Automobile Industry Events - J.D. Powers Automotive Internet Roundtable

The JD Powers and Associates Automotive Internet Roundtable will be held October 7th - 9th at the Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas Nevada. As a member of the staff of the premier Automotive Social Network hopefully I will be able to attend to network with auto industry professionals.

While there is a competing conference at the same time, which will probably have more dealers in attendance, this will be an opportunity to reach out to the community that supported me when I was threated to be sued by Ziegler Enterprises.

Also as a result of building up my search engine presence I have been engaged by a new friend, Scott Pitman, of mine to help Suzuki of Wichita build some lenses on squidoo. Hopefully this will help in their online marketing mix.

Hopefully all of the anchor text that I have added to this blog does not hurt my efforts, because some people consider me knowledgeable in Automotive SEO. I would hate to get this site sandboxed...

Networking in the Car Business - Fun Stuff

I really enjoy networking and have become fairly out spoken in viewing my opinion of proper protocol at various automotive social networking to the point that some do not even like for me to enter conversations.

I have been dubbed the king of blog debates by some and people will go out of their way to assault my credentials when I try to contribute to the conversation. It has happened more than once. here and here are two good example. If you visit those links though you really need to look at the whole threads tough.

It has helped me build my brand to the point of almost being highly respected in the industry in certain aspects of online marketing. I will be the first one to admit there are areas that I am not the most knowledgeable in, process being one of them, automotive inventory management being another. On the inventory management side of it though I can draw from enough experience from the manufactured home industry to probably make solid calls in that regard if given enough data.

What I find funny though is some of the people who like to try and take stabs at me will also call me for advice and opinions. So I guess it is not a bad thing. It just goes to show if you have an opinion it does not hurt to give it even if it does not fall into the status quo.

Be Credible in Your Message

As you may well know I a am an Internet Sales Manager at Carl Gregory and building my brand is the most important part of my online marketing message. One thing I do not do is tell customers something to appease them. I am brutally honest even if it not what the customer wants to hear.

Today I inquired with a company that sells Internet Lead Management Tools and asked about a trade out or reduced rate of their services in exchange for advertising on two automotive blogs that I author. The response I received was incredible.

Please understand I do not mind being told no. That is not my gripe. I do mind being told no when no one even took the time to explore the sites in question. To me that just destroys any credibility in the denial of the request. Maybe it was just a salesperson no wanting to take a reduced commission due to reduced revenue or maybe it is the fact that the company in question is so wrapped up in themselves and think that their product cant be touched. I think it is the former but then again now the commission for the sale they will never get is $0.

Be Real Be You - Don't Hide Hide Behind a Handle

If you are trying to build a personal brand online one of the worst things you could do is hide behind aliases. If you are going to voice your opinion and want others to look at you as a resource you need to do it in your own name. There are some rare exceptions to this rule and your goal may not to build your brand.

In a recent exchange at a very popular automotive marketing blog a reader disagreed with my opinion, I don't have a problem with that. People disagree with me all the time. The other side of the exchange did not use their real name or even provide a link to their website. That I do have a problem with. What it tells me is that they feel that they need to hide from letting the world know who they really are. Their opinion sharply contrasted from mine yet they hid behind their initials JL while I used my real name, Paul Rushing


On the basis of the of the sharply contrasting views that "JL" stated it would appear that he worked for an Automotive Classified Vendor trying to protect an antiquated business model while remaining anonymous. JL's anonymity caused me to discount his entire opinion and not even consider his point of view, because I could not identify with the reason for his position, while it was obvious why held mine. I could only work from supposition, which is never good.

While it was not my goal to call JL out here, or was it? I am using this as an example of how not to build credibility in your position and to show a good example of why you should not hide behind a "handle" and try to sway other peoples opinion to yours.

If JL's Identity is that of a representative of one of the online classified vendors then he should realized I was the Internet Sales Manager at Carl Gregory Chrysler Dodge Hyundai and his sharply contrasting view would not help save the cancellations coming down the pipe for these vendors and may of even hastened the decision. If he does not work for one of these sites then his Identity may of helped me understand his position better. Either way I am of the same opinion still...

Why Brand You?!?

I guess the better question is why not "Brand You". In todays world virtually anything anyone wants to know about you is available online and how you brand yourself can make or break your online success.

No matter if you are marketing affiliate products on line, business to business products or high ticket retail items your first priority should be to brand you, then the products you represent second, unless you are paid directly for building the company brand.

This goes against conventional wisdom and may be hard for many to grasp, especially corporate pinheads. There are many ways to help you brand yourself first, blogs, user generated content, micro sites, Pay Per Click and the list goes on forever. It can be a daunting task to keep multiple levels of content moving forward but like with anything else you get back exactly what you put into it.

One thing you should do is to concentrate on your goals first and not the goals of others as you move forward in your branding mission. You are the only person who is going to look after your brand with the enthusiasm it deserves.

Personal Branding can be broken down to several levels:

• Search Engine Reputation Management - When people search for you what are they seeing? You need to be the one in control of this conversation.
• Establishing yourself as a resource - This can be accomplished in many ways, but some of the easiest ways is to get involved in Social Media and Networking in the Niche in which you wish to distinguish yourself.
• Building Trust - Create raving fans of your services to them. Create and online "brag book". One way is "User Generated Content". Check out my page : Paul Rushing on SquidWho. While it is not the only way it is one of the easiest.

While these are not the only things you can do it is a good place to start. Eventually I will create a free ecourse on building your brand which will also help build mine.

Until then go build you....