Ilana Shabtay

Your company’s story and messaging are the core of everything: it’s how you market, how you sell, and how you retain loyal customers. The story is the backbone of your company’s brand and should permeate every aspect of the business. That’s why rebranding your company is such a big project – it’s a chance to revisit the essence of the company and apply it to every part, big or small. Rebranding is a journey to take only if the name, logo, and tone of your brand no longer do your company justice. Whether it’s outdated or misaligned, the decision to rebrand should be intentional and purposeful.  The rebranding process takes time. Dedicating the proper resources and creating a robust timeline is the best way to ensure a frictionless process. Here are four things that helped our company manage our recent rebrand: Start with buy-in  Before beginning any process, it’s critical to get executive buy-in on the process. As mentioned, a rebrand is no joke, so making sure you’re aligned with the leadership of the company will set up the process for success as it becomes a company priority.  In addition to getting leadership buy-in, establish an internal committee responsible for providing feedback along the way. The committee should include different team leaders and members from various departments to keep the feedback as expansive as possible. You want different opinions and perspectives, so ensure the makeup of this committee serves that purpose. Keep the committee intimate and controlled; we found the sweet spot to be about 5-6 people representing different areas of the company.  Once you’re set on a final direction, employee buy-in will kick in. Prepare your team with the tools they need to understand and embrace the change.  Stick to a project plan Creating a master project plan is best practice as there are a lot of moving pieces in a rebrand. Start with a master list and break down tasks by department. Once tasks are assigned, you can rely on department heads to fill in specific details along the way. Use organizational software like Asana or monday.com to help organize the project.  It’s also helpful to create mini-deadlines to support the major deadlines. If you plan on launching your new brand on a specific day, make sure you create deadlines to hit certain milestones before launch day. This will break down the project into smaller, more achievable tasks.  Lastly, you will likely benefit from creating a phase 1 and phase 2 of the project. A rebrand is no small project, and it may be impossible to accomplish everything before launch day. Creating a phase 2 allows for more flexibility and can re-energize the teams heavily involved in the project.  Create a comms strategy  Aside from the master project plan, there should be a separate communications plan that maps out the messaging for each specific audience. How and when will you tell external stakeholders, journalists, enterprise partners, and clients about the rebrand? What does communication look like? Who will be handling this on behalf of the company?  It’s also critical to create an FAQ document for your clients and employees so you can answer any concerns or common questions that will arise.  We used the table below to help us prepare our comms strategy:  While it may seem unnatural, it’s important to make a big deal out of the rebrand, so it helps get your brand’s new story out. Be obsessive about it so the news can spread and you can feel good about the work you put in.  Setup a “war room” The rebrand doesn’t end on launch day. Once the news is out, you want to set up a post-launch execution room with your top players. There will be certain things you can’t set up before the news is out, so this dedicated time will let you focus on pushing live anything that couldn’t be set up pre-launch. You should have a running list of these items, so prepare a checklist prior to launch day, as launch day will be exhausting. Expect things to go wrong and be prepared to fix them. This time is dedicated to setup spillover, inbound questions and requests, and to head-off any mishaps.  Rebranding a company’s story, logo, design, and/or messaging is a big deal - so prepare for it. Be consistent and aggressive with aligning your team, departments, and all stakeholders around the change. And, of course, use the opportunity to create buzz and news about your company. This is your time to shine!

Live product launches have become an innovative marketing strategy aimed at creating hype around the introduction of new products and technologies to market. They have become quite the trend as more companies seek out the benefits of such an event, like creating a wider reach, increasing engagement, and optimizing marketing costs. We expect to see more industries embrace virtual live launches and adapt their marketing strategies to include a launch experience.  Whereas in the past, only industry bigwigs had access or information on the latest technology and products, live launches take these innovations directly to interested audiences, enabling buying customers to get in on the excitement directly. Live launches also allow companies to host demonstrations of the product or technology, highlighting product design, functionality, and key features so those potential buyers can see it in action. By satisfying customers' needs for both entertainment and information, live launches help facilitate better sales conversations and create a unique customer experience. Interestingly, over the last year or so, several OEMs have learned from tech giants like Meta and Apple and have also started hosting live launch events to release new major features or to create hype around a new vehicle. As this trend picks up in the industry, it will be interesting to watch and see which OEMs will dedicate themselves to creating consistency with their live launches that build excitement and hype over time. Quarterly Launch Events: Commitment to Innovation  At Fullpath , quarterly live launch events have become part of our DNA as it commits us to disrupting the industry with new technologies quarter after quarter. With each launch, we aim to release a product or feature that actively solves a pain point dealers are facing in the realm of data connectivity and orchestration. This undertaking ensures that we constantly have our finger on the pulse of the automotive industry so we can tackle the real-world problems dealers are facing in their day-to-day business management.  We held our  first launch in Q2 of 2022  with the release of our Customer Data and Experience Platform, and we have been one-upping ourselves ever since. The Fullpath product team performs intensive research in tandem with our sales and support teams to get a view from the field and to better understand the pressing needs of dealers. They then determine what the next big project should be and get to work on development and production. While they work on the technology, our marketing team sets up everything else needed for the live launch - from scoping out a location to ensuring the smallest logistical details are spoken for.  If you've seen our live launches before, you know they always deliver. From missing cookies to high-speed car chases, we try to deliver an experience along with every product launch. In case you missed our live launches until now,  here  is a quick summary to get you caught up.   Q2 Live Launch in Miami: CDXP In Q2, we launched automotive's first Customer Data & Experience Platform (CDXP), designed to help dealers consolidate their data sources and leverage the data to create seamless omnichannel marketing journeys. The introduction of an automotive-centric CDXP has shifted the way the industry thinks about data connectivity and marketing strategy. With the power of the CDXP behind them, dealers can now compete on the level of global corporate giants by providing shoppers with the personalized shopping experience they have come to expect.   Watch the full live launch  here  for a closer look at the groundbreaking technology that is the CDXP.  Q3 Live Launch in Cleveland: Data Lake In Q3, Fullpath focused on handing dealers the keys to their first-party data with the introduction of Data Lake. With the impending elimination of third-party cookies, dealers are beginning to recognize the value and importance of their own first-party data.  With Data Lake, dealers can finally analyze and dissect their first-party data and use it to improve their marketing strategy and make smart, data-backed decisions to help them build stronger, more resilient businesses.   Cookies, data, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame all feature proudly in this live launch. Watch it  here .  Q4 Live Launch in Atlanta: Service Email Campaigns  The importance of a fixed-ops strategy is clear: when a dealership has a strong, efficiently run service department, they are able to remain flexible and dynamic in any market condition. With Service Email Campaigns, dealerships can reach out to customers and previous service clients with timely engagements, extending the shopper journey and generating new streams of revenue.  If you love the high stakes of a good car chase, this live launch is for you! Watch it  here .  Our next live launch is set to take place in March of 2023, and you can bet we are already looking for ways to outdo the last one! We hope to see you there! 

Pioneering a new type of conference in automotive takes a lot of guts, and Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier just pulled it off in a big way. From the venue to the guest list to the panel-style workshops, this conference lived up to its infamous tagline, “the rebirth of the automotive conference.” Here’s a recap of a few of my favorite things about this conference and why I can’t wait for next year’s event.  ASOTUCON2022 No expo hall  I’m a big believer in networking and learning from content, which is why exhibition halls can be distracting to that mission. ASOTUCON was all about the jam-packed schedule of podcast interviews, keynotes, and well-thought-out panels throughout each day; there was no one running to the expo hall to see what free swag they could snag. Everyone was focused on the same communal mission of learning together and from each other.  Vibrant venue  When I think of breakout sessions at conferences, all I can picture is carpeted hallways with lined-up classrooms one after another. I think of the closed rooms with quiet energy. ASOTUCON disrupted that image, rocking the Xfinity Live’s entertainment center with every breakout session held in a repurposed sports bar featuring a ton of screens with session information as you listened to the panels. It was vibrant and engaging rather than bland and quiet. It was fun.  Limited spots The curated and intimate guest list meant I didn’t waste any time looking for people at this conference. The ASOTU guest list focused on quality over quantity, controlling the registration so the event didn’t get too big or overwhelming. This meant that every conversation I had was meaningful, focused, and productive.  Progressive topics  As the industry continues to improve on data connectivity & orchestration, everyone present was on board with critical changes that need to be made in automotive. There were several sessions around owning and controlling your data, implementing a data strategy, and how to focus on first-party data and brand content to drive quality traffic and leads to dealership websites.  People>cars  At the end of the day, there was an underlying theme to every presentation, panel, and conversation at ASOTUCON: people are everything. It doesn’t matter which industry you’re in, what tech stack you have, or which top 150 group you may work for; if you don’t put your people first, nothing will function properly.  Ilana Shabtay in the Podcast Booth at ASOTUCON2022 Conclusion ASOTUCON was a new and exciting experience that reshaped my view of what an automotive conference could be: content sessions that are practical, relevant, and bring multiple minds together without any fluff. It was amazing to be empowered by so many other professionals in the space who want to make an impact in the industry. Congrats to the entire ASOTU team - you killed it. 

As we progress more and more in the “information age,” and move into what looks like a strong 2022 for automotive, different things become key to our strategy when it comes to creating customer experiences. And we always have these technological “eras” that revolutionized how we think about our marketing and customer communications. It used to be mobile responsiveness, then it was how to apply smart machine learning. Now because of all the information flying around, we’re moving into the next phase of data orchestration and connectivity . This is the missing piece in the accelerated dealer-tech adoption we’ve seen over the past year and a half that will be key to a successful digital infrastructure. Modern retail and machine learning decision-making are mostly just givens at this point. Connecting the data in a meaningful way and minimizing data silos is our next priority as an industry.  What is data orchestration? Data orchestration is the process of taking siloed, disjointed data and connecting it together into one organized, cohesive system. Historically, this has been quite difficult in automotive because the data sources are not built in a way to share information easily. Today, there are new technologies focused on solving this for dealerships to continue the focus on seamless customer shopping experiences.  Let’s discuss why this is so important for automotive.  I cannot tell you how many times I went to a dealership’s website, looked at a specific VDP, filled out a form, and then got an email about a totally different vehicle. Or, other times when I went to a dealership’s website, looked at 2-3 vehicles, and then got retargeted by an inventory specific ad based on my search (sounds promising right?); However, when I click on the ad, it takes me to an oops page (404 page) because the car was already sold and/or taken down from the website even though the ad is still driving traffic to that VDP. I even see back to school Facebook ads running mid-November, which is clearly no longer relevant.  Challenges like these are a function of the information overload we’re facing. There is data and information everywhere and because it’s not connected, it’s creating really poor user experiences. Your dealership needs to invest time and resources into understanding what data orchestration is and how you can implement this at your dealership.  Here are three things you can do to get started: Map all data silos Map out all your customer touchpoints and data sources into one spreadsheet or document. This makes it crystal clear to understand where and how you’re communicating to your customers and how that data is then fed back to your dealership. Once you have this mapped out, you can understand what is extremely siloed and what needs to be connected.   Find a data hub There are a couple softwares that do this well-- find them. Invest in technology that connects your systems and customer touch points so you can create seamless experiences. This part of the process will also probably involve consolidating vendors.  Ever have a lead from a chat that also converted on a trade in? Were you able to see one solid customer journey, or two journeys for the same lead? That’s what we’re talking about here: consolidate.  Execution engine  Data orchestration is only half the equation. Once you have connected data, it’s critical you can execute and take action based on insights. For example, are your ads reflecting information from your CRM? Are your email follow-ups based on website activity? Making sure your marketing machine is leveraging the orchestrated data will be key to success in 2022.  While this may have seemed impossible five years ago, technologies outside of automotive have proven the possible and shown us the importance of data orchestration and connectivity. This trend to connectivity and orchestration is playing out all over society in different systems. In the tech ecosystem we've seen the emergence of micro-services and data coordination systems like Kubernetes and Docker. In IoT (internet of things) we've seen IoT opps to connect data from numerous sensors and orchestrate the information. There are endless examples that prove its path to automotive digital is coming soon to perfect the customer journey.   Let’s get started.

When we think about disruption, we think loud, rowdy, and bumpy. But in reality, it’s the dealerships that can mitigate the noise who are making the biggest disruption of all.   Setting up sales and marketing infrastructures at dealerships often comes with manual legwork, long processes, and disjointed data sources from numerous vendors and technologies. But, it's when dealerships need to work through all that noise that it actually gets rowdy. Today’s modern dealership has shifted to reduce noise and increase transparency with the help of top-notch technology. And while there’s a handful of solutions that support noise reduction, the majority of these technologies pale in comparison to the Customer Data Platforms, or CDP for short. What is a CDP & CDXP? A Customer Data Platform provides you with a comprehensive window into customer behavior and insights by way of centralizing your data. CDPs fundamentally break data silos and bring data together in one coherent platform so you can see all your customers' information and behavior in one 360 view. When your dealership has a handle on its customer data through a CDP, it can then seamlessly layer in an experience platform which leverages the rich customer data and turns it into action. This is commonly referred to as a CDXP , customer data and experience platform.  Dealerships that invest in CDXPs can trust that their marketing infrastructure is running smoothly and focused on:  Providing a foundation for a 360-degree customer view Increasing customer loyalty  Storing precise targeting and higher-quality interactions with customers Allowing for meaningful analysis of marketing initiatives across different channels A CDXP will bring everything together for a dealership to consolidate and automate the heart of the dealership’s sales and marketing. So while other dealerships are actually making the noise trying to make sense of their data silos, the CDXP dealerships will be quieter and more confident in their approach.  Making history doesn’t always mean making noise. And just like the smoothest car engines run silent, so too should your marketing engines.  If your dealership needs more information on what CDXP means for automotive, feel free to also download the whitepaper CDXP for automotive here . 

Ad extensions are dynamic add-ons to Google ads that expand the information you can show in any given ad.  They are usually more eye-catching than the ad text itself, leading to more click activity. While the strategy behind your ad campaigns is complex, the basics of ad extensions are just as important to understand and implement into your dealership’s marketing. Here’s the breakdown of the ad extensions your dealership should be adding to search ads to maintain a good presence online.  Price Extensions  Price extensions allow you to add vehicle pricing underneath the ad so serious shoppers can consider their options right there in their search window.  When setting up price extensions, it’s critical to set up a real-time integration so that your ads reflect the current pricing on your website.  If you set up something more manual, the ads will not reflect price and inventory changes and this  can lead to a lot of confused and frustrated customers.  Callout Extensions  Callout extensions allow for dealerships to add special promotions or unique offers that stick out below the ad information.  It’s a great chance for your dealership to differentiate themselves from the competition and try to lure in new customers.  For example, dealerships can point out things like price matching, trade-ins, and warranties.  Location Extensions  Location extensions make it super easy for shoppers to see where your store is on the map and how far it is from their current location.  The location extension is also clickable, leading the shopper directly to Google Maps.  As we already know, shoppers have little patience so any shortcut to finding you is a win for your dealership.  Call Extensions Call extensions are super instrumental in driving more leads to your dealership because it’s a click-to-call feature that makes it easy for shoppers to find your phone number without even going to the website. There is a lot of flexibility in the call extensions to support your business model, like turning on the call extension only during your opening hours or turning this on or off for mobile/desktop depending on your goals.  Google also helps you set up tracking for call leads when you implement call extensions, so you can make sure you’re tracking inbound leads/calls directly from ads differently than other clicks.  Sitelink Extensions As mentioned before, the more shortcuts for your shoppers, the better the shopping experience.  Sitelink extensions allow you to link directly to certain pages within your website to get your shoppers familiar with your brand and your inventory. It also means eager shoppers that know exactly what they want to see can get to the page quicker.  Dealerships should consider setting up sitelinks to their top inventory and incentives pages, trade-in options, and profit centers (like service) to drive the most relevant traffic directly to the pages linked.  Image Extensions Image extensions allow you to complement your ad text with rich visuals. This can really enrich a dynamic search ad by bringing a shopper’s attention to the images you upload along with the description and headlines. While your dealership does have to comply with Google’s  size and dimension  best practices, it’s a pretty easy addition to search ads that can bring more attention to your ads.  Consider this your go-to list for all things Google ad extensions. Whether you manage this in-house or through an agency, it’s important your dealership understands the implications of ad extension strategies and implements best practices to drive the most qualified leads to your website.  Happy advertising!