The great thing about NADA: Meeting auto dealers that are getting out on the edge of digital media.  It’s refreshing to see so many now investing in tactics that drive sales through online channels.  It only gets better from here on out.

Bad thing about NADA: 70 degrees and sunny in San Francisco.  The only thing missing was Katy Perry and Snoop Dog.  We totally recommend an outdoor venue the next time out.

NADA is always exciting for us because we get to see what others are doing and bringing to market.  We’re always flattered by offerings from other businesses.  Here’s a few compliments we received this year:

1. One vendor now has a finance app that pre-qualifies traffic.  Our Carloan.com app has had this capability for years and most of our dealers enjoy the benefits.
2. Duplicate leads are just as hot to us as they are to car sellers.  We can’t prevent consumers applying on different sites.  We can and do eliminate duplicates before you get them.
3. Seems new car lead providers now play doctor; “scrubbing” leads is becoming popular.  Yes, we do that too.  Yes, for years.  It’s how we’ve gotten auto dealers eight and sometimes as high as ten to one ROI.  We take it a step further however.  Give us a shout to learn more.

You may be asking “what’s next then?”  We believe we can add value to dealer groups by understanding the value chain downstream.  Marketing decision makers are faced with complex scenarios in how they measure results.  We’re excited to be talking to many about how we can provide visibility into their activity.  We’re also excited to be improving our web design and development process, not to mention our focus on providing a better consumer experience.  Without stealing a car manufacturers tag line, quality continues to be the driver behind our magic.

We hope our post finds you well.  We’re looking forward to seeing you again at a future show, online, at your store, or over the phone.

Cheers!

Tom is IFMG's General Manager. When he's not noodling through honest spreadsheets, he's at home with his wife, two girls, and BBQ. Comment on his posts and he'll share a recipe. You can follow him on Twitter @tomfeary.

Interactive Financial Marketing Group Processes Five Millionth Auto Loan Application

Milestone marks eight years of growth in auto finance lead generation

Richmond, VA – February 1, 2011 – Interactive Financial Marketing Group (IFMG), a division of Dominion Enterprises, today announced it has distributed 5,000,000 online auto finance loan applications to its Carloan.com dealer network.

The key to achieving this significant accomplishment is the diverse network of auto finance web sites and partnerships that IFMG manages, combined with a proprietary lead routing system. Given the efficiency of its robust routing engine technology, IFMG has validated, screened and distributed an average of 625,000 car loan applications per year since the launch of the system. It achieved this historic level despite the recent economic downturn that has adversely impacted both the automotive and finance industries.

Prior to building the online marketing systems that it currently uses for lead generation, IFMG kicked off its operations in 1989 using vanity phone numbers. Customized 800 numbers like 1-800-CAR-LOAN and 1-800-AUTO-LOAN generated auto finance applications that were then delivered to its dealer partners. The 5,000,000 application mark does not include applications that were received and processed before IFMG made the leap to the Internet in 2002.

“This is a landmark event in the history of IFMG,” said Tom Feary, General Manager of IFMG. “It reflects the trust that car buyers have in our auto finance websites such as Carloan.com, and the level of service our dealer network provides to those seeking a vehicle through financing.  We’re looking forward to many more strong years connecting dealers to car buyers ready to be financed.”

IFMG invites auto dealers to visit Carloan.com at booth #2046S at the NADA Convention and Expo, Feb 5-7, 2011 in San Francisco to learn how they can join the Carloan.com dealer network.

About Interactive Financial Marketing Group:

Interactive Financial Marketing Group (IFMG) is a pioneer in lead generation, validation and management services for the automotive industry.  By focusing on innovative approaches to lead generation since its inception in 1989, IFMG has developed a family of brands that includes hundreds of the most recognized Internet addresses and vanity phone numbers such as Carloan.com, Autoloan.com, 1-800-CAR-LOAN® and 1-800-AUTO-LOAN®.

Interactive Financial Marketing Group is a division of Dominion Enterprises. For more company information, contact IFMG at 800-222-8374 or visit www.interactivefmg.com. For more information about IFMG products and services for car dealers, visit www.carloanco.com.

About Dominion Enterprises

Dominion Enterprises is a leading marketing services company serving the automotive, enthusiast and commercial vehicle, real estate, apartment rental, and employment industries. The company’s businesses provide a comprehensive suite of technology-based marketing solutions including Internet advertising, lead generation, CRM, Web site design and hosting, and data management services. The company has more than 40 market-leading Web sites reaching more than 17.6 million unique visitors monthly, and more than 280 magazines with a weekly circulation of 2.4 million. Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., the company has 4,900 employees in more than 186 offices nationwide. For more information, visit www.dominionenterprises.com.

Tom is IFMG's General Manager. When he's not noodling through honest spreadsheets, he's at home with his wife, two girls, and BBQ. Comment on his posts and he'll share a recipe. You can follow him on Twitter @tomfeary.

What would you rather have under the tree this holiday season, a ready-to-go BBQ grill or a gift card to your local BBQ store?  Assume the gift is from a BBQ expert so there’s no doubt the gear is great and gonna work.  The grill or gift card to go buy a grill?

Chances are you’re probably gonna take the grill and ask the BBQ expert to give you an autograph too.  It’s the easy pick because the setup is done and ready to smoke a holiday beast.  The card sounds great but then there’s the time it would take for you to shop, learn what you need, figure out how to get it home, etc.

The point is, buying is a process and it kinda works like this:

1. A consumer has a need and he/she becomes Aware of a product or service.
2. They begin to Consider the possibilities, options, alternatives, and value of those products.
3. A Decision is made and the consumer then…
4. Purchases a product.
5. After experiencing or gaining knowledge about the purchase a consumer then Recommends and/or Re-Purchases.

If you’re an auto dealer and you’re investing in third party leads, or even generating leads on your own this process may look familiar.  New and used car leads are in steps 2 & 3 right?  They are shoppers. Questions from these prospects are about options, trim packages, colors, additional costs, how long to get the right inventory, “what’s your quote?”, etc.  These prospects are prepping to decide and buy.  They are not buying, yet.

Car loan leads are buyers.  Consumers complete an online application because they seek financing to help with the purchase.  These consumers provide information such as income, employment, and other financial data so that an auto dealer has everything to facilitate the purchase of a vehicle.  There is very little to consider.

Which would your store rather have?  Buyers? Shoppers?

Tom Feary is the General Manager for Interactive Financial Marketing Group.  He likes BBQ and occasionally makes pancakes.  You can follow him on Twitter, @tomfeary.

Tom is IFMG's General Manager. When he's not noodling through honest spreadsheets, he's at home with his wife, two girls, and BBQ. Comment on his posts and he'll share a recipe. You can follow him on Twitter @tomfeary.

We had pancakes here at the office Friday; a little bit “of this and that” to change things up.  We started with an organic batter mixed up with whole milk and eggs.  Team members then selected compliments from their choice of blueberries, bananas, pecans, or a combination of all.  The “T Wright” was all the extras and he’s infamous for getting the most value on any contract so that was appropriate for him.  Personally I thought banana pecan was the way to go capped off with real maple syrup and butter.  Yea, baby.

The pancakes got me thinking… all these raw ingredients mixed up in a bowl, enhancements added based on preference,  subtle inputs that make all the difference: Wow, that’s what we do here at IFMG.  Yep, we make pancakes:

1. We collect data from multiple sources.  We deploy online marketing tactics and work with a variety of marketing channels to generate a robust flow of car loan applications.
2. Inside our Routing Engine, the data is then matched, or verified.  We match applications against a database to confirm consumer location and intent.
3. We filter data.  A customer’s target income and geography are preferences that boost sales efficiency.
4. Web-based lead management and automated appointment setting are provided for our customers based on their unique selling system.

In today’s auto finance leads marketplace, there are lots of choices for dealers and lenders.  Our value add is verifying intent and filtering data based on an advertiser’s target market.  You get more data you can use to Sell More Cars®.  In the end, more sales through improved efficiency = big ROI.

Need auto finance leads or special finance consulting? Give T Wright a ring.  Don’t forget to send us your pancake recipes too.

Tom is IFMG’s General Manager.  Yep, he likes cooking pancakes but he’s more passionate about marketing to get lasting results for our customers.  You can follow Tom on Twitter, @tomfeary.

Tom is IFMG's General Manager. When he's not noodling through honest spreadsheets, he's at home with his wife, two girls, and BBQ. Comment on his posts and he'll share a recipe. You can follow him on Twitter @tomfeary.

It’s Friday so the music is blaring here at IFMG and the bells are ringing.  Good thing too ‘cause we have lots to do, like deliver more leads to our ever hungry dealer network!

The question for the month is… Do your finance people talk to your marketing and Internet people?   Many of our customers invest in used and new car leads right along with auto finance leads.  Yet the expectation of how finance leads are filtered and delivered can vary, sometimes dramatically.

An example is geographical targeting.  Your finance manager may request leads from less than 10 miles away but your marketing and Internet teams are targeting and optimizing for greater distances, such as 30 and 50 miles.  These teams invest in advertising and Internet tactics to attract a larger footprint.  Yet a finance manager can place hand-cuffs on your spending by restricting the targeting area.

One of the great things I love about the web is the ability to trip over things.  Nothing is more exciting to me than conducting a search and finding a good morsel of information by accident.  Search results and online advertising are delivered to a user based on sophisticated reasoning and calculations.  Each vendor, whether it is a search engine or ad server, has a different slant and that’s why there is opportunity everywhere.

Geo targeting on the web is just one of many slants.  For one channel, 10 miles may be a margin of error.  For another channel, 10 miles may be impossible.  And the more calculations, the more precise… the more cost.  Not cash cost, but lost opportunity because a programmer’s math determines a lead just 9 miles away looks like its 19 miles away.

So where’s the real opportunity for your finance team?  Why will an Internet sales manager work a lead from 30 or 50 miles away but a finance manager turn away a lead just several miles down the road?  How is that good for the dealer?

We’re sincere with our questions and look forward to your comments.  Enjoy the BBQ!

Tom Feary is General Manager for Interactive Financial Marketing Group, an online marketing firm serving car dealers under the Carloan.com brand.  Dealers can learn more on our web site for dealers.  You can follow Tom on Twitter @tomfeary.

Tom is IFMG's General Manager. When he's not noodling through honest spreadsheets, he's at home with his wife, two girls, and BBQ. Comment on his posts and he'll share a recipe. You can follow him on Twitter @tomfeary.