The marketing world has been changing at a blistering pace. There are privacy updates that have reduced targeting and audience capabilities, the deprecation of the cookie, new advertising entrants, changes to current platforms, and so much more that you have to contend with in order to market effectively. Things will only become more complex just as the customer journey has these past few years (expedited by COVID-19).

In this KPI Cafe, DrivenIQ's CEO Albert Thompson provides a full view of what customers are doing, better ways to market to them, and more context around the value and source of data. You'll have food for thought on how to future-proof your marketing efforts powered by reliable information that you own.

In addition to the primary interview, Charisma! Communication's Laurie Halter is back to dive into "What's Going on in Auto?".

If you have any thoughts or questions, please reach out to host Dane Saville at dane@reunionmarketing.com to join the conversation.

As always, please subscribe to the KPI Cafe on your favorite podcast platform!

Here's what you can expect from today's episode:

Opening Comments

What's Going on in Auto? w/ Laurie Halter

Introducing DrivenIQ's Albert Thompson

Albert's Automotive Origin Story

What Today's Buyer Journey Looks Like

• COVID Transitions
• Rinse and Repeat Actions
• Research Intenders

How Can We Market Better to Today's Buyer?

• Top-of-Mind: The Journey
• Data Protection
• "My Data"
• Outreach vs. In-reach
• Custom Audiences
• "Digital Up"

Insights on Customer and Contextual Journey

• Hyper-Segmentation
• People-Based
• Loyalty

The Starting Point for Dealers

How to Find a Reliable Data Partner

• Asset
• Rights

Last Insights or Tips for Future-Proofing Marketing

To Learn More About Albert and DrivenIQ
 
Previewing Next Week's Episode

Looking for an award-winning digital marketing agency partner? At Reunion Marketing, we offer boutique-style services in SEO, SEM, and Social Media that have origins from our founder's work at a 33-store automotive group's marketing department. Reach out to our host Dane Saville at dane@reunionmarketing.com to set up a demo today.

The past few years have heralded major changes in automotive retail: direct-to-consumer models and new entrants, EVs, supply constraints, GA4, and, of course, a pandemic, are a few of the myriad things to navigate. It's important to take a moment to reflect on the good that has come out of it, including both what good has already happened and what good lies on the horizon.

In this KPI Cafe, Automotive State of the Union's (ASOTU) Paul J. Daly and Kyle Mountsier dive into these changes -- past, present, and future -- to get you excited about how adaptable automotive retail is and how much more incredible it can be if it meets the moment.

In addition to the primary interview, host Dane Saville also dives into "What's Going on in Auto?".

If you have any thoughts or questions, please reach out to host Dane Saville at dane@reunionmarketing.com to join the conversation.

As always, please subscribe to the KPI Cafe on your favorite podcast platform!

Here's what you can expect from today's episode:

Opening of the Show

Used Car Marketing E-Book Offer (Located Here)

Some Conversation and Context

What's Going in Auto? w/ Yours Truly

Introducing Paul Daly and Kyle Mountsier

What Exciting Changes in Automotive Retail Has Paul Seen?

• Coming Together
• Solutions

What Excites Kyle Most About Automotive's Future?

• Energy and Enthusiasm
• Pop Culture
• Customer / Employee Experience

How Will Dealers Meet the Moment?

• Mass Consolidation

Dealership Experience / Random Pronunciation Challenge

• Xvetriaus
• L-A
• 5-10-Year Prognostication
• Experiential
• Audi Center Example
• Interactivity
• Service Experience
• Patrick Abad's Story

ASOTU CON

• What, Why, When
• ASOTU's Focus on Value

Preview Next Week's Episode

Looking for an award-winning digital marketing agency partner? At Reunion Marketing, we offer boutique-style services in SEO, SEM, and Social Media that have origins from our founder's work at a 33-store automotive group's marketing department. Reach out to our host Dane Saville at dane@reunionmarketing.com to set up a demo today.

Risks -- some big and some small -- are quite a common life occurrence. They come in the form of dating, employment, entrepreneurship, hobbies/activities, and so much more. Sometimes a risk pays off, and sometimes is doesn't. That's often the allure of a risk: the potential it has. We, however, don't want to blindly take risks as our chances of failure increase. It takes deliberation: we want it to be a measured risk.

Dane Saville, Co-Founder of and Brand Manager for Reunion Marketing, takes us through the notion of a measured risk and uses both actual company stories and personal anecdotes to demonstrate the benefits that a measured risk can yield.

In addition to the primary interview, we also have Friendemic's Hannah Lifson to discuss "What's Going on in Auto?".

If you have any thoughts or questions, please reach out to host Dane Saville at dane@reunionmarketing.com to join the conversation.

As always, please subscribe to the KPI Cafe on your favorite podcast platform!

Here's what you can expect from today's episode:

Used Car Marketing E-Book Offer (Located Here)

What's Going on in Auto? w/ Hannah Lifson

Context and Conversation

• Belief, Changes, Happiness

The Measured Risk

• Defining Risk
• Parlaying into Measured Risk
• Types of Measured Risks
• Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

Examples of Companies That Took Risks

• Apple, Microsoft, Whole Foods, Charmin, Google, FedEx

Revisiting Personal Risk: Happiness and Trust

• Broken Trust?
• Risk and Trust

Sharing a Personal Story of Measured Risks

• Voluntary Resignation from DoD Contractor
• Unemployment
• 33-Store Automotive Group
• Advertising Agency
• Started Reunion w/ Others

Shifting Roles: Another Story of Measured Risk

• Content Director to Brand Manager
• Speaking
• KPI Cafe
• Network of Friends

Another Benefit of Measured Risks

Previewing Next Week's Episode

Looking for an award-winning digital marketing agency partner? At Reunion Marketing, we offer boutique-style services in SEO, SEM, and Social Media that have origins from our founder's work at a 33-store automotive group's marketing department. Reach out to our host Dane Saville at dane@reunionmarketing.com to set up a demo today.

Amazon offers a prime opportunity for advertisers in automotive retail to reach a multitude of local consumers who can help satisfy all profit centers of a dealership, as well as help dealers with inventory acquisition. This platform, including its Amazon Garage, and all of its network partners create a powerful programmatic channel that offers audiences and targeting to address consumers in the Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion stages of the path to purchase.

Vasilios Lambos, CMO for Cognition Digital, navigates us through how your dealership's advertising strategy can leverage Amazon: from audience and targeting layering to streaming audio ads to aligning with customer intent, and much more.

In addition to the primary interview, we also have Reunion Marketing's own Emily Usher on to discuss "What's Going on in Auto?"

If you have any thoughts or questions, please reach out to host Dane Saville at dane@reunionmarketing.com to join the conversation!

As always, please subscribe to the KPI Cafe on your favorite podcast platform!

Here's what you can expect from today's episode:

Opening Comments and Context

What's Going on in Auto w/ Emily Usher

Introducing Vasilios and His Origin Story

Vasilios' Origin Story

The Why of Amazon

The 101 of Amazon Garage

• Parts/Accessories
• Year-Make-Model Upload
• Availability for Advertisers
• Amazon DSP: 1st-Party Data

Can Amazon Hit All Dealer Profit Centers?

• At the Start: Impression Delivery for Variable Ops
• Flexibility in Criteria
• Vehicle Acquisition

Amazon Audiences and Targeting

• Amazon-owned 1st Party
• Combine/Segment
• Lifestyle Example
• Layering

Amazon Goals and Objectives

• All Available Upper-Funnel Metrics
• Offline Attribution
• No Attribution Window Limitation

Does Amazon Offer a Full-Funnel Opportunity?

• Awareness-Consideration-Conversion
• Think of Who an Amazon Customer Is
• Consumer Intent / Business Objective Alignment

Inventory Feed Details

• Variables

A Dive into Streaming Audio Ads

• Logged User
• Device Ownership
• Full-Funnel Attribution

Final Tips About Amazon Advertising

Connecting with Cognition Digital

Previewing Next Week's Episode

The Business Development Center (BDC) continues to be a point of conversation for automotive retail. It turns out that there are more options, more nuance, and more best practices to consider and implement based on a dealer's individual needs because, after all, one size does not fit all. To help us dive more into this topic, we have Wendy Reeves, Founder of BDC Angels, to walk us through a high-level perspective on the BDC, then a quick pivot into many more of the details.

If you've never utilized a BDC or felt a BDC just won't work for you, Wendy creates a compelling case on how this can be a vital component to your dealership's processes and customer experience.

If you have any thoughts or questions, please reach out to host Dane Saville at dane@reunionmarketing.com to join the conversation!

And, of course, we have good friend Dave Foy coming to share "What's Going on in Auto?"

Here's what you can expect from today's episode:

Opening the Show

What's Going on in Auto? w/ Dave Foy

Wendy's Origin Story

Tips to Help Ensure the BDC is Successful

• Dedicated Onsite Manager
• Close Trio
• Relevance

Various Types of BDC

• One-Size-Doesn't-Fit-All
• Determining Your BDC Type
• Onsite
• Outsource
• Centralized
• Offshore

Final Tips from Wendy

Contacting Wendy

For today's episode, we continue our foray into artificial intelligence (AI) with Konect.ai's Colby Joyner. In this Part 2, we go beyond setting the context of AI and into setting actual expectations, including its parameters, capabilities, limitations, integrations, and final tips for dealers considering this technology.

We hope you enjoy as Colby navigates us through specific, real-world applications of AI and the obstacles he's encountered in his new role at Konect.ai.

There will be no "What's Going on in Auto?" segment today, but we highly encourage you to check out George Nenni's insights in Part 1 if you missed them.

Here's what you can expect from today's episode:

How AI Can Pivot to Send Customer to Real Salesperson

• Specific Parameters
• Notification Process

AI as Part of the Dealership Workflow

• Future: Outbound
• Now: In the Beginning
• Task Reduction / Streamlining
• Eventual Omnichannel

How is the Industry Reacting to AI in Customer Journey?

• Hesitancy
• Utilizing Dealers and Data to Enhance

Final Tips/Insights for Considering AI

• Integrity of Intended Information

How to Learn about Konect.ai and Connect with Colby

Previewing Next Week's Episode

If you like what you heard, please remember to subscribe to the KPI Cafe on your favorite podcast platform!

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has quickly emerged as a primary subject in automotive retail over the past few years. For this KPI Cafe, we take our first sojourn into discussing AI with Colby Joyner, Vice President of Sales at Konect.ai. Throughout the episode, which has been divided into two parts, has Part 1 setting the context of what AI does, what it doesn't, and how to tell the difference between a true, transparent partner and those "other guys."

As expected, Colby lays out myriad insights for dealers and vendors to make informed decisions regarding this emerging technology. If you have any thoughts or questions, please reach out to host Dane Saville at dane@reunionmarketing.com to join the conversation!

And, of course, we have long-time friend George Nenni coming on to share "What's Going on in Auto?".

Here's what you can expect from today's episode:

What's Going on in Auto? w/ George Nenni

Colby Joyner's Automotive Origin Story

Setting the Context for Today's Episode

210,000-Foot Perspective on AI Integration w/ Automotive Retail

• Basic Introduction
• Customer Journey Comfortability
• Follow-up / Enhancement

Balance Between Feeling and Fooling

• Sticking to the Gist
• Natural Language
• Store Identity
• Accepting Limitations

What Does AI Engagement w/ Customers Look Like?

• Qualifying Questions
• Good Experience
• Keep Customers Engaged
• Pivot to Real Salesperson

Concluding Thoughts

If you like what you heard, please remember to subscribe to the KPI Cafe on your favorite podcast platform!

In this KPI Cafe, we return to the conversation of Google Marketing Live with Colin Carrasquillo, Digital Marketing Manager for the Nielsen Automotive Group. In this second part, Dane and Colin continue their dive into different elements, strategies, and updates shared during the most recent GML event -- plus some other relevant thoughts.

Here's what you can expect:

Conversation and Context

Deprecation of the Cookie 

• First-Party Data
• Insights
• Audience Segments

Performance Max Campaigns

• Ease of use
• Automation w/ Human Oversight
• Data to Mine
• Info. from Website
• Relevance

Dealership Digital Side Door

Google EAT Thought

Automation

Closing Thoughts

If you like what you hear, be sure to subscribe to the KPI Cafe on your favorite podcast platform.