Highly polarized social issues such as abortion, gay marriage, and terrorism perpetuate anger and confusion while real economic situations such as declining real estate values, limited credit, and widespread corruption restrict the people, and soon our own governments.

A Morality Issue

The United States is clearly on the brink of moral insensitivity. This would be grim for us. It never works out for civilizations. Liberals blame conservatism and the Bush Administration for global chaos while keen citizens and individuals have forewarned us about these circumstance for the past 20-plus years.

For instance, In 1989 Charles Colson suggested in his book Against the Night that government policy was “mortgaging our future”. Seems obvious now, right? Of course. But not so then.

Another example is this citizen in Ann Arbor Michigan who in 1999 calls out the Clinton administration for urging sub-prime lending on its banks like Fannie Mae. Sub-prime as we know descended upon multiple industries including automotive.

Automotive Economics

With credit now less available for automobiles, legislation is in the works to put money into consumer wallets for the purpose of buying automobiles. Consider this Maryland Tax Bill referenced on DealerRefresh.com and ADM. This is a good idea, but why don’t we also sever our economy from the source of the problem while we have the chance - UNIONS.

Re-vitalize our Unions

Eliminating unions is not a populist choice and I realize that, but clearly something needs to be done about our worker unions. They hold us back. Giving money directly to consumers is good medicine but unless we address the source of the problem we will just re-visit this situation again.

Now, as Emeril Lagasse would say, let’s “kick it up a notch” and re-purpose automotive unions altogether. We should be able to lower production costs and make American automobiles more valuable. This also would free up workers for use in areas more in tune with our future such as Energy.

Shift Workers to Domestic Energy

By freeing up the unions workers could be applied towards a variety of other job types and industries, particularly in Energy Supply. The economic possibilities of this would restore value in the U.S. dollar making our own goods and services more affordable. Bring provision back to the Home Land.

These things could happen but it may be a rough road. With social integrity on the brink of collapse we risk being continued targets to global hatred indefinitely. We must establish our own beacons of light to weather through this period that could concievably last beyond your own lifetime.

It’s important to consider proven marketing practices and techniques when leveraging technology. Often people shift towards tools and technology because they are new and then try to find clever ways to make them viable. Take something like Facebook for instance. It’s free and available to everyone so dealers are signing up for it and then wondering how they can put it to good use.

Facebook is a sophisticated application and there are numerous ways to utilize it for sales and marketing purposes, but its not going to be easy. First you have to develop an audience which takes time, commitment, and creativity. You don’t develop an audience in social networks by advertising and soliciting to people. You develop it by observing your connections, interacting with them, and creating interest in them for you. Not realistic if you have an ulterior motive. But that’s the reality of social media networking.

So what can dealers do with Facebook? Well, I think a good start would be to keep it simple by using the Events functionality. Let’s say you are having a tent sale in a few weeks. First you would create an event on your Facebook to announce the event. Then you would blast an email to your permission-based email audience about the event, maybe using a short video to introduce it and invite people to connect with you on Facebook.

Then, at the event, set up a table with a Facebook banner and some materials to educate people at the event about your efforts on Facebook. Take lots of pictures, some videos, maybe even get some written testimonials. Essentially, document the event with multi-media. Heck you might even consider hiring a professionals to do this like you would for your wedding.

After the event, update your Facebook with all the pictures and videos and such, like a journal entry. Make it look sharp, fun, and appealing. Now shoot out another email to your list thanking them for attending and encouraging those that weren’t there to make a check out the pics and stuff anyway.

Hopefully you get the idea. This is no easy task but you want to start somewhere. To pull this off you need buy-in from staff and possibly professional help from select partners, and of course an audience interested in your efforts. But it’s these sorts of efforts that will allow you to build trust with your audience, evolve your dealership, and selling more cars (and service them too). Do this regularly and you could be on to something.

Brands - Evasive entities.

Brands can be cultivated through time or they can be explosive by way of a stigma. They can die out slowly, be rekindled, or disappear into thin air at the blink of an eye.

The brand of Jose Canseco seems to dangle in time like a squirming bug on fly paper despite desperate attempts to wash out its own legacy with revenge, spite, vindication, and self-justification.

Years after his futile fall from baseball greatness due to addictive steroid use in Major League Baseball, Jose Canseco sought to vindicate himself by exposing others of their shared crime with steroid use. A clear attempt for self-vindication, Congress fell right in to the trap of doing the “just” thing by bringing the accusations to public light, and at the expense of others such as Mark McGwire, Raphael Palmiero, and Sammy Sosa. It’s just devils bickering at devils. Real law would beat Canseco in the knees with a billy club, burn his books, and chase him out of town. But not Congress.

Three years later, Canseco now expresses his regrets for writing the book and exposing his ‘friends’.

In Shakespeare’s writings the protagonist is often a tragic character, which I respect. But Canseco is not tragic, he is pathetic. He cheated, betrayed his friends, and now he professes his regret. It’s pathetic because he can’t undo the damage already instigated and he doesn’t seem to realize it, nor his own habitual pathetic behavior. Or maybe he does, I don’t know.

Despite all this, sports columnists are writing about it and bloggers are blogging about it, thus keeping the Canseco brand alive. I don’t know who follows Canseco but Major League Baseball is not going down because of this. Not even the strike of ‘94 killed baseball.

This video memo introduces you to ACdotNEt (beta), our new Member Community, and prompts you to start following us on Twitter as a means of better communication for us all. We have a lot going on and a lot of important information to relay so my hope is that by producing video memos on a regular basis we can more effectively communicate our message.

Your comments and feedback are welcome here, there, and everywhere.

This is a case of a company with a product so desirable that not even a crappy customer experience can thwart off the customer. It’s called FiOS - Fiber Optic Service.

FiOS is to broadband (cable, DSL) what broadband was to dial-up. It is the most powerful residential Internet service available and it is available exclusively at this point through Verizon.

I will spare you the 3 completely ridiculous separate scenarios I have experienced with Verizon as a customer since 2001, but let there be no doubt that with this most recent one, there are few products, if any, that I would continue pursuing after such horrendous experiences with a company. FiOS seems to cut through the grime and be the exception to the rule that businesses must provide value beyond its commodities.

When it comes to selling cars, dealerships do not have this luxury. Car buyers can get a desirable product from most anywhere and so the stakes are higher for car dealers to polish their message and customer experience. I have pulled away from buying cars from my own dealership customers because of piss-poor customer service and I have gone far out of my way to purchase a vehicle from a dealership that could meet my own levels of expectation.

So if you aren’t selling FiOS, don’t count on your product compensating for a poorly executed customer experience.

Earlier in the day Tuesday I received an email from PickensPlan with the subject, “What you do right now matters to the entire Army”. It was an invite to their e-Rally after the election tonight. The email prompted me to RSVP for the rally.

Three days ago I received a similar email from PickensPlan with the subject, “3 days until the e-Rally with T. Boone!”. It was the initial invite to their e-Rally after the election Tuesday. The email prompted me to RSVP for the rally.

Tonight after the McCain/Obama town hall debate, the first commercial run was T. Boone Pickes himself inviting viewers to come discuss.

The 2 emails were complete with information and a call to action, but not overwhelming. They were a god blend of text, imagery, and video. The emails rallied 40,000 RSVPs prior to the debate. Curious to know how many attended and were possibly added.

There are some key practices being applied here that we want to see from car dealers and believe can be accomplished.

Automobiles can be vital to peoples’ interests and identities. Dealerships that can reflect this in their sales process gain an edge on the competition. Some examples include…

# Build a cause and engage the audience
A cause for a dealer can be something local, ideally something popular, entertaining, and/or beneficiary to the community. For instance, we are working with an auto group and their sponsorship in auto racing.

# Plan and coordinate events that involve attendee input
Planning and coordinating events can range from e-rallies as Pickens did to webinars and on-site events from training, education, to entertainment.

# Develop an effective capture method strategy that uses multiple media types to engage, such as TV and email.
Using multiple media types such as television and email to engage your audience and ensure their participation can be an effective way to capture peoples’ attention and sometimes their imagination.

Of course much of this is easier said than done, but Pickens really has its act together with utilizing these tools constructively.

But this begs the question that if tough economic times urge dealers to cut spending, why should they have had these expenses in the first place?

In my observations, to be somewhat cliche, dealers are apt to throw things at the wall and see what sticks. With Internet marketing still an evasive practice for car dealers, particularly with Web 2.0 concepts, I am concerned about the possible setback this could be for the dealer community. Blogging and Social Media are long-term approaches to Internet marketing and I imagine dealers turning away from these methods b\c it is difficult to see the results.

Some have suggested that dealers not pay for anything they can do for free, but I think that can be misleading advice. Time is money and while yes you can “blog” for free, blogging is a vague term that requires time which can take a dealer away from selling cars. Is it then truly appropriate for dealers to not pay for such services?

No matter what the economic times and no matter what you can and can not do for free, dealers should always consider the most cost-effective and time-efficient path to their marketing objectives. This means having reliable partners and relationships with those you trust whether they are employees, vendors, contractors, or people with which you are connected in the blogosphere. It also means dealers should be thoughtful and constructive in these relationships versus throwing money at something and sitting back waiting for results.

Keeping your dealership business profitable is certainly the goal but the path to achieve this is not with short-term strategies that make you vulnerable to the times. Now more than ever is the time for dealers to invest into their own brand and web presence and continually strive to make it bullet proof with a sound sales process.

But that is changing right now because of a new challenge being caused by today’s economic crisis - Auto Financing.

With the housing bubble imploding and credit freezes throughout most major banks, obtaining financing for automobiles is becoming more of a challenge now too. Banks have tougher requirements for getting a loan and are not as willing to take as much risk on car loans as they were a few months ago. Naturally, this is impacting car sales.

While data that would reflect this is still coming in, dealers are already feeling it at the dealerships. According to one report on CNNMoney.com, people are still coming in to buy cars, but they are having a more difficult time getting the car they want.

The existential aspect of this is probably good for the American soul because we as a nation have been living above our means now for decades and tougher financing requirements will curb that a bit. Today’s financial situation is certainly a cleaning up or payback hour for companies, government, and citizens. But the health factor is no medicine for car dealers who do not want to see sales declining.

Dealers today will be faced with a choice of putting their dollars into marketing and advertising programs that produce quick results to keep their sales up, or into programs that will carry them into the future. The short-term reactors will probably look good today, but after a few months when things balance out that will not be the case. Dealers that can weather the storm and pursue opportunities that carry them into tomorrow’s (restored) economic times will be the ones in the end that come out on top.

John Kerry was on and he made me sick. His interest is heavily focused on bringing down President Bush. It’s this kind of politics that ruins this nation. All Obama talks about is what’s wrong with our government and the injustice it causes. Well no kidding, Barrack. But you are not the solution. You are a dreamer and a wooer, not a realist. No wonder Europe loves you. You won’t stand up to them, or anyone for that matter. You are a socialist and you don’t know it. Or do you?

Curiously, the Republican answer seems spoon fed on a platter, but McCain doesn’t see it. Turn it Up, John! Kick it up a notch. I would love to see you look Obama in the eye and tell him he doesn’t get it. Do that and you will win. Mark my words.

I am glad the “bailout bill” failed. I think it shows promise in the people of our government that rightness and common sense still have an influence No one wants the corrupted culprits to get off scott free, especially on the backs of the working class. Congress seems to understand this, but Congress also is not willing to go down with the corporate crooks which puts us all at a disadvantage because no one has the ability to make concessions with the lawmakers. Therefore, the people will be pay the price.

It’s a pickle and not only am I witnessing declining stock prices I also am witnessing declining traffic on car dealer sites and it makes me curious where the breaking point is or if everything just always bends.

Maybe I don’t want to know, but I do know that our civil servants need to loosen up, have some humility, be prepared to make some sacrifices, and do what is in the best interest of the people. That might require some of the same from us as well too. Society has drifted from its Keeper. Imagine the impact one of our leaders could have for breaking the plane of church and state separation and calling on God to rectify things.

The partisan politics going on right now is ludicrous. This may be a point-of-no-return turning point for our country and the entire globe.

You will see from the report there is a hefty emphasis throughout the blogosphere on eco-sustainability, i.e. the environment and economy. This comes as no surprise considering the economic situation in the U.S. and throughout the globe and the exponentially increasing awareness to and passion for more environmentally sound choices in all industries not just in automotive.

Blogging is no doubt powerful. You could suffice to say that it has become a vital part of most cultures, especially in the U.S and Australia in my own observations. This demonstrates the increasing importance for car dealers to not just embrace blogging but to get good at it and to partake in these ether discussions in a creative and productive manner.

Blogging is simply a means to an end. There is no better way to get good at something than to go out and do it. The risk in blogging is that you will spend too much time doing it and not see the results you might expect, but the benefit is that you spend the right amount of time doing it and see the results. There is nothing new about the essence of blogging for it is merely people communicating in certain ways, which dealers must learn to do.

Dealers should be encouraged to know that consumers are interested in what dealers might have to say. Just be sure to take the time and understand what your customers want to hear from you. There is no yellow brick road here. Just some fundamentals, some imagination, and dedication to success.