Blogs built for auto dealers ought to be in abundance. Or so I thought when I started perusing the web sites of my local car dealerships. And very fine websites they are - very attractive, quite slick, and monotonously all the same. Everyone I perused locally were absolutely as impersonal as a billboard, not one distinguishable from another aside from product.

What a lost opportunity! The automobile market is ripe for seismic change and by utilizing an advanced, integrated blog site platform along with the effective use of RSS publishing strategies, the astute auto dealer can position themselves well in advance of their lagging competition.

Car salesmen could particularly be served by blogging given the stereotypical image that they could so easily overcome by the relationship building that goes hand and hand in blogging.

“Twice as many people visit a car dealer’s website as read their ad in the newspaper. Qualified leads are the most important and most difficult online tool for the dealers, and yet I can’t find one dealer blogging in the country.”

So laments one brand specialist, but boy does that ever bode well for the auto dealer who wakes up and smells the coffee. A comment from a reader hits the nail on the head.

“Dealers will embrace blogging when they understand the value and benefits of building relationships.(As we know, blogging is another way to hug consumers) It’s easy to generalize in the auto dealer category now but I see a branding revolution on the horizon. The idea is so ripe someone will find the courage to pick it.”

Then consider this from Ad Age’s Beth Snyder:

“Consumers are also taking bloggers’ word before they buy. A late 2006 Ipsos MORI survey found that blogs were a more trusted source of information than advertising or e-mail marketing. One-third of respondents said they had decided not to buy a product after reading a negative blog post, while 52% were persuaded to buy after reading a positive review.”

If you are an automobile dealer, what exactly are you waiting for?

Tags: automobile_dealer, automobile_market, auto_dealer, Blog Marketing, blog-platform, local_car_dealerships, RSS-publishing

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 at 11:48 pm and is filed under Blog Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.