Articles

 Welcome to our 100th edition of this UMM newsletter, the longest standing (and probably only) print newsletter still published that is dedicated specifically to the Powersports Industry. When we started this, the industry landscape was changing rapidly due to the internet and a recession. Our original goal was to document and share industry specific marketing best practices since so much of what dealers were taught by the OEMs, and by feet-on-the-street advertising reps, was either outdated or just plain BS. The more we trained dealers on marketing best practices (for them to implement), the more they asked us to just do it for them. So, we did. 

Fast forward 8 plus years and we’ve evolved… a lot.  When we originally started ‘Done for You’ marketing for our clients we had a small office, small team, and outsourced most of our fulfillment. But, one constant thing around here has been change. We knew we needed to eliminate outsourcing for quicker turnaround time, no middleman markup, and to own complete control over innovation and product development.  Over the years we steadily worked towards being a full-house/in-house shop, and now we have two state-of-the-art, four-color, digital, variable printers in our office. Plus, we have our own mail room, data specialist, digital specialists, programmers, a great sales team and an ever expanding list of innovative and effective marketing products built and tested specifically for Powersports dealers by industry experts. All done right here in beautiful Peachtree City, Ga.

But one thing hasn’t changed around here, and that’s once a month, the newsletter printed on yellow paper and mailed in a clear envelope will go out. It’s a non-negotiable. (Except this month, to celebrate we’re doing this one-off in full color). 

In this issue, we’re proudly focused on our Firestorm™ suite of marketing automation tools built from the ground up to help you save time and sell more. By now I think we all agree that email marketing is a proven winner in terms of ROI. There is plenty of data to back that claim up, and that’s why we built our Firestorm Email System specifically for the Powersports dealer. Now you can create compelling emails that look great and drive loads of traffic to your website in a jiffy without having to have a professional graphic artist or know how to use photoshop. 

But, that’s just the beginning of what Firestorm can do. We’ve developed an iPhone and Android app for your smart phone that allows you to snap a picture of your customer after they’ve purchased a unit and automatically send them a ‘thanks for your business’ email with the photo of them on their new bike. The following day, the system will trigger our review acquisition system which we’ve used to harvest over 120,000 authentic customer reviews (which you can view at www.powersportsdealerlocator.com.) Then the app automatically publishes the picture to your dealership’s Facebook page. No big deal. Wanna automate Happy Birthday emails, Happy Anniversary emails, etc.? Firestorm Email can do that, too. 

Now it gets really trick with Firestorm Onboarding. To explain how it works, I’ll make an analogy using your physical showroom. So, let’s say you have 20 showroom guests today and you sell 4 bikes. That’s pretty good, right? But what about the 16 that did not buy? Wouldn’t you agree that you’d like your sales team to follow up with them? Sure, you would. 

So, using that same logic, let’s talk about your website which I like to refer to as your virtual showroom. Did you know that on average 75-80% of your website traffic visits your vehicle inventory pages? But here’s what is disappointing, usually only 1-2% of them actually complete a webform and share their information to be contacted. So, what happens to the remaining majority of web traffic that took the time out of their day to go to your vehicle detail pages (VDP)? Nothing, and it’s a shame. Kinda like showroom guests that leave without buying, having no follow up. 

Well not anymore, our onboarding system synergizes with Firestorm email to identify anonymous website traffic and automatically trigger a friendly email inviting them to the dealership. 

Now I realize that some of you may feel that is a little creepy or stalker-ish, but it’s really not. First of all, you sell fun, you are a welcomed guest, not a nagging pest. It’s not like you’re selling washing machines or gravesites, right? Secondly, the email is carefully crafted and of course doesn’t mention that you know they were on your site. I mean think about it, there are times when a customer visits your website and by coincidence the following day you send your monthly e-newsletter. Do you think that makes the customer feel uncomfortable? Of course not.  

These are just a few key features of Firestorm.  But, there’s even more great information about Firestorm websites in Tory’s article on page 7. Give us a call today at 877-242-4472 to schedule a FREE demo of any of our marketing automation tools so we can show you how all the pieces of the puzzle come together.   

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to another 100 issues in the future!