Beyond The First Pencil

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This week, Kathi and Mike cover the ground-shift that has happened and is happening with two of the largest companies on earth, Google and Facebook. Both platforms are under pressure to grow even bigger and all of us users are being left out in the cold, including millions of small business websites that have seen their traffic reduced by up to 94%.

Podcasts mentioned:
Adam Conover’s Factually: How Google Ruined the Internet
The Publisher’s Playbook: Google’s Helpful Content Update with Lily Ray

Music segment:
44 years ago: Jello Biafra/Dead Kennedys album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables.
California Uber Alles
Holiday in Cambodia
N*zi Punks F*ck Off

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Kathi: [email protected]

Mike: [email protected]

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Carrying the subject matter over from last week’s pod, Kathi and Mike cite examples where appreciation, recognition and specific training can go a long way for service advisors, who are the “salespeople in the service dept.” 

Music segment:

August 27th Anniversary of the B52s second album, “Wild Planet”
Private Idaho

Radiohead Perform "Creep" Live on September 14, 1993 | Late Night with Conan O’Brien

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In this special episode, Kathi goes solo in a conversation with her long-time friend, Laurie Down, an amazing customer service manager (who is currently working as a successful Service Advisor). 

If you’re in the car biz, especially in Fixed Ops, you’ll enjoy hearing Laurie's real-time stories that reveal her credo that guides her approach to customers and why it's essential to treat all customers respectfully. Don’t miss this one!

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Kathi: [email protected]

Mike: [email protected]

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We explore the trials and tribulations of attempting to advertise with Facebook. Warning: the endeavor may make you cough with frustration (like Kathi).

Then, we discuss dealership customer experience, particularly in the Service Dept. How are dealerships going to succeed in competing with independent repair shops and chains like Valvoline?

Kathi shares an update on her Automotive CFO to Go FREE “Dealer Financials Self-Assessment.” Here’s a link.

Music segment:

Elvis Costello -  Peace, Love and Understanding (Live on the Letterman Show)

Documentary series: Murder in The Heartland

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Mike: [email protected]

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Kathi and Mike explore the advantages of email (hint: there are many) but only with a strategic, consistent approach. "Email blast" is a term we've all heard but it's effectiveness is dubious. Spamming has a totally different meaning today than it did even 2 years ago and it’s easy to waste resources. Let's do email right!

Then we share a few stories about our days in retail that seem timely. Let us know what you think?

Music segment:

Patti Smith https://youtu.be/y6Wz3i_BYUc?si=hLLG8b1seQOYl4xL

The Pogues: Rum, Sodomy and The Lash (two songs that are Kathi's faves but the whole album is iconic. 

A Pair of Brown Eyes

Dirty Old Town

Mike's choice if you're looking for a good 80s Movie: Better Off Dead

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Do short skirts equal leads? 

Does hiring actors to pretend they’re employees send the right message to car buyers?

Does anyone else think this trend is not worthwhile? (ie: Does it pencil??)

Kathi and Mike discuss the poorly-conceived trend of dealers posting on TikTok and Instagram going for “viral” clicks (while likely not considering important business metrics that are always crucial to any marketing campaign). 

Tim Bartz “The Ford Video Guy” does it right. We’ve said it before and we’ll keep saying it. Tim simply provides quality information for car shoppers that translates to sales. 

Dealer Marketing Magazine has reinvented itself and the first issue includes Kathi’s insights for beginners who want to use AI for marketing.

Music segment:

Olympics: French metal! Gojira (please excuse the nonsense commentary spoken over their performance)

Elvis Costello, My Aim Is True

Song: Red Shoes

Faye documentary on HBO

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• We miss Klout. Do you remember it? Social media nostalgia: it’s difficult to understand how we got here today, but boy, it sure used to be fun.
• Discussing fake followers and reviews: Fact - It’s always a bad idea.
• Highlighting Rand Fishkin’s insights on the decline of clicks, attribution, and traditional digital marketing methods. The way we've done digital marketing for 25 years is dying.
  “In 7 minutes, I'm gonna try to show the future of what's working and why, combining 4 presentations I've been giving on stages the last few years into one comprehensive idea.”
• Exploring the future of what's working and why, with a comprehensive look at digital marketing's transformation.
• Finally, we discuss the resilience of email marketing amidst digital changes and its continued efficacy in reaching customers.

Music:
Queen - Save Me (Live at the Montreal Forum, 1981 Remastered)
US Festival at Glen Helen Park

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Kathi and Mike share our insights on the latest of several disappointing changes to the Google Business Profile platform. Google Places > Google Maps > Google Local > Google My Business > Google has failed us all.

Google has a new core update coming in a “couple of weeks.” Let’s hope it corrects the myriad of issues created by the last two. 

Then, we rant a little about Google search results, what’s causing the severe downturn in traffic to small business websites that produce high-quality content, what some are doing about it (hint: there’s not much to do except rant). 

And finally, we laugh about the quality of AI images. 

Link to Ed Zitron’s podcast: Better Offline

Link to Adam Conover’s podcast: Factually

Music:

Stewart Copeland’s birthday

Oingo Boingo live at The Ritz NYC 1985 

Oingo Boingo at US Festival 

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Kathi: [email protected]

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Kathi and Mike talk about the micro-actions we take everyday on social and other platforms that provide value to others. Dealers tend to only care about leads and sales, which are uber important, but there are other metrics in mix that can guide where we spend our resources.

Also, we are in the midst of an AI bubble. When will it burst? Who will be left without a clear path to utilizing the best parts of it? 

Here’s the Podcast we reference in the discussion:

“The AI Bubble is Bursting w/ Ed Zitron” Factually Podcast with Adam Conover

Music:

Blondie Apollo Theatre "Dreaming" 1979

Australian 60 Minutes Interview - Deborah Harry & Chris Stein 2010

Alison Moyet’s (lead singer of Yaz in the 80s) new song - Such Small Ale (Radio 2 Piano Room)

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Kathi: [email protected]

Mike: [email protected]

👉Get Kathi’s ebook: “A Beginner’s Guide to AI for Automotive Retail 👈

This week, Kathi and Mike cover:

• The CDK fallout and who it’s falling on: updates on what’s happening in real time with the real people on the front lines
• Zero-Click Search: what it is and what it really means for anyone who isn’t a big brand.
• Google Business Profiles - are they still relevant?

Here’s a link to the SparkToro Zero Click Report. For every 1,000 searches, 360 go to the open web (ie: yours and other websites)

Music:

Romeo Void “Never Say Never” 

Here’s a recent interview with Debora Iyall of Romeo Void

Watch Raton 3 - Debora’s new band

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Got a question? Email either of us!

Kathi: [email protected]

Mike: [email protected]