Automotive News Canada - June 2019 - v2 - F14

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

SPECIAL REPORT

DIGITAL BY DESIGN

Shop foreman Marc Miller, left,
is the star of service videos
posted on YouTube by Cable
Dahmer Automotive Group.

From service-related Web pages to soft-sell videos, dealers embrace new ideas

KEN WYSOCKY
foj@autonews.com

ast fall, Feldman Automotive Group in
suburban Detroit substantially increased
the service-related content on seven
of its 10 dealerships' websites. They
now offer more than 20 pages, up from just one
or two previously.
The Web pages address items such as oil
changes, tire rotations, wheel alignments and
brake inspections.
After the upgrade, customer-pay revenue at
the seven dealerships jumped 32 percent in
the first three months of 2019 compared with
the year-ago period. (Feldman did not provide dollar figures.) Viewer traffic for fixed ops
on the dealerships' websites has risen 60 percent since last fall, says Matt Grimes, Feldman's fixed operations manager.
"Without a strong online presence, customers can't find your services," Grimes told Fixed
Ops Journal. "On most dealership websites, 95
percent of the content is sales-oriented. We're
trying to restore a little balance."
Adding service-related pages to dealership
websites, accessible to Internet search engines, is among the ways that fixed ops managers are using digital technology to build
business as new-vehicle sales and profits stall.
From new text-messaging services to videos
posted on YouTube, service and parts departments are focusing more on engaging customers in their preferred digital spaces.
"In the years ahead, the market will favor deal-

PAGE 14

JUNE 2019

Digital bandwagon

Strategies for amping up digital
marketing by dealership service
departments:
 Boost Internet search rankings by
adding service-related pages to
dealership websites
 Include prices on service pages
 Communicate with customers by
text message rather than phone call
 Post service-related videos on the
dealership's Facebook and YouTube
channel
 Bolster traditional direct-mail
marketing with email messages that
link to a video explaining the service
being promoted

erships that adapt to digital marketing technologies," predicts Denise Chudy, general manager of
LivePerson, a messaging platform provider.
"Dealerships that lean in will win the business,
and those that don't will be left behind."

Content is king
The Feldman group worked with Fixed Ops
Digital, a Denver-based marketing group that
creates customized, service-related content
for dealership websites. The firm has about
200 dealership clients, says co-founder Kevin
Kulma. He would not discuss what the com-

pany charges dealerships.
"About 50 percent of dealership revenue
comes from fixed operations, yet on average,
only about 10 percent of dealerships' website
content is specific to fixed ops," Kulma says.
"Most OEMs don't mandate any service-related content, so dealerships more often than not
put up a bare minimum of
pages and then let it be."
But if dealerships don't
create pages to sell new
tires, brake pads and wheel
alignments, Kulma says,
Google's search algorithms
bypass them in favor of aftermarket retailers whose
websites include the con- Danford: Service
tent that consumers seek.
Web pages sell.
"If dealerships invested
just a fraction of their overall marketing budget
toward building content," he says, "they'd capture a lot of search traffic that otherwise goes
to those large independents," Kulma says.
Erica Danford, vice president of managed
services at Dealer.com, a digital marketing
arm of Cox Automotive, concurs.
"The more pages devoted to fixed ops, the
better," she says. "The better the information is
portrayed on the website, the more likely
dealerships are to convert shoppers to customers and develop brand loyalty to the dealership. This concept is pretty new to fixed ops
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