This session, originally presented by C-4 Analytics on the Digital Dealer platform, dissects the complex role of a digital consultant and provides a clear framework for vetting digital marketing partners. With thousands of digital consultant jobs and a myriad of point solutions available, dealerships need to simplify their decision-making process.
The fundamental insight is that the conflicted business model hides a nasty secret: a digital company that works for everyone cannot genuinely help any single dealer move sales and market share.
A true digital consultant's job is to build a bridge between the dealership and the online world, advising the best way to connect with customers. This requires rigorous criteria for vetting partners:
The Problem: Many full-service digital companies and website providers work for your on-brand competitors. This means they are not capable of bestowing a true competitive advantage. Your success is throttled by their divided loyalties.
The Criteria: The consultant must commit to a conflict-free environment. You cannot entrust your marketing to a company that is also selling services to your arch-rival.
Certifications and Workload: Is the account manager Google Certified in multiple disciplines? An uncertified, overworked rep (managing 50-100 accounts) simply does not have the time or training to execute a winning strategy.
Data Sharing: The agency must be willing to share data sources. If they won't, they either don't have robust data or are hiding the fact that they aren't capable of pulling sales from the competition.
Unwavering Goals: The agency's goals must be Sales, Market Share, and Cost Reduction—not traffic or VDP views.
The Buying Moments Roadmap: The best strategy is aligned with the Google Buying Moments (the stages of the customer funnel). The agency must be able to deploy campaigns that capture customers at every stage, not just the bottom.
The marketing environment is unnecessarily complex due to the multitude of point solutions (classifieds, SCM, social, etc.) and a culture of resistance.
Point Solutions vs. Integration: Dealers often adopt a fragmented approach, hiring multiple point solutions that don't communicate. This is a problem because all elements must pull toward the same goals.
The Cost-Logic Barrier: When confronted with the reality that a strong digital strategy may cost more (e.g., $12,000/month for ad spend to gain adequate impression share), many GMs default to old habits (e.g., relying on cheap mass media) instead of recognizing the long-term ROI. The consultant's job is to use data to power through this reluctance.
A consultant must help you make a difficult but necessary choice: move past the complicated, conflicting, multi-partner model and choose simplicity, focus, and competitive advantage.
For a deeper dive into these topics and to hear directly from Rob Stoesser, Vice President of OEM, watch the full webinar below.