Archive for the ‘Sales & Marketing’ Category

Sep
28

Top 10 Reasons I’m Looking Forward to Digital Dealer (#DD11)

Author: Kristen | Published: September 28th, 2011 | Comments 0 | Retweet

Kristen Judd President 3 Birds Marketing

Sure, getting ready for Digital Dealer takes long hours and hard work, but we're planning to have fun at the show

These are busy days at 3 Birds Marketing. With the 11th Digital Dealer Conference just one week away, our office is flush with excitement and productivity. We are putting the finishing touches on new product releases, which we will be revealing at the show; marketing and promoting our presence as exhibitors;  and planning the logistics of getting our team and equipment to the event. All this in addition to supporting our customers in the attentive style to which they are accustomed and while getting several new staff members up to speed.  It is no small undertaking, but we are equal to the task.

At our booth this time (and that is Booth 1209, by the way), you will see many of the usual suspects, as well as some fresh faces.  We are bringing a great mixture of Digital Dealer veterans and first timers.  As we all prepare to head out west, we will be introducing the members of the 3 Birds traveling circus through this blog. Each person will offer their take on what they are most looking forward to about this leading industry event. For those who don’t know, Digital Dealer covers the latest technology and education on all things digital for automobile dealership personnel–including dealer principals, general managers, sales managers, internet directors, BDC/CRM managers, fixed operations directors, and everyone in between. This conference is particularly important to those interested in understanding and harnessing the most sophisticated technology and leading practices to maximize opportunities at their dealership.

I’m kicking things off with the top 10 reasons I’m looking forward to the Digital Dealer Conference next week.

10.   Long hours on the show floor followed by as many parties and concerts as we can fit in will seem like a veritable vacation after our push to get ready for the event. We may be running on pure adrenalin, coffee and IV drips of Full Throttle, but it’s show time! (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Automobile Dealers, Entrepreneurship & Startup Life, Management and Leadership, Sales & Marketing | No Comments »
Dec
15

Auto Dealers: Twitter and Facebook Are Different. Do You Have A Different Approach For Each One?

Author: Kristen | Published: December 15th, 2010 | Comments 2 | Retweet

Birds of a feather can flock together on Twitter

I love Twitter. I will admit that when I first started a Twitter account for myself, I didn’t get it. I wasn’t sure who to follow and no one was following me. I tried a couple tweets and waited for something to happen, but nothing did. I might as well have been in my closet with the lights off spouting profundities for all of the people who were hearing what I had to say. I concluded that Twitter wasn’t for me and decided to stick with Facebook.

That was until I went to a marketing conference about a year ago. I attended several presentations I found valuable. At the end of each, the speaker included his or her Twitter handle on the final slide. I returned home determined to figure Twitter out. I began by following the speakers I had seen at the conference, listening to their tweets and I gradually branched out from there. Over time I became more vocal and began to connect with others. For me, Twitter is a great tool for exchanging ideas with people in the industries I inhabit, staying on top of articles and blog posts on subjects of interest to me and connecting with people with similar interests. I especially love to use Twitter at conferences. In fact, prior to the 9th Digital Dealer Conference in Las Vegas earlier this year, I had many Twitter exchanges about #DD9 and then enjoyed meeting my new Twitter friends in real life at the event (hello @austinthompson @arnoldtijerina @cfousek @BrentWees @michele07 @john_m_bowman). Andretti Brown (@BrokeDesign), one of our incredibly talented designers, is another person I “met” on Twitter and eventually convinced to come work with us at 3 Birds. For all of these reasons and many more, I consider Twitter an invaluable tool.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Automobile Dealers, Sales & Marketing, Social Media, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Oct
17

Digital Dealer Wrap Up

Author: Kristen | Published: October 17th, 2010 | Comments 4 | Retweet

3 Birds at our first Digital Dealer Conference

I loved everything about the whole experience of my first Digital Dealer Conference last week at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.  I had the chance to speak to exhibitors, attendees and others, some of whom had been coming to the show from the beginning and, by all accounts, this was the best Digital Dealer Conference yet from an attendance and agenda perspective.  The event was so successful, that where NADA was once THE must attend event, many exhibitors were commenting that going to NADA did not seem as important or essential anymore. Digital Dealer has become a much needed micro-NADA devoted to advanced technology for dealers.

This shift makes all of the sense in the world.  It is a shift that is taking place in many other aspects of dealership operations and other business verticals.  More and more dealers are moving away from aggressive, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink methods of advertising and marketing in recognition of the fact that consumers have more power and voice and are increasingly demanding timely, relevant communications and interactions with the companies with whom they chose to do business.  More and more people would agree that time is as valuable a commodity as money.  People are busy.  Everyone has a long  “to do” list  and it seems like there are never enough hours in the day to accomplish everything that needs to be accomplished.  Dealers feel the pressure of too much to do and not enough time to do it more acutely than most given all of the moving pieces involved in running a dealership.  I was impressed by the focus and advance preparation the dealers I met brought to the conference. Dealers had done their homework.   They had identified needs within their stores, they had specific questions and they were at the show to find solutions and actionable ideas to implement. (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Automobile Dealers, Sales & Marketing, Social Media | 4 Comments »
Oct
12

What Are You Hoping To Get Out Of The 9th Digital Dealer Conference?

Author: Kristen | Published: October 12th, 2010 | Comments 3 | Retweet

what-are-you-hoping-to-get-out-of-the-9th-digital-dealer-conference
Len Wohadlo and Kristen Judd at the 9th Digital Dealer Conference

Len Wohadlo and Kristen Judd at the 9th Digital Dealer Conference

I remember being a fourth grader and being so excited when my music teacher told my class that we would each get to pick an instrument to learn to play it that year. It was explained that we would be able to borrow an instrument from school before purchasing our own. I selected the flute as my instrument of choice. At the time, I wanted what my friends and I considered to be a “girl” instrument which essentially left me with the choice of a clarinet or a flute (in retrospect I wish I had been less concerned with gender stereotypes and picked the trumpet). I ruled out the clarinet because I didn’t want to deal with changing the reeds because the whole process seemed somewhat unsanitary. The flute, with its lighter more streamlined case, won for reasons that had nothing to do with making music.

While I enjoyed toting my flute back and forth to school for a while and announcing that I played an instrument, I didn’t really, at least not outside of music lessons at school. I didn’t practice. Not surprisingly, I didn’t improve. When the time came time to return the borrowed flute and buy my own or discontinue lessons, the inevitable conversation with my parents took place where actual passages from the official parents’ handbook were bandied about like – applying myself and getting out what you put in. I find myself thinking about the applicability of these concepts as Layton and I fly to Las Vegas to attend 3 Birds Marketing’s first Digital Dealer Conference and we discuss what our goals are for the show. (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Automobile Dealers, Sales & Marketing, Uncategorized, Web Technologies | 3 Comments »
Jul
30

Engagement Websites for Automobile Dealers — The New “Meet and Greet”

Author: Kristen | Published: July 30th, 2010 | Comments 7 | Retweet

Automoble Dealers and the Meet and Greet

There's a new "meet and greet" that happens before customers enter your dealership...

Chris Brogan (author of the book Trust Agents, President of New Marketing Labs, well recognized blogger, sought after speaker and social media thought leader) recently wrote a blog post entitled, “Dear Car Dealerships – Stop Sucking.”  In this post, he recounted his recent experience of shopping for a Camaro.  Like most people who are “in market” for a vehicle these day, he began to research his purchase online.  He found Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds.com to be useful sites, but when he transitioned to local automobile dealership websites to locate available inventory, that’s when things went “haywire.”  Brogan complained about the content management systems the dealer sites used to manage inventory feeds, design flaws and usability/readability issues, but what was a glaring omission to him was the way dealer website don’t do much to try to get prospects into the store.  Brogan nailed it. (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Automobile Dealers, Sales & Marketing, Social Media, Web Technologies | 7 Comments »
Jun
15

Community Is Queen

Author: Kristen | Published: June 15th, 2010 | Comments 2 | Retweet

community-is-queen

Our company has undergone a big transition recently. We relocated from the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. There were many factors that influenced our decision to move, but we selected the Research Triangle in North Carolina, and Chapel Hill in particular, for its deep talent pool, progressive sensibility and the quality of life it offered for our family and the families of our staff members. (more…)

Posted in Cars & Design, Food & Health, People & Relations, Sales & Marketing, Social Media, Web Technologies | 2 Comments »

Categories

Archives

Recent Posts

Facebook & Twitter

Twitter Facebook LinkedIn YouTube

Request a Demo or Give us a call 877-285-1094
Copyright © 3 Birds Marketing 321 W Rosemary St, Chapel Hill, NC 27516
Hours & Location  |  Contact Us  |  Job Opportunities  |  Site Map