But there are numerous applications of automotive blogging which pose a choice for car dealers today. You have guys like Alex Snyder effectively blogging for dealership awareness with his Checkered Flag blog. You also have guys like Paul Rushing of ISM in Training who blog for what I would call personal branding, which is the idea of branding yourself in alliance with a dealership, but ultimately building brand equity in yourself more so than for the dealership.

I see this as the future of a dealership sales professional, much like is done in the real estate industry where the Realtor builds a clientele that can be carried along from agency to agency. The Internet gives automotive sales professionals the possibility to do this. I don’t see the purpose of blogs to sell cars. That’s what your website is for.

I think it’s important to know and respect the basics of blogging. For one, blogging is about conversation. It’s not about shouting and yelling, or selling and soliciting. It’s an easy pit to fall into because it’s so effortless and enticing to do so.

But this doesn’t mean you can’t promote yourself with a blog. Quite the contrary because that’s really the purpose of a blog – to promote yourself. The key is you have to go about it differently from what you might be accustomed to.

Blogging requires a balanced blend of research, listening, testing or experimenting, and then in the end some execution. The nature of blogging does not stipulate the need for a business model, but if you set out to blog for your business then you need to identify the role your blog, or blogs, will play in enhancing your product.

1. Competitive pricing, and
2. Auto Dealers to be transparent with information in a timely and professional manner

According to a recent study by Cobalt, Yahoo!, and Polk, the advent and advancement of the internet have made it possible for customers to demand this from all of the companies with whom they do business. No businesses are more affected by this than Car Dealerships. For most people, their vehicles are more expensive than anything they’ll ever buy but not live in, and saving money and hearing the truth are especially important in the car buying process.

The study reveals that the impact of a customer’s online brand marketing experience in the car buying process cannot be overstated. In every area of their lives, customers are going online to research, to learn, and even to shop, and the purchase of an automobile is no different.

The study found that one of the most crucial aspects of the online brand marketing process is responding to customer inquiries. People are spending an incredible sum of money on their car, and they’re bound to have questions. Customers are taking the dealer responses to their questions very seriously, and for good reason.

A recent article in Dealer magazine on the study says “simply initiating a response is not enough to build customer loyalty. Rather, dealers must respond as consumers request, factoring in content, speed and method of response, in order to increase the chance of selling a vehicle.” It should be obvious, but when a customer wants an email instead of a phone call, or they would prefer to be phoned before 5 o’clock, it makes sense to take heed and communicate with them in the manner they choose.

The concept of sharing experiences with personal networks is not a new one — we’re all familiar with one person telling two friends and those friends telling two more. Existing and potential customers now have access to methods of group communication previously inconceivable to marketing departments. With the rise of internet usage, those two friends are still being told, but they’re being told publicly and there are a whole lot more than two of them.

With forums, blogs, rating sites and social media becoming the fastest growing methods of information transfer, giving customers a professional and helpful experience is more vital than ever before. Automobile dealers have the opportunity to capitalize on good customer relationships and experience growth at exponential rates.