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 BC 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.
