Latest / Auto Collabs / Clever is the New Creative with Erin Richmond

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Clever is the New Creative with Erin Richmond · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  Michael, can you give us the official weather report for the center of Canada this time of year? [upbeat music] This is Auto Collabs. Uh, yes I can, as a matter of fact.
• 0:16
  I was talking to my old pappy, [laughs] And he told me they broke a rec- now, they're not quite where our guest today is located. They're one province to the west, still in the prairies, still very cold.
• 0:28
  Broke a, a record for the coldest place on earth, sitting at minus 57 degrees. No. No. Stop. Way. Minus 57 degrees, guys.
• 0:39
  There's, like a combustion engine doesn't even start in that temperature- You wanna know what's crazy? Forget EV batteries. You wanna know what's crazy to me about this? What do you do there?
• 0:45
  People still ask me, "So what made you wanna move to Texas?" [laughs] You know? You just send 'em a screenshot of the, of the weather- Minus 57, bro... the weather app. Minus 57. Oh my gosh. Minus 57.
• 1:00
  Today's guest is Erin Richmond, and she's from Saskatchewan. Did I say that right? Yeah. Saskatchewan. And that's right in the middle, correct? It's kind of in the middle, ri- I- it's central. Central. What... Okay.
• 1:11
  Okay. Yeah. And it's cold there, but that doesn't matter when you're in digital marketing. Nope. Right?
• 1:15
  [laughs] She's with S Media, and we're hoping to, to like, get her to, like, open the playbook a little bit, to tell us all the digital marketing secrets. Yeah. And, uh, I don't know, we'll ask her some...
• 1:25
  We'll, we'll, we'll tee up some, uh, tricky questions for her, I'm sure. We hope you enjoy this interview with Erin Richmond. [upbeat music] All right, we're hanging out with Erin Richmond.
• 1:37
  Erin, thanks for joining us on Auto Collabs today. Thanks for having me. Awesome. So, here's the thing. I know you from, like, a distance, and we've been on some calls together. [laughs] But I don't know you.
• 1:48
  But I know that you started, uh, you were in automotive not just on the industry partner side to begin, but also on the dealer side. Is that correct? Yeah, I've kind of, uh, sat on both sides of the table.
• 1:58
  So take us back. Why, where did automotive come into the picture for you, uh, as a marketer? Okay. Well, um, I started my career at Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
• 2:07
  Um, but even before that, my, uh, my dad ran a body shop in a dealership growing up, and so I have many memories of- In your blood... as a small child, just, like, running around the parts, you know, department. Okay.
• 2:18
  Then I'm gonna ask you, what is one of the best- Here it comes. I'm out of the podcast now. See, I knew it was coming. Paul's got a body shop person. Oh, boy.
• 2:25
  [laughs] When you walk into a body shop or smell Bondo- Oh, that's, that's nostalgia. Like, that is my childhood... best smell in the world, right? That's, yeah. Detailing chemicals and Bondo. Yeah.
• 2:36
  [laughs] Hugging my dad when I, when he came home from work. Oh, right. That's right, Dad smelled like Bondo. Yeah. It was amazing. Yeah, yeah. You know, Kyle always jokes about that.
• 2:43
  Whenever it's, like, reconditioning- Oh... thing, you know, like, body shop, 'cause I have a background in that, and those are just, you can't escape it.
• 2:51
  The second you are anywhere near a body shop or detailing chemicals, you automatically go, "I just feel good." [laughs] My d- my wife got the same glass cleaner f- that just, like- Um, yeah... a few weeks ago.
• 3:03
  Do you, are, you s- you just smelled it. [laughs] You were like, "Oh, it's in my nose already," right? Yeah. The blue stuff.
• 3:08
  She got it at the house, and she was, like, cleaning off the windows, and I was like, "I don't think we can do this." [laughs] "I don't think I can do it." Yeah. Too much. Too much.
• 3:15
  It's like, I'm basically in the detail department at this point. [laughs] Okay, so you have, like, rich a- automotive history- Yeah, um-... uh, deep in your blood. Yeah. Um- Uh, but so w- c- take us on the track.
• 3:27
  So you, uh, you started at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and how did that- Yeah... uh, kind of turn into where you are today? You know, that's dealership adjacent. Um, and then went over to Autotrader from Enterprise.
• 3:36
  It was, uh, it was a learning experience. It was hugely valuable, and it created a lot of long-lasting relationships for me in the industry.
• 3:43
  Um, so started with them when they were making their transition from print to digital up here in Canada. Do you know, I'm gonna r- interrupt you right there. Crazy. Yeah.
• 3:51
  Have you ever heard of a man named Eddie Blumenfeld? I don't think so, actually. Does that ring a bell? No. Because he, he actually went to Autotrader CA. He used to work for Chip Perry in Autotrader in the US- Oh...
• 4:02
  and then he got recruited to go work for John Francis, who was Trader Media Corp- Okay... and transitioned. Okay, I thought this was about to get really connected.
• 4:10
  [laughs] But okay, so transitioned from print to digital. You're at Autotrader. Yeah. Yeah. I was, I mean, I was a pretty young buck at that point.
• 4:16
  So, um, that's when I got started in digital marketing and obviously, you know, tried to help dealerships understand that whole transition from, from, like, "Hey, I'm buying a, an full-page ad in a magazine," to, um, "Why do you need a website, and how do you understand what e- what is even going on there, um, and how do you measure that?"
• 4:33
  So that really kicked it off. Um, when I left Autotrader, I went to a local agency and, uh, took some of my clients with me as a, as an agency and consultant.
• 4:42
  Um, and then through that, the, one of the dealerships that I've been working with since, you know, the beginning asked me if I would come in-house. So went to help them and their sister store.
• 4:51
  Um, helped them for a couple years, and then being in Saskatchewan, which is a very small place in the world- Hold on. Hold on. Don't keep [laughs]... uh, a- Okay... little chilly this time of year, too.
• 5:01
  Well, that's, yeah, for sure. It's actually super warm today. [laughs] Um, ironic. We're going to NADA this week, and it's like, I, it's gonna be cold there, and I'm mad about it. Right. But, uh, in, in Vegas. Cold.
• 5:14
  So- Cold. Right. Just, yeah, cold. [laughs] Okay, fine. Uh,
• 5:19
  I've, there, there's a lot of people in our industry that move from, like, starting in the dealership world, becoming marketing team or marketing person or marketing director, and move to, like, the SaaS or, um, you know, services side of the business.
• 5:36
  There's less, although it's actually happening more than maybe when it was when you transitioned from the, like, SaaS or partner world to the dealership. Yeah. What was that transition like?
• 5:47
  Was it, what, uh, like, 'cause that's a different learning curve than being in the dealership and moving to the other side. I'd love to hear your perspective on people that are...
• 5:55
  Because that's happening more and more, and I think more and more people are seeing that as an opportunity and an option because there's so many more channels for that type of persona to be in the dealership.
• 6:05
  So I'd love to hear that because I think there's probably some people that are going, "Hey, maybe that's a thing that I could do."Yeah. Um, it was, it was a huge learning curve.
• 6:13
  Obviously, um, dealerships are complex and, you know, uh, as much as people like to say, you know, it's a business, it's, it's very much not.
• 6:20
  Automotive has its own set of rules, its own set of requirements, its own way of being. Um, so there was definitely a learning curve there.
• 6:28
  Um, having, you know, kind of operated adjacent, I had an idea of what to expect.
• 6:32
  But the personalities, um, the way the departments work together, um, it was, it was a great opportunity, especially 'cause marketing kind of, you know, it's not part of fixed ops and it's not part of sales.
• 6:43
  It kind of sits beside all of those departments and, and it has the opportunity to tie it all together, right?
• 6:50
  Like you, as a marketer in the dealership, you have the opportunity to s- to help fixed ops and sales build that funnel and that pipeline and work together, um, and inform the customer experience in the dealership, right?
• 7:03
  What we're talking about in the digital space versus what we're talking about that's happening in the dealership need to come together and need to be tied together.
• 7:10
  Um, and so to have the opportunity to do that was, like, right up my alley. I was just... I'm, I'm probably talking faster because it, I, I love that. Excited about it, yes. Yeah. So- Amen. Um, it was...
• 7:22
  I loved it because having been on the vendor side, you know, y- you're held at an arm's length sometimes, and you don't get to, uh, really affect the change or the potential that you see in your dealership partners.
• 7:34
  So coming in-house, you all of a sudden were at the table, and you had a seat at that table, and you were able to actually make things happen and help dealerships understand from the inside what marketing could do or what, what the reason that they were spending all this money on Google ads or their website or any of that, you know, those pieces, and how it, how it really does impact the dealership's results.
• 7:54
  I think that one of the main transitions that has happened because of this, this shift is now the marketing, um, the marketing leaders inside dealerships all of a sudden aren't just about the marketing in the traditional way we think about it, like crea- making creative and getting attention on certain vehicles or certain messages.
• 8:16
  But now it goes right through the front door, what happens in the operations, what happens in the processes that people go through.
• 8:25
  And so now the marketing, marketing minds are now, like, merging very closely with the operational minds, and that has to happen- Absolutely... if it's going to be right.
• 8:34
  And it's interesting that your background came through a transitionary period, right? Obviously in the body shop world, enterprise world, very operations heavy.
• 8:42
  And then this transition from Autotrader, where you're like print to digital, which was this, like, mind-blowing thing.
• 8:49
  But then to go through dealer world and now be in a place where actually marketing in the physical world, like the digital and the physical world, are coming together again, um, after this kind of roundabout way is, um...
• 9:00
  I'm just verbalizing, like, how I see that you're like, this is why you're talking faster when you're talking about this.
• 9:07
  Because you get to wake up every day now and still be a part of this, this melding of the two worlds. Yeah.
• 9:14
  Um, it's, it's honestly, like, nothing gets me more excited, uh, to, like, help a dealership pull that all together, um, and be able to do it at the scale that we're doing it, um, here at S Media.
• 9:24
  Um, you know, at the individual dealership level, yeah, I can impact change.
• 9:27
  But when I get to work with hundreds of dealerships across the US and Canada, um, I get to see, you know, what's working, what's not working, and really provide, um, consultation and advice and best practices and figure out, you know, each market and h- and how to help them in the best possible way.
• 9:44
  It's, it's so much fun. So what are you seeing flex right now then? What is, what are some of the moves that you're seeing of the, the best dealerships?
• 9:53
  Because we're in a, like, really interesting time when we're talking about, like, marketing or customer acquisition or customer retention, where we've just been through this, like, anything goes, they'll come in anyway.
• 10:05
  Yeah. And I'm, I'm getting a ton of questions just personally, like via text. Yeah. Where would you go? What would you do here? How would you adjust the, like...
• 10:13
  Everybody is keyed up for, we have to adjust, we have to change.
• 10:17
  Um, is it change or is it stay the course, or what's, what are you seeing work right now, why you're s- I mean, I think, you know, given what we've gone through in the auto industry for the last almost four years now, I, I think change is just a given, right?
• 10:30
  You have to continue to adapt to whatever's being thrown at you. There's no, there's no normal here for us right now.
• 10:36
  Um, but what I'm seeing is, like, what's working is dealerships who are consistent in focusing, again, on that customer experience.
• 10:44
  I, like, I don't wanna sound one note, but that at the end of the day is what drives your results.
• 10:50
  So, how are you in the dealership and in your digital marketing ex- informing the customer experience, educating your customers, giving them what they need to make that purchase decision?
• 10:59
  As long as you're doing that and your sales team is doing that, and you have a process across all departments to make that happen, you're gonna be successful.
• 11:08
  And y- and you know, we've got, we're, we're facing a lot of situations, and I'm sure, Kyle, you're seeing this as well, where, you know, dealerships are uncertain because inventory's starting to pile up, and that's making them nervous 'cause that hasn't been the case.
• 11:19
  Um, but I would go back to focus on best practice, process, and customer, and that's not, that's never gonna let you down. Where are most people getting tripped up right now?
• 11:30
  Like, w- if you were to say the one or two things that keep coming up where you're like, "All right, I saw that one coming," what are they?
• 11:38
  Um, well, we're seeing, we're seeing a lot of people pulling back on, on advertising spend because s- things are slowing down and sitting. What types of ad spend? Um, digital specifically.
• 11:47
  You know, we need to cut budgets because we're just not moving inventory. Well, okay, that's, that's understandable. Budgets are tight.
• 11:53
  But the longer you sit on that inventory, the, the more expensive it, it's gonna be on your floor plan, um, and you're gonna impact that shopping journey in 35, 45, 60 days.
• 12:03
  You still need that, that, that traffic coming in, those, those eyes on your inventory and, and you need to be building your brand and making sure that you're top of mind for those people when they are ready to purchase.
• 12:14
  It might be that they're holding off on interest rates or they're shopping other competitors. But that's-Even more reason to, uh, be putting, putting an investment into your brand and your marketing.
• 12:25
  It's tough 'cause it's a chicken-egg scenario, right? Yeah. It's like, "Oh, we're not selling many cars. Cut back on advertising." Yes. However, the way you sell cars is by advertising them. [laughs] Right? Yeah.
• 12:39
  And I think that that's a, that's a scary proposition because especially as people turn the new year and start to see these downturns in the market, increased inventory, they make gut reactionary decisions.
• 12:50
  And, March is a big month, but 60-day shopping journeys are a real thing, and when you're talking about digital, like display or OTT or ad networks, like they inform shopping journeys not on a buy now, uh, they're buy just a little bit later.
• 13:08
  Yeah. Uh, because the shopping journey, even though, like the lead journey to sale is s- is three to seven days, the shopping journey to sale is 60 to 90 days.
• 13:17
  Um, just saw that, uh, you know, that, uh, people are still spending 13-plus hours shopping for a car, um, in combined hours. So I, I am interested to see, like
• 13:27
  how is March for the auto industry when everybody, or at least a lot of the players, have cut back in, in ad spend. Yeah. I don't know. It's just a statement. There's not really- [laughs] Let me- Like, some intrigue...
• 13:42
  let me ask, drill down on the, on the ad cuts a little bit or at least the ad strategy.
• 13:46
  Um, 'cause obviously a lot of ads VIN specific trying to, to move vehicles that have been slow to move or, you know, we need to get out of.
• 13:53
  But you also mentioned brand advertising and obviously a longer tail on your brand advertising, but there's been a ton of conversations now that everybody has inventory, why should someone buy it from you?
• 14:05
  What, what's your perspective on, like what a good ad mix is and how much dealers should be talking about brand, how much should they, you know, of an allocation, allocating toward brand, allocating toward VIN specific?
• 14:14
  How do you approach that? So I mean, the good thing about brand is that you can build it, um, at a pretty cost-effective, with a pretty cost-effective budget, right?
• 14:22
  You don't need to spend thousands of dollars pushing a YouTube video or campaign or, or, you know, display ads. You can, uh, you can use a combination of organic and paid to build your brand, and you should.
• 14:35
  Um, there should be, you know, uh, customer experience, um, dealership personalities, et cetera, going into your brand, and that should all be...
• 14:45
  Or not all, but that should be, that should be organically posted and shared as well.
• 14:50
  Um, with, um, with the paid side of things, I always encourage dealerships to put some thought into, to your point, Paul, like what makes it d- what makes it different to shop at your dealership?
• 15:02
  Why, what's the customer experience and why should someone consider you?
• 15:05
  Especially as we're starting to look at like, at these situations where people have inventory again, so, you know, they're, they can go down the road. A year ago they couldn't, but now they can.
• 15:16
  So how are you making sure, A, that what you're talking about in terms of your brand online, again, matches that customer experience when they come in the store? Because if they get a whiff of like,
• 15:26
  this is not, this is not meeting up, they can just leave and go somewhere else. Um, but how do people- That's a brutal one. How do- That's... Like when you're marketing one thing and it doesn't match in the, in the...
• 15:37
  Like that'll just destroy- It's worse... customer trust. It's worse. It's way worse. It's awful. Yeah.
• 15:42
  But there's so many opportunities for dealerships to build their brand, um, online and for them to interact with the customer before they even get into the store, right?
• 15:49
  And so, like, you know, keeping to, on top of your reviews, posting organically, and then, yeah, put a little bit of budget towards that messaging, um, whether that's in a video or whether that's in a display campaign.
• 16:01
  Talk about why you're awesome. Like you, it, you own the business. You're running the show. Why, why, why do you kick ass? Sorry. Like what- It's fine...
• 16:11
  what are you, what are you, what's making you stand apart from everyone else? And do y- you should be bragging about yourself in those situations. That's the reason that they're gonna come to you. So put, you know...
• 16:21
  It depends on the market. I'm always hesitant to like give a budget prescription. Sure. Of course. Put a reasonable amount. Uh- Percentage wise. Give us a percentage. What do you think?
• 16:29
  Yeah, like maybe 15, 20%, I would say, of your budget- Yep... towards your brand, right? Just put it out there. Brag about yourself. What makes you, you're great.
• 16:37
  If it's your team, if it's the experience, you know, talk about it. Get it out there. And do you think, do you see like a significant difference when people invest in better creative?
• 16:47
  Like do you see that playing out way different on the ad side? You don't have to spend a ton on creative, I don't think.
• 16:52
  Like we're, we're in a world where, you know, where TikTok is consuming a- all the people's time, and the more, uh, the more real and legit your, uh, your appearance is on channels like that, uh, the better it's going to be, right?
• 17:07
  If you- Right. The more polished it looks, the more people are like, "I'm being sold to." Yeah. We're in a, we're in a place where- Right...
• 17:13
  you can, you can present yourself with a limited polish and still, uh, and still be successful. So take advantage of that. Yeah. Clev- We, we say sometimes clever is the new creative. Yeah, absolutely.
• 17:23
  So especially on TikTok. Especially on TikTok. Clever is the new creative. Yeah. Oh. So good. Why hadn't you told me that, Paul? I've just been sitting on that one. Just been sitting on that.
• 17:32
  I, I have a LinkedIn post that needs to go out now. Yeah. [laughs] Erin, what's the best way for people to stay connected with you? Um, LinkedIn is fantastic. Yeah. Uh, I'm, I'm not on there as much as you guys.
• 17:43
  I, I don't have the, uh, the daily- [laughs]... insights going, but, um- It's part of our job- [laughs]... to be on LinkedIn. [laughs] But yeah, that's definitely one of the best ways. All right.
• 17:53
  Well, Erin Richmond, thank you so much for, uh, joining us today. We look forward to spending some more time with you soon. Uh, thanks for joining us on Auto Collabs. Thanks. See you guys in Vegas. [upbeat music] Okay.
• 18:06
  I didn't know the conversation was gonna go into body shops. Um, you, Kyle called it.
• 18:12
  The second someone brings up body shops, he's like, "Okay, we need to pause this conversation so Paul and this guest can talk about-" I'll just- "... the smell of Bondo and detailing chemicals-" [laughs] "...
• 18:22
  and how it's the best thing ever. If I could like put it in a cologne, I would." [laughs] Really? That, just that smell of grease? No- Oh... it's not grease, no. No, it's Bondo. It's a totally different smell.
• 18:33
  Oh, we need to educate you, Michael. Oh. Do we, though? [laughs] But do we? I don't know if anybody... But do we? I don't know, Kyle. [laughs] Come, come on.
• 18:41
  I don't- Look, you- No, but when you understand the industry from that perspective, like you've gone all the way to the front... everything changes. Everything changes. All the way to the front.
• 18:47
  And, and here's the thing, like we, the three of us, we love brand marketing. We know that it pencils. We know that it works. Mm-hmm. And I don't think I've ever talked to someone in paid media that's been like, "Nah,
• 19:02
  shouldn't spend any money on brand." No. [laughs] "That doesn't work," you know?
• 19:06
  Um, I think there's variables on, like, how much people put toward that type of marketing, um, you know, what your intention is, what your goal is, what the inputs and outputs that you might have towards your marketing.
• 19:16
  Um, but it's clear that, that that idea that creative and content and pushing brand out in every single channel is just anybody's game right now, and all you have to do is start, is the way to go.
• 19:33
  Like, just get something out there that talks about who you are, because it will pour fuel on fire of every other ad channel. That, that's, like, one of the biggest... Yeah, ah, man. Now, now I'm... Oh. You got him.
• 19:47
  You made me mount, mount Sierra. Pull the pull string. I gotcha. Well- I got you... see, because this is the thing, right? Like, I was just talking to my pal. I, I don't know if you guys have met Rand Fishkin or not.
• 19:56
  He used to own a company called Moz. I thought you were gonna ask if we met your pappy. No. I thought it was my old pappy. We've already- I thought that was coming. He's good enough. Okay. Rand Fishkin. Got it.
• 20:03
  My old pappy's got enough air time. Moz. Yes. Him, him and I were just- Right? Yeah... having a conversation kind of along the lines of this, which is, like, here's why marketing attribution is dead.
• 20:12
  And, and he listed all of these reasons why it's so inaccurate and why we shouldn't hang our hat on it, and then he started talking about things like this, like brand.
• 20:21
  Why, why don't people invest a little bit more into their brand? And he's like, " 'Cause it's harder to... It's sometimes harder to measure. It's harder to track." Mm. And you said, Kyle- Usually...
• 20:29
  like, "We know how it pencils because we've been doing it for so long" that- More than a quarter. Yes. [laughs] But that is, therein lies the biggest challenge that I think dealerships face in a 2024 world and beyond, is
• 20:44
  what don't people know that you do? 'Cause everybody knows you sell cars. Oh. Everybody knows you sell cars. Everybody knows you service cars. But what don't they know?
• 20:54
  But what- That's a great flip, because usually it's like, "What do other people know that I don't?" Yeah. You're like, "Actually, what doesn't everyone else know that I actually do?" Yep. Exactly.
• 21:04
  Well, that's a superpower. That, like... Someone write that down and press stop on this podcast because there's no... There, that, you should be asking that of every communication channel that you have. Like,
• 21:18
  that's a great question, Cirillo. But, but the hard, the hard- Where did you come up with that? I think the challenge- Na- Nathan, put that on repeat. [laughs] All right. Put it on repeat.
• 21:25
  Clip, post, social, picture of Michael looking into the distance with a knowing glance. With a- "What do you know that other people don't?" But, you know, it ties into fixed ops.
• 21:35
  It ties into a- it ties into every facet of the dealership, right? Like, I think, okay, but do they... Even if they know what you do, do they then know the process of what you do and how you do it?
• 21:46
  And, you, you know, like, there's just so much opportunity. And why that's important to them. Yes, exactly. All of those, those long-tail questions. Yeah. Yep. Great conversation. Hey, it's a conversation on brand.
• 21:54
  We get excited about it. Yeah, we do. Hope you enjoyed it, with Aaron Richmond on behalf of myself, Mike Cirillo, and Paul Jay Daly. Have a good day. Thanks for joining us on Auto Collabs.
• 22:02
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• 22:16
  If you love this podcast, please leave us a review and share it with a friend. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time.
• 22:25
  [upbeat music] Welcome to Auto Collabs. Welcome to Auto Collabs. [laughs] Why are we recording? Are we rolling yet? Not yet.