dmClub Dealer News - October 2009

This month's stories

SEO: get started, get visitors, sell more
dmAnswers Cinderella or golden goose?
So we tracked down the dmClub Product Manager
BTR Grand Prix: the competitors are on the grid

SEO: get started, get visitors, sell more

If your dmClub dealership had a physical shop, youd want it to be on a busy street in a popular neighbourhood. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the art of making your website rank highly in search engine results the online equivalent of making sure youre on the busiest street possible.

SEO professionals want you to believe that SEO success can only be had by paying a fortune to hire a specialist. But the truth is that you can get started with basic SEO in less than half a day - and while itll take 2-3 weeks for results to start showing, its worth investing that half day.

Want long-lived free marketing, competitive advantage and sales? Click here to read dmClubs tips for getting started with SEO.

dmAnswers Cinderella or golden goose?

The watercooler chat among dmClubs Dealer Team lately has been about how odd it is that dealers generally dont seem to put much effort into selling dmAnswers. Weve heard from lots of small business customers lately that they love being able to present professionally with a receptionist-like answering service even when theyre not around. And whats more, they get their important messages quickly by email or SMS.

For dealers, dmAnswers is not a bad little earner. Each number makes you 5 a month in ValueAdd and every dmAnswers message a number takes after the free first 15 you pocket 50p a message. In once recent case the customer racked up over 100 messages and the dealer pocketed 50 ValueAdd in a single month!

Still not sure whether dmAnswers is worth your while? Contact your Dealer Manager for more marketing tips.

So we tracked down the dmClub Product Manager

We promised last month that wed catch Rob, the dmClub Product Manager, and grill him on why hes hiring in the middle of a recession. So this month hes been mostly locked away with the team, plotting exciting new things and we couldnt catch him for long enough to get the full skinny on what hes up to. But we did manage to grab him for a few minutes to get an idea of the plans.

Were moving into a whole new space, he said. The small businesses that buy dmClub numbers are crying out for business applications - such as CRM tools - that you can just plug in and play as easily as youd heat up a ready meal. At the moment were building a team to work on this, and as it gathers momentum well be rolling out applications through the dmClub dealer network.

So whats in it for the dealers, then? Thats easy to answer, he said. Easy sells and high margins.

What business applications would you want to sell? Drop us a line via your Dealer Manager.

BTR Grand Prix: the competitors are on the grid

Last month, we put out a call for dealers to join us in competing for a 500 prize in our BTR Grand Prix. Were excited to announce that all the spaces have been filled now, and the competitors are on the starting blocks. Apologies to those of you who applied too late we wish we could give you all 150 of free marketing spends to compete for prizes with! But we promise therell be more fun and games on the way soon though, so keep your eyes peeled.

Meanwhile best of luck to the competitors! Well keep you posted on the Grand Prix as it rolls