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How Dealerships Can Capture More Intent in 2025: Marketing Strategies with Colin Kara of Nielsen Automotive Group
19 Plays2 months ago
Automotive marketing is changing fast! AI Overviews, shifting SEO tactics, and OEM advertising budgets are reshaping how car shoppers find dealerships.
In this episode of More Than You Can Chew, Dane sits down with Colin Kara, Marketing Director at Nielsen Automotive Group, to dig into how dealers can stay competitive.
Colin also shares how his group is finding success by aligning SEO, SEM, and dealership operations.
If you’re a dealership marketer or business leader looking for actionable strategies to cut waste and capture more car shoppers in 2025, this bite-sized conversation is for you.
👉 Links & Resources
- Learn more at: searchlabdigital.com
- Get help with your Local SEO & PPC: https://searchlabdigital.com/seo-demo-request/
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Transcript
Introduction & Guest Welcome
00:00:00
Speaker
All right, we're back for another more than you can chew podcast. And I have one of my favorite people on as a guest, ah Colin Karasquillo, marketing director of Nielsen Automotive Group.
00:00:15
Speaker
And of course, you were on my old ah podcast as a guest, and that's sort of how we ah got to know each other a bit. But Colin, how you doing these days? I'm doing really well. And yes, ah let's jam, right? We're getting the band back together. So very happy to see, obviously, your continued success and everything that you're doing.
00:00:33
Speaker
Been following the journey, obviously, on
Colin's Journey with CBT News
00:00:36
Speaker
LinkedIn. and seeing all of the awesome work that you've been doing when it comes to AIO, the artificial intelligent search engine optimization thing that we're dealing with here with you know Google and Bing and how that's impacting the industry. But yes, I've been following from the sidelines, but rooting you on nonetheless. so Awesome. Well, i appreciate that. and Of course, ah lately some segments with CBT. So how did that, before we even dive into it, how'd that come to be? I love seeing you you seen you up on ah on and on the and that's on the station.
00:01:06
Speaker
Yes, so i thank you for asking. You know, ultimately, it's ah it's one of the pieces of of advice that our ah general manager, you know, dealer partner here, Bill Snopfer, had given me. It was basically, you don't get unless you ask. So we had done um some previous interviews, you know, CBT News. This is going back to COVID times, actually, so many moons ago now, five years ago.
00:01:30
Speaker
um But from there, you know, they always valued the relationship and the input and the energy and things like that that I would put into ah when we were just doing the interviews with them. So just through their CBT News Network.
00:01:43
Speaker
And then it became, hey, how do we take this to the next level? ah Here's a concept, right? And that concept was essentially Marketing Matters. so I had approached them ah two NADA's ago when they were doing one of their live broadcasts. I actually had a business proposal, you know, an actual physical ah proposal. I walked up to them and I said, this is how we're taking it to the next level. And, um you know, sure enough, that then we ah ended up filming about eight episodes of Marketing Matters. And now we are planning ah the next season, if you will. So um it's just all about getting the right content together and
00:02:19
Speaker
making it meaningful for the the dealership community. I think that's the biggest thing, is I don't want to just go and talk about, you know, things for the sake of talking about them. I really want this to be an educational um show, you know, the segment in and of itself. and And it has to resonate with the dealer community. And so that's why it's taking a little more time, because it has to resonate with me first, so.
Impact of AI on Marketing
00:02:40
Speaker
Absolutely. I love it. So I've been watching from the sidelines as well. Actually, marketing matters, and that's exactly what I wanted to have you on to talk about. Cool. And, you know, right before we started recording, we were talking about, you know, the disruption with chat GPT, perplexity, Google AIOs, you know, the the deprecation of of sort of like...
00:02:59
Speaker
decline of track organic traffic from different sources and just sort of the importance now of, not that it's never been not important, but even more important now considering all those disruptions of having a ah broad portfolio of marketing channels, strategies, tactics, and not putting all your eggs in one basket. Cause even though I'm an SEO, I realize, hey, there's other really valuable means by which to to reach car shoppers in their path
SEO Strategies for Dealerships
00:03:26
Speaker
to purchase. so Just talk to us about sort of lately what you've been doing at for the dealerships. If there's any specific tactic or strategy or channel that you think dealers aren't really taking full advantage of that, you know, you'd like to kind of highlight in in in the marketing mix and and modeling mix that you've been doing for for the group.
00:03:45
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So great question. And there is a lot to unpack. I know this is kind of like a little bite-size variation of everything that we can talk about. So I'll keep it ah brief. But, you know, ultimately, i think the biggest thing, first and foremost, is is have an understanding of how the market is changing. And what I mean by the market is how marketing is changing, right? So You have done these incredible deep dives and ah analyses about how so SEO right is evolving. And it almost seems daily right that there's something new coming out.
00:04:15
Speaker
So before we say, hey, you know let's focus on a larger or the holistic picture as far as a marketing mix, It really is important for dealers to understand how ah SEO is and has already evolved. right you know A lot of what dealers need to start focusing on is what I will call conversational ah SEO. And this is how they're going to kind of be AI whisperers. right we We'll just call it that.
00:04:42
Speaker
um But AI whisperers in the sense of you want your dealership. to be the source of information, right, for the AIOs that are being served on Google, essentially taking position zero, right? So this is above and beyond your first organic results, your first ah paid results, so on and so forth.
00:05:04
Speaker
Now, you've shown some really great ah information about the actual clicks or traffic that those are generating. And surprisingly, i mean, at least surprising to me, it's not as much as people I think would anticipate.
00:05:17
Speaker
But nonetheless, I think you need to understand the fact that you want to be a digital land baron. That's essentially what I'm calling it here at Nielsen Automotive Group, right? The more positions you can take up digitally, in theory, the more real estate you own digitally, the better positions opportunities your dealership or dealer group will have. Why? You're effectively pushing your competition off of the first page of Google.
00:05:45
Speaker
The majority of your traffic, I guarantee, any dealer listening out there is going to be from a mobile device. Imagine that. Now you have even smaller screen and that once everything populates that Google deems, um you know, viable as far as giving information to a consumer.
00:06:00
Speaker
So these AIOs, a Google business listing, you know, all of that information comprised within the business listing, you are now well into page... one or two, or I shouldn't say page, but scrolls on your mobile device. So I don't want to shy away from how important that is. And there's so many different ways to go about learning how to essentially become that digital land baron, finding out the most popular questions people are asking about, whether it's the the automotive brands that you represent or just the automotive purchase process.
00:06:34
Speaker
incorporating that as far as content on your websites, becoming ah and an authority, right? The source of information will help you, I believe, moving forward because it's only going to become more focused on that. It's what's the query someone's asking and how is ah you as a dealer can actually answer that.
Understanding OEM Marketing
00:06:54
Speaker
But you have to be very creative and tailor it your specific dealership.
00:06:58
Speaker
And you can't just create a narrative. You know, you actually need to do research and you need to put factual information out there ah based upon sources of of information that are unbiased sources or or that is real information for a consumer.
00:07:15
Speaker
You know, you can't just say that this vehicle is the most affordable vehicle because it's one of the cheapest vehicles in your lineup, when in reality, it might not be one of the most affordable vehicles. You can't create that narrative or else Google will not you know, view that um as factual information and will not serve you as a result. So I just want to say that. And I know I said I'd keep it brief, but I think that that's exceptionally, exceptionally important.
00:07:40
Speaker
um And then from there, you know, the second thing that I think dealers really need to focus on is if you do nothing else for for the remainder of the year, i would almost say that if you have an understanding of SEO and then you focus on understanding, better understanding, what the OEM, so the manufacturer, is doing as far as their marketing and advertising,
00:08:05
Speaker
understanding how that works or feeds into or complements your dealership-specific strategy, you will be able to unlock many different things. You're going to unlock efficiencies unlike any efficiencies you've seen before, and that can be efficiencies from just the advertising in and of itself and the results that it's generating or cost.
00:08:32
Speaker
Right now, a lot of the things that dealers are are concerned about, right, is is overall expense. And that's expense from floor plan. You can see all of our inventory behind us. You can see expense from the personnel side of things. You can see expense from the advertising side of things. Those are really the main three, um you know, let's say, facets that dealers are analyzing and looking at. so efficiencies in the sense of if an OEM is covering X, Y, and Z in their, let's say, upper mid funnel exercises, then what you as a dealer need to do is stop focusing on those mid to upper funnel exercises that you may be focusing on because you want to create more intent.
00:09:11
Speaker
Just capture the intent that's already out there from the OEM and do a really good job of capturing that kind of low funnel high intent. So, you know, for us, it's really been a ah back to basics mentality end of 2024 into 2025.
00:09:28
Speaker
Focus on SEO. Become really, really good at SEO. And we're doing so kind of from a ah group or I should say top down approach. So group SEO.
00:09:39
Speaker
feeding that into our respective child sites and then actually back to our group or to our other child sites. It's this incredible web um that we are weaving as far as SEO.
00:09:50
Speaker
And then from there, the paid side of things, dominate low funnel, high intent outlets, ah SEM, You know, we have some remarketing built in there, but really it's just capture any and all intent you can.
Capturing Consumer Intent
00:10:04
Speaker
And then once you get people to your websites, make sure you have a really good website experience and that your sales staff is handling those customers who end up submitting some sort of, um you know, information, right? And an opportunity comes through that they're handling that consumer very well.
00:10:17
Speaker
And that's it. You know, I know it was a lot, and but oh that's what we're doing. That's great. So... On the OEM side, so what you create, is that does that just sort of complement that? Or you come up with like a completely different sort of message, branding, strategy? Or is it or is it do you try to create synergy between what the OEM is doing and what you're doing?
00:10:39
Speaker
Yeah, I think the um term that they would use or still probably use is the swim lanes. So, you know, each has each person has their own swim lane. You want to make sure you're you're in your own swim lane. You are ultimately trying to get to the same objective, right? So for us, I would actually say, and to be as politically correct as possible, it varies based upon the brand and the OEM.
00:11:04
Speaker
yeah Let me give you some examples to unpack that. So Stellantis, for example, Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge, and Ram, they may have initiatives where they're um doing what they call their heavy ups. Now, I think other OEMs call them heavy ups, so it's not exclusive to Stellantis, but you know the heavy ups are, let's focus on specific makes and models of vehicles within the Stellantis lineup, right?
00:11:28
Speaker
and they may have more funds available in the market that are dealer-directed funds that a dealership can leverage to advertise that product.
00:11:39
Speaker
Now, imagine this, though. If I'm already advertising that product in what we'll call our always-on campaigns, meaning what we're always advertising, do I, in theory, need to dump all of this other monies that's now going to be directed to those same vehicles that I'm already advertising on top of what I'm already spending?
00:12:01
Speaker
Or can I say, you know what? I'm going to throttle back the spend on those vehicles in my always on campaigns because now we're going to have more funds in the market. And sometimes those initiatives are not even initiatives that would be those lower funnel high intent initiatives.
00:12:19
Speaker
More times than not, they're the mid funnel initiatives like, um you know, streaming or OTT or, you know, connect. Well, I mean, yes, the streaming side of things is is like connected television or it's video, right? And these video initiatives that to me, even though you might have your dealership nameplate at the end of the video that you're advertising is more of mid-funnel tactic where why do I want to compete mid-funnel where everyone else is going to be blasting that messaging out there already?
00:12:51
Speaker
Let me capture all of the intent. that's going to be created by these other dealers right so you know maybe it's like a the naysayer attitude and i don't want to be that where it's like of course i'd like to support the rest of the the dealer community and dealer body and we're all in this together so let's all invest on these mid funnel initiatives and really create some brand awareness around jeep chrysler dodge and ram and then hopefully our dealers you know will gain this traction and traffic from other competitive dealers right but in reality it's Yeah, I'd do that, but tell you what, I'd rather capture all of the intent that you guys are going to generate at that level by spending money on these heavy-up initiatives.
00:13:32
Speaker
You know, the second thing, too, is i think it's okay to say no. I mean, I've learned that in just my life, you know, my 32 years on Earth, first but even ah in marketing and advertising, if an OEM says, hey, well, here's dealer-directed funds for this, this, this, and this,
00:13:48
Speaker
It is okay to say no, because just spending more incremental dollars in the market doesn't necessarily create new shoppers.
00:13:59
Speaker
It's not every dollar I spend a new shopper's born, and when they're born, they're going to be babies, and they're not driving for, you know, 16, 17, 18 years. ah So what do you mean if I spend more money in the market, it's going to generate more shoppers Not necessarily, you know, depending on some of these tactics. So long story short, short story long, fact of the matter is you definitely want to find ways where it can complement or supplement, right?
00:14:27
Speaker
And then there are times where you just say, um they're going left, I'm going right. You know, they're jumping. they you Some people say, how high? I say, I'm fine, right? You're on the ground. You know what I mean? So that's that's how we kind of analyze it.
00:14:40
Speaker
i love I love that as you know many questions people get aggravated about SEO is my answer is like, it depends. Hey, right will this work? It depends. Is this right for this brand or this dealership or this market? It depends. That's the truth.
00:14:53
Speaker
That I like your comments about that and about how, hey, look, I can't just give you this broad swath answer. we're gonna so We got to talk about this in specifics based on And that's the case. And I feel like a lot of people end up thinking that we're, you know, dodging a question or or not providing an answer. And in reality, it's it's no, that's not the case at all.
00:15:11
Speaker
That is the answer. If I believe all these initiatives are going to create more intent in the market, well, then I don't want to be part of creating the intent. I want to capture the intent. And if I only have limited monies right available, which all dealers have limited budgets, right then be that person that's going to try to capture that and dominate everything else.
00:15:32
Speaker
Now, if you realize that, oh no, there's not enough awareness or intent, right we have some brands like that. I mean, Mitsubishi is a perfect example. ok They are um quite deficient when it comes to tier one advertising. I think this is kind of a known thing at this point in time.
00:15:48
Speaker
So unfortunately, the onus of creating the awareness around the Mitsubishi brand, the awareness and the intent, falls on the dealer body. And so the dealer body is paying for Tier 2 initiatives, right regional marketing initiatives, when in reality, I think the OEM should be doing more Tier 1 and letting the dealer focus on Tier 3, capturing all the intent that's created. and But I tell you what,
00:16:15
Speaker
I mean, it's not a secret. I've been talking about, hey, I'm going to be the guy that captures the intent. Well, all Mitsubishi dealers now, this is real life example, are paying for these tier two regional advertising initiatives.
00:16:28
Speaker
I'm not. I'm throttling up my tier three. so I can capture all of your activity initiatives. That's what I'm doing right now. And we're seeing success with that. So I think there definitely is some validity to you know the conversation that, yeah, it's not one size fit all, you know and it's not this easy black and white, like, oh, yeah, well, this will work for you. it's No, you're right. It depends.
00:16:49
Speaker
Depends. so I really like that.
Agility in Digital Marketing
00:16:51
Speaker
I've not had anyone talk about leveraging what competitors are doing to then be more strategic and in how you're going to capture that intent. so many more Or just blasting money, blasting ads just to try to create that intent and get that awareness. And I like that nice little pivot you've got going on there.
00:17:09
Speaker
i mean Hey, look, you're watching what's going on in the marketplace and you're going to make a better decision. We're so agile. Marketers, and especially digital marketers, can be so agile. And it's amazing that more of us aren't, right, or don't think like that. and I'm not saying it's it's not rocket science. I love doing this to just share different perspectives. I even value, I mean, listen, I...
00:17:29
Speaker
going into 2025 and now kind of my mantra to ah the year is like the more eyeballs on things I do, the better. Not meaning like me talking like this, it's more so the more people I have looking at my website who are whether they're vendor partners or ours or internal staff or shoppers,
00:17:47
Speaker
that then tell me like what their experience was on the website, right? If they go, well I couldn't navigate to this, this and this, or this pop up was annoying me, or this page was broken, or this image doesn't look right.
00:17:59
Speaker
I'm welcoming it. The more people that look at my marketing mix and my strategies I have given out, I mean, I'll tell you, and I think this is probably a really good exercise for other marketers and dealers. I've given my budgets to trusted partners of ours in the marketing space and saying, here's what I'm doing.
00:18:18
Speaker
Here's my analytics access. Look at it. I'm trusting you guys to go in and and pick it apart. And I've done that to probably three or four different people, and they come back, and what do we do? We have a dialogue.
00:18:30
Speaker
I'm having more of our vendor partners work together and let's call it the same sandbox than
Transparency & Collaboration with Partners
00:18:36
Speaker
not. I think this is how marketers need to approach the ways that they are going and marketing for their dealerships or businesses at this point in time.
00:18:44
Speaker
have multiple vendors, like I said, working out of the same Google search console. You know, so everyone can see exactly what everyone else is doing. They have roles. So, OK, you guys are focusing on my SEO.
00:18:56
Speaker
You guys are handling all of my pay per click. Right. So the SEM side of things, how are you going to leverage them together? Where are you dropping that traffic off? How's that going to feed to this campaign? How are the optimization scores going to be because of our you know pages and things like that built out through the SEO side of things?
00:19:12
Speaker
So I would say that's what dealers really need to focus on. And you know, I love the name of the podcast, by the way, because, yes, sometimes it's like dealers think it's more than they can chew. But if you actually did it and took the initiative, right, what ends up happening is you might weed out people who just are not good fits for you anymore. Right. I mean, I'm using this example of having someone work out of the same Google search console.
00:19:34
Speaker
Guess what? I have vendors who have said, no, we're not going to do that. And I go, okay, well, this is the way that the Nielsen Automotive Group is going to be doing it from here on out. And so maybe it's time that our our relationship ceases, right? We part ways and that's okay.
00:19:49
Speaker
It wasn't anything that you specifically did or that I specifically did. It's just how we're evolving in the market, right? And and that's sometimes you need to make those those tough decisions and sometimes they're more than you can chew, but we make it.
00:20:02
Speaker
Great. I love that transparency. I feel like so many times people are so guarded with sales data that they have and information. They don't share things with their their partners. I love that you're creating real true partnerships with those that you're working with. Well, Colin, I said i was only keep you like 10 to 15 minutes or 20. It always happens with me.
00:20:21
Speaker
No, no, I appreciate him man. it's It's awesome as always. But we're going to close this out by i want to ask you whether it's from your travels or right there at home.
Local Recommendations & Conclusion
00:20:31
Speaker
Yeah. Is there a place you would go look, if you're in this city, this is a place you got to go check out because the food is just too good.
00:20:39
Speaker
So yes, my my wife and I have a place that we absolutely adore and it's in a town ah by us in New Jersey. It's called Westfield, New Jersey is a town. It's a beautiful town to walk around in. So if you're ever in the market, I would tell you, know text me.
00:20:53
Speaker
We will go out to this place, but it's wonderful Cuban cuisine. It's called 1958 Cuban cuisine. um Just really, really delicious food. And the staff there is unbelievable. I mean, you know, we've been going there for years now, but they're There's staff that you'd want, like, at a dealership. They treat you like family.
00:21:11
Speaker
You walk in. They know your names. They hug you. You know, they'll sit down. They'll chat with you. It's just a really, really awesome restaurant, awesome experience, and great food. So, yeah, 1958 Cuban cuisine, Westfield, New Jersey. If you're ever in the market, we're going to get some Cubans.
00:21:28
Speaker
I haven't had some good Cubans since I left Raleigh and worth it. Love the recommendation. Love the insights. Colin Harris-Willow, marketing director, Nilsson Auto Group. Marketing Matters on CBT. Make sure everyone checks it out. Colin, thanks for lending me some time to fight all more than we can chew. I appreciate it yes. And we we'll ah we'll chew through it.
00:21:46
Speaker
We got this, all right, man? All right, and everyone, I'll catch you on the next episode of More Than You Can Chew.