The struggling economy may force companies to reduce investments in local advertising through 2013, but more ad dollars will go toward digital rather than traditional media, according to the U.S. Local Media Annual Forecast (2008-2013) by BIA Advisory Services and division Kelsey Group.

U.S. local advertising revenue will decline from $155.3 billion in 2008 to $144.4 billion in 2013, representing a negative 1.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR).

Companies will continue to increase the amount spent on interactive ads, from online to mobile to digital out-of-home that relies on IP platforms to transmit targeted messages. The Kelsey Group estimates the amount spent on interactive ads will more than double from 9% in 2008 to 22.2% in 2013.

Mobile, Internet Yellow Pages and online classifieds, local search, voice search and e-mail marketing are included in the interactive revenue that the research firm said will grow from $14 billion in 2008 to $32.1 billion in 2013.

In contrast, ad media investment in newspapers, direct mail, television, radio, print Yellow Pages, out of home (non-digital), cable television and magazines will decrease from $141.3 billion in 2008 to $112.4 billion in 2013, at a CAGR of -4.5%.

“If this would have been a modest recession, the trend lines would have been softer, but we believe the softness in the economy will accelerate the transition,” said Neal Polachek, CEO, Kelsey Group. “If you go back and look at post-recession growth numbers for all traditional media, you’ll see they bounced back well ahead of inflation and GDP.”

Polachek said this forecast recognizes the importance the Internet plays, and that this time traditional media will not bounce back as it did after prior recessions.

Television aimed to create awareness; radio, sales through promotions; newspapers, geared toward retail; and Yellow Pages helped consumers find things to buy. “The Internet can do all those things, and that’s the fundamental shift,” Polachek said. “It’s not just another media. It’s all media rolled into one. That’s very confusing for many people. You can’t say newspapers will be fine because it can do something no other media does. Not true.”

Polachek finds the acceleration of the shift from traditional to digital media surprising, rather than the shift. Experts expected the change, but the economic meltdown is driving it faster.

While Internet television doesn’t put brands in front of 300 million consumers watching the Academy Awards or the Super Bowl on PCs or smartphones today, many of them could in three to five years, Polachek said. Some won’t have a television hook-up either. “While we have been watching the industry make that profound and remarkable shift, the economy will force that change much faster,” he said.

Source

The majority of automotive websites are optimized for the most popular version of Internet Explorer and rarely take into consideration Safari, a browser that represents less than 10% of the web browser market and 71% of mobile browsing.

With aggressively growing iPhone sales in the Smart Phone market, you have an entire audience of potential customers on the go and connected to the Internet. All you need to do to bring your dealership’s website to them is to make sure your website functions in Safari. As mentioned above, most companies who build web applications and websites build for the masses, which means Internet Explorer. The iPhone uses Safari as the default browser (and only browser at the time of this writing) to display your dealership’s website. If your site looks good and functions correctly in Safari for the desktop, you’re on your way to iPhone ready.

If you’re a DHD customer, grab an iPhone and look at your Dealer HD website, you’ll notice that everything functions as it normally would in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. Mobile visitors from iPhones can access every page of your website, zoom into into content areas, submit forms, view vehicle photos, specials and coupons. I’ve taken a few screen shots from my iPhone to illustrate some of the points above. As you can see, everything is highly visible, clean and organized. iPhone users can double tap, pinch zoom and scroll to the information areas easily.

While there are many other mobile devices that connect to the Internet it’s important to recognize Safari as a major player in the mobile space and making sure that your website functions in an iPhone is critical to your mobile marketing strategy.

Click for actual iPhone screen shot.

Click for actual iPhone screen shot.

Click for actual iPhone screen shot.

Click for actual iPhone screen shot.

Click for actual iPhone screen shot.

Click for actual iPhone screen shot.

In newspaper’s glory days it was hard to find the funnies under all the auto ads.  Today, the paper at the curb is feather light and autos has dwindled significantly. Where are the cars?

Online Specials pick up where your print ads leave off. Since nearly everyone that spent their Sundays scouring the autos section has moved to online shopping, keeping your Internet specials current is essential. I say current because putting them up just isn’t enough.

The Internet holds a great advantage over print advertising – it’s instant.  You can replace specials as soon as a car sells or add and take away at will, no deadlines apply.  Regularly updating your online specials keeps frequent visitors interested and new visitors likely to return. Why? Because honestly, no one likes reading the same page in a book over and over again and stale specials have the same effect.  With a competitor’s inventory a few clicks away its important not to let the Internet’s advantage over print become its downfall.

If you’re a Dealer HD customer and you need a quick tutorial on Inventory or other specials, please contact us.  We’re more than happy to help!