affects the journey to a sale. This model does an effective job of illustrating this point. The Linear/Equal Attribution Model This model assigns equal credit to every touch point leading up to a conversion. If a consumer touched 6 different channels before purchasing, each channel would be given equal credit for 16% of that sale. How has Google helped you to reposition TV in your clients mind? How can you use the Equal Attribution Model to justify your recommendations? If you are looking to shift dollars from print or radio to TV, how has Google helped you explain why this is an effective strategy?

6 6 5. In the Digital Age, Branding has become more important than ever! Due to the proliferation of media choices in the digital age, consumers are inundated with advertising messages which has created increased online advertising clutter. A Goo Technologies/Harris Poll Study found 82% of Americans ignore online ads, ahead of television ads at 37%. The results of the study point to a real concern for advertisers, mainly that online ads have become so pervasive that many say they are now ignoring them altogether. Online advertising clutter creates overcrowding on a web page with advertising units to the point of degrading the web users experience. Not only does this affect the user experience but it also has a negative effect on the websites visits and popularity. A BurstMedia survey found that for more than half the people (52.6%) there is low tolerance for more than two advertising units per web page. Around a quarter of the respondents (27.3%) say they will tolerate only a single advertisement per web page, and another quarter (25.3%) will tolerate just two ads per page.

7 7 So, as digital clutter continues to grow and messages start to blur, it s important for the dealer to develop and maintain a strong Why Buy Here branding message. This should be incorporated with their digital message to improve reach and recall as TV still has the best of both. How can this benefit you? When would be a good time to advertise branding messages? Where would be a good place to advertise branding messages?