Top Promotional Marketing Idea For Trade Shows

Posted on January 6, 2010 by

Kim Depalma, CEO of Novel Promotional Marketing sent us an interesting article from her industry organization which could be a big hit at upcoming trade shows.  According to Kim:

Blame it on the swine flu but according to “The Advertising Specialty Institute” hand sanitizers are now one of the most popular branded items that companies are giving away to clients and employees.

Searches of the key words “hand sanitizers” by promotional products distributors via the Advertising Specialty Institute’s promotional products database jumped 439% for the period between October 2009 and October 2008.

Only searches for pens – which for years have been the best-selling branded product in the promotional products industry – were higher that period. In addition, searches for sanitizer products of all kinds jumped by triple digits this year.

Novel Promotional Marketing

Novel Promotional Marketing has consistently been on the consumer trend by using hand sanitizers as a promotion for trade shows. The style shown below will be marketed at this years NADA conference in Orlando, FL.

I ordered this design from Kim for the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp which is being held the day before the official start of the NADA Convention.

To order your personalized hand sanitizers call Kim at 732-859-0426

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Automotive Digital Marketing Awareness Survey

Posted on January 4, 2010 by

The Pasch Consulting Group has created a 2010 Digital Marketing Survey targeted for employees, managers and owners of car dealerships.   The 11 questions will only take a few minutes to complete and the results will be published on this blog.  We are interested to see how marketing budgets will be changing in 2010 as well as the awareness of important marketing tools at the owner, manager and ISM level.

Make Your Voice Count - Click Here For Survey

The initial data has been flowing in and the initial results are jaw dropping.  So, if you work at car dealership, we invite you to participate in the study.

With the 2010 NADA Convention less than 40 days away, the survey data will surely be a highlight of attendees and vendors when the data is published.  The initial data suggests that there are many large opportunities in 2010 for car dealers and vendors supporting the industry.

The initial survey data also speaks to a growing digital divide in the current organizational structure of US car dealers.   We are confident that the survey data will yield a number of follow-up surveys and discussions in the year ahead.

Click to participate today:  Take 2010 Digital Marketing Survey

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Volusion Ecommerce Support Fails

Posted on December 26, 2009 by

volusion-tech-supportI am on my fourth ecommerce website with Volusion and all was going well until I discovered that if there is a bug in the Volusion infrastructure, your support needs and a timely solution gets flushed down the toilet.

The first three websites we referred and coordinated with Volusion were less complex. The Volusion creative and technical support team did well on these tasks.  This experience was completely the opposite and a strong warning to anyone with time sensitive or mission critical ecommerce websites.   If you don’t need to be functional and can stand a few weeks of downtime, then Volusion will suffice.

But if you have a complex project, find a bug in the Volusion system, or need to conduct sales every day you may be screwed. Case in point, we were ready to go live with a Honda car parts website three weeks ago when we found that their platform ”search” control did not work on a list of items in a category listing page.

We submitted a ticket, and had placed follow-up calls and every time we got the same unacceptable answer.  The summary was “We have submitted a ticket to programming and we have not heard back from them.”  This is a great answer when your client is screaming in your ear and wants to go live!

Volusion Website Support

So I decided to create an escalation support ticket to describe that my client, who wanted to capture some of the December sales traffic, was getting impatient. I needed an ETA on when their bug would be fixed; I was clear on the urgency.    I explained that we had done our part and now were being held back by a bug in the Volusion base product.

So the technical support representative told me to send an email to Raymond Black, which I did.  I attempted to convey the urgency of my case and that two weeks had gone by without a resolution.  Here is the response to my escalation email that asked for a date that the bug would be fixed so I could advise my client when we could go live:

Hello Brian,

I have not yet been provided with any updates from our development team on this issue. All bug reports submitted to the development team are subject to review and prioritized by the Project Manager. The Project Manager then assigns the bug to a developer and an estimated time frame is supplied to the Project Manager by the developer. As soon as any updates are posted to the bug report, I will be notified and can provide those updates to you. Until such time, all I can counsel is patience until the issue is updated.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you for choosing Volusion!

Tells us how we’re doing: http://customercare.volusion.com/review

Raymond Black
Volusion Support
800-646-3517

Pissed Clients

Try explaining to your customer that has spent thousands of dollars in data formatting and setup that we can’t go live because the ecommerce platform you recommended has bugs.  Then try to explain that for the past two weeks we have not been able to get a clear time-line for the problem to get fixed.

This is so bad I had to hold back my full emotions on this post.  It seems that Volusion is treating their own bug with shameless low prioritization.  I just don’t get it.

Posted in volusion, volusion ecommerce, volusion websites | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Acura ZDX NJ

Posted on December 23, 2009 by

Acura ZDX NJ

Are you ready to test drive the all new 2010 Acura ZDX in New Jersey at Park Avenue Acura?  The new body styling and features of the ZDX are very compelling.  Our friends at Park Avenue Acura have a great selection of cars to serve Acura customers in New Jersey and New York City.

If you would like to get behind the wheel of a 2010 ZDX, call Park Avenue Acura today at:  (201) 587-9001. We just love the look of this car.

2010 Acura ZDX

The ZDX defiantly blurs the line between modern luxury and flexible utility. In addition to a powerful 300-hp, 3.7-liter, VTEC® V-6 engine, Super Handling All-Wheel Drive™ (SH-AWD®), and signature technologies such as AcuraLink Real-Time Traffic and Weather™13, it offers new features like the available Integrated Dynamics System and blind spot information system that define the next era of Acura innovation.

Here are some highlights:

  • 300-hp, 3.7-liter, VTEC® V-6 engine
  • Super Handling All-Wheel Drive™

Though it has the same all-weather attributes of conventional all-wheel drive, Acura developed its revolutionary Super Handling All-Wheel Drive™ (SH-AWD®) system to enhance high-performance dry-road handling. The result is enhanced high-performance cornering that simply can’t be matched by front, rear, or conventional all-wheel drive systems.

  • The system continuously determines the optimal level of power distribution between the front and rear wheels, and also between the rear wheels.
  • Power distribution is based on an analysis of wheel speed, steering angle, lateral G-force and yaw rate.
  • The system reduces understeer and increases stability by turning the outside rear wheel slightly faster than the rest of the wheels, rotating the vehicle through the turn
  • Available AcuraLink Real-Time Traffic and Weather™

Though it has the same all-weather attributes of conventional all-wheel drive, Acura developed its revolutionary Super Handling All-Wheel Drive™ (SH-AWD®) system to enhance high-performance dry-road handling. The result is enhanced high-performance cornering that simply can’t be matched by front, rear, or conventional all-wheel drive systems.

  • The system continuously determines the optimal level of power distribution between the front and rear wheels, and also between the rear wheels.
  • Power distribution is based on an analysis of wheel speed, steering angle, lateral G-force and yaw rate.
  • The system reduces understeer and increases stability by turning the outside rear wheel slightly faster than the rest of the wheels, rotating the vehicle through the turn.
  • Available Integrated Dynamics System
  • Available blind spot information system

Park Avenue Acura

You can visit the sales professionals at Park Avenue Acura located at:

171 New Jersey 17
Rochelle Park, NJ 07662
(201) 587-9001.

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Automotive Social Media Content Management

Posted on December 14, 2009 by

If we can agree that great social media websites provide value for their members, how can car dealers provide value, on a consistent basis, on their social media websites like Facebook, Twitter and Ning.  I am coming to the conclusion that it is a joint partnership between the dealership and an outside content management consulting service.

If you have ever read an OEM press release, it is NOT written for the average consumer.   If a dealer automatically inserts posts from the manufacturer’s RSS feed on their website, they are likely to fail.  OEM press releases have too much CYA wording to be of interest to the average consumer.

In addition to OEM press releases, news articles from third party review websites like JD Powers and Consumer Reports are often verbose an need editing.  Editing outside content is the perfect job for an Internet Marketing firm because when done properly, car dealers social media websites can be filled with the latest news from their brand(s) that they carry.

The Pasch Consulting Group offers a consultative approach to social media so that together, PCG and their clients,  can achieve their Internet Marketing goals.

Hiring an Inside Specialist

Car dealership staff need to “step up to the plate” when interaction with their customers is needed. Who can best speak for the dealership better than a trusted employee.  That’s why Facebook and Twitter should not be a 100% outsourced management task.

If a recent car buyer sends the dealer a thank you on Facebook, the dealership needs to respond and leverage that praise.  Customer interaction tasks are BEST done from competent dealership employees.  If your staff needs training, get that scheduled.

The combination of outside content specialists and inside consumer communication staff can make social media portals turn into the best lead generation websites in their control.

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