Looking at this recent report about online car buyers brings back memories of my father who sold cars for a living. Dad would have been a huge fan of blog marketing.

• One in five in-market consumers surveyed - approximately 20 percent - said they would likely to buy a vehicle over the internet if such a service were available
• Search engines, automotive blogs and web forums have become key information sources for vehicle buyers who are turning to user-generated websites to obtain a more objective view.

(source)

(Image Source:Marketing Vox)

Word of Mouth and Cheesy Commercials

Years ago my father managed a car dealership. This is back in the 1950s when car salesmen were even more poorly regarded than today, so if you had a reputation for honesty, which Dad did, you ended up creating a type of niche, word of mouth market.

You had limited advertising options back in the fifties. Whatever gimmick could be packed into a classified ad was about your only option, except for those cheesy car commercials.

And boy oh boy, did Dad ever know how to ham it up. I might look up at the TV and see him in front of some big finned Buick Electra talking about all of it’s options while dismounting from an elephant. You see, my Dad worked for Marge Schott of Reds’ fame, and her notorious love of animals began long before her days as a Red’s owner.

I don’t remember why Marge had an elephant, but she did, and between the two of them, my dad and Marge produced some hilarious print ads as well as commercials. Today, those commercials would be on YouTube.

Word of Mouth and Engaging Consumer Attention

That’s why I know, that if either will still alive, they would have jumped on business blogging and video casting with a vengeance.

Marge would have really appreciated blog marketing’s ROI. Blog posts would have become my Dad’s repository for all the folksy wisdom that customers loved him for. His reputation for honesty would have provided the natural transparency that blogging demands and, via videos, he no doubt would have included lions, tigers and bears along with Marge’s elephant - if it sold a car.

Though the methods of delivery are far different than the 1950’s, the basic marketing principles of word of mouth and engaging the customers attention are the same as they have ever been. It is just far easier, and cheaper, to accomplish online  today - with or without an elephant.

Tags: advertising, attention, blog, Blog Marketing, blogging, blogs, Business, business-blog, business-bloggin, business-blogging, consumers, content, ctr, deal, delivery, forums, hr, im, IT, marketing, online, options, PR, reputation, roi, RSS, sales, search, sources, sse, survey, transparency, video, website, YouTube

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 at 7:13 am and is filed under Blog Marketing, Business Blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.