Darren Venning

A QUEENSLAND dealership has expanded its marketing campaign – and the related outlays – by making its own videos for release on YouTube, some of which have been viewed more than 50,000 times.

In fact, the first video made by Sunshine Toyota in Caloundra, featuring the 2013 Corolla and utilising a salesman as the presenter, went viral and has now racked up more than 234,000 views.

That convinced dealer principal Darren Venning that he was onto something by adding online marketing to his traditional outlets of print, television and radio. The dealership now has a library of videos and it represents a considerable investment.

“I think the majority of dealers will say the investment is too big,” Mr Venning told GoAuto. “Most will turn around and say “$8000 for a video production? I’m not tipping in $8000 for a video”,” he said.

However, Mr Venning is convinced the investment is worth it; although he still refers to the video project as “an adventure”.

“You have to get your mind around the fact that it is not just for the next eight months, it’s $8000 for eight years, because I am using the video throughout my business. Once the car comes back, I can use the video again to promote it as a used car.”

Mr Venning was speaking at the Google-sponsored Think Auto 2016 event in Melbourne, which presented the latest information and statistics on digital marketing to executives from car companies and dealerships.

Two of the principal themes were that consumers were increasingly doing their research on their “small screens” – their smartphones – and that videos were their preferred method of obtaining information. The meeting heard that one international research project that included Australia found that online video generated 2.6 times the return obtained from spending on television commercials (TVCs)

One international research project that included Australia found that online video generated 2.6 times the return obtained from spending on television commercials

Mr Venning said that, while he was looking for something different in marketing after relaunching the dealership in 2012, he initially turned down the proposal from Cartelux for the dealership to start making its own videos, believing that was the job of the car maker.

“But I was suffering tunnel vision at the time. I was thinking this is my role and that’s the OEM’s (original equipment manufacturer’s) role, and I couldn’t quite understand the link between YouTube and traffic to our dealership.”

But when the 2013 Corolla was launched, he saw the need.

“There were shoppers in the market researching the new model, but there was no content out there. So I said, if we are going to do this, this is the opportunity.”

A three-minute video was produced using Calum Young, a Sunshine Toyota salesman “with a bit of an accent”, and it was uploaded to YouTube, which is owned by Google.

“I got a bit excited when there were 100 views. Then 500, 1000. At 10,000 I was getting really excited”, Mr Venning said.

“If you jump onto our YouTube channel now, you’ll see it has had over 234,000 views.”

Mr Venning said that, since that first Corolla video, Sunshine Toyota and video production company Cartelux have refined their approach through search engine optimisation and geo-targeting to ensure that the views achieved are more relevant to Sunshine Toyota.

There are two marketing streams when using YouTube. The first is a Sunshine Toyota channel, where all the dealership’s videos are uploaded and available for someone who has searched for Corolla, Camry or HiLux.

The other marketing stream is YouTube advertising where the Sunshine Toyota videos pop up on a search for an apparently unrelated topic including “camping” or “boat” or even “curry”, whatever Mr Venning decides.

“When you are looking at YouTube as a specific vehicle for advertising, you are not just throwing it out to the masses. It has to be very very targeted as to where you are putting that spend.

“So we will be very specific about who we want to target and where we want to target.

“As an example, we might pick an interest; it might be camping, it could be something that is part of (the potential buyer’s) lifestyle. They might be on YouTube looking at how to put up a tent, for example, and all of a sudden they will see an ad come up for our new HiLux and they’ll have a look at it.

“We’ve just done that recently with HiLux and it has had 54,000 views.”

We’ve just done that recently with HiLux and it has had 54,000 views.

Mr Venning said Sunshine Toyota was planning a three-day sale and it will be advertised on television and radio.

“But we are also going to spend $500 or $1000 on YouTube for 5 days and absolutely blitz the coast with the video for anyone who’s on there.

“They may be looking up how to get curry for their Wednesday curry night, and when they are looking for their curry, I’ll be talking to them about our three-day sale. Best Toyota deals in Australia.”

“Because it is targeted advertising, I am more able to get the right message to the right people at the right time.”

The key to a successful online video was to localise it

He said the key to a successful online video was to localise it. The carmakers can provide video clips and car reviews, but they are designed with a national perspective.

“We’ve got local talent and localised scenery in our videos that people really connect with. That’s why people engage with it so much.

“And we also get to individualise ourselves separate from the Toyota dealer next door. It sets us apart. I don’t want to look like the next door neighbour or the next Toyota dealer.

“We want to get away from that and individualise ourselves as much as we can, within brand guidelines.”

Mr Venning said there were plenty of videos by carmakers or impartial journalists that Sunshine Toyota could link to, but that would not be targeted enough.

“They are doing a broad-brush thing that is used nationally. I’m doing something that is localised to my dealership. That’s been the success. And it’s about what we can do with it.

“We specifically write the script. The whole strategy is about SEO (search engine optimisation). We’ll grab the verbatim and we will put that in the scripting and that will generate SEO as well within our website.

“In the background we’ll write all the script and it has mentions of the Sunshine coast and this and that and the other.”

Sunshine Toyota’s early success with online videos is still reverberating due to Google voice and face recognition

Mr Venning said that due to the analytics Google applies to voice recognition and face recognition, Sunshine Toyota’s early success with online videos is still reverberating.

“So for example, our salesman Calum has got 800,000 views out there right now. So Google recognises that as being high quality because he has been watched 800,000 times.

“So, therefore, if I put a video up tomorrow, Google says: we’ll rank that high because they recognise Calum’s face, they recognise his voice, they recognise that dealership. It’s all image recognition. It’s a whole strategy.

“Whereas, a journalist doing car reviews might have a million recognitions, but it’s across all different dealerships, it’s not specific to me or Sunshine Toyota,” Mr Venning said.

While other dealers might be put off by the cost of producing their own videos, Mr Venning says they get plenty of use throughout the model cycle.

At the launch of a new model Corolla, for example, the video gets uploaded to YouTube

But Sunshine Toyota can also send it to all those people who bought the previous model Corolla from the dealership.

“I have 10,000 transactional owners, and 3000 of them will be Corolla owners, so when the new Corolla is launched I can send each of them an EDM (electronic direct mail) with the new video embedded,” Mr Venning said.

Sunshine Toyota’s 2013 Corolla new car video is used to promote returning 2013 Corolla used cars

“Another thing to consider about reviews is that we still have that review of the 2013 Corolla. Right now, because we now are buying it back as a trade-in, we have 14 Corollas in stock.

“Guess what model they are? The one in that video I shot three years ago.

“So I’ve now got a video – unlike any other used car dealer – I’ve got a video review specific to that model. It’s evergreen, it’s ageless. It’s still that same car.”

The bottom line is that any views generated by an online video do not require ongoing financial input, like television commercials.

“What happens is that these reviews create earned media for us.

“I didn’t realise that when we started this adventure. What’s earned media? Earned media is free and, as a dealer, if it’s free, it’s great.

“What happens over time, that Corolla review that got 234,000 reviews, pretty quickly we rise to the top of the rankings and it sits there for the whole time.

“Unlike TVCs, if you want your TVC seen, what do you have to do? You have to pay for a spot.
If it sits on YouTube, that’s not the case.”

By Ian Porter