Beach Balls, Limos, and Hip Hop: Not Your Typical NADA Experience

By The AutoHook Marketing Team

If AutoHook wanted to blend in with the other 700 auto vendors at NADA 2016 in Las Vegas, we would have followed suit and done the typical exhibitor space - complete with a booth, signs, gimmicks, prizes, and cute girls to welcome you. But in true AutoHook fashion, we took the road less traveled in order to provide a unique, more personal experience for our clients, partners, prospects, and friends.

In case you missed it, below is a recap of the DriveAutoHook NADA 2016 Experience.

• The Beach Ball Experience: We wanted to offer more than a sign and a booth. We wanted to offer an escape. The AutoHook team took over three cabana lounges at the Foxtail Pool at SLS on Friday, April 1st and Saturday, April 2nd. We had a great two days of meetings, fun, and bonding with clients and friends. Thank you to everyone who came out to see us!

• The Old Skool Hip Hop Experience: AutoHook kicked off a hip-hop-themed Friday night in Vegas at the Sayer’s Club at SLS. The party featured complimentary drinks, appetizers, a super fly DJ, and a tricked-out photo booth that was the hit of the evening. As you can see below, everyone had a great time while representing the AutoHook HQ in Detroit, MI. 

•  The Limo Experience: AutoHook was the exclusive limo sponsor of NADA, making our limos available to the public (not just clients or prospects) but to everyone. The goal was to create an atmosphere that facilitated sharing and connecting, while riding in style.  

Check out what our valued followers had to say...

• Let’s Not Forget the Winning Experience: PCG Consulting’s annual AWA awards ceremony was a night filled with automotive’s best of the best, all in one room, sharing in sweet, sweet victory. AutoHook brought home our fourth-consecutive AWA, recognizing our Marketing Solutions. Thank you to Brian Pasch and the entire PCG team for this honor.

Year after year, the NADA convention center redefines chaos. Dealers are bombarded with information and newly released products left and right – not to mention the hundreds of companies claiming to have the latest tech that can do what no one else in the industry does. What AutoHook did for NADA mirrors what AutoHook does in everyday business. Meaning, we offered an experience for people to remember. This year, we wanted to be synonymous with the words ease, fluidity, and fresh air - as opposed to hectic, crowded, and stuffy. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Digital Summit @ Mountain View: Disclosures of an Auto Conference Virgin, Part 1

Smiling Faces @ The Digital Summit, Mountain View

As a woman with years of professional exposure to predominantly ecommerce and retail, the auto industry – even as it pertains to digital marketing, is a bit foreign to me. When I was given the opportunity to attend the Digital Summit @ Mountain View last week, I thought to myself, “I’m going to feel like a fish out of water, but this is something I have to do if I really want to market AutoHook. I need to learn the industry,” And so, I went…

And yes, maybe I was a bit out of my element, but once I took it all in and had a few conversations with my fellow attendees I realized that we have a lot in common, and they are all marketers of the digital age just like me. Sure, they’re selling cars rather than technologies, but their challenges, experiences and thoughts within the digital realm are not so different from my own.  And these people are SAAVY.

On that note, I’d like to share the first 4 of my top 8 key learnings from the Summit which you may find quite valuable (or, entertaining at the least.  Keep in mind, I’m a newbie!):

1.       The key to a successful launch is a great story: Guy Kawasaki, the keynote speaker at the event, taught us all that if your business or dealership is embarking on something new, you must have a great story behind it in order to sell it well. For example, maybe your new showroom used to be a winery. Or maybe you’re running a big promotion in May because that’s the month you sold your first car. Play off of these interesting tidbits by giving people a tangible and relatable story to follow, and you’ll be sure to grab more attention and make more sales.

2.       Mobile. Do it:  Okay, we get it. Or do we really? Even though mobile is something that marketers in all industries are a bit sick of hearing about, we’re still just not doing it! The statistics are frightening. More than half of small/medium sized businesses still don’t have a mobile site. And, 40% of consumers have turned to a competitor’s site after a bad mobile experience. My last thought on this one was, “Thank goodness we have an app.”

3.       Don’t abuse your social network privileges: As a good rule of thumb, Guy says that whenever you’re sharing via social media, make sure your Tweet, Status, etc. provides 1. Information, 2. Insights 3. Assistance. For example, a statistic such as “90% of car buyers start their research online” is informative, while “Taking a test drive? Acquaint yourself with the vehicle before starting the engine.” provides assistance. Just because you have the power to reach your audience as many times a day as you want, you shouldn’t feel like you have to.

4.       Lead to Show is a crowd pleaser: As someone who only learned about the Lead to Show product suite from an internal vantage point, it was refreshing to confirm my strong affirmation that our technology drives real, strong and significant results for dealers. When speaking with me during the main day of the conference, one client asked his partner, “How many cars did we sell through HookLogic last month?” His counterpart responded, “About 20% more than we would have without.” And that kind of thing was heard multiple times throughout my visit.

Look out next week for part 2. I’ll share some key stats and insights from my “virgin vantage point.”

What are you doing to prepare for 2012?

With the holiday season approaching, this is a great time to reflect on your accomplishments and begin to gear up for the next year. There is a lot of new stuff going on right now in the auto industry, and we at HookLogic are glad to be part of the coming era unfolding before our very eyes. In preparation for 2012, HookLogic has made some strategic commitments to help foster growth inside its new automotive division which recently hit market after years of testing and prototyping at various auto groups such as MileOne, Lithia, Suburban Collection, Herb Chambers, and others.

Adding momentum to its innovative solution set for automotive dealerships, several key players were added to the mix, including one of the most influential bloggers in automotive - Jeff Kershner, founder of DealerRefresh which is a leading thought-leadership and strategy source for car dealers and manufacturers. You can read more about this and other personnel additions here.

In addition to personnel additions, HookLogic also launched a new microsite to represent AutoHook not as a lead provider but as a show provider. The microsite can be found at www.leadtoshow.com. It offers rich information about the product, a live demo, and an opportunity to request a sales demo via phone, text, or email.

To top things off, HookLogic Automotive is also rolling out a monthly newsletter this month to more intimately inform and engage our current customers, friends, and allies, as well as our own Facebook page, Twitter handle @lead2show, and YouTube channel.

The newsletter will feature select content from the AutoHook team and also highlight other great content out there in the automotive blogosphere that we are sourcing and/or sharing across our social media channels. Please join us in one or more ways to let AutoHook be part of your online experience and we will be sure to reciprocate. You can subscribe to our blog using the sign up box in the sidebar.

Here's to the an adventurous and prosperous new year ahead.