We've changed the marketing landscape.
We know that, unlike consumer marketing, commercial marketing centers around building relationships with your customers. When you are successful, volume sales will follow, and individual item sales to retail customers are left to the retailers.
This basic principle is what built the Automotive Aftermarket. It was a lot of work by dedicated sales forces, but it was what we had.
That is until the internet came along.
The lure of this new medium and the promises of endless customers and cost savings from highly trained internet marketing specialists were hard to overcome.
And so, we evolved. But was it the right move?
If your focus is on the general consumer, I agree it was a good move.
But, if you are focused on commercial customers and do not have direct contact with them, it doesn't deliver.
Why? It's simple. Your focus is, or at least was, on building commercial accounts and volume sales, and the open internet is primarily tailored to the general population, which is not your audience.
What is even more frustrating is that internet marketing specialists do not understand the definite distinction between commercial and consumer marketing. They were never trained to know. To them, it's all internet marketing.
Of course, with sufficient time and funding, any software can be created or manipulated to deliver specifically to your needs, but that pushes the realm of affordability.
Another main issue, of many, is that you have no control over who will view your advertisements. Your message is what's important. Will it be generic, aimed at the general public, or specific for the professionals of our industry?
Here's one more of many issues that really bother me and need fixing.
What about all the small—to medium-sized community-based commercial businesses that do not have substantial marketing budgets or even websites, for that matter? Marketing and advertising costs have ballooned beyond their reach. Read this article.
For all commercial enterprises in the automotive aftermarket industry, the evidence has shown us that internet marketing, in its present form, does not work for us.
Can we fix it? Absolutely.
Here, at ASBN, we have created a more effective and straightforward approach.
This network focuses on attracting all stakeholders of only one industry, the Automotive Aftermarket, not the general consumer.
It is also designed as an intranet, open only to registered members, which allows us to focus from within this industry.
These two items alone are enough to change the marketing landscape to a direct, commercial approach and separate ourselves from the public internet realm.
But that's just the beginning.
It is geographically market-specific, which means that all members, suppliers, and users alike who have a stake in this particular market region of British Columbia would benefit the most. We have also divided this large market area into ten geographic regions to achieve better demographics, function, and management.
This new platform will also allow you to;
- Apply your focus to industry sub-segments like shop management, service technicians, or tooling.
- Focus your business advertising on a particular market region or selected regions of BC.
- Have direct connections to your existing commercial customers who need your personal support.
- Have the ability to distribute training and product resources
- Adjust your advertising messages to resource content vs. consumer brand-building
Isn't commercial marketing all about starting and building relationships?
This isn't rocket science. It's just plain logic and common sense from our viewpoint, not from the so-called marketing gurus.
We know what we need.
Let's do some more.
Applying the K.I.S.S. principle (keep it simple stupid) to ads
I found checking different sites to determine what they charge for ad space and how they are presented confusing. It shouldn't be.
So, let's change that to where it suits everyone.
Here at ASBN, the starting point for every advertiser is the Supplier Directory, where every supplier creates a free business card-style listing with no exceptions, and only registered ASBN members can access your contact information. (See Features and Options for more information.) There is also an option for a full-page ad. See Packages
This opens the door to every supplier in every community who wishes to do business with our industry. Having a website is not necessary.
Site Ads; Types and Formats
There are so many ad types and formats available that it is enough to make your head spin. Here's a sampling. I thought that advertising was a process of getting your message directly to the people interested in what you have to promote. In our industry, all viewed ads should be valuable resources. That does not appear to be happening.
So, let's make it simple.
Any internet marketing campaign's biggest job is attracting prospects who could be customers. From there, a vetting process begins to convert prospects into potential customers, and your messaging is adjusted accordingly.
That primary job is a natural result of this network's core design, which gathers only industry prospects under one roof. The numbers may be smaller than those of IT marketers' prospect lists, but on ASBN, you know they are all potential customers. This allows you to fully focus on your messaging at the start, which is the goal.
Because your messages are the priority, banner ad styles alone will suit our needs quite well.
For those unsure, banner ads are just boxes of space you rent, and you supply the content that goes in that space. The content could be plain text, images, videos, links, or a combination. They come in different sizes and site page locations. Some spaces can also be co-op shared with others as an economical option. They can also be incorporated into articles and newsletters.
Site Ads; Pricing
You've heard of Pay-per-Click (PPC), Cost-Per-Click (CPC), Cost-Per-Mille (CPM), and others to describe common internet ad pricing models. Yes, it is confusing. Something like this may make sense if you have to cast a wide net over the vast public internet in hopes that you'll catch something. But we've progressed well past that. In addition, how would you budget this expense, not knowing what your actual costs will be? Here's an eye-opener.
Again, let's simplify this.
We charge a simple flat rate for all ads.
This simplifies the whole advertising process, making it predictable, clear, and precise, a perfect fit for every budget, and highly manageable.
To help with this, each account has its own ads management section.
Here, you have control of all your site ads where you can;
- Select banner size, location choice, and content type
- Edit your content as needed
- Create and manage campaigns
Since the core purpose of the Automotive Service Business Network is to bring all businesses and their people, along with all our suppliers and their people, together under one roof to share ideas and do business, we have opened the doors to a marketing platform that can serve the unique needs of both sides of the same coin.
Because we're in this business together, and we need each other.