Digital Dealer - November 2017 - 2

From the
Show Director

Dear Readers,
Our third time returning to Cherry Hill, N.J. to
host the Digital Dealer Workshop was yet again
another wonderful experience, bringing together
digital marketing and automotive professionals
into one space for a shared goal: to help dealers
and managers learn how to increase revenue,
proﬁtability, and steer a course towards success.
We were ecstatic meet and spend time with so
many of you at the event! But for those of you
who weren't able to join us, we'd like to share
with you a few highlights:
This one-and-a-half day event featured close to
40 educational sessions, three powerful keynotes,
tech-savvy solution providers in the Sponsor Hall,
and various networking opportunities.
Mark Tewart, a recognized sales and marketing expert in the automotive industry, delivered
the opening keynote, making his Digital Dealer
debut in Cherry Hill with us. Mark has successful
experience spanning from sales to GM to trainer,
consultant, and speaker. He is host of the TV
show "On the Mark" on CBT News, and is author
of the Best Seller "How to Be a Sales Superstar"
book.
Later that afternoon, award-winning serial
entrepreneur and digital guru Alex Melen also
took to the stage to deliver the closing keynote
for the day. Alex is the Founder and CEO of
the web-hosting company T35 Hosting, and the
ad agency SmartSites. He started T35 Hosting

Sincerely,
David Southworth
- David Southworth

Vice President, Digital Dealer
David.Southworth@emeraldexpo.com

NOVEMBER 2017

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

in 1999, growing it to over 600,000 clients by
2009. In 2011, he co-founded SmartSites, which
has since developed over 1,000 client websites
and manages over $20 million/year in advertising spend. In 2017, SmartSites was featured in
the Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest growing
agencies in the U.S. Alex has been featured in
Top 100 Young Entrepreneurs, Babson College
Business of the Year, BusinessWeek's Top 25
Entrepreneurs under 25, Bloomberg, Forbes,
NPR, Empact Top 100, Barack Obama's Entrepreneurship Initiative & Inc. Magazine.
The next day, Frank J. Lopes, VP of Forrest &
Blake Marketing & Advertising (who leads and
guides the marketing efforts of some of the
largest and fastest growing dealerships in the
country), moderated a Keynote Panel of successful dealers who discussed the current climate of
dealer and vendor relations. Each shared insight
on how to set proper expectations and cultivate a
truly beneﬁcial dealer-vendor relationship.
We're grateful to have had such an impressive
lineup of breakout speakers as well, and if I
could, I would highlight each of them in this letter!
Lastly, one of our personal highlights from the
event was having the opportunity to really get to
know many of you. If we didn't get to see you
in Cherry Hill, please stop and say "hello" at our
next Digital Dealer Conference & Expo, April
10th-12th, 2018 in Orlando, Florida.

http://www.DIGITALDEALER.COM

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