CAR MARKETING IDEAS THROUGH THE VIRUS NOISE

[LINGsCARS 24]

Jamie Baguette asked me to re-write this web-bit, that was deleted as collateral damage the other day:

===

Here are some marketing ideas... (I have no idea about cars, but I'm OK at marketing, it's fun)

Hmm, I don't spend a penny on marketing or adverts, apart from the odd £25 on a FB post that goes viral. £zilch. I rely on referrals to my website and word of mouth. I don't buy any Google adwords or take part on any websites like Autotrader or What car or Contracthireandleasing. They are all like vampires, sucking cash. You can get hooked on them like heroin.

So, I was getting a bit panicky last week, as it seemed impossible to break through the wall of news on Covid19. The top 10 BBC items were all Covid. My Web traffic was dropping. No one was listening to posts about Citroen C3s and BMW Gran Coupes. WAH!

In a bid to stir up some web traffic and car orders, I thought: ...let's use the bloody virus, then. So I wrote my 80% furlough letter to staff in a slightly bonkers way. (it's below)

It started on the Sunderland footy forum where it seems every fan will have a car from me. that went to 9 pages. Link is here: https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/lings-cars-letter-to-staff.1512081/ One of the Mackems sent it to the Sun. ... then BOOM. So far, it's got Daily Mirror, The Sun, Newcastle Chronicle and some foreign newspapers too. To buy this much advertising would cost £thousands. Loads of positive comments and shares on the UK newspaper sites, hundreds. Loads of backlinks. It went mental on Twitter too when the newspapers went live, so many kind comments. My web traffic went through the roof and loads of proposals on Monday, the first finance acceptance (BMW finance still working) and order (for a MIni) today. more to come I hope. loads in the pot, it's getting the fin cos to process them that's hard. Dealer fleet people mainly doing these from home. GDPR is out of the window.

All this stuff is great Google juice, the newspaper links are worth a fortune in SEO.

Then, due to the American Spanish paper (biggest Spanish paper in the US), I got an invite to join in a Uni course in Florida State University, which is great for weblinks/google juice.

If only I were as nice to my staff as people think I am... all i was doing was giving my (few) staff a tickle in the dark days; here are some pics of the stuff (below) boyz, for those of you who struggle to read  I'm not trying to get "well done"s, just suggesting marketing opportunities still exist, even now.

 

- Ling

 

My staff furlough letter (above)

 

Sunderland Footy forum (and me proving to the Mackems it we REALLY me)

 

The Sun

 

The Mirror

 

The Chronicle

A local internet paper

 

La Opinion, LA Spanish newspaper (biggest in USA)

 

Some Greet shit paper

 

My Uni course booking

 

[New year revolutions...... 197]

GDPR out the window

That's really weird as I was thinking the same the other day (I find myself thinking out the box lately)

Thing is I guarantee my customers never to upsell on after sales but with this 6 month mot extension I think I've shot myself in the foot

Maybe it's time for the gdpr to be put on the backburner too

[LINGsCARS 24]

In the current climate, I think we have to be "sensible" with GDPR. Go back to protecting data the old fashioned way. With lots of people working from home, on Zoom etc, the data is all flowing via China, breaking GDPR (for example). Companies need to police it sensibly because if you apply strict GDPR like the clipboard mob want, you couldn't do anything from home... a lot of insecure connections, random laptops, plain email etc etc

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by LINGsCARS

[justlooking 48]

What if you use a VPN, whatever that’s is, does it make things safe like wearing a condominium?

[LINGsCARS 24]

Probably not. I think most employee from home stuff is unsafe (as is most dealership stuff). It's a matter of crossing fingers, mainly.

EG all my stuff is secured on servers and electronic, but I would guess 75% of dealers print my car proposals on paper and one-finger type it into some system rather than parsing it via xml or something safer. No dealer ever asks for secure data, yet they could have very secure access. Nor finance companies. At every stage there is a risk. Dealers and finance companies want everything emailed, there are few secure servers or anything. So GDPR is mainly a joke anyway... except the VERY IMPORTANT GDPR form which must be signed of course and if it missed everything must STOP. That piece of A4 is hellishly powerful. The condominium is a safer bet.

[BHM 994]

Haha, a fine introduction!

[David Ayers 171]

6 minutes ago, BHM said:

Haha, a fine introduction!

On 4/7/2020 at 11:29 PM, LINGsCARS said:

Jamie Baguette asked me

Is he the bloke who brings the sandwiches round?

Edited April 10, 2020 by David Ayers

[New year revolutions...... 197]

1 hour ago, David Ayers said:

Is he the bloke who brings the sandwiches round?

Funny you say that

I went into bon marche once expecting to buy a nice sandwich

I came out with a dress and a limp wrist instead

[James Baggott 227]

Good post! Thanks for sharing

James Baguette 

[LINGsCARS 24]

3 hours ago, James Baggott said:

Good post! Thanks for sharing

James Baguette 

I wish more people would share what they are doing (marketing wise)... or is everyone doing NOTHING? And just waiting?

[LINGsCARS 24]

Oh, just to mention, I managed to get on the Gold Standard/Holy Grail of TV marketing shows: Have I Got News For You.

I'll take a bow.

This FREE marketing = web traffic. Web traffic = sales.

Do you gettit, yet?

 

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by LINGsCARS