John Sternal
Partner, Director of PR & Social Media
Merit Mile
DMM Expert John Sternal
John Sternal is a Partner and Director of PR & Social Media at Merit Mile, where he oversees strategic client programs for PR, social media, and communications research. Specializing in web, interactive, creative, PR, and branding, John and the team at Merit Mile help brands of all sizes realize and sustain business growth.
A veteran public relations professional with more than 25 years of experience serving clients in a variety of industries on both the agency and corporate sides, John has been writing about the automotive industry since 2005.
His creative approach to PR is a leading reason why John has been able to get press coverage in newspapers around the country and leading magazines like The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, Cigar Aficionado, and Good Housekeeping.
He is also the author of a brand new e-book called the PR Toolkit, which helps small businesses learn the ins and outs of PR so that they can be successful at getting their own press coverage.
Articles by John
Is Your Dealership Ready to Market the Latest Technologies On Display at CES 2024?
Even though sales have slowed a bit recently, electric vehicles (EVs) continue to be poised for growth in the coming years. There were a handful of technologies on hand at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024 in Las Vegas. At the...
- by John Sternal
Educating Dealers and OEM Partners to Market & Sell Connected Vehicles
As vehicle technology progresses, opportunities for connectivity, advanced electronics, and computer technology are emerging. Auto dealers are at the forefront of this new landscape, helping customers understand their vehicle's technology and...
- by John Sternal
How Artificial Intelligence is Improving the Auto Dealership
A survey done by CDK Global highlights the automotive retail market shift toward Artificial Intelligence (AI). More than half of the survey sample reports successful improvements from AI and anticipate further positive outcomes. In this...
- by John Sternal
Connected Television Represents A Great Disruptive Opportunity for Dealers
It is estimated that 39% of adults are watching video on a CTV device on a daily basis. This is up from 31% back in 2019 according to data from Leichtman Research Group (LRG)1. This represents a large audience with spending power and the desire...
- by John Sternal
How To Create More Efficiency In Your Advertising Strategy
While a showroom may be full of shoppers and potential leads, dealers shouldn’t cast their advertising to the side. The market for consumers is ever evolving in not only issues but in competition. It is pertinent for dealers to grasp as well as...
- by John Sternal
No Third-Party Cookie Data? How Dealers Can Leverage Marketing
Third-party cookies have slowly phased out of the internet for years with stricter privacy regulations taking effect in Europe and several different states in the U.S. including California. This can also be seen with major web browsers...
- by John Sternal
OTT Advertising: Auto Retailers & Agency Partners Find New Car Shopper Connections
Today's online ecosystem offers an ideal medium for the delivery and consumption of many advertising formats. Unlike traditional television, the internet is universal in how it delivers content as well as a more selective environment for...
- by John Sternal
Digital Advertising & Marketing Technologies are Helping Dealers Acquire Inventory Entering 2021
Experts believe sales of new vehicles will close 2020 down approximately 15%, which would mark one of the industry's worst annual declines since at least 1980. In any typical year, this type of ending would illustrate a significant disaster....
- by John Sternal
How Dealers Today Leveraged Fixed Ops and Digital Advertising for Quicker Recovery
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, numerous automotive dealerships radically cut back their general ad expenses to maintain as much of their bottom line as possible. Furthermore, in April, the annual pace of sales dropped steeply to 8.47 million, a...
- by John Sternal
How Will the COVID-19 Pandemic Change the Way Dealers Market to Customers?
In the early months of 2020, many auto industry observers believed the industry would be looking at an annual pace of approximately 16.5 million new vehicle sales for the year. When the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe, this forecasted...
- by John Sternal
Where the COVID-19 Outbreak Is Impacting Dealers’ Marketing Strategies
As the world continues to watch and see exactly how the COVID-19 outbreak unfolds, everyone involved in the automotive industry is also eyes wide open on the topic. The outbreak has had a sweeping and profound impact in a short amount of time,...
- by John Sternal