Super Bowl: Food Sellers Look to Run Up the Score

Catching up to Thanksgiving, the Fourth of July and Memorial Day, Super Bowl Sunday has become yet another day when Americans take a break from the call for healthy eating.

According to a survey by the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association (RAMA), 71.3 percent of respondents plan to buy food and beverages for game day, dwarfing the spending planned on team apparel or accessories (8.6 percent), decorations (6.4 percent), and furniture or a new entertainment center (2.4 percent).

Overall, the average game-watcher expects to shell out $63.87 on related merchandise, apparel and snacks for the Giants/Patriots match-up, up from $59.33 last year. Total Super Bowl spending is expected to reach $11.0 billion.

The Super Bowl party is the main event.

• Of those planning to watch the game, nearly 63.6 million (27.1 percent) are planning to attend a party, up from last year's 61.2 million, according to the RAMA survey. Another 35.9 million (15.3 percent) plan to throw a party, also up from the 34.9 million who said they would host a party in 2011.
• Supervalu's third-annual Snack Down survey found that the majority of respondents readily acknowledge that few, if any, snacks they eat during games would be considered healthy or good for them. Favorite snacks were dips and spreads (32 percent), followed by chicken wings (23 percent), and pizza and salty snacks (tied at 14 percent).
• According to a survey from the National Restaurant Association, 48 million people will order takeout or delivery on game day with another 12 million heading to a restaurant or bar to watch the game. In its survey, 69 percent of respondents described salsa, dips or spreads as "must-haves"; 63 percent indicated chicken wings; 61 percent, pizza; 50 percent, desserts; and 49 percent, subs/sandwiches.
• Forty-two percent said healthful food items are a "must" on their game-day table.
• The National Chicken Council stated that 1.25 billion chicken wings -- or about 100 million pounds of meat -- will be eaten on game day.

As supermarket circulars on Sunday touted "Game Day Savings," other articles are coming out detailing how to best prepare and save money for the game day party.

On street.com, Kristin Colella urged making finger foods at home and encouraging guests to bring beverages. On lifegoesstrong.com, Leah Ingram advised preparing everything in advance, using a slow cooker, buying disposable plates and bowls, and setting the menu around supermarket sales.

Writing for phillyblurbs.com, Eddie Gribbin added limiting invites, preparing hot-foods before kickoff, and setting up an extra television. Wrote Mr. Gribbin, "For any party, it's all about preparation."

(Source: Retail Wire, 01/30/12)

Persistence Pays Off

Stop assuming customers won't take your call, agree to an appointment or do business with you. Too many reps simply give up because they don't hear back from prospects right away. They throw proposal after proposal out the door and then lose interest in following up because they get distracted chasing the next opportunity.

Please understand that I'm not giving you license to become a pest, but I am encouraging you to become more persistent. Quit making decisions for your prospects and move forward with a relentless "go for no" attitude.

Sure, you'll face a little more rejection, but that helps clean out your funnel and forces you to focus on the right opportunities. I know it hurts to lose, but you can't lose what you don't have. And you just might be surprised how many times you'll hear a "yes" if you're willing to stay engaged.

Getting on the all-important page 1 of a shopper's search. Here's how to get there -- and stay there

Rick Buffkin is sold on the power of Google to help him sell vehicles.

The four-store Beaman Automotive Group in Nashville sells about 100 vehicles a month from Internet leads in part because online shoppers looking for Toyota, Ford, Chrysler or Buick models can't miss Beaman stores on Google.

Google, the world's dominant search engine, uses a complex and constantly changing set of rules to channel shoppers to dealerships. Dealerships that master the rules win sales.

For instance, Buffkin, Beaman's Internet marketing director, uses low-cost product videos and fresh content on Beaman's own Web sites. The videos and content help Beaman appear high on Google's crucial first page of a search.

"People turn to Google for everything -- they're taking over," said Buffkin, 36.

Beaman Automotive, headed by dealer principal Lee Beaman, sells about 750 new and used vehicles a month at its Toyota-Scion, Ford, Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram and Buick-GMC stores.

Google is top-of-mind for dealers across the country as they look to shift marketing dollars from traditional media, such as TV, radio and print, to the Internet.

Tony Rhoades, Internet executive director for the seven-franchise Gunn Automotive Group in San Antonio, said: "Google is the dominant player on the Internet, and you have to do everything you can to position yourself on page 1."

Will Perry, director of business intelligence for Dataium Inc., said Google has led the way as car shopping habits have shifted to the Internet over the past decade.

Dataium tracks car-buying habits on more than 5,000 dealership and factory Web sites nationally.

Shopping starts online

The statistics are convincing. More than 90 percent of car buyers today start their research on the Internet, said Brice Englert, marketing manager at Dominion Dealer Solutions, which works with dealership clients on Internet marketing.

They make an average of 18 stops on the Internet along the way, said Brian Pasch, CEO of consulting firm PCG Digital Marketing.

Those online shoppers will make stopovers to comparison shop on sites such as AutoTrader.com, Cars.com and shopautoweek.com; get pricing information at places such as TrueCar.com and Edmunds; and use search engines to navigate the process quickly.

During the process, three of four Internet car shoppers will visit Google at least once, and in most cases multiple times, Dataium's Perry said. Two of every three shoppers who visit a dealership Web site come there directly from Google, he said.

Sean Wolfington, owner of Tier10Marketing.com, an automotive and entertainment marketing company that sells its services to auto dealerships, said, "Google is where people turn at the top of sales funnel, and at the bottom when they are getting ready to buy."

So, said Kevin Frye, e-commerce director for the 11-store Jeff Wyler Automotive Family in Cincinnati, it's critical for dealers to have a strong presence on Google. "It's a matter of fishing where the fish are," he said.

Why Google rules

• 90% of vehicle buyers start their shopping online.
• 65% of visitors to dealership Web sites come directly from a Google search.
• Google is the primary influence in 25% of dealership Web site traffic and 3% of sales leads.
Source: Dataium Inc.

Crucial first page

There are two ways for dealerships to get listed on the crucial first page of a Google search:

1. Buy their way on with advertising, a process known as search engine marketing.
Those paid search results are bought through a pay-per-click auction, in which dealers, the automakers and sometimes third-party Internet lead generators will pay 50 cents to $3.50 every time a Google visitor clicks on the ad to be taken to a dealership Web site. Those ads tend to appear along the top of a Google page in a shaded box and often along the right side of the page.

2. Get Google to list the dealership and videos for free by getting Google to believe the store's Web site is the most relevant to consumers in that market. That's known as an organic search. That means a site with a lot of fresh content and the ability to hold viewers' attention.

Beaman Automotive is definitely in the organic-search camp, Buffkin said. Though Beaman buys no advertising on Google, Beaman's Web site and videos routinely place atop the first page of searches involving dealerships in the Nashville area.

For example, a Google search last week using the words "2012 Toyota Camry Nashville" listed Beaman Toyota in the top two so-called organic positions on the first Google page just below three shaded pay-per-click listings on the page.

Beaman Ford, during the third week of January, won the top five organic positions when the following search phrase was used: "2012 Ford Focus SE Nashville."

Buffkin said Beaman has an aggressive strategy to get top Google listings -- a process known as search engine optimization.

It's working: Of about 50,000 visits to Beaman Automotive's Web sites a month, about 65 percent come there directly after a Google search, Buffkin said. Of those visits, about 1,200 people a month will fill out a lead form asking online to be contacted for more information or to make an appointment, he said.

Understanding Google

Buffkin said staying relevant on Google is part art and part science, with an emphasis on hard work. Google uses secret formulas, called algorithms, to determine which businesses get top play on consumer searches.
And Google frequently changes the way it weighs its criteria. For instance, videos on YouTube tend to score well with Google. YouTube is owned by Google.

That makes Google a moving target. But Buffkin said a couple of tactics are key. The first is to keep Beaman's Web site full of fresh content, including chat, videos and blogs that contain key words or phrases sure to catch Google's attention such as the city, brand, dealership name and even the nearby I-40 freeway.
Buffkin said Google puts a premium on dealership Web sites that keep visitors for long durations. The average visitor to a Beaman Web site spends 10.4 minutes on the site. The group's bounce rate -- the rate at which a visitor comes to the dealership Web site but drills no further into it -- is less than 30 percent vs. an industry average of 60 percent.

"You have to make your site sticky," Buffkin said. "In Google's eyes, content is king."

Videos help

Buffkin also is a big believer in the power of online videos. Of the top five organic positions that Beaman held in the search of "2012 Ford Focus SE Nashville," three were videos that the dealership's Web manager, Dealer.com, shot so Beaman could put them up on YouTube.

Another plus for Google placement are consumer reviews, said Matt Haiken, dealer principal and general manager of Prestige Volvo in East Hanover, N.J., outside New York. Reviews are part of the criteria Google uses for ranking dealership sites.

About nine months ago Google annoyed dealers by saying it would no longer allow reviews not gathered on Google to be shown on Google Places, the maplike business directory that shows up on Google search pages.

Overnight, Prestige Volvo lost 400 consumer reviews garnered on other sites such as Dealerrater.com and Yelp, Haiken said. But rather than sulk, Prestige began rebuilding its review base by identifying all customers with a Gmail account and encouraging them to submit a review. Gmail is a Google product.

Prestige is back up to 48 reviews on its Google Places page, with nearly a top five-star overall rating, Haiken said.

Google is critical to Prestige, since the dealership switched all its marketing dollars five years ago to digital media from traditional media, Haiken said. Prestige is one of the top-selling Volvo dealers in the nation, selling 757 new and 270 used vehicles in 2011.

Haiken said he consistently buys ads on Google to expand his reach. He said he spends about 10 percent of his digital marketing budget on Google. Prestige Volvo's total monthly digital marketing budget exceeds $10,000.

Fighting for business in crowded suburban New York makes ad buying a necessity, Haiken said.
He said: "Face it. If every customer is online these days, then every customer is an Internet customer."

Mastering Google

Tips to keep a dealership on the crucial first page of a Google search
• Use Google's free analytics tool to bid on the most-searched phrases in your market.
• Shoot high-quality video and put it up on YouTube (a Google property) and other sites.
• Make it easy for sales and service customers to write a store review on Google.
• Use videos, chat and blogs on your Web sites to keep visitors longer.

David Barkholz - Automotive News

Report by Nation's Largest Furniture Seller Lists Top 10 Trends of 2012

Sectionals and storage beds lead a list of the top 10 furniture trends of 2012, according to Ashley Furniture HomeStores.

The retail division of Ashley Furniture, the nation's largest furniture retailer, said the popularity of certain items relates to the Americans' changing lifestyles.

"Decisions about how and where to live have never been more critical," said Kris Woodcock, vice president of merchandising. "With older consumers wanting to stay put as long as possible, graduating children returning home after college and adult children inviting their parents to live with them, our houses are requiring smarter choices, better use of space and more long-term planning rather than resale considerations."

Here are Ashley's top 10:

1. Sectionals. Thanks to family rooms, more entertaining at home, and fashion-forward, younger shoppers, sectionals are going to be big. Durable, high performance fabrics and leathers make sectionals appealing in 2012, along with versatile pieces, such as a chaise ottoman that can flip to either end.

2. Storage beds. They're not just for kids' rooms anymore. Bedroom furniture pieces with storage are entering master bedroom suites in a big way, with sleek designs inspired by elegant platform beds. For 2012, many of them will include enough storage to reduce the need for both a chest and dresser, or add much-needed extra storage for shoes, off-season clothing, linens and more.

3. Better mattresses. Ever since hotels began replacing their mattresses with more heavenly versions, consumers have been upgrading their own homes with better mattresses and pillows. For 2012, look for a move away from plush pillow-tops to streamlined, flatter beds.

4. Console seating. Once a luxury product in need of a designated home theater room, theater seating today is going anywhere there's a big-screen TV. And the console loveseat is the rising star. Perfect for small spaces and budgets, it's as fully loaded as home theater sofas and sectionals, including cup holders, storage console, plush arms, headrest and chaise-style ottomans, multiple comfort positions and power.

5. TV consoles. Flat-screen TVs are cheaper, bigger and better, and are making their way into every room in the house. In 2012, the vast majority of those TVs will be housed in or on furniture rather than hung on the wall. Look for better-designed, better-quality TV stands (that look like real furniture), along with clever places to store components -- and taller, multi-purpose versions that double as a drawer chest.

6. Servers. The growing trend to hosting buffets rather than sit-down dinners explains the growing popularity of servers and sideboards. Easy access to cords for warming trays and blenders, less fancy china to display (younger consumers are opting out of rarely used dinnerware) and smaller homes all add to their popularity. For 2012, look for servers with as many drawers as doors, integrated power bars or moisture-resistant tops.

7. Writing desks. Laptop computers and wireless networks are changing our concept of a home office. A single "official" work area is being joined, or replaced, by multiple workstations that can go anywhere. For 2012, it's all about compact workstations, with a simple table in a bedroom, hallway or behind the sofa. Look for warmer styles that blend with other furniture pieces.

8. Bigger coffee tables. Many people opt to eat dinner on the sofa rather than at the kitchen table, explaining the trend to bigger and better coffee tables. Harking back to the 1960s conversation pit, a larger coffee table is a magnet for gathering. For 2012, look for pop-up coffee tables for eating or working in front of the TV, storage drawers or shelves and deeper sizes scaled for sectionals.

9. Gathering tables. The kitchen may be the emotional and physical center of the home, but it's the eating area that's becoming the hub -- especially when it's designed to be a comfortable, live-in gathering place. Higher-height gathering tables or pub tables are the perfect choice, able to house a crowd, double as a workstation or extra cooking surface, or act as space divider between the kitchen and living room (with enough height to see over the sofa to the TV). For 2012, look for unique, transitional styles that bridge more stylish kitchens and less formal living areas.

10. Accent furniture. Stand-alone accent furniture will add storage, flexibility, and plenty of character in 2012 -- satiating our appetite for something fresh, new or daring when budgets don't allow a full room makeover. Accent chairs, small tables, ottomans, shelves, drawer chests and screens will bring designer-style décor home, with a range of exotic or antiqued finishes, reclaimed woods or hand-painted pieces that look acquired from an antique store or exotic trip.
(Source: Furniture Today, 01/23/12)

The Four "P's" of Persuasion

Manipulation or Persuasion?

Manipulation is getting prospects or customers to do something for your benefit. Persuasion is getting them to do something for your mutual benefit.

What's the difference? Manipulation is bad. It's done to serve your own interests without any regard to what you're doing for the prospect or customer.

Persuasion is good because it's done for the best interests of you and the prospect or customer. Here are some tips that may increase your persuasive powers:

Persisting. Persuaders realize that 80% of sales are made on the fifth call or later. They recognize that one of their most persuasive abilities is the refusal to give up. They understand that more than 75% of salespeople quit after calling on a prospect three times. Persuaders are in the elite 20% of the sales force that close 80% of the sales.

Personalizing. Persuaders recognize that a prospect wants to know one thing: "What's in it for me?" They add persuasion by personalizing every part of their presentation to meet prospects' own personal needs and wants.

Proving. Facts and testimonials are very persuasive. Persuaders recognize that third-party endorsements go a long way to building credibility. They're prepared to prove every claim they make with hard data, test results and performance records.

Positive. The best persuaders are positive about themselves, the company they represent, the products or services they're selling, and the prospects they're attempting to persuade. Enthusiasm is contagious. They persuade with power because they get customers and prospects feeling the same way.

Today's Youth a Tough Sell for Automakers

Automakers have a problem. The kids of America do not want cars.

At least not as much as they used to.

According to research conducted by General Motors Co., 30 percent of them got their driver's license when they turned 16.

For their parents, a car represented freedom -- the ability to escape from parents and go where they wanted without anyone looking over their shoulder.

Today, young people find that freedom online. GM says more than half of those surveyed said they would actually rather meet up with their friends in cyberspace than face to face.

"There's simply new and better and, frankly, more efficient alternatives to communication and getting that freedom that they used to rely on the auto industry to provide," said John McFarland, senior manager for global marketing at Chevrolet, one of GM's divisions.

Just ask Christopher Elkins, a 22-year-old engineering student at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He has a 2002 Ford Focus. But now that he has a place of his own, going out is less important than it used to be.

Last year, Elkins drove his car to school every day. But he decided it was too much of a hassle. So, this year, he takes the bus. Elkins said he uses his car only about once a week to get groceries.

"I would prefer to bike or walk, especially in Ann Arbor," he said.

But automakers cannot write off a whole generation. According to GM, there are 80 million millennials -- a group it defines as 18- to 24-year-olds -- in the United States. And they already wield a trillion dollars in spending power. Unfortunately for Detroit, they are spending little of that money on cars.

Ever since Toyota Motor Corp. launched its youth-oriented Scion brand in 2002, automakers have been trying to convince kids that cars in general -- and their cars in particular -- are cool. Scion has had some success. The median age of a Scion buyer is 29, the lowest in the industry, according to Toyota. "We don't really think that any brands today are doing it right," McFarland said. "We don't think anyone quite 'gets' this group."

And that includes Chevy.

Talking about life
But McFarland and his team are trying to change that. They started by changing the way they did market research. Instead of getting a group of kids together in a room and asking them to describe their ideal car, GM's designers sat down with them and talked about life -- what they wanted out of it and how they live theirs. GM found that what they really value is their friends and doing things with them. When they did start talking about cars, the designers discovered that, instead of the sporty compacts and cute hatchbacks they thought kids wanted, what they really desire is "a car to do things with."

In other words, they want basic transportation, not performance.

They also found out that these younger consumers are more realistic than they imagined. Sure, their dream car is still a Lamborghini, but what they really want is a car that can take their friends places. They want it to look cool, but they really do not care how fast it is.

So GM began work on a series of Chevy concepts that it hopes will finally strike the right chord with the youth of America -- or at least a significant number of them.

Chevy recently unveiled two of them at the North American International Auto Show, and more are in the works. One is a mini-muscle car; the other looks like a baby exotic. Both are powered by modest motors that promise more fuel economy than speed.

They are "more poseur than doer," said Clay Dean, director of advanced design at GM, who said the company this year will show them and other concepts to young people at auto shows all over the country.

Other automakers also are trying a new approach to attracting younger car buyers. Chrysler Group LLC put some of its youngest designers in charge of the Dodge Dart program in an effort to channel the zeitgeist of Generation Y, according to Ralph Gilles, head of design at the Auburn Hills, Mich. automaker.

"I want you drawing the car you would drive," Gilles told them.

Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said they got it right, adding that the Dart will be "key" to bringing millennials into Dodge showrooms.

"I think the car has all the requisites to get it done," he said, adding that technology is a big attraction for younger car buyers, which is why there is so much of it in the Dart. "There's no car that's this evolved."

'Smartphone on wheels'
Dodge's focus on technology makes sense, at least according to the results of a recent survey by Deloitte and Michigan State University's Broad College of Business. They talked to 1,500 consumers of all ages in the United States, as well as 250 Gen Y consumers in China and 300 Gen Y consumers in Western Europe, and found most 19- to 31-year-olds want "a smartphone on wheels."

Tasnim Rahman, 19, said that while fuel economy and looks are important to her, what the University of Michigan student really wants in a car is "a lot of modern technology because we need it today. We are very tech savvy, so we need a car that's tech savvy, too."

Nearly 60 percent of the young people surveyed by Deloitte said in-dash technology is the most important part of a vehicle's interior, while 73 percent said they wanted touch-screen interfaces. Most also want to be able to use smartphone applications.

Fortunately for Dodge, the new Dart offers all of that. So do many of Ford Motor Co.'s new small cars.

Moray Callum, Ford's director of design for the Americas, says his research has revealed the same thing as GM's.

"Having a car is not the same priority anymore for young people," he said. "Adults are worried about texting being a disturbance while driving. A lot of kids think that driving is a disturbance to texting."

Ford, too, has concluded that image is more important than performance to younger customers.

"They're all about the arrival," Callum said, adding that this is why Ford has focused so much on styling in cars like the Fiesta. "They still think the car says something about them."

(Source: The Detroit News, 01/16/12)

More States Betting on Casino Gambling for Jobs, Revenue

The competition for Americans' gambling dollars is heating up, as several states eye major casino projects in a bid to reverse their fortunes in a tough economic climate.

And if approved, the projects could pose a threat to Las Vegas, long the nation's mecca for casino gambling.

• In Florida, a state Senate panel this month approved a bill that would pave the way for up to three casinos, including one possibly in Miami.
• In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed expanding casino operations at the Aqueduct Racetrack in New York City's Borough of Queens and called for a constitutional amendment to allow casino gambling across the state.
• And lawmakers in Illinois are trying to revive an effort to bring a casino to Chicago.

These come on the heels of a new Massachusetts law that authorizes up to three resort-style casinos and one slots parlor, with one possibly in Boston.

Authorizing casino gambling is "easy politically right now," says Douglas Walker, associate professor of economics at South Carolina's College of Charleston and author of The Economics of Casino Gambling. "People want jobs and they don't want higher taxes. Legalizing casinos can be argued to create jobs and tax revenues."

Never mind that some gambling analysts say that gambling doesn't help the long-term financial stability of a state.

"States see an uptick in revenues when they expand gambling," says Robert Ward, deputy director of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government. "That does not mean they become more fiscally stable."

The potential expansion of casino operations across the country -- especially in major cities like New York, Miami and Boston -- has Las Vegas on edge, just as it's pulling itself out of a three-year-long rut.

Florida casinos could pose threat
The 41 casinos on the Las Vegas Strip have seen an uptick in gambling revenue in recent months. Although they reported a combined $2.2 billion in operating losses from mid-2010 through June 30 of last year, it's less than the $2.57 billion lost in the 12 months before that.

Through November, there were 35.97 million visitors, a 4.4% increase from the first 11 months of 2010, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The hotel occupancy rate in the first 11 months of last year was 84.8%, up 3.7 percentage points from the previous 11 months.

The upscale casinos and accompanying entertainment and dining options that developers envision in cities such as New York and Miami could cut into that, some analysts say.

"They're a much more competitive threat than an Indian casino in Oklahoma," says William Eadington, a gambling industry expert at the University of Nevada at Reno. "The world is not going to collapse next year, but it's not great news (for Vegas) over the next five or 10 years."

Of all the states considering gambling, analysts say Florida could be the most successful at drawing tourists from Las Vegas.

The bill in its Legislature that would pave the way for casinos isn't a done deal. It faces opposition from the likes of the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Walt Disney World.

But the Malaysia-based Genting Group, one of the world's largest gambling corporations, already has planned a $3.8 billion waterfront complex in Miami with a casino, shopping mall and restaurants.

"I'm not sure how many more people are going to go to New York or Massachusetts just because they have casinos now," Walker says. "But among 'beach options,' Miami might look a lot more attractive now because it's one additional amenity the city would offer if it had casinos."

The Genting Group also is behind the proposed Aqueduct Racetrack project in New York, which would include the country's largest convention center.

Plans there call for three hotels with 3,000 rooms total, an entertainment facility and an expansion of a casino that began operating at the racetrack in October.

Cuomo, a Democrat, has made the Aqueduct project the crux of his job-creation strategy.

Las Vegas has other appeal
Some analysts and industry leaders say they're not so worried about Las Vegas' future.

The introduction of regional casinos in states such as Connecticut and Pennsylvania hurt neighboring places like Atlantic City, but didn't make much of a dent on Las Vegas.

And today, gambling makes up less than 40% of Las Vegas' visitor revenue, down from the more than 60% it used to represent. It's the 13th consecutive year that gambling has made up less than half the Strip's revenue, and the lowest percentage ever recorded, says Michael Lawton, senior research analyst at the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

"It's the concentration of first-rate hotels, the shows, the shopping that bring people to Nevada," says Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association.

Or as David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, puts it: "When you stop having movies like The Hangover made, that's when Las Vegas is going to be in a lot of trouble."

(Source: USA Today, 01/23/12)

Take Advantage Of Gen Y's Willingness To Talk

Most brands aren't taking advantage of the opportunities presented them to engage Gen Y consumers. 

Gen Y is on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and the majority of social networks, and they expect to have a conversation with your brand on these channels.

Most of the time, brands see this interaction in a negative sense because consumers bring complaints to a Facebook wall or Twitter feed. Gen Y consumers are incited to engage with brands based on a negative experience, not a positive one so brands become reactive and can't engage in a positive fashion.

According to a recent MTV Networks study, 70% of Gen Y consumers said they'd figure out how to make things fair if they feel a company is being unfair with them. The network found that the group as a whole demands fairness, transparency and clear, consistent rules from brands. This often means brands get bombarded with negative Facebook posts or tweets when it increases shipping charges or makes a decision a majority of its consumers doesn't like.

The solution is simple: Brands need to be more proactive in engaging Gen Y consumers. It doesn't have to be formal research done with an agency or even scientifically formulated -- just engage like a regular person. It's the first step in trying to bring Gen Y consumers into your circle.

If you're thinking of changing shipping charges on your website or altering your return policy, talk to consumers first. Giving Gen Y costumers a chance to provide feedback on a possible change and then seeing their suggestions come to life -- or at least the chance for their feedback to be seriously considered -- is the best way to start creating grassroots ambassadors in this consumer group.

This type of consumer research doesn't have to just be for research; it can be used for marketing. Engaging Gen Y consumers in a positive fashion should be central to any brand's social media strategy. It could be as simple as a Facebook question on an airline's brand page, asking consumers what type of entertainment they'd like to see on the plane.

Rather than waiting for a disgruntled passenger who was angry about missing expected reruns of “30 Rock,” the airline can give consumers a chance to help shape that programming. If a problem does come up, you have a group of consumers who can back you up because they participated in the conversation your brand started on in-flight entertainment.

Use the tools in front of you to start a positive conversation with consumers and take advantage of Gen Y's willingness to talk. 

Patrick Evans - STA Travel

Sales Tip: Reinvest In Your Career

Many devices shown last week at CES are powerful tools radio salespeople can use to close more business. Mobile devices are plentiful, relatively inexpensive and serve multiple purposes. They can help you with customer relationship management, client communication, and client presentations.

If you do not own these devices, consider a smartphone, tablet and laptop. Make sure you own a portable, battery-powered speaker to play audio for clients from your devices. A nice touch in presentations is a battery- powered portable video projector to show your presentations in large format.

Digital salespeople are demonstrating what they are selling when presenting to advertisers and agencies. Handing a client a written proposal or one-sheet is no longer enough to keep up, let alone get ahead of the competition.

Study: More Regional Ad Agencies Budget for Digital Specialists

The following article was written by Jay Friedman, chief operations officer of Goodway Group, and appeared in the January 17 edition of Ad Age Agency News.

This month we published the results of a study detailing the state of "going digital" within regional agencies around the U.S. The study asked 12 questions and was answered by 90 agencies, up from 74 in 2010.

The fact that we have two years of comparative data also allows us to see how the mindset around core digital-media needs has shifted year over year. Some results are expected, but many are truly astounding. What's more interesting is different people will find the results astounding for different, and sometimes opposite, reasons.

Responses to each of the 12 questions are fascinating, but I've chosen three of the questions to highlight here with the hope you'll read the full study as well.

In 2010, 26% of agencies said clients "weren't asking for" digital media. That dropped to 4% this year as it appears marketers who felt this way a year ago may have realized digital is a requirement, not an option. The fact that "budgeting to hire and train a new staff member" shot from 14% to 51% from 2010 to 2011 shows us regional agencies now have realized that digital media may be so complex that existing staff with different backgrounds and expertise will not naturally become digital-media experts. Or it could be the costs of learning on the job are too great.

We predict the major "aha!" in 2012 will be that budgeting to hire just one staff member will not be enough. Social content, web development, analytics, SEM and display are all significantly different subspecialties within digital. Still, most agencies do not have the budget or need to hire full-timers in each of these areas.

If you ask people who have been working in display (online, mobile, video) for a while about the notion of click-thru-rates as a metric of success, they will most likely scoff at it.

Real ROI, effective cost per action, and brand lift are often considered more meaningful metrics for success. Forty-eight percent of those surveyed view CTR as the primary metric for success while another 20% view CPM. This data shows that regional agencies are still in the introductory learning stage of digital media.

If you're a digital veteran, you may remember working on your first several campaigns and eyeing the CTR as the campaigns progressed. You may have gotten excited about a rising CTR only to feel a bit empty when a campaign finished: "Great, we got lots of clicks, but does that really mean we succeeded?"

Since many agencies (and likely their clients) are focusing on CTR and CPM to define success, it's not surprising how the next question plays out, "How successful would you rate your past digital campaigns?" Only 2% of regional agencies rated their past campaigns as "very successful" because they and their clients have not established healthy metrics for campaign success.

This study culminates with the final question, "In terms of agency business priorities, where would you say 'going digital' falls?" Last year, 71% answered it was either their top priority or one of the top few. This year 59% said, "We'd like to, but we're not in a hurry." What happened?

We believe this de-prioritization is the result of the combined experiences and lessons from the areas we've described above. This is especially true because in the beginning we all thought, "It's just another medium. It can't be that different." This obviously has not proven out.

Programmatic digital buying and the expertise needed around it are a world apart from the spots and dots of traditional media. These inaccurate expectations combined with the challenges of campaign metrics could certainly lead agency owners and top executives to rethink speeding headfirst into their next digital project.

Having spoken with hundreds of regional agencies across the country, one thing I can definitively say is these agency owners and top executives are incredibly smart and will figure this out in short order. But like any new subject, having a great teacher can be the best path. As regional agencies lean on vendors and other industry experts, we expect to see a hockey-stick-like understanding of digital and how it fits into the entire media picture.

(Source: Jay Friedman, Advertising Age, 01/17/12. The full study is available here.)

Digital to Get Bigger Slice of Ad Budget Pie

With more people turning to online and digital sources for their entertainment and information, marketers will be investing more in the digital space on brand-building (as opposed to direct-response) advertising in the coming year.

In 2012, 60% of marketers' digital advertising budgets will be devoted to online branding, according to a survey conducted by ad tech company Vizu. It found that 64% of markets will increase their online brand advertising budgets, with more than a fifth saying they planned to increase them by 20%. (Comparatively, only 56% of marketers said they planned to increase their online direct-response budgets.) Similarly, 60% said they were re-allocating dollars away from direct-response and into brand initiatives.

"Brand advertising is becoming a bigger and bigger part of the digital experience," Jeff Smith, chief marketing officer at Vizu, tells Marketing Daily.

Smith gave three reasons for the increases. First, more consumers are migrating online. Whereas 10 years ago, digital initiatives were a key way to reach younger consumers, the medium is more widely used by many age demographics.

"It's no longer this selective channel to reach younger people," he says. "It's an imperative to reach the target audience in total."

Second, many marketers are being asked about their "social media strategies," which is based in digital marketing.

"Social in itself is just another tactic, but it's taken on a life of its own," Smith says. "Whether or not they thought about social, their organization is asking them about social."

Finally, Smith says, the space offers better measurement than many previous brand advertising channels. This third factor, however, also comes with a downside. According to the survey, a third of marketers felt they were "drowning in data" when it came to online advertising, leading to what the company called a "metrics morass."

The solution, according to Smith, is to be clear about a campaign’s objectives and measurement before launch.

"What too often happens is the brands don't set that objective up front and they don't define the metric that's going to be measuring (the campaign)," he says. "(As a result), they get agencies reporting back any data they have."

Marketers, Smith suggests, need to set their goals and define the information they want reported back to them, and then ensure that all of their agencies (creative, media, digital, database, etc.) are on the same page and speaking the same language at the outset.

"It's really important regardless of what aspect of the campaign it is -- to get everyone on the same page, looking at the same data and using the same language," he says.

(Source: Marketing Daily, 01/09/12)

Show Them, Don't Tell Them

As a salesperson, you can thrive with buyers and purchasing departments if you follow these simple approaches: Be yourself, be professional, and be engaged in genuinely wanting to help the buyer and their company. If you can't do these things, then you shouldn't be selling. If you are not sure if you're already doing these things, then I hate to tell you this, but you're probably not.

Don't walk around telling people you care about them and that you are so concerned about helping them. The salespeople who truly do care and are concerned let it come out in their actions day in and day out. Other people see it and do not need the salesperson to offer a verbal alert to it.

NRF Forecasts Retail Industry Sales Growth of 3.4 Percent in 2012

Though stubbornly high unemployment and continued uncertainty over the prospects for job growth will continue to dampen the outlook for retail sales growth in 2012, the retail industry will still grow at a rate faster than many other segments of the economy.

This year, retail industry sales will rise 3.4 percent to $2.53 trillion, according to the National Retail Federation -- slightly lower than the pace of 2011, in which sales grew 4.7 percent. Many economists estimate that real U.S. GDP will rise approximately 2.1 to 2.4 percent.

"Over the last 18 months, retailers have been on the forefront of the economic recovery -- creating jobs, encouraging consumer spending, and investing in America," said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. "Our 2012 forecast is a vote of confidence in the retail industry and our ability to succeed even in a challenging economy. Retailers have played a key role in driving growth, but to continue this momentum we need Washington to act on proposals that will spur job creation and unleash the power of the private sector."

Shay announced NRF's forecast to 24,000 retailers and their partners at NRF's 101st Annual Convention and Expo on Monday in New York. During his remarks, Shay discussed how continued growth in the retail industry will result in additional jobs, greater innovation and increased consumer value. But he warned that the private sector can't do it alone and Washington must take steps to support growth, including reforming our corporate tax system to enhance U.S. business' competitiveness, enacting sales tax fairness to level the playing field between brick-and-mortar and online retailers, and reforming our visa system so more foreign travelers can come to the U.S. to spend money and help spur growth. Shay and NRF's Chairman -- Macy's President/CEO Terry Lundgren -- outlined the industry's priorities in a letter to President Obama last week.

Though retailers ended last year on a strong note with holiday sales rising 4.1 percent over 2010, many factors will continue to influence the expected slowdown in consumer spending, but none remain more cumbersome than the stalled unemployment rate and lack of newly-created jobs. A number of factors contributed to NRF's 2012 economic forecast, including:

• Employment: The number of Americans out of work is at its lowest level in nearly three years, and the rise in employment and hours worked should bolster income and spending.

• Income growth: Consumers are constrained by modest growth in income. Congress extended the cuts in payroll taxes and unemployment benefits for only two months. While these provide a lift, consumers may act cautiously until both are approved. Income is predicted to lag consumption on a year-over-year basis.

• Housing: While most of the economic reports dealing with housing have shown a little more strength, these reports should be treated with caution, as some of the improvement is due in part to unseasonably mild weather. NRF expects home sales and construction will improve slightly in 2012 with low interest rates and affordability at an almost 30-year high.

• Inflation: Increased costs have been a drain on consumer purchasing power due to extraordinary agricultural commodity price inflation as well as high oil prices due to global geopolitical tensions. NRF expects inflation to slow down near a two percent range. Rising gas prices may also put pressure on spending.

• Consumer credit: Easier lending standards are expanding consumer credit. Revolving credit appeared to break out from its holding pattern showing a big surge in November, which indicates consumers have confidence to take on debt.

• Consumer confidence: Confidence continues to rebound from August lows but remains fragile given volatile financial market conditions and anemic housing markets.

(Source: National Retail Federation, 01/16/12)

More Consumers Choosing Smartphones as Apple Closes the Gap on Android

Last year ended with smartphone penetration in the U.S. reaching 46%, according to the latest data from Nielsen. That's almost at the halfway mark predicted by the media research firm before the start of 2011 and up from 30% in the fourth quarter of 2010. Among people who got a new mobile device in the last three months of 2011, 60% bought a smartphone.

Helping to drive adoption in recent months has been the iPhone 4S, launched in October.

The popularity of the latest Apple handset is underscored by the Nielsen research, which shows that among people who bought devices in the fourth quarter, 44.5% in December said they got an iPhone compared to only 25.1% in October. Among new iPhone acquirers, 57% got the 4S.

Conversely, Android's share among people who bought smartphones in the last three months of 2011 dropped from 61.6% to 46.9%. Struggling BlackBerry dropped from 7.7% to 4.5%.

Even so, Android managed to strengthen its position as the most pervasive mobile operating system among all smartphone users in the fourth quarter. All told, 46.3%. of smartphone owners surveyed owned an Android device, up from 42.8% in the prior quarter. Apple's iOS platform increased its overall share slightly to 30% from 28.3% in the third quarter.

By contrast, BlackBerry slipped to a 14.9% share overall in the fourth quarter from 17.8% in the prior quarter, while Microsoft's Windows Mobile and Windows Phone platforms dropped to 4.9% from 6.1%. Microsoft, of course, has launched an ambitious effort to reverse its continuing slide in the smartphone market with the new lineup of Lumia devices developed in partnership with Nokia.

How well consumers respond to the Nokia/Windows Phone handsets will be unclear until sales results come in later this year. But Wal-Mart's decision to offer the entry-level Lumia 710 for free with a two-year contract suggests that pricing will not necessarily be a barrier to Microsoft making headway in the smartphone battle in 2012.

(Source: Online Media Daily, 01/18/12)

Sales Tip - Watch What You Say

There are four verbal communication rules to remember in sales:

-- Use descriptive language
-- Use short sentences
-- Avoid buzz words and jargon
-- Avoid tag questions and qualifiers ("I guess," "I hope," "sorta," "probably")

When preparing your sales presentation, keep your points focused, so you don't ramble on in long sentences. Adding tag questions (like "I think this is a good proposal, don't you?") weakens your position, and using words like "umm" and "like" and "you know" detract from what you are saying.

Think about what you really want to say, and then say exactly what you mean.

Trucks Are Tops Again; Nip Cars at the Finish Line

Trucks are back on top with American vehicle buyers. With a torrid finishing kick in December, light trucks outsold cars by fewer than 22,000 units in 2011, a 50.1-49.9 split.

In 2010, cars beat out light trucks by almost 400,000 units, a 51.7-48.3 split.

Analysts credit an improving economy, stable fuel prices and more efficient truck powertrains for the surge in trucks. In December alone, trucks outsold cars by more than 100,000 units.

"With fuel prices tame, pickups sales should outpace the rest of the market in 2012," said Anthony Pratt, Polk's top analyst.

For decades, cars far outsold light trucks, even after the emergence of minivans and more comfortable SUVs in the 1980s. In 1990, cars accounted for 67 percent of the U.S. market.

But trucks gradually closed the gap and during the go-go years from 2002 to 2007 outsold cars, peaking in 2004 with a margin of more than 1 million units -- a 54.2-45.8 split.

But as sales collapsed in 2008 under the dual weight of soaring gasoline prices and an economic crash, cars regained the majority.

(Source: Automotive News, 01/09/12)

Whether Loyalty or Retention, It's Critical

Polk's Loyalty award is about the automakers that have the highest percentage of loyalists. J.D. Power's offering, the 2012 Customer Retention Study, also focuses on customer loyalty, but the results are slightly different.

The survey-based study by Power puts Hyundai at the top among a field of 33 brands, with Ford in second (the reverse of Polk's top two), and tied with Honda. The study takes a broad view, noting that one in three new-vehicle owners who switched brands did so not because they hated their vehicle but because their previous brand just didn't make the type of vehicle they wanted next.

That said, another driver for auto apostasy was dissatisfaction with the previous vehicle, including such issues as cost of ownership or maintenance, too many problems with the vehicle, and the vehicle didn't retain sufficient resale value.

The study, in its ninth year, is based on responses from 117,001 new-vehicle buyers and lessees, of which 73,733 replaced a vehicle that was previously acquired new. It was fielded during two periods last year.

Raffi Festekjian, director of automotive product research at J.D. Power and Associates, told Marketing Daily that automakers need to do a balancing act by both keeping retention as close to the ideal 100% as possible, while conquesting as many new owners as possible from competitors.

"In general it's important to realize that it's important to have a balanced relationship between retention and conquest. In an ideal world you'd want both numbers to be 100, but achieving that scenario is impossible," he says.

But he adds that Hyundai and Kia have done "a really good job fitting into that relationship between retention and conquest." He says Kia is in the top three in conquest, and Hyundai is in the top five. "So is Fiat, which is a new brand that has just come in (so all of its buyers are conquests), and you have Scion as well."

The industry average for retention improved by one percentage point to 49% in the study. J.D. Power's loyalty leader Hyundai improved its retention rate by four percentage points from 2010 to 64% in 2012, per the study, which says the automaker's retention rate is principally due to loyalty among owners of the Elantra compact sedan and Sonata midsize car.

"Hyundai’s increased retention rate is shaped by its expanding model lineup, as well as the fact that perceptions of the brand's quality and appeal have continued to improve during the past decade," said Festekjian.

Ford and Honda had customer retention rates of 60%. As in Polk's findings, Jeep posts the greatest improvement in customer retention rate from 2010. J.D. Power says the Chrysler, LLC unit improved by 17 percentage points to 51% percent in 2012.

Nineteen of the 33 ranked brands improved their customer retention rates from 2010, while 14 have declined, according to the firm.

Not terribly surprising, the study also finds that women and younger people, those between 23 and 47, are less brand loyal than older consumers and men.

"Women and younger vehicle owners are more likely to experience changes in their life circumstances, including growth in household size or changes in income levels, that would lead them to purchase vehicles that better accommodate their new lifestyle," said Festekjian.

J.D. Power says Honda, siblings Hyundai and Kia, and Mercedes-Benz do particularly well at retaining women. For Gen X and Y, Ford, Kia, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz perform particularly well in customer retention.

(Source: Marketing Daily, 01/12/12)

Early Returns Point to a Strong 2012 for Auto Sales

Industry on Pace for 13.8 Million Transactions

January is off to a solid start, with new-vehicle floor traffic up more than 12 percent, reported CNW Research. Other key indicators showed that consumers are feeling a lot better about their financial position and might be ready to act on their pent-up demand.

Closing ratios also improved during the opening half of January, increasing by 10 percent from the year-ago period. Same-store sales also were ahead of last year by more than nine percent, the Bandon, Ore.-based research firm reported.

"At this point of the month, it appears the industry could hit 950,000 units, up 14 percent," wrote CNW's Art Spinella in his monthly newsletter. "Consumers are feeling a bit less concerned about job stability, day-to-day needs and other home-centric issues."

CNW's Jitter Index still sits above the year-ago period, but its 0.54 drop from December 2011 did mark its fourth month of decline. The index measures consumer sentiment regarding home-centric economic issues.

Another bright spot so far in January were subprime loan approvals, which rose more than 23 percent in the opening half of January vs. a year ago. And at 11 percent, approvals are at their highest point since September 2008, but still remain well below the heyday of 45 percent in mid-2006.

Looking at transaction type, CNW reported that 24.9 percent of transactions last year resulted in leases, down from 25.6 percent in 2010. The share of cash customers also decreased last year by more than 12 percent. "Consumers are increasingly willing to go into debt to buy a car," wrote Spinella. "While cash sales as a share of all sales grew in the recession, easier financing has and will continue to expand."

CNW also examined sales as a share of the population. The research firm reported that 4.1 percent of the U.S. population purchased a new vehicle last year. The high-water mark for this data point was 7.5 percent in 1986, compared to 3.4 percent in 2009. Based on the number so far in 2012 (about 23.9 million), CNW estimates that sales could climb to 13.8 million vehicles, or 4.8 percent of the population.

"The industry could easily pick up more than a half million new-car sales just from the pent-up demand pool," wrote Spinella. "Add lower credit score approvals from financing institutions and new models, and the industry easily looks like 13.8 million deliveries in 2012."

(Source: F&I Magazine, 01/17/12)

2012: Rise of Metrics, End of Click-Through Rates

Metrics and measurement will become a major tool in 2012 for advertisers looking to quantify campaigns. Industry execs have been talking about it for years, but Solve Media CEO and cofounder Ari Jacoby believes the movement will begin to materialize next year.

"At least one major industry will do away with the click-through rate for brand campaigns," Jacoby said. "For display, I get the sense that all the exchanges that have cropped up will have challenges. They will continue to be measured on the delivery of the click-through rate, but there won't be enough to go around and prices will drop precipitously."

Jacoby believes brands will begin hearing more about "cheap CPMs" for non-viewable commodity inventory -- the type of ad space that serves up below the online fold on a Web page where the person viewing the page must scroll down to see the advertisement. While it is counted as an impression, no one sees it because the ad unit literally sits at the bottom of the page or too far off to the side.

Ad rates will come down significantly in 2012 because the units aren't valuable. There are only so many top positions on a publisher's Web site. Buyers will increasingly require audience participation far beyond what the industry refers to as "engagement," Jacoby said.

The ad industry will move toward brand lift metrics in 2012, as a replacement for click-through rates. These are around user engagement behavior, brand awareness and purchase intent, along with other measures of perception and persuasion.

(Source: Media Post, 01/02/12)

Lead Generation...What Works for You?

When generating leads, focus on the activities that work best for you.

Just because social media is all the rage, for example, doesn't mean that's a good strategy for you. If you're not a fluent Tweeter or facile Facebook fan -- or more importantly, if your prospects aren't -- don't make that a cornerstone of your plan.

Are you especially good at personal phone calls or hosting webinars? Focus on your tried and true lead generation strategies and combine them with something new to expand your base of lead sources.

A Good Year for Automotive? Yeah, But...

All things considered, 2011 was a pretty solid year on the automotive sales front and ended on a positive note. So, hey, happy days are here again, right?

U.S. light-vehicle sales were up 10 percent to 12.8 million in 2011 after a similar rise the year before. Forecasters expect another increase in 2012. It's a healthy market, too, with low incentives, manageable inventories and reasonable profit margins.

But stacked up against 2007, the last full year before the financial crisis, it's a dramatically different market -- a lot smaller and with share much rearranged among the top players.

Indeed, the contrast between that old normal and what might be the new one is huge when you look at the numbers.

Sales in 2007 were 16.2 million, 3.4 million higher than last year. That's a difference of more than 281,000 units a month on average.

Everyone knows that post-bankruptcy General Motors is on the upswing, with a 13 percent sales gain last year and a larger market share than it had in 2010. But it lost 1.3 million sales from 2007 to 2011 and 4.1 points of share.

"Even with the kind of growth we're projecting, we're still in recession-like industry sizes," said Don Johnson, GM's U.S. sales boss.

He says slow but steady growth would help GM "maintain that discipline" and not overproduce, as the industry often did in the 2000s.

Toyota Motor Sales is down almost 1 million units from 2007. Hammered by quality problems in 2010 and earthquake-related product shortages in 2011, Toyota is down 3.3 share points. A temporary blip? We'll see.

The outlier is Hyundai-Kia Automotive, which made it through the crisis in superb fashion, adding 358,701 sales since 2007 and grabbing 4.1 share points, to 8.9 percent of the market -- ahead of Nissan North America and on the heels of No. 5 American Honda Motor Co.

Some other winners and losers since 2007:

-- Nissan/Infiniti gained 1.6 share points since 2007, the best showing of any Japan-based automaker.

-- Ford Motor Co., which launched an ambitious turnaround strategy before its Detroit rivals and avoided bankruptcy, has added 1.0 points of share.

-- Chrysler Group, even with a 2011 sales surge, is still 2.2 share points lower than in 2007.

-- American Honda lost 0.6 points of share, falling to 9.0 percent.

Sales have become more widely dispersed among carmakers since 2007. Smaller players, those outside the top seven, have increased their slice of U.S. sales to 14.1 percent, from 10.4 percent.

Four manufacturers accounted for most of that 3.7-point gain. Volkswagen Group of America has parlayed investment in marketing and a new Tennessee assembly plant into a 1.5-point gain.

Subaru, Daimler AG and BMW have picked up a combined 1.8 points.

Most executives and analysts say they understand that the "old normal" era -- nine straight years with sales above 16 million from 1996 to 2007 -- is over.

But they aren't sure what the new normal will be.

Analyst Jesse Toprak of TrueCar.com reckons that 14.5 million is a realistic average market size in the new era.

"We're still finding the new normal and we won't approach it until at least 2013," he said.

"But the industry's breakeven point is still 11 million, so this year should be very profitable for most."

IHS Automotive analyst Rebecca Lindland's "new normal" is 15.5 million to 16 million annual sales.

"That's a level that is sustainable without a lot of shenanigans," she said. "The industry can be very profitable at that level and yet flexible enough to contract if necessary."

Virtually all carmakers expect higher 2012 volume as the economy picks up and Toyota and Honda fully restore post-quake inventories.

"Timing is everything," said Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. President Jim Lentz.

"We are entering a growing market that will grow 1 million units, in an improving economy, with growing interest rates, with 19 new and refreshed models to launch," he said.

GM's Johnson is encouraged by the Toyota and Honda recoveries.

"That brings back some buyers into the market who may have sat on the sidelines," he said. "We will get a shot at them."

Johnson expects to build on GM's 13 percent sales growth, which boosted its 2011 market share by a half point to 19.6 percent. GM is predicting industry sales of 13.5 million to 14.0 million in 2012.

Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, Ford's chief economist, said economic fundamentals are improving and that will help auto sales grow.

"The latest statistics show some very positive momentum," she said.

Toyota sees 13.6 million sales in 2012; Chrysler forecasts 13.8 million, and Volkswagen echoes GM at 13.5 million to 14 million.

Ford expects 13.5 million to 14.5 million, including medium- and heavy-duty trucks, which means about 13.2 million to 14.2 million light vehicles.

Toprak says the midyear sales stumble of 2011 may turn out to have been better for the industry than a rapid acceleration.

"This may be a healthier, more sustainable pace," he said. "It turned out to be a year of stable growth."

Toprak expects 13.8 million sales in 2012, which would be an increase of 8 percent.

Lindland said today's auto market is vastly improved from the 2007 version.

"It's much healthier," Lindland said.

"We got rid of the fast food -- the bad habits and the need to make products because it was cheaper to make them than not make them."

(Automotive News, 01/09/12)

Increase Your Pre-Call, Pre-Meeting Research

To survive in today's business world, you need to invest time researching your prospects BEFORE you contact them to arrange a meeting or appointment.

Meeting with an executive and saying, "I'd like to take a few minutes to find out exactly what you do and what problems you're facing" will not get you very far.

Corporate executives and key decision-makers are too busy to educate you. They expect you to know AND understand their business and the challenges they are encountering. They don't have time to listen to a self-serving sales pitch that does not address their specific needs.

Conducting pre-call, pre-meeting research is absolutely essential if you want to survive in today's tough economy.

It is the ante. The price to play the game.

If you don't do the homework before contacting a high-quality prospect, you run the risk of losing the business to a competitor who took the time, did some research, and was able to position his or her offering more effectively.

2012 Predictions For Marketing To Moms

Women and, more specifically, moms have been quite the marketing focus in 2011 and that trend will continue in 2012. Their influence over an estimated $2.4 trillion in household spending will continue to make them the focus of brands for some time to come. What will be the key to success with moms? Here are five important considerations.

1. More mom video content on the web.
Moms love to view other moms in action. They trust what another mom has to say more so than they do celebrities. And they consume a lot of video on a weekly basis. So it’s only natural that video content will continue to rise. YouTube is commissioning new channels and Deca has launched “Kin,” a mom/women’s channel. And, don’t forget “The Mom’s View” from Maker Studios. Moms are also finding that their personal channels on YouTube can turn them into web celebs, lead to book deals and make them money with the right content. Brands need to jump on the video bandwagon if they want to stay engaged with mom.

2. Mobile will continue to influence mom’s path to purchase.
Moms armed with smartphones are putting them to good use. Brands that don’t yet have a mobile strategy are way behind the curve. Moms see mobile as their command center and remote control for managing life. According to BabyCenter, 53% of moms purchased a smartphone because they had become a mom. And, it’s influencing her path to purchase. With smartphone and apps in hand, she can comparison shop, check out potential purchases with friends, download coupons, manage the budget and more. Her phone is connecting her to all the information and references she needs to make a purchase decision.

 3. Moms will continue to gravitate to brands that provide great experiences.
Sure a great product wows mom, but she’s also looking for a great experience. It’s the biggest motivator to get a mom talking to other moms and she’ll do so across digital channels. Our Hersuasion study with SheSpeaks showed experience was a more important loyalty-building tool than viral content or coupons. What’s her idea of a great experience? One that saves her time, saves her money, provides all the pertinent information, great service, and multi-channel access from a customer service perspective.

4. Brands will need to embrace her inconsistent use of media.
Brands will need to look at their traditional silo structures and form a more integrated approach for marketing to moms. She may not be an early adopter, but she is taking the digital landscape by storm while still consuming traditional media like email, TV and magazines. She’s tricky, because she uses whatever tech tool and media it takes to help her get the job done at that particular moment. And the content, wherever it resides, needs to be compelling because she’s multi-tasking with her computer on her lap, her smartphone by her side and the TV in the background. And more than half the time, she’s accessing her social networks over her mobile. And she might be watching TV on the Internet versus the old boob tube.

5. Customer service will continue to earn yeas or nays.
Moms are speaking out via a brand’s social presence on Twitter and Facebook, as well as other platforms where she can voice her opinion. Brands can’t afford to ignore mom. She wants companies to respond to her and use the feedback she is sharing. She wants to know the CEO is listening and hear from him/her.

And customer service is so much bigger today than responding to complaints. For mom, service is about everything from correct product information to the brand’s ethical and social responsibility (sustainability, eco-friendliness, cause support.) Customer service is about being relevant and providing the right content for age and stage. Brands looking to connect and stay connected with mom will need to have cross platform content strategies in place.

Holly Pavlika - Big Fuel

Branding: The Law of the Word

The Law of the Word states that a brand should strive to own a word in the mind of the consumer.

Building a brand in the mind of end consumers requires focusing branding efforts on owning a word or a term in their minds. To have some fun with this concept, here is a short quiz. Below is a list of words (slogans) that various auto brands own in consumers’ minds. Try to guess the brand without looking at the answers below.

1. Tough

2. Moving Forward

3. Zoom Zoom

4. Like a Rock

5. The Ultimate Driving Machine
(1. Ford 2. Toyota 3. Mazda 4. Chevy 5. BMW)

 

Here are a few other completely unrelated categories.

1. I’m Lovin It

2. Just Do It

3. You Can Do It—We Can Help

4. You’re In Good Hands

(1. McDonalds 2. Nike 3. Home Depot 4. Allstate)

These companies have been successful at focusing their branding efforts on owning a word(s) in our minds. Once a brand owns a word, it is almost impossible for a competitor to take that word away from the brand.