SEMA News—February 2011

By Dan Sadowski

	SPC Select Committee members were recognized for winning the Council Challenge at the 2010 SEMA Show (from left) James Yim, Chris Vopat, MK Sathya, Famous Rhodes, Brian Reese, Mike Lovro, Tyler Tanaka, Regis Finn, Gigi Ho, Chris Dye, Ed Burgy, Tracie Nuñez, George Ciordas and Malen Reger.

After an exciting competition late last year, the Street Performance Council (SPC) Select Committee earned the distinction of winning the 2010 SEMA Political Action Committee (PAC) Council Challenge. The contest ran between August and October, and the winner was the council Select Committee that was both 100% “PAC approved” and contributed the highest dollar amount.

The process of becoming PAC approved means filling out an authorization form required by federal law. The form allows SEMA to share information about the PAC. By filling out a form that may be accessed from the newly formatted SEMA PAC website members are only authorizing SEMA to communicate information regarding the PAC. Members are under no obligation to contribute.

To recognize the victory, SPC received $1,000 to be used toward a council activity of its choice, an acknowledgement banner displayed in the Central Hall at the 2010 SEMA Show and reserved seating and a special announcement at the SEMA Show Industry Awards Banquet. At the SPC Reception, Select Committee members were personally commended for their leadership and teamwork as PAC Chairman Doug Evans presented SPC Chairwoman Tracie Nuñez with a plaque commemorating the group’s Council Challenge success.

“I am honored to accept this award on SPC’s behalf in recognition of our commitment to SEMA PAC,” said Nuñez. “I hope this encourages fellow council leaders and all SEMA members to become involved in this important industry resource.”

Street Performance Council Select Committee Members Tracie Nuñez, Advanced Clutch Technology (Chairwoman) Tyler Tanaka, Cie Studios (Chair-Elect) Ed Burgy George Ciordas, KW Automotive North America Baadal Deliwala, Titan Motorsports Inc. Chris Dye, Club RSX Regis Finn, B&M Racing and Performance Products Gigi Ho, Digital Performance Inc. Mike Lovro, Auto Meter Products Oliver Rathlein, Eibach Springs Inc. Albert Reda, Vibrant Performance Brian Reese, Competition Cams Malen Reger, FND Clothing Famous Rhodes, eBay Inc. MK Sathya, Keystone Automotive Operations Chris Vopat, ProMedia LLC James Yim, Falken Tire Chris Thomson, Airaid Premium Filter Co. (SEMA Board of Directors Liaison)

Said Evans: “We are proud of all the SEMA councils that participated in this contest, which yielded significant member awareness of our efforts in Washington and additional financial contributions to our industry’s PAC. With the momentum created by the Council Challenge, SEMA PAC can continue to build and strengthen relationships with lawmakers supportive of our industry and small-business issues. With its exceptional effort, the SPC Select Committee exemplified the involvement and dedication necessary for us to thrive in this current economic and legislative environment.”

SEMA PAC allows SEMA members to pool their resources for a common political purpose. Many issues important to SEMA members are being debated in Washington—from regulatory reform to intellectual property protection and health care. Resolving these issues with a positive outcome for the industry hinges on member support. To learn more about SEMA PAC or to become involved today, please visit www.semapac.com or contact Congressional Affairs Manager Dan Sadowski at dans@sema.org.

SEMA PAC—Your Industry. Your Voice. Your Future.

SEMA News—February 2011

By Dan Sadowski

	SPC Select Committee members were recognized for winning the Council Challenge at the 2010 SEMA Show (from left) James Yim, Chris Vopat, MK Sathya, Famous Rhodes, Brian Reese, Mike Lovro, Tyler Tanaka, Regis Finn, Gigi Ho, Chris Dye, Ed Burgy, Tracie Nuñez, George Ciordas and Malen Reger.

After an exciting competition late last year, the Street Performance Council (SPC) Select Committee earned the distinction of winning the 2010 SEMA Political Action Committee (PAC) Council Challenge. The contest ran between August and October, and the winner was the council Select Committee that was both 100% “PAC approved” and contributed the highest dollar amount.

The process of becoming PAC approved means filling out an authorization form required by federal law. The form allows SEMA to share information about the PAC. By filling out a form that may be accessed from the newly formatted SEMA PAC website members are only authorizing SEMA to communicate information regarding the PAC. Members are under no obligation to contribute.

To recognize the victory, SPC received $1,000 to be used toward a council activity of its choice, an acknowledgement banner displayed in the Central Hall at the 2010 SEMA Show and reserved seating and a special announcement at the SEMA Show Industry Awards Banquet. At the SPC Reception, Select Committee members were personally commended for their leadership and teamwork as PAC Chairman Doug Evans presented SPC Chairwoman Tracie Nuñez with a plaque commemorating the group’s Council Challenge success.

“I am honored to accept this award on SPC’s behalf in recognition of our commitment to SEMA PAC,” said Nuñez. “I hope this encourages fellow council leaders and all SEMA members to become involved in this important industry resource.”

Street Performance Council Select Committee Members Tracie Nuñez, Advanced Clutch Technology (Chairwoman) Tyler Tanaka, Cie Studios (Chair-Elect) Ed Burgy George Ciordas, KW Automotive North America Baadal Deliwala, Titan Motorsports Inc. Chris Dye, Club RSX Regis Finn, B&M Racing and Performance Products Gigi Ho, Digital Performance Inc. Mike Lovro, Auto Meter Products Oliver Rathlein, Eibach Springs Inc. Albert Reda, Vibrant Performance Brian Reese, Competition Cams Malen Reger, FND Clothing Famous Rhodes, eBay Inc. MK Sathya, Keystone Automotive Operations Chris Vopat, ProMedia LLC James Yim, Falken Tire Chris Thomson, Airaid Premium Filter Co. (SEMA Board of Directors Liaison)

Said Evans: “We are proud of all the SEMA councils that participated in this contest, which yielded significant member awareness of our efforts in Washington and additional financial contributions to our industry’s PAC. With the momentum created by the Council Challenge, SEMA PAC can continue to build and strengthen relationships with lawmakers supportive of our industry and small-business issues. With its exceptional effort, the SPC Select Committee exemplified the involvement and dedication necessary for us to thrive in this current economic and legislative environment.”

SEMA PAC allows SEMA members to pool their resources for a common political purpose. Many issues important to SEMA members are being debated in Washington—from regulatory reform to intellectual property protection and health care. Resolving these issues with a positive outcome for the industry hinges on member support. To learn more about SEMA PAC or to become involved today, please visit www.semapac.com or contact Congressional Affairs Manager Dan Sadowski at dans@sema.org.

SEMA PAC—Your Industry. Your Voice. Your Future.

By Steve Campbell

This series of SEMA News stories is based on the idea of using reliable and repeatable methods to ensure business success. In coming issues, we will delve into a range of topics aimed at developing Best Practices through knowledge, motivation and skills.

Perhaps the most significant benefit of consigning a collector or exotic vehicle to an auction is the extremely passionate pool of buyers drawn by such events.

In the November 2010 issue of SEMA News, we discussed how SEMA-member companies might use auctions to find the perfect vehicle to feature in promotions and advertising. Such vehicles can provide value well beyond their material worth by helping customers realize long-held dreams. In some cases, however, the effectiveness of even the optimal vehicle eventually diminishes, whether because of changing styles, a new marketing direction or other factors. The company may then wish to utilize an auction to divest itself of that property with either a minimal loss or—even better—a net gain because of appreciation. Perhaps the most significant benefit of consigning a collector or exotic vehicle to an auction is the extremely passionate pool of buyers drawn by such events.

“You’re putting your vehicle in a target-rich environment for people who have been prescreened and qualified to buy it,” said Steve Davis, president of the Barrett-Jackson Auction Co. “At an auction such as Barrett-Jackson, we do everything we can to market and promote your car so that virtually every person on the planet who is looking for your type of vehicle is aware that it’s being sold. The auction process also gives you the opportunity to interact with potential buyers, answer any questions they may have and point out features about the vehicle that they may not have even been aware of.”

Selecting an auction house requires due diligence, just as with any other commercial relationship. Look for stability, reputation and ethical standards. Barrett-Jackson is perhaps the best known vehicle auctioneer in the world. It has been conducting auctions for nearly 40 years and has developed proven techniques for attracting vehicle buyers. In addition to traditional advertising in large markets, the company has become a well-known attraction on the Speed Channel. But it’s most powerful tool may be its website.

“Within the auction-house world, no one comes close to Barrett-Jackson with regard to traffic on its website,” said Gary Bennett, the company’s VP of consignments. “That is undoubtedly the most powerful weapon in our arsenal.”

The site draws about 700 million hits a year, according to the company, and is in the top 10% most-trafficked sites in the two to three weeks leading up to each of its four auctions. It is constantly being updated as vehicles are accepted for sale, and that’s a prime reason why an auction like the one in Scottsdale, Arizona, on January 17–23 was predicted to pull a ratio of about four bidders to every car offered.

Getting started with one of the Barrett-Jackson auctions is as simple as submitting a preliminary consignment agreement. It is essentially an application that includes complete information about the vehicle, including year, make and model; interior and exterior color; engine size and type; modifications; vehicle condition and more. The agreement is available through the website but may also be obtained via regular mail or fax. Scanned images of the vehicle’s title (front and back) as well as any other pertinent documents and photos of the vehicle are required for an online application.

When the agreement has been submitted with the appropriate documentation and images, Barrett-Jackson’s staff screens the vehicle and, if it is given preliminary acceptance, it is assigned a lot number. The lot number indicates which day and approximately what time the vehicle will be called to the auction block.

Sometimes the ultimate buyer will be the guy about three deep behind the one you’re speaking with. Be approachable and knowledgeable.

“There is a great deal of thought on our side as to where we put the car and how it complements the cars around it during the auction,” Bennett said, “but the seller is in complete control of that process. He can opt in or opt out when he is assigned a lot number. There is a tremendous amount of flexibility in the process until he actually enters into a contract, where he accepts the number.”

Higher-end vehicles are scheduled for sale during premium hours—within the televised portion of a Barrett-Jackson auction, for instance—and are charged a premium fee for that placement. Scheduling vehicles in that type of priority system also serves buyers whose budgets may dictate concentrating on lower-priced vehicles and who can thus schedule their attendance for the times when vehicles in a selected price range will reach the auction block.

For an auction, such as Scottsdale, the premium-placement fee might range from $600–$1,500, and Barrett-Jackson charges a flat commission of 8% when the vehicle sells. The fees for other auction companies vary, as does the amount of time after the auction before the seller is paid. Barrett-Jackson guarantees payment no later than 21 banking days from the sale, but fee and payments schedules are another criterion to consider when selecting an auction company.

“The story board and handout should tell enough about the car so that a potential buyer can ask reasonably intelligent follow-up questions of the seller,” Davis said. “That’s when the conversation really starts. They ask how long you’ve had the vehicle, where you got it, the ownership history—things you don’t have the time nor space to answer with a story board or a handout card. It’s important to be approachable during that time, to be as friendly, courteous and knowledgeable as possible. We do everything we can to achieve the ultimate value for your vehicle, but you should also be prepared to carve out some hours to get the best price. And remember as you’re talking to people that others are listening. Sometimes the ultimate buyer will be about three deep behind the guy you’re speaking with.”

Obviously, the car should be as meticulously maintained and detailed as possible, inside and out, and the seller should make the vehicle as accessible as he is. The hood and trunk should be open for inspection, though it’s fine to request no touching. If the seller must leave the vehicle, he should place a sign on the windshield saying when he will return. As Davis puts it: Cars are sold on the field, not on the auction block.”

“We work for you, but it’s a partnership,” he said. “We hope that you will put in an effort equal to ours. We want to get as much as we can for each car—but not out of greed. If we feel that a car is of greater value than the current bid, we’re going to try to pass along that information. It’s not only fair to the seller, but it also ensures that the buyer ultimately gets the value he’s bidding on. At the end of the day, it’s all about realizing the maximum value for everyone involved.”

By Steve Campbell

This series of SEMA News stories is based on the idea of using reliable and repeatable methods to ensure business success. In coming issues, we will delve into a range of topics aimed at developing Best Practices through knowledge, motivation and skills.

Perhaps the most significant benefit of consigning a collector or exotic vehicle to an auction is the extremely passionate pool of buyers drawn by such events.

In the November 2010 issue of SEMA News, we discussed how SEMA-member companies might use auctions to find the perfect vehicle to feature in promotions and advertising. Such vehicles can provide value well beyond their material worth by helping customers realize long-held dreams. In some cases, however, the effectiveness of even the optimal vehicle eventually diminishes, whether because of changing styles, a new marketing direction or other factors. The company may then wish to utilize an auction to divest itself of that property with either a minimal loss or—even better—a net gain because of appreciation. Perhaps the most significant benefit of consigning a collector or exotic vehicle to an auction is the extremely passionate pool of buyers drawn by such events.

“You’re putting your vehicle in a target-rich environment for people who have been prescreened and qualified to buy it,” said Steve Davis, president of the Barrett-Jackson Auction Co. “At an auction such as Barrett-Jackson, we do everything we can to market and promote your car so that virtually every person on the planet who is looking for your type of vehicle is aware that it’s being sold. The auction process also gives you the opportunity to interact with potential buyers, answer any questions they may have and point out features about the vehicle that they may not have even been aware of.”

Selecting an auction house requires due diligence, just as with any other commercial relationship. Look for stability, reputation and ethical standards. Barrett-Jackson is perhaps the best known vehicle auctioneer in the world. It has been conducting auctions for nearly 40 years and has developed proven techniques for attracting vehicle buyers. In addition to traditional advertising in large markets, the company has become a well-known attraction on the Speed Channel. But it’s most powerful tool may be its website.

“Within the auction-house world, no one comes close to Barrett-Jackson with regard to traffic on its website,” said Gary Bennett, the company’s VP of consignments. “That is undoubtedly the most powerful weapon in our arsenal.”

The site draws about 700 million hits a year, according to the company, and is in the top 10% most-trafficked sites in the two to three weeks leading up to each of its four auctions. It is constantly being updated as vehicles are accepted for sale, and that’s a prime reason why an auction like the one in Scottsdale, Arizona, on January 17–23 was predicted to pull a ratio of about four bidders to every car offered.

Getting started with one of the Barrett-Jackson auctions is as simple as submitting a preliminary consignment agreement. It is essentially an application that includes complete information about the vehicle, including year, make and model; interior and exterior color; engine size and type; modifications; vehicle condition and more. The agreement is available through the website but may also be obtained via regular mail or fax. Scanned images of the vehicle’s title (front and back) as well as any other pertinent documents and photos of the vehicle are required for an online application.

When the agreement has been submitted with the appropriate documentation and images, Barrett-Jackson’s staff screens the vehicle and, if it is given preliminary acceptance, it is assigned a lot number. The lot number indicates which day and approximately what time the vehicle will be called to the auction block.

Sometimes the ultimate buyer will be the guy about three deep behind the one you’re speaking with. Be approachable and knowledgeable.

“There is a great deal of thought on our side as to where we put the car and how it complements the cars around it during the auction,” Bennett said, “but the seller is in complete control of that process. He can opt in or opt out when he is assigned a lot number. There is a tremendous amount of flexibility in the process until he actually enters into a contract, where he accepts the number.”

Higher-end vehicles are scheduled for sale during premium hours—within the televised portion of a Barrett-Jackson auction, for instance—and are charged a premium fee for that placement. Scheduling vehicles in that type of priority system also serves buyers whose budgets may dictate concentrating on lower-priced vehicles and who can thus schedule their attendance for the times when vehicles in a selected price range will reach the auction block.

For an auction, such as Scottsdale, the premium-placement fee might range from $600–$1,500, and Barrett-Jackson charges a flat commission of 8% when the vehicle sells. The fees for other auction companies vary, as does the amount of time after the auction before the seller is paid. Barrett-Jackson guarantees payment no later than 21 banking days from the sale, but fee and payments schedules are another criterion to consider when selecting an auction company.

“The story board and handout should tell enough about the car so that a potential buyer can ask reasonably intelligent follow-up questions of the seller,” Davis said. “That’s when the conversation really starts. They ask how long you’ve had the vehicle, where you got it, the ownership history—things you don’t have the time nor space to answer with a story board or a handout card. It’s important to be approachable during that time, to be as friendly, courteous and knowledgeable as possible. We do everything we can to achieve the ultimate value for your vehicle, but you should also be prepared to carve out some hours to get the best price. And remember as you’re talking to people that others are listening. Sometimes the ultimate buyer will be about three deep behind the guy you’re speaking with.”

Obviously, the car should be as meticulously maintained and detailed as possible, inside and out, and the seller should make the vehicle as accessible as he is. The hood and trunk should be open for inspection, though it’s fine to request no touching. If the seller must leave the vehicle, he should place a sign on the windshield saying when he will return. As Davis puts it: Cars are sold on the field, not on the auction block.”

“We work for you, but it’s a partnership,” he said. “We hope that you will put in an effort equal to ours. We want to get as much as we can for each car—but not out of greed. If we feel that a car is of greater value than the current bid, we’re going to try to pass along that information. It’s not only fair to the seller, but it also ensures that the buyer ultimately gets the value he’s bidding on. At the end of the day, it’s all about realizing the maximum value for everyone involved.”

Sophisticated new suites, such as Interactive Marketing Hub, offer marketers dashboards that they can use to create, manage and monitor such integrated programs across all digital media.

Marketers looking to get a handle on social media as a promotional tool have found an easy solution: Integrate the medium into existing e-mail marketing programs. The pioneers of this method say that a little creative contact with current and potential customers on social networks, such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter, can add new muscle to tried-and-true e-mail.

For example, some new tools available with StrongMail’s new Social Studio service enable companies to match e-mail addresses in their databases with “top influencers”—people who have a lot of active friends online—and then reach out to those influencers with rewards, offers and word-of-mouth promotional programs. A number of marketers have already used Social Studio to invite such influencers to alert their Facebook friends about discounts and promotions and then give rewards to those influencers who generate the most conversions in terms of referred sales or other desired actions.

“The real value of social media marketing is to move beyond merely listening and to start driving actual revenue,” said Paul Bates, U.K. managing director at StrongMail.

Indeed, the power these programs have to ferret out social activity on the web by simply inputting an e-mail address can be a bit unsettling. For example, Flowtown, a niche service that focuses primarily on mining and manipulating evidence of social networking, invites all comers to its website to input any e-mail and instantly pull up all the web activity associated with that e-mail. I took the bait and, not surprisingly, found a few revelations on my social network activity with e-mail addresses I currently use for such purposes. Flowtown also unearthed a website community I joined—and forgot about—long ago with an old e-mail address I haven’t used in years.

Gulp.

Granted, marketers need to tiptoe lightly between being seen as reaching out to socially active customers and becoming willing participants in privacy invasion. But it’s clear that the ability to literally monitor every public move made by a person on the Internet can already be discovered, sliced, diced—and turned into a marketing opportunity. In fact, some of the more sophisticated programs now offer marketers dashboards that they can use to create, manage and monitor such integrated programs across all digital media, including e-mail, social, mobile and web.

ExactTarget’s Interactive Marketing Hub, for example, offers a CoTweet Social module that enables marketers to manage multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts, track conversations and schedule posts while monitoring all the activity with analytics and reports. Another module within the package, Sites, gives marketers the ability to create, design and deploy static, interactive or socially enabled landing pages to support specific marketing campaigns. And still other modules offer enhanced interactivity and monitoring via e-mail and mobile phones. Similar programs with all-in-one solutions include Interact Campaign from Responsys and the aforementioned Social Studio from StrongMail, both long-established e-mail marketing companies.

This fusion of e-mail marketing and social media seems inevitable. The study “View From the Social Inbox” released earlier this year by Merkle found that active social networkers are also likely to be avid e-mail users. All told, the study found that 42% of social networkers check their e-mail four or more times a day, as compared to just 27% of those who don’t socialize online.

As the fusion gels, here are some tactics you’ll find marketers already using to combine the two, either by using pre-configured programs or by putting together applications of their own:

1. Hold Twitter-Driven Contests: The immediacy of this medium perfectly lends itself to time-sensitive contests. Hold an answer-the-question contest once a week and reward the first person with the right answer with company product, company bucks or the like, and watch the tweets come in.
2. Get the Most From Testimonials: Customer accolades look good on company websites but even better on customer Facebook pages. The most aggressive marketers in this area start by e-mailing a customer for a testimonial on a product or service shortly after the item is purchased. Customers who respond with glowing reviews—and often a related digital photo—get the testimonial posted to the company website. In addition, the authors are e-mailed again with a request to re-post the testimonial on their Facebook accounts or in Twitter tweets to all of their friends. Willing participants often receive a small reward for their service.
3. Embed Social Network Testimonials in E-mails: Sometimes, spontaneous testimonials pop up on Facebook and Twitter without any prodding whatsoever. Such promotional gifts can be easily cut and pasted into the next marketing e-mail—with a grateful nod, of course, to the author.
4. Reach Out to Top Influencers in New Ways: With the ability to monitor social networking activity like never before, marketers are becoming very creative about reaching out and partnering. Many of the e-mail/social media suites and services, for example, allow them to input an entire customer e-mail list and instantly identify the e-mail addresses on that list owned by people who have hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of friends on Facebook and similar social networks. Marketers can then reach out to these people via e-mail and partner with them on word-of-mouth promotions. Many of the new programs can also track the referrals that these influencers generate and verify which influencers are ultimately creating the greatest number of conversions in terms of sales or some other desired action. Subsequently, la crème de la crème can be rewarded most heavily and primed for a series of unfolding word-of-mouth promotions.
5. Fish Where the Fish Are: Running an e-mail database through some of these more sophisticated programs can also yield an interesting picture of where your customers “hang out.” You may find, for example, that the greatest percentage of your customers use Twitter more than Facebook. Consequently, you’ll be able to put your digital marketing dollars where they’ll reach the greatest percentage of
   your customers.
6. Give People a Reason to “Like” You on Facebook: Only a few months old, the “Like” button on Facebook has become one of the most coveted clicks on the marketing world. When someone “likes” your company on Facebook, your product or service becomes quantifiably more important and more desirable. Many Facebookers click the “Like” button in the hopes that they’ll get a freebie from the company. Don’t disappoint. If at all possible, offer a coupon or some other tangible reward for the endorsement.
7. Optimize Your E-mail for Social Media: This is really step one in any synthesis campaign and should be a part of every e-mail marketing campaign, no questions asked. Such optimization is as easy as adding links to the key social networks in your e-mails, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. There’s also a ShareThis button you can add to your e-mail that instantly offers clickable access to dozens of social networking sites.

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan, New York.
631/256-6602
E-mail: joe@joedysart.com
Website: www.joedysart.com

Sophisticated new suites, such as Interactive Marketing Hub, offer marketers dashboards that they can use to create, manage and monitor such integrated programs across all digital media.

Marketers looking to get a handle on social media as a promotional tool have found an easy solution: Integrate the medium into existing e-mail marketing programs. The pioneers of this method say that a little creative contact with current and potential customers on social networks, such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter, can add new muscle to tried-and-true e-mail.

For example, some new tools available with StrongMail’s new Social Studio service enable companies to match e-mail addresses in their databases with “top influencers”—people who have a lot of active friends online—and then reach out to those influencers with rewards, offers and word-of-mouth promotional programs. A number of marketers have already used Social Studio to invite such influencers to alert their Facebook friends about discounts and promotions and then give rewards to those influencers who generate the most conversions in terms of referred sales or other desired actions.

“The real value of social media marketing is to move beyond merely listening and to start driving actual revenue,” said Paul Bates, U.K. managing director at StrongMail.

Indeed, the power these programs have to ferret out social activity on the web by simply inputting an e-mail address can be a bit unsettling. For example, Flowtown, a niche service that focuses primarily on mining and manipulating evidence of social networking, invites all comers to its website to input any e-mail and instantly pull up all the web activity associated with that e-mail. I took the bait and, not surprisingly, found a few revelations on my social network activity with e-mail addresses I currently use for such purposes. Flowtown also unearthed a website community I joined—and forgot about—long ago with an old e-mail address I haven’t used in years.

Gulp.

Granted, marketers need to tiptoe lightly between being seen as reaching out to socially active customers and becoming willing participants in privacy invasion. But it’s clear that the ability to literally monitor every public move made by a person on the Internet can already be discovered, sliced, diced—and turned into a marketing opportunity. In fact, some of the more sophisticated programs now offer marketers dashboards that they can use to create, manage and monitor such integrated programs across all digital media, including e-mail, social, mobile and web.

ExactTarget’s Interactive Marketing Hub, for example, offers a CoTweet Social module that enables marketers to manage multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts, track conversations and schedule posts while monitoring all the activity with analytics and reports. Another module within the package, Sites, gives marketers the ability to create, design and deploy static, interactive or socially enabled landing pages to support specific marketing campaigns. And still other modules offer enhanced interactivity and monitoring via e-mail and mobile phones. Similar programs with all-in-one solutions include Interact Campaign from Responsys and the aforementioned Social Studio from StrongMail, both long-established e-mail marketing companies.

This fusion of e-mail marketing and social media seems inevitable. The study “View From the Social Inbox” released earlier this year by Merkle found that active social networkers are also likely to be avid e-mail users. All told, the study found that 42% of social networkers check their e-mail four or more times a day, as compared to just 27% of those who don’t socialize online.

As the fusion gels, here are some tactics you’ll find marketers already using to combine the two, either by using pre-configured programs or by putting together applications of their own:

1. Hold Twitter-Driven Contests: The immediacy of this medium perfectly lends itself to time-sensitive contests. Hold an answer-the-question contest once a week and reward the first person with the right answer with company product, company bucks or the like, and watch the tweets come in.
2. Get the Most From Testimonials: Customer accolades look good on company websites but even better on customer Facebook pages. The most aggressive marketers in this area start by e-mailing a customer for a testimonial on a product or service shortly after the item is purchased. Customers who respond with glowing reviews—and often a related digital photo—get the testimonial posted to the company website. In addition, the authors are e-mailed again with a request to re-post the testimonial on their Facebook accounts or in Twitter tweets to all of their friends. Willing participants often receive a small reward for their service.
3. Embed Social Network Testimonials in E-mails: Sometimes, spontaneous testimonials pop up on Facebook and Twitter without any prodding whatsoever. Such promotional gifts can be easily cut and pasted into the next marketing e-mail—with a grateful nod, of course, to the author.
4. Reach Out to Top Influencers in New Ways: With the ability to monitor social networking activity like never before, marketers are becoming very creative about reaching out and partnering. Many of the e-mail/social media suites and services, for example, allow them to input an entire customer e-mail list and instantly identify the e-mail addresses on that list owned by people who have hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of friends on Facebook and similar social networks. Marketers can then reach out to these people via e-mail and partner with them on word-of-mouth promotions. Many of the new programs can also track the referrals that these influencers generate and verify which influencers are ultimately creating the greatest number of conversions in terms of sales or some other desired action. Subsequently, la crème de la crème can be rewarded most heavily and primed for a series of unfolding word-of-mouth promotions.
5. Fish Where the Fish Are: Running an e-mail database through some of these more sophisticated programs can also yield an interesting picture of where your customers “hang out.” You may find, for example, that the greatest percentage of your customers use Twitter more than Facebook. Consequently, you’ll be able to put your digital marketing dollars where they’ll reach the greatest percentage of
   your customers.
6. Give People a Reason to “Like” You on Facebook: Only a few months old, the “Like” button on Facebook has become one of the most coveted clicks on the marketing world. When someone “likes” your company on Facebook, your product or service becomes quantifiably more important and more desirable. Many Facebookers click the “Like” button in the hopes that they’ll get a freebie from the company. Don’t disappoint. If at all possible, offer a coupon or some other tangible reward for the endorsement.
7. Optimize Your E-mail for Social Media: This is really step one in any synthesis campaign and should be a part of every e-mail marketing campaign, no questions asked. Such optimization is as easy as adding links to the key social networks in your e-mails, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. There’s also a ShareThis button you can add to your e-mail that instantly offers clickable access to dozens of social networking sites.

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan, New York.
631/256-6602
E-mail: joe@joedysart.com
Website: www.joedysart.com

	Prominent trends within the tire segment include the development of low-rolling-resistance “eco” tires as well as the continuing popularity of ultra-high-performance models.

The economy and the environment have been the major drivers for many markets over the last three years, and they have also been consistent topics of conversation among tire and wheel experts. The tire industry underwent a sort of accordion buckling in inventory as the economic slowdown led consumers to balk at anything other than critical expenditures and then pent-up demand caused a sudden resurgence.

“Several tire companies have described to me that they cut down production in mid- to late-2009 to adjust expenses for the poor economy and the expectation of lower tire sales,” said David Freiburger, editor-in-chief of Hot Rod magazine. “However, demand rose by the third quarter of 2010. As tires wore out, people had no choice but to replace them. Demand was on the upswing, but warehouses were short on stock as a result of cutbacks, and a few manufacturers are scrambling to fill orders and are short on some sizes. The urgency to fill orders may delay a couple of new tire launches.”

The startling upsurge also put several companies in an all-hands-on-deck posture to keep up with the market.

“Two or three of the companies that we have talked to have been running their plants 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Bruce Davis, special projects reporter for Tire Business, a trade newspaper. “Their inventories are still relatively lean because they took out a lot of capacity, so they can sell every tire they make.”

The Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA) reported in the past few weeks that tire shipments in the industry were expected to have grown 9% in 2010 versus 2009, according to David Zielasko, the editor and vice president/publisher of Tire Business. But the RMA also said that it is not as optimistic about 2011, predicting that growth would plateau at about 2%–3% growth. Retailers can also expect that tire prices will continue to increase.

“The price of raw materials that go into manufacturing tires are continually escalating, particularly natural rubber, which is hitting record levels right now,” Zielasko said. “The price of oil also affects the price of synthetic rubber, of rubber chemicals, of carbon black and all those types of ingredients that go into tires, not to mention the cost of just manufacturing and transporting products. Tire pricing is going to be a big issue, primarily because of the raw material costs.”

Partly as a result of those market forces, the importation of tires continues to grow, even with the tariffs that have been placed on Chinese-made light-truck tires that were imported into the United States. Retailers are looking to suppliers in India, Thailand and other offshore sources to help stem the tide of demand until the domestic manufacturers are able to fully fill the void.

	“As niche tire makers wish to expand into the musclecar marketplace, they need to consider some 18-in.-wheel tire sizes that are taller than what’s commonly available in ultra-high-performance tread patterns,” said David Freiburger, editor-in-chief of Hot Rod.

“Retail tire and service outlets aren’t recession-proof,” said Bob Ulrich, editor of Modern Tire Dealer, “but they are recession-resistant because almost every vehicle eventually needs tires and service. Independent tire dealers account for 60% of consumer tire sales in the United States.” Ulrich said that ultra-high-performance (UHP) touring tires are one of the bright spots for those retailers because they combine handling with ride comfort and even have some all-season capabilities. Jim Smith, editor of Tire Review magazine, also cited the ultra-high-performance market as an area of opportunity for retailers.

“The all-season UHP tire segment is hot right now,” he said. “Drivers want to use their vehicles throughout the year, and many sports cars come with summer designs. While not winter tires, all-season UHPs offer enough traction and reliability to allow drivers to keep their vehicles out longer.”

Freiburger said that the popularity of ultra-high-performance tires and mostly 18-in.-diameter wheels may have also been fueled by the continuing Pro Touring trend of handling-related musclecars in the enthusiast market. Many show vehicles continue to be shod with 20- and 22-in. wheels and tires, but he believes that the market may now be shifting to more usable sizes because of the economy.

“The trend to larger-diameter wheels is so common that it’s becoming difficult to find 15-in. general-performance street tires outside of Mickey Thompson, Coker Tire and a few others,” he said. “As niche tire makers wish to expand into the musclecar marketplace, they need to consider some 18-in.-wheel tire sizes that are taller than what’s commonly available in ultra-high-performance tread patterns.”

Many manufacturers are also putting significant effort into dedicated winter tires, according to the Tire Business editorial team. They pointed out that winter tires use specific rubber compounds that retain their grip and pliability even when temperatures dip below 45ºF, which is where all-season tires tend to suffer.

In the light-truck radial market, tread noise has been a focal point for some time. One of the ways to increase traction in off-road environments is to use larger blocks and voids in the tread, but those same elements create increased air movement and the characteristic roar of aggressive off-road tires. Carl Robinson, motorsports manager and wheel product manager for Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels, said that his company is concentrating on alleviating that problem through new tread patterns and is also focused on reducing the use of toxic aromatic oils.

“As tires wear out, fine rubber particles remain on the road and end up going into the ground through the drainage system,” he said. “These fine particles contain ‘dirty oils’ regarded as harmful and carcinogenic. New ‘clean oils’ reduce the harmful deposits of aromatic oils from worn tires, but you don’t just change a couple of things in a rubber compound and expect it to provide the same performance capabilities, traction, wear rating and so forth. That requires an element of research and development that is fairly expensive, but tire companies have been very successful in the development of green compounds that literally do not contain carcinogenic oils.”

	Wheel configurator webpages have become commonplace, allowing a customer to select a particular wheel, place it virtually on a specific vehicle make and model and even change both wheel and vehicle colors to help in the selection process.

In tandem with that effort, tire companies are also putting significant effort and research into low-rolling-resistance tires using silica technology.

“The chemistry reduces the hysteresis of rubber, which is its propensity to generate heat,” said Tire Business’ Davis. “If you can keep the rubber from generating heat, the tire rolls more freely and with less resistance. The manufacturers combine that with tweaks in the tread and casing design and fine-tuning the components to reduce the weight of the tire, and they wind up with a tire with reduced rolling resistance and improve fuel mileage for the vehicle.”

Davis and Zielasko said that the manufacturers are currently pricing these “eco tires” at a premium, but they are not sure whether the marketplace will embrace the new technology at the higher costs. Still, as the government mandates greater fuel economy for future vehicles, lower-rolling-resistance tires are bound to become more common.

“Another interesting component of this is that the federal government is looking to come out with new fuel-efficiency ratings and tire labels for consumers through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),” Zielasko said. “The NHTSA is looking at three different components. When a consumer goes in to buy a tire, he would be able to see how it performs in terms of rolling resistance, its traction rating and its durability or tread wear.”

While such labeling may be on the horizon, vehicle owners are more frequently than ever before, seeking tire information and advice from Internet forums that are tailored to specific types of vehicles. Dealers need to ensure that they also have an Internet presence for those consumers who want to research tires online.

“We have a program called Buy Now, which directs end users to one of our retailers to buy the product in virtually two clicks,” said Robinson. “They buy direct from our dealer network at very competitive prices.”

The Internet has also come to play a substantial role in wheel marketing. Consumers use the web as a research tool, shopping for the look and size they want and then visiting retail sites to find the best pricing available. Wheel configurator pages have become commonplace, allowing a customer to select a particular wheel, place it virtually on a specific vehicle make and model and even change both wheel and vehicle colors to help in the selection process. Consumers also visit online forums to take part in discussions about wheel choices, and Brock Weld, president of BMF Wheels Inc., said that even retailers he knows visit the forums to collect installation tips and tricks as well as to promote their businesses.

	“Changing the finishes on the wheel is something that retailers and consumers alike are focusing on, so people have been trying to put multiple colors on wheels,” said Brock Weld, president of BMF Wheels Inc.

“People want to see what’s going to look good on their vehicles,” he said. “In fact, import enthusiasts might flip their wheels several times a year now. A guy might buy a set, take them off, put them on Craig’s List, and then buy another set. You’ll see people who go through four sets a year—but for some reason it’s only in the import market.”

Economic uncertainty has led wheel companies both large and small to postpone major investments, so the development of new products has given way to makeover strategies in which basic designs remain unchanged but cosmetic enhancements help to maintain a sales plateau. Even so, there are signs of a thaw and a gathering stream of optimism.

“The greatest opportunities lie in niche branding and niche markets, figuring out for each wheel company not only what they’re good at, but making sure they’re the best,” said Weld. “Cash is king right now. Retailers don’t want to put anything on the floor that might not move, so people are trying to make money with what they already have both on the manufacturing side and on the retail side.”

Fenton Liffick, president and CEO of Prestige Autotech Corp., said that he’s seeing more sculptured spokes, patterned inlays and multicolor construction, and Freiburger said that large-diameter wheel designs inspired by traditional styles have come into vogue.

“Kidney-bean and five-spoke models have been commonplace for many years,” Freiburger said, “but now we’re seeing even more interest in slot mags, especially Gasser style, and in wheels that mimic the Minilites for Pro Touring cars.”

In the truck market, 8-Lug HD Truck magazine editor Bob Carpenter and contributing editor Joe Burnside said that black and chrome comprise the most popular offerings they see, but Liffick and Weld said that wheel designers are also working frequently with new finishes and coatings. A glance through the new-wheel offerings from the SEMA Show (see p. 22) seems to bear them out.

“Black wheels have been all the rage for a few years, but now everybody is experimenting with different kinds of blacks,” Weld said. “Changing the finishes on the wheel is something that retailers and consumers alike are focusing on, so people have been trying to put multiple colors on wheels. The three-piece manufacturers have been doing it for quite a while. But modular three-piece wheels are usually forged or a combination of a forged center and a cast rim. The market has been going away from forged except for the most exclusive wheel lines because of price. Forging is an expensive process, and it only works when you’re doing thousands of the same forging.”

Weld and other manufacturers believe that the broader wheel market is on the road to recovery and that there is still room to grow, especially internationally.

“Even some of the retailers we supply are selling to the international markets because the dollar is making it favorable to do so,” he said. “There are a lot of people who are capitalizing on business even in China, where the domestic market is actually booming in wheel sales right now.”

Kelly Austin, director of sales for Ultra Wheel Co., reiterated that retailers should take advantage of the niche opportunities in the market. “There are new wheel niches popping up every day,” he said. “Find the ones that fit your core business and go after them vigorously. Niches create excitement and offer better profit margins because of exclusivity. Retailers who listen to their customers’ wants and needs are succeeding very well, but also take the time to refresh or retrain your staff to be more knowledgeable and courteous. Then, when opportunities come, be prepared with products on hand to close the sale.”