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I was copied on an email from our Internet Reputation Management (IRM) manager to one of our clients today. The email struck me how helpful a consistent monthly reputation management program can be for car dealers.

By contacting a dealership’s customers as a third party, my staff has the ability to be an agent for building customer satisfaction and also to “hear” and document what their customers are saying.

Take a moment to read an excerpt of an email that Jessica wrote to one of our clients after her calls from the previous night:

On another note there was one customer that seems to be a loyal customer to you (purchased 3 cars from you) but mentioned a few things to me that could cause him not to write a totally positive review at this time – I did not send him details on how to post as a result. Here are the details of his comments:

I spoke to a gentleman named David, who was with Jennifer _______ during her purchasing experience – Jennifer is the name on the customer list you provided to me. First, David mentioned that he felt as though the Sales Manager over-estimated things during the process, even after they were already finishing up the contract.

Second, they are still waiting for a new key remote for the vehicle because the original key remote doesn’t seem to work all the time – he mentioned 8 out of 10 times it doesn’t work. After a couple weeks now, they still never got the other key and the one time they went in to get the service done they were told that they didn’t have the key. David dealt with John, the service manager – red team, that day.

David did not seem extremely angry, just concerned as to why this hasn’t been taken care of yet. I felt as though he would not be able to give you the high rating we are looking for in this IRM campaign, at this time. However, if things get settled with David please let me know because a 3-time customer is always a great candidate to write a review.

Intercepting Negative Reviews

The beauty of a monthly IRM process, that we provide for car dealers, is that in addition to getting customers to post positive reviews on websites like Google Maps, InsiderPages, DealerRater, Yelp and CitySearch our clients get feedback, if there are problems.

This customer felt comfortable to share their frustration with an independent agency because we made them feel that their opinion was important. We asked them about their experience and they told us their concerns. This issue most likely would never have been escalated to the General Manager of the dealership. Worst, this could have resulted in a negative review being posted or the dealership losing the confidence and business of a loyal customer.

Now the dealership can respond and resolve the concerns of a multiple purchase customer.

IRM Must Be Part of Your 2010 Internet Marketing Budget

I bring this up because in 2010 the power of the consumer will continue to dominate automotive digital marketing articles and strategies. Car dealers should be implementing an IRM strategy that utilizes defensive and offensive reputation management strategies. Social media strategies and IRM strategies have to be tied together in the coming year if not already.

Ignore this part of your 2010 Internet Marketing strategy and any disgruntled customer will go online and light your dealership on fire! If you have not invested in a good IRM strategy, those negative posts will be all that consumers see and you will be missing valuable sales.

Google Maps is one of the most powerful sources for dealership phone calls. How many positive reviews are showing on your Google Map listing? Negative?

That’s your PUBLIC billboard and that’s not the  one that people are seeing.

If you don’t like what you see, get the help from an IRM professional and don’t forget to clean up your internal processes at the same time.

Happy New Year and I’ll see you at Boot Camp in February!

Brian Pasch, CEO
Pasch Consulting Group
www.dealer-seo.com
http://twitter.com/automotiveseo

Part of my daily routine as an SEO consultant is to type in common search phrases to see who is being displayed on Google Page One.  For my automotive clients, I also pick random car dealership names to see how their Google Page One Management (GPOM) strategy is playing out.

Not all business owners believe that they should own Google Page One for their business name; I do.

I do not think it is in the business owner’s best interest to allow lead collection websites and websites that are filled with complaints to show up on Google Page One when a consumer types in their exact business name.

Sites like RipOffReport.com, ComplaintsBoard.com and PissedConsumer.com have a history of encouraging only negative posts and some have even stooped to collecting extortion money.

Car Dealers Under Attack

I was blown away today when I saw that a complaints website called “Pissed Consumer” was creating sub-domains using a car dealers name to show up on Google Page One.

I typed into Google “Midway Nissan” and came across a website  on Google Page One with the address: http://midway-nissan-phoenix.pissedconsumer.com.

Using SEO to Make Money on Your Brand Name

Wow.  PissedConsumer.com is now employing clever SEO techniques to ensure that consumer complaints are showing up on Google Page One for a search for a business.  They make money by running Google ads on your profile page.

This website just raised the bar on how aggressive review websites want to appear on Google Page One for a business name.  The website is not doing anything illegal by the way; a sub-domain is not protected by trademark law like a primary domain.

Since most business names get a good deal of traffic each month, if they can get on Google Page One for YOUR NAME, their ad revenue will increase.

Midway Motors is just one of thousands of dealers and businesses that are under attack.  This is not just a car dealer problem.

This website has created sub-domains for thousands of business names. Once complaints start to get posted these subdomains will jump to Google Page One for the business’ name.

Here are a few other car dealer sub-domains that I easily found.

• http://david-maus-toyota.pissedconsumer.com/
• http://hoover-toyota.pissedconsumer.com/
• http://rick-case-honda.pissedconsumer.com/
• http://maxon-hyundai.pissedconsumer.com
• http://frenchies-chevrolet.pissedconsumer.com/

There are thousands of examples of non-automotive sub-domains that can be easily found.  This is NOT a car dealer problem but a problem for all business owners.  See examples below:

• http://brad-rephen-lawyer.pissedconsumer.com/
• http://ge-money-bank.pissedconsumer.com
• http://shopping-essentials.pissedconsumer.com
• http://resort-equity-marketing.pissedconsumer.com/

I am not vouching for the integrity of any of the companies listed above.  My point is that this website is using your business name to generate revenue using Googe Adwords and possibly damage your reputation.

On a side note, some readers may think that if a company runs a good operation that they don’t have to worry about this type of website or this SEO tactic by PissedConsumer.com.

This is a nice thought but I have seen unscrupulous competitors post false reviews just to damage the reputation of others.

Internet Reputation Management

If you understand the significance of this SEO attack and strategy by PissedConsumer.com, you can bet that other review websites and lead collectors will follow this same strategy.

If you want to build a strong defense to protect your brand reputation, you need to get to work and build a proactive Internet Reputation Management and GPOM strategy.

This is the warning shot across the bow.

If you act now, you can be first to have better assets optimized for your business name.  Delay, and companies like PissedConsumer.com will surround you and your consumers with many distractions.
If you have any questions, drop me a note or I’ll see you at the Boot Camp.

Brian Pasch, CEO
Pasch Consulting Group
http://www.dealer-seo.com
http://twitter.com/automotiveseo

732-450-8200