Due to the shift in methods used by shoppers to research and select an automobile, search engine placement needs to be a much larger concern to the OEM’s that intend to remain relevant in today’s marketplace. From reputation management to grassroots/viral marketing, web marketing should be organized and supported at the factory level.

Every day I am approached by dealers that are concerned with their lack of web traffic. A quick look reveals content, site structure, and coding that are not user or search engine friendly. Traffic that should be going to the dealer site is going to third-party vendors and “education” sites that capture the shoppers’ data and sell it to the dealer at a high premium! Even worse, some of that traffic is going to competitors that are more effective with marketing (or have hired a company like WebDeals that are pros with automotive web marketing)!

On the other hand, a search for any Make with any US city reveals that few of the manufacturers are looking after their own web marketing needs. Most Makes competing in the US market fail to address even the top 25 markets with a PPC (Pay Per Click) campaign, much less provide a voice at the customer-level of the burgeoning and profitable social networking (read: social marketing) scene.

That said, most auto-portals (motortrend.com, cars.com, autos.aol.com, edmunds.com, etc) are currently sporting at least a few ads from each major factory player. This points to the fact that the OEM suits recognize the need to influence their web presence. They spend money directly on online advertising for their brand, and indirectly in the form of participation in the dealers’ web marketing (co-op funds). In fact, lately, some of the biggest US manufacturers have moved to a policy wherein 75% every dollar spent on web advertising is subsidized by the factory, while only 25% of “traditional” advertising is covered.

Most dealers spend this money on lead-buying. This is a great bridge-gap, but should not be the primary focus of an eMarketing budget. As we discussed above, the leads being purchased are buyers that were looking for your web site, and ended up on the site of a company with better online marketing strategy and execution. Most dealers buy roughly 100 leads per ISM (internet sales manager) at an average cost of $20-$22. A mere 25-35% of the lead budget for one ISM would pay for an entire month of high-level SEO/SEM/SMM campaign work, and easily replace the 25 leads that were not purchased. After a few months, the tide begins to shift as the marketing takes root, buyers find the dealer web site (and find it useful!). At the one year mark, only a small portion of the budget is going towards purchased leads, the dealer is in control of their online reputation, and their eMarketing campaign is effectively farming their database (which is, of course, fully integrated with all data from Sales and Fixed Ops).

The reality of lowering a cost per sale form over six hundred dollars to below two hundred dollars means that a dealer can sell the same cars to the same people for the same price with HIGHER PROFIT.

Many OEMs dictate with a heavy hand the content, layout, and format of the dealers’ web sites. Judging by some of the sites I have seen independent dealers proudly use, this is probably a good move by the factory. BUT… Why leave out the very basics of SEO and SEM in your list of restrictions and requirements? Not to pick on anyone, and I am a HUGE fan of [redacted OEM], but they let their dealers use sites that search engines cannot see AT ALL while nit-picking over the location of a physical address, or a link in the corner of the site. If you have no traffic to your site, does it matter if it’s perfect? I think not.

Since the factory guides the dealers’ advertising spend and controls the dealers’ website through guidelines and parameters, it should be sure to that a solid, cohesive and measurable web marketing strategy is a huge part thereof. Coordinated efforts have exponential results.