John Corcoran 12:18
Got it. They don’t have as much brand equity. Now, what about as a niche? Is it hard for you? Because I mean, there aren’t that many dealerships out there. I mean, think of any city there’s sometimes the city has, I don’t know how many dealerships they have, but 10 15 maybe, you know, is that a challenge?
Jon Bast 12:40
Honestly, I think it’s a lot less of a challenge. Um, I guess it has its pros and cons, because we pursued dental and ortho for a while as well. And when you go into dental and ortho, there are a lot less agency competitors that just have that specific niche. So if you take the amount of agencies compared to the amount of offices there are, then your chances are a lot better. And then within automotive, there are a lot of companies that I feel like try to pursue automotive dealers marketing budgets. And, there’s a finite number. And so you know, technically there’s hundreds of 1000s if you go into Pre Owned dealerships, but for us, we’re mainly just, you know, about 95% we’re just focused on franchise car dealerships. And with that, there’s probably about 19,000 the one thing that I really like about it, though, is it seems like I like the idea of this finite target audience because we have a CRM that we have, pretty much we feel like every single car dealership, and it’s pretty easy to get some VAs to just make sure that the contact data is always updated. So it feels a little bit more achievable. Really, huh
John Corcoran 13:55
because you’re not geographically constrained you’re anyone nationwide or worldwide imagine Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then do you only represent Do you have to limit yourself like or is it geographically you have to limit yourself like say like you’ll only represent one Hyundai dealership in a city
Jon Bast 14:17
Yeah, so we do. We make it seem like we do it for the dealer. But the reality is a lot of times we do it for ourselves just because of the fact that our marketing works but it works less if two dealerships in the same area are doing the same exact things because we’re gonna have the same ad copies we’re gonna have the same mail pieces, you know, ever Guinea bats.
John Corcoran 14:37
Yeah, okay, driving up your cost and making it harder for them to get leads if you’re bidding against yourself.
Jon Bast 14:43
Yeah, so the way that we approach it is we go into let’s say it’s a Honda dealership and go in, find the Honda dealership.com. You know, basically go to Honda dealer locator, search in their zip code and say, Hey, we won’t work with the top, depending on the area three to five people. Let’s show up on that list.
John Corcoran 15:02
Got it? Got it. And so explain to me your business now you have T3 Marketing, OptiAuto what’s the difference between the two?
Jon Bast 15:09
Yeah, so d3 marketing is a performance marketing agency, we focus on having a dealer framework or marketing framework that helps dealers just sort of optimize the car demand. So that is increasing car demand. So actually really creating the demand for their vehicles, capturing the demand that already exists and or the demand that they created, and then retaining that demand, once somebody actually interacts with their brand, or their dealership, and just doesn’t actually purchase. So we have a whole slew of solutions that just really work. And then off the auto was, or is a website provider for car dealerships. So we found working with so many different car dealerships in so many people’s websites, we found that many of them were outdated, they’re always broken, they were sluggish. And we want to just optimize automotive dealerships. And so the idea there was that we’re really gonna focus on UI UX design, which we felt like nobody in the market was focused on just like the functionality of how search works. So really trying to take that Google and Apple approach. So we started, we really focused on material design and human interface design, which are Apple and Google’s design frameworks that they published publicly. So it was like a cheat sheet for us. And so we just took everything that they do, and then moved that into dealership websites. And then we also stand by this is probably our biggest thing that I feel sets us apart is not only are the websites designed properly, from a UI UX standpoint, but then our promise is that we’ll never let your website go outdated. And so what we see a lot of times is if somebody signs up with a website provider, and then three years later, that website looks outdated, maybe even in many cases, one year later, that website looks a little outdated. So then the company says, Okay, well, I’ll charge you to sign up for the latest design that we have. For us, we’re trying to make micro tweaks. And so we actually compare that a little bit to Tesla or really software, and then Tesla has brought it into like a physical space, which is really cool. New take software, and you say, Okay, well, if I’m using Gmail, Gmail is not going to just let me use this version of Gmail for the next three years, they’re going to constantly make small tweaks, they’re always making updates. And same with Tesla, Tesla’s said, okay, that needs to come to the automotive sector two, so we can’t change out your battery right now, we can’t change out your tires. But we’re going to change how the car works. And you guys are going to get every single update as it comes out. So we wanted to take that type of software approach and apply that to websites and say, Look, we’re gonna constantly be following any sort of design trends here when the button is like I think one of the more recent big things is material design was built on shadows, and so really, really thick shadows. And then they pretty much got rid of most of the shadows. And so for us, we had to kind of focus on how do we remove those shadows? How do we simplify the buttons and not make them so fun? So those are just one example of a design trend that’s been happening in the last year.
John Corcoran 18:28
SO, yeah, yeah. You know, we’re recording this in August of 2021. And what was the experience like for you, as the epidemic hit, you know, car sales, I think for there’s a period of time where people weren’t buying cars. And then, you know, there’s all these weird shifts that have happened over the last year, then people were doing anything that was local and close. So people weren’t traveling long distances, but they were Airbnb there. But you know, renting airbnbs and VRBO’s close to home is the same thing with cars. And then and then now you hear these crazy stories. My parents just went on vacation to Maine, and they couldn’t get a car because all the rental companies had sold off their fleets. And then the used car market has gone crazy. So the car market has just had this kind of strange ripple effect over the last 18 months. From your perspective, what has it been like during the pandemic?
Jon Bast 19:22
It’s been experienced, that’s for sure. So I think right when, right when it hits, you know, Fudd setien. And everybody was just scared and fearful and didn’t really know exactly what to expect. And so I think from a revenue standpoint, our business got hit really hard but only for about two months. And then dealerships fought to become an essential industry. And then so then they started coming back in that sense, where they would, they would start to come back. I would also say dealerships are kind of comparing them to blue collar types of people. They have blue Call it personalities. And so they’re not really following the rules most of the time. So he the ones, even in the states that they’re supposed to be close to, they’re like, I’m not going to close my doors like No, I’m just going to if somebody shows up, I’m going to be here to sell them a car. So luckily, our business came back pretty quickly, I felt like, I think we’re really blessed for that. But what I will say is our business came fully back, but at a lower level. And so we had all the same clients, but everybody was spending a lot less. And so. So we had to really figure out how to reset our business. I think also what we did is we just focused on something completely different where before we were focused on bringing in car shoppers, and we still were but now we’re focused on making sure that we are a communication company. And I think that’s what we kind of realized is all along we’ve been a communication company, we’re communicating to consumers, what the dealerships messages, and most of the time it’s selling cars. Now it’s focused on COVID protocols and trying to figure out okay, we’re still selling cars, and so making sure that we are kind of just assisting them with whatever they need.
John Corcoran 21:09
Oh, interesting. When you say COVID protocols, you mean like kind of explaining in your advertising copy that it’s safe to come to the dealership, and, and that they’re, you’re, you’re using COVID protocols so that it’s clean inside and sanitized inside of the vehicles? That sort of thing?
Jon Bast 21:26
Yeah, exactly. That thing, we have lots of things with pictures of people spraying the cars with, you know, this like sanitizer stuff. And then also, in addition to that, the other started going to or at least offering to go to the consumers house more. So then we would say, look, we’ll bring the car, you pick the car online, we’ll bring it to you, we can test drive from your home, and then we’ll purchase your car straight right in your driveway or your living room. So just trying to communicate those messages. So consumers don’t feel okay, I have to go into the dealership if I really want something.
John Corcoran 22:01
And here’s where it gets kind of interesting to come to the line between what is marketing? And what is really kind of a business strategy? Did you find yourself kind of getting into a role of advising the clients that, you know, this is what the market wants? They’re, for example, they’re searching for COVID safe dealerships or, you know, those sorts of terms. And in saying to them, you need to have remote delivery, you need to have virtual tours inside of the car. So they don’t have to come down to the dealership to check it out. Did you find yourself moving into that kind of role?
Jon Bast 22:34
Yeah, definitely. I think we’re always a little bit in that role. We’re always trying to use a dealership how to sell how to take that internet consumer, that’s not a they call them showroom ups or phone ups, you know, basically people that are coming directly to them, just organically. And so I think we’re constantly doing that. I think the big thing from a business strategy point that changed was we learned which clients of ours were fighters and which ones were just kind of accepting the new norm of shutting down. And so then our job was to persuade them and say, Look, we’re seeing this work, like we’re having clients that are still breaking records in terms of car sales, the ones that are still have their marketing budgets flowing in at that point in time that was kind of the hack is if you are a GMC dealership that has five dealerships of five GMC, GMC dealerships around you, most likely three out of those five has said okay, I’m going to shut down. So now you have one competitor or no combat. So those people who just kept it business as normal, really, really succeeded. And then it was our job to communicate that to the clients that just felt like Oh, I didn’t know I was allowed to do that, or I’m okay to do that.
John Corcoran 23:46
And that’s where the niching is incredibly valuable. Because you see you have such visibility across an industry, what’s working for other dealerships and other markets? That sort of Yeah,
Jon Bast 23:56
I can’t tell you how many times our clients probably see even more value many times and just say, Hey, you know, whoever they’re talking to at our company, what are you guys seeing? because we’re really there, in many cases, their only outlet to see more people in the industry. So it’s a good communicator, or he’s that way too.
John Corcoran 24:16
Now, you know, I’m a big fan of peer relationships, participating in different communities with other founders and people who kind of walk the same walk as you at the same time and you’ve been active in eco verson George Georgia. Now you live in Colorado. Talk a little bit about what that involvement has meant for you, especially going through these kinds of roller coaster times over the last 18 months or so.
Jon Bast 24:44
Oh my gosh, yeah, it’s been a life, lifesaver life to whatever those lifesaver. Yeah, but it has definitely kept us afloat. So my first community that I joined is called YEC, Young Entrepreneur Council. That has been incredible. That is the majority of the value in there is this Facebook group that essentially you can ask the most difficult questions and you’ll get a bajillion answers. Then I expanded and got to a marketing agency specific one, this Jason Swenk, Digital Agency Mastermind. That’s been incredible. And then now, EO, which is like the flagship organization for entrepreneurs. And all of those have really helped me, surround myself with like minded people. And which not only helps you learn, but also helps you become more self aware, because you see that all these people have this common characteristic or a bunch of common characteristics. And then it specifically during the pandemic cabin, these communities and having people freaking out and struggling and figuring it out. It was like, okay, you’re naturally going to try to find the solution. But many times, I didn’t even have to really try to find the solution, or I didn’t have to dig super deep. Because everybody is so open, and welcome to just sharing, you know, I would hear people saying, Oh, I just got my PPP loan, or, you know, I know at this time, nobody knew where to apply for PPP and which company to do it for. eo had constant webinars of everything that was more up to date. I know in the Jason Swenk group, people were posting in Slack, I just applied to Kabbage or PayPal, and they were actually quick as well. You know, other people were playing at their local credit union things that they were going to be quicker and just kind of like learning things that you would never had the ability to really learn otherwise,
John Corcoran 26:33
yeah, it’s great. Being part of those types of communities. Jason does a wonderful job with his group. Yeah, I know, we’re almost out of time. I want to ask my gratitude question, which is a big fan of gratitude over here. When you look around at your peers and your contemporaries, however, you find that it could be other members of EEO, or Jason’s group, or yc, or clients of yours, or strategic partners or referrals. Who out there, do you want to acknowledge? Who do you respect and admire the work that they’re doing?
Jon Bast 27:05
Oh, yeah, there’s so many people, I feel like that it’s definitely a difficult question. Because I think so many people’s names come to mind and the accumulation of people has really impacted I think I would go back to I’m gonna name one person, but really focusing on back on a community. I noticed, you know, like, I find myself doing this, a lot of time somebody asks a question, and I’ll spend five minutes just writing up a 200 word response. I can’t tell you how many times that’s happened to me, and has just completely changed my life. So I would say that all the communities that we just mentioned, and then I would also say a huge shout out to my, you know, one of our favorite one of my favorite clients of ours of T3 Marketing. His name is Matt McBrayer. He owns a few dealerships in the Baton Rouge area. And during this time, he said so many times, he was like, I should lower my marketing budget. But I’m not going to because you guys are my partner, you guys have been loyal to me. I don’t want to be non loyal to you. And that has just been a game changer and really helped be our crutch in a way sometimes throughout this and just another. Another way to make sure that we’re not going down completely or, you know, in those really tough months, not only did we get hit by COVID. But then we got hit with a second wave just recently with inventory shortages. So car dealerships for the first time ever are in a seller’s market, where they don’t have to spend a dime on advertising to really sell a vehicle. And you know, clients like those, we I could list off a handful that just said, Look, no, we’re gonna stick with you not decrease the marketing budget, not because it’s what’s best for their business. But what’s best for, you know, us they feel like so their generosity has definitely helped us get through COVID
John Corcoran 28:59
That’s great, Jon. Jon, where can people go to learn more about you?
Jon Bast 29:03
Yeah, you can go to LinkedIn, look at me, Jon Bast, or also T3 Marketing, which is t3marketing.com or OptiAuto which is optiauto.net, to learn more about our businesses.
John Corcoran 29:15
Alright, Excellent. Jon, thanks so much.
Jon Bast 29:19
Excellent. Thanks, John.
Outro 29:21
Thank you for listening to the Smart Business Revolution Podcast with John Corcoran. Find out more at smartbusinessrevolution.com. And while you’re there, sign up for our email list and join the revolution. And be listening for the next episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast.