Combatting Industry Headwinds

The last three years have been significantly different than any period since the great recession. Entering ’23, there are headwinds to battle. Many of the challenges are macroeconomic in nature. The industry as a whole must adapt, as we always successfully do, and make a positive impact in the areas where we have control.

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ChatGPT and Microsoft Bing

The disruption to Google’s paid search business model might be on the horizon. Search-share is dominated by Google. Other rivals such as Bing and Duck Duck Go have been increasing share, but there has not been a recent material threat to Google’s search business.

ChatGPT, a product of the company OpenAI, might be the first true threat. ChatGPT is a learning chatbot that can write blog posts, essays, advertising copy, or simply give you the answer to the question you’re searching for.

Microsoft is rumored to be investing $10 billion dollars (along with receiving a 49% stake) into ChatGPT and will be incorporating the technology into their Bing search engine. What does this mean? Google’s search engine results page (SERP) provides the best website choices to answer your search query. In most cases, you still need to decide which website to traffic to in order to find the information you desire. Bing, combined with ChatGPT, could provide you the answer you’re looking for without the need to click-thru to another website.

ChatGPT scours the entire web, not just to index a catalog of relevant search results, but to actually learn the context of information and provide it to its users in seconds. What does all this mean for the future of automotive search or search in general? Time will tell. It’s widely known that Google has their AI platform on the horizon… but in the meantime, it’s possible Microsoft/Bing could extract search share from the behemoth, Google. Microsoft is also looking to integrate ChatGPT into their Office suite of products, which could threaten the rise of Google Sheets/Docs/Slides etc.

For some more context, here are a few relevant links.

https://siliconangle.com/2022/12/22/reports-say-google-panicking-threat-posed-openais-chatbot/

https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/view/5b046b022ddf9c561f665c33hzm2y.g83/f2496ee2


CarOffer

Driven Media Group was recently introduced to CarOffer through a mutual client. When we find a service or product that we feel is beneficial for our clients, we have a sense of obligation to present it as an opportunity…especially when there are limited financial costs at play.

CarOffer connects vehicle buyers to sellers, without costly monthly subscriptions or commitments. By signing up with CarOffer, dealers are automatically connected to wholesale buyers, rental car companies, and dealers across the nation who have vehicle orders waiting to be filled and inventory waiting to be sold. When a dealer signs up for CarOffer, they’ll automatically receive buy bids on all of their inventory and when appraising vehicles, they’ll receive buy bids within 8 seconds of entering vehicle information.

As a buyer, you can set up a matrix, letting CarOffer’s platform know exactly what you’re looking for. When that order is filled, you’ll be notified of the new purchase, then CarOffer does the rest, including setting up an inspection, transportation and they’ll even handle arbitration, if necessary. Dealers are guaranteed to receive a vehicle that is within $800 of being “front line ready”. You’ll pay a flat fee for the purchase, which is considerably less than typical auction/transport fees.  

As a seller, you have thousands of buyers waiting to purchase your vehicles. CarOffer’s platform matches your vehicle with a buyer and generates an offer within 8 seconds. If you want to take your chances retailing a vehicle, they’ll give you an opportunity to lock in a 45 day guaranteed offer. Many dealers have found success selling vehicles to rental car companies on CarOffer, considering they’re currently unable to get the new cars needed to sustain their business models. Most of these offers are considerably higher than MMR. CarOffer is the key to mitigating wholesale loss, as well as the headache that comes along with repping vehicles at the auction or working directly with wholesalers.

The days of staring at the computer screen watching auction lanes are over.  The scalability of matrix/algorithmic technology has allowed CarOffer (a subsidiary of CarGurus) to flourish. Technologies such as CarOffer are dependent on adoption and stout volumes of inventory. Their success in this area is apparent, as they’ve just signed their 10,000th dealer. There is no risk to sign up with CarOffer’s platform. Dealer demos take approximately 15-20 minutes and the implementation is complete within a week. Unlike any platform, you get out of it what you put into it. CarOffer is the future of automotive wholesale, especially for dealers who greatly value their time and energy.

Inventory On Google & GMB

Is your active inventory being syndicated to your Google My Business listing? Have you seen Google’s new local car listings?

If you’re a Driven Media Group client, contact your Account Director so we can feed your inventory to the world’s largest search engine and provide your inventory the organic visibility it deserves.

If you’re not a Driven Media Group Client, click below to provide your info and we would be happy to assist your dealership.

This feature is only available on mobile as of now. See a preview of what it looks like below:

Important Facebook Dealer Updates – Watch To Learn More

Driven Media Group’s Account Team will be contacting our clients to complete domain verification between your Facebook Business Manager account and your website domain.

This can be conducted in 3 different ways. DMG’s Account Team will consult with each client individually on the best way to achieve domain verification.

Domain verification provides Facebook a ‘connection’ between the business and the website. This connection assures Facebook that the advertiser is accredited to send traffic to the advertiser’s website.

Navigating The New “Normal”

Just like our clients and colleagues, the team at Driven Media Group is looking to get back to ‘normal.’ One of our Partners, Jared Leibowitz, recently recorded a video that we thought would be valuable for our clients.

https://vimeo.com/411024631

Google recently released more info on their Google Ads Credit program. Click here to read the update. The Driven Media Group team will keep a close eye on the availability of client ad credits and will apply them as soon as they may become available.

Stay safe and please stay in tight communication with your Driven Media Group Account Director.  We’re here to help.

Justin Simon – Managing Partner, Driven Media Group Jared Leibowitz – Partner, Driven Media Group

Helpful Information For Your Business

As the situation in our country and industry remains fluid, we wanted to take a few minutes to inform our clients and friends about a few helpful topics, as well as the state of our business.

First and foremost, Driven Media Group is here for our clients around the clock.  Our entire team is working from home and ready to support you. We’ve all made financial and lifestyle sacrifices during this crisis and our team is no different.  We cannot thank our staff enough for making proactive financial sacrifices in order to allow our entire team to stay on board with Driven Media Group in order to serve our clients

Helpful Information for Your Business

-Google has announced $340 million in advertising credits to small and medium-sized businesses.  These ad credits will appear in Google Ad Accounts over the next several months. Driven Media Group does not ‘own’ our clients Ad Accounts, which means these credits will be readily available to you, the advertiser.  More info here 

-Facebook is launching a $100 million initiative to offer advertising credits and cash grants to 30,000 small businesses.  More info here

-The recently passed CARES Act and specifically the Payroll Protection Program should provide relief for many businesses.  Please consult your accountant and/or business advisors for specific details. The Small Business Investor Alliance has provided a summary accessible here.

-Our friends at PureCars recently released a report of data-driven insights that touch on budgets, ad platforms, and strategies.  Even though they are a competitor of ours in certain areas, we felt it was valuable information that could benefit our clients. Their report is based on data from clients across the country.  There are many variables in play, especially state by state restrictions and stay-at-home mandates. Our Account Director team has been making similar recommendations to our clients. Their report can be accessed here.

As always, stay safe and keep in touch with your Driven Media Group Account Director so we can support you as best we can.  

Justin Simon – Managing Partner, Driven Media Group
Jared Leibowitz – Partner, Driven Media Group

A Message To Our Clients And Colleagues

It goes without saying that our company, like yours, is taking precautions to protect from illness. This communication is not to explain that we are limiting travel or working from home.

What can we do to help you and your operations?

  • Do you need a video produced that explains why customers should feel comfortable transacting at your store?  Or the fact that your dealership will pick up and drop off their vehicle?  A video can be used cross-platform (website, email, social, YT, CTV/OTT) and can be produced and communicated quickly to your market. 
  • Do you need an email deployment designed to your database or a conquest audience? 
  • Are you looking to adjust your messaging for the end of the month and/or into April?
  • Are you working with Driven Media Group on a Facebook Event and not sure if you should proceed?  Have you considered scheduling a fixed-ops Facebook event in the near future to bring canceled appointments back into your store?

We’re here to help.  Continuity of advertising is necessary.  There is a light at the end of this tunnel, and it might very well be the summer selling season.  Too many consumers are sitting at home looking at your inventory and researching their options, and we want our clients primed for visibility.  

Our priority is to assist our clients in any way possible.  If you’re a client of Driven Media Group, please consult with your Account Director.  If you’re not a client of Driven Media Group but could use some help, we’ll do our best to provide pro-bono services to help your operations.  Please start a conversation with us via email: info@drivenmediagroup.com.

Again, we’re here to help.  Please count on our team to support your operations. 

Justin Simon
Managing Partner

Our Statement Regarding COVID-19

Health Statement Regarding COVID-19

Driven Media Group prioritizes the health and safety of our employees above all else.  We have taken internal precautions to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Our personnel will be working from home and our client-facing team will be not be traveling via air/hotel for the foreseeable future.  Further, we are being very prudent with in-person client meetings that would involve large amounts of staff. We will be leveraging technology such as screen-sharing to the fullest extent. Any in-person client meetings will be handled on an individual basis.  Our team will lean on the side of caution with decision making. We appreciate your understanding.


Advertising Statement Regarding COVID-19

The COVID-19 virus is undoubtedly affecting all business and commerce.  No one can read the future and the team at Driven Media Group is no different.  We hope and expect that more testing, public awareness, and transparency will lead to consumers altering their way of life to mitigate the risk of spreading the virus while at the same time, settling into a new ‘temporary normal’ of conducting business and commerce.   

One thing is very certain, in a time where normal activities are diminished, media consumption will be very high.  Consumers will have more time on their hands to research your products and services. Consumers still have a need to purchase and service vehicles.  A lot of transactions in the automotive industry are based on need. It’s imperative for your customers to be comfortable transacting in your facilities when their need arises.  Further, we encourage our clients to take steps to make the transaction process as easy as possible for your consumers in variable operations as well as fixed-operations. Handling transactions via digital retailing, delivering vehicles to homes and businesses, picking vehicles up for service etc. are all competitive advantages that your dealership can provide to your customers.

We understand that dealerships might be questioning their expenses.  If advertising exposure is removed in your market, consideration for your brand/group/dealer will take a big hit during a high-media consumption time period.  There will be a light at the end of the tunnel of this pandemic. Reducing advertising exposure now will have costly negative effects as we reach the upcoming high volume selling season.  Driven Media Group’s account team is well-versed in assisting our clients with advertising strategies. We will be working harder than ever for our clients to support your business operations.  As always, thank you for your continued support.

Let ISOtech Take Your Website To The Next Level.

Automotive website platforms are built to function for thousands of automotive retailers.  Considering the amount of technology, inventory, and other 3rd-party integrations, the scale provided by automotive website vendors offers an affordable solution for the vast majority of dealerships.  Driven Media Group developed ISOTech to enhance the ‘out of the box’ solutions provided by the industry’s major website platforms.  


ISOTech is proprietary code that indexes your make/model search results pages (SRPs) with Google.  Many website vendors attempt to index a dealer’s inventory pages (VDPs). However, VDPs are not meant to be on the website for a long period of time.  They are meant to come and go as vehicles are wholesaled and retailed. Website vendors should properly index new and pre-owned.  Reality is, they don’t. The major website vendors in automotive do not properly communicate to Google the prioritization of pages that Google should crawl when they index your site.  ISOTech was built to solve these deficiencies and many more.

Check out this video to see ISOtech in action!

If you’d like to learn more about ISOTech, reach out to our Vice President of Client Development, Jim Daly.  Jim can be reached via jdaly@drivenmediagroup.com or 484-221-2144.