The New Automotive Economy Demands Certified Automotive Digital Marketers, says Rico Glover
Industry: Advertising & Marketing
Leading automotive marketers such as Glover are embracing new digital trends
FAYETTEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA (PRUnderground) January 30th, 2017
Most industries that entail the handling of high ticket items involve professional designations. For instance, real estate agents are required to take and pass a state or national course or some form of training before they begin carrying out their duties.
According to Rico Glover, digital marketing expert, the automotive industry is the second highest purchase most Americans behind. In fact, automotive purchases in America trail behind real estate purchases in the scale of most common expensive investments and purchases. “Most automotive dealerships aren’t properly training their sales and marketing teams with a uniformed certification,” said Glover.
At Bryan Honda in Fayetteville, North Carolina, however, they are.
Bryan Honda has been featured in national magazines and articles for their groundbreaking advancements in the areas of sales and marketing.
Tim Roussell is the general manager at Bryan Honda, and he has spent nearly three decades in the automotive industry. He is well known in the industry as an expert in streamlining sales and marketing. Nearly four years ago, he hired Glover as Chief Digital Officer and Head of Digital Strategy for Bryan Honda.
According to Roussell, “I had only been at the dealership for a few days when Rico came in soliciting about doing internet marketing for the dealership. He showed me his credentials and plan for the dealership. I told him no, but I also told him that I would create a position and hire him as the first Chief Digital Officer and Head of Digital Strategy for a stand alone Honda dealership.”
Since then, the landscape of Bryan Honda and the entire automotive industry has been disrupted, and Glover has become known as “The Social Media Superman” across the country for his strengths in promoting and selling vehicles with Facebook and teaching digital marketing to others.
One of Bryan Honda’s biggest pushes was the creation of their own reality show leveraging YouTube. In addition, they have recruited top YouTube and branding expert Roberto Blake to co-produce and direct this game changing YouTube show. Blake has been featured on Forbes.com and has spoken at events like Social Media Marketing World and Private Event: Disney Channels World Wide.
According to Glover, “The new automotive economy consists of building an in-house certified automotive digital marketing team. Companies like Caravana and Truecar have changed the landscape forever. There’s no turning back, and dealers have to adapt or die. Ask the former executives at Blockbuster what they would do differently regarding Netflix’s emergence. They would have taken it seriously, and they would have adapted appropriately. If you put 100 automotive professionals in a room, 20 will jump at this new way of automotive sales and marketing. The other 80 will complain and take no action. The 80/20 rule works even if the facts are in plain view. I’m not just a trainer and speaker, I’m a car salesman. No car deal, no check. I’m going on four years in this position; if what I say and train didn’t move metal, I would be out of a job. ‘Men lie, women lie, but numbers don’t lie.’ Those are my favorite words from self made millionaire Jay Z. And the numbers are the only thing I look at.”
Bryan Honda has already began recruiting at local colleges for people to get training in house as Certified Automotive Digital Marketers. Glover is a Facebook beta tester, co-author, and creator of Faceviders, the Facebook version of YouTubers, and a Certified Digital Marketer trainer.
The timeframe for the upcoming automotive reality show is 30 to 60 days. Tim Roussell said, “We want the show up and running ASAP, but our main focus is still breaking company records. My only goal in life is 6 more years of hard work changing the automotive industry. I’m not looking to survive, I’m looking to create a legacy at Bryan Honda, and I’ll do that one Facebook post, Tweet, YouTube view, and Google click to call at a time. When most general managers are holed up in their offices, I’m having a meeting going over Google Analytics for the dealership. When I hired Jeff Cumbie as our BDC manager, I looked at his background running a successful large call center. As a matter of fact, I don’t call him BDC manager. His title is acquisition and monetization manager. Forget business development, we need to acquire leads and clients and monetize them into repeat sales and referrals.”
About Rico Glover
Rico Glover is the co-founder of Automotive Digital Marketing Association and is a Google Certified Professional, Bing Certified, HubSpot trained partner, DigitalMarketer.com partner and trainer, and car sales dog.
