jimreidvehicle 255 Posted January 7, 2014 The reason I ask the question is two fold:- 1st. As you most likely know we won Two Awards and a Highly Commended at the Car Dealer Magazine Used Car Dealer Awards in early December. Because these were National Awards we were extremely proud of our achievement and wanted everyone to know about it, but where do you start? Yip, Social Media is a great start and it is Twitter and Facebook that most likely got as most exposure however we wanted to tell NEW potential customers that they had a National Award Winning Independent Car Dealer in their area that they can buy a car from. So what I did was write up my very own Press Release and sent it to 15 e-mail connections that I had stashed away, everything from local & national newspapers, tv & radio, industry and non-industry online and offline magazine based companies. The result...............was very poor with only a handful of these connections even responding to the e-mail even less taking up the 'good news' story! which was all very disappointing. Even the local paper who I had spend £10k over the last 12months with, needed 4 phone calls/emails and the eventually a threat to 'stop' all advertising, for them to print a small article in their Car pullout, in their paper, wow! 2nd reason is I have been contacted recently by a friend of mine who is looking to set up on her own as a PR company and she wondered if (as a group) would some MotorTrade Independents use a PR company like her's? After my recent experience I said possibly yes, as I felt that as a PR company she would manage to package the same story and deliver it much further that I ever could myself. Now I'm not just talking about awards, but as an industry we are growing again and it's is the independents that are being most successful. There are some great stories to be had out of our trade that she could use get your company more exposure both locally & nationally. We missed the boat too when we expanded back in April last year, buying over a Motorsport serving and repair business, which saved two jobs and made two new jobs, with a large investment which almost doubled our size, sure this is something to shout about? So the questions I would like asked are:- Have you come up against a similar problem, where you want to tell the world about the accomplishment but fall flat on your face? Can you see the benefits of using a PR company,run by an experienced individual who knows the industry inside out? Would you use such a company as part of a Group if the price was right? Do you fully understand what a PR company could do for you? Thank you for your time, I look forward to your replies. Jim Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
umesh 336 Posted January 7, 2014 Jim , I have used PR Company with great effect , it was value for money. Think it all boils down to what's been offered and what returns you expect or get back. Many newspapers these days don't know a good story when its handed to them on a plate, fortunately my local paper The Sentinel' has a great motoring journalist John Swift who has always supported me / other motor dealers. When I won the Car Dealer Mag awards John had already rang the showroom after me after reading the tweets! next day he was with me with a photographer and gave me a fantastic write up in the motoring section ! Page & Half With other local papers like you .. constantly badgering them hoping they would do something - managed to persuade a couple others and worth the effort. Would the PR company do the same? would be push, push push? guess its all down to what they charge ? was just about to mention 2 very famous PR Gurus/ companies but they're in the media all for the wrong reasons ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ian 15 Posted January 8, 2014 In another life I used a PR expert - and he certainly got results, but he was very very expensive. At our level though, not a chance. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
James Baggott 227 Posted January 11, 2014 Some of you may know the parent company of Car Dealer, Blackball Media, has a PR arm which helps dealers. It has acheived some fantastic coverage for dealers large and small. Why? Well the guys who run the department are trained journalists who all worked on local papers. This means they know what makes a good story, know how to write it and can take a picture too. Local papers are time poor and want stories they can plonk in place with little or no work. A PR company will help you produce just that and you'll be surprised at the results it can offer. They'll also - like us - have access to a highly effective distribution service which will get the press release out there to the right journalists. My advice would be to try a PR company out if you think you've got a good story to tell. You could be surprised at the results - and chances are it'll be a lot cheaper than an advert in the local press. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
umesh 336 Posted January 11, 2014 James - I did use your services for PR when I was "5th Most influencer on twitter - motor trade " and the your team managed to get for me was superb ! it got into the midlands new papers! massive circulation ! I felt it was good value for money , hassle free and obviously saved me a lot of time by not having to keep on to the newspapers to see if they would run the story. People will read 'a story' more than an advert. Proof : the story that the local press ran when I won the awards for 'Dealers Dealer of the Year ' ' Social Media User Of The Year ' with a reference to me meeting Theo paphitis for the #SBS Awards sold me 2 cars directly from that article ! I'd paid for the small advert at bottom of the 1st page - but didn't expect to see the picture take the full page ! http://www.specialistcars-stoke.co.uk/downloads/friday-6th-december-frontpage.pdf http://www.specialistcars-stoke.co.uk/downloads/friday-6th-december-article.pdf I've managed to also get couple of other local papers run the story! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
James Baggott 227 Posted January 11, 2014 Thanks for that endorsement Umesh. Very kind of you indeed. I wasn't trying to pitch our services - forum rules forbid direct sales pitches - and even we need to stick to those! I was merely trying to point out that PR companies are worth a second look. Glad you got such great exposure - you deserved it! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ian 15 Posted January 11, 2014 A-ha! Time we were nominated Influential Tweeters with our 54 followers so soon! Only half joking. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
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