The 2016 Dealers United Wrap-Up
Wow, another year in the books! Reflecting back, 2016 has been a year of great change and big moves here at Dealers United. We added new team members and outgrew our old diggs—we love the new space. And spoiler alert: Jordan Belfort (our team Betta fish) made it yet another year. Congrats, Jordy!
We also brought on some AMAZING new partners. In doing so, we’ve been busy posting—a lot. This year alone, we posted 277,405 used vehicles on Craigslist and reached 16,969,939 (unique) In-Market car shoppers via Facebook.
So let’s take a walk down memory lane…it’s been a big year.
January
- We rang in the 2016 right—bar hopping our way through Siesta Key, FL.
- The DU office moved to its current location. Makin’ room for our growing team.
- 1,000 buttons were packaged and sent to Digital Dealer 20.
February
- Adam joined the Facebook Team.
- The Marketing Team wrote some pretty cool blogs around Pay Per Click and digital:
- DU headed to Austin, TX to visit Facebook’s Automotive Headquarters. Facebook’s Auto team was really impressed by our “against-the-grain” strategy and the results we’re driving for our Dealer Members!
March
- We attended our annual Spring Training game, Rays vs. Red Sox. (If you ever visit Florida in the Spring, let us know and we’ll get the tickets!)
- We launched NADA’s Biggest Deal. (Miss it? You can still grab PPC savings here!)
- Christian and Bridget welcomed their second daughter.
April
- DU hit the streets of NYC to visit Google’s HQ.
- Kristina joined the team.
- We hosted an awesome happy hour event with Facebook at NADA in Vegas, where our members were able to chat with Executives from Facebook’s Automotive team, Philip Rather and Trace Przybylowicz.
- The Marketing Team started working on a new prototype—DU 2.0 coming your way!
- Pete made a bet, and lost. His repercussion: running (in jeans) from our favorite waterfront restaurant, Phillippi Creek, back to the office—approximately 8.1 miles. He did it, and was rewarded with shorts and this victory photo:
May
- Adam tied the knot.
- Cara moved from Sales to Marketing (whoo!)
- Christian spoke at Digital Dealer Workshops Northeast, and we turned his session into a legendary webinar.
- We were even inspired to take his topic further with an in-depth article. You can uncover the entire secret here.
June
- One of our partners, Wpromote, was featured on an episode of HBO’s hit show Silicon Valley.
- The Biters welcomed sweet baby Alexander into the world.
- Still obsessed with the new idea of “Microtargeting,” we published 5 case studies highlighting our favorite campaigns.
- Grayson, “The Intern,” started…and we put him straight to work.
July
- Miranda joined the Facebook Team.
- We launched our killer solution that is helping dealers everywhere dominate Craigslist.
- One of our very own was among the class of 2016 Graduates of Gulf Coast Leadership Institute. Congratulations, Pete! You make us proud.
- The DU Team went for a LeBarge Cruise. (Fun fact: We mixed up the sunset “booze cruise” with the sightseeing cruise, but still managed to have an incredible time!)
August
- Matt Buchanan, Dealer Principal of Sarasota Ford and Co-Founder of Dealers United, was featured on the cover of Dealer Magazine.
- Brooke wrote an amazingly awesome blog to help dealers capitalize on the Pokémon Go craze. So awesome in fact, it was adopted by Ford of Britain’s internal dealer network!
- DU revealed The Ugly Truth about digital, helping dealers nationwide better understand the importance of transparency.
September
- “The Intern” swam across a retention pond for $200—college kids will do anything for cash! (Watch the full video here!)
- Hannah joined the Facebook Team.
- We welcomed the Biter team back into The DU Office.
- Marketing published another kickass blog.
October
- We played Top Golf in Tampa, FL! This outing made the Top 10 list. “Work Hard, Play Harder!”
- The DU Team traveled to Silicon Valley (Menlo Park) for the 2016 Automotive Summit. (Watch our “selfie” video here.)
- DU made a BIG internal overhaul, moving the entire marketing system from HubSpot to Infusionsoft. (If you received an email you shouldn’t have, our sincerest apologies…we’re still getting the hang of it!)
- Dealers United journeyed to DSES ‘16 and met the winners of The Best Idea Award, Street Automotive Group, who just co-hosted this webinar with us.
- Pete steps up (again). This time spending an entire weekend helping local kids learn how to code at #SRQHacks.
- Brooke and Cara published The Ultimate Facebook Swipe File—DU’s most downloaded resource to date.
November
- The team came together to give a lot of thanks.
- Miranda tied the knot.
- BOLD took over the HuB building (where our offices are located). We’re ecstatic to now be apart of the BOLD Team!
- Brooke and Cara continued their hard work to keep our members in the know:
December
- We sent some exciting local swag to our top members.
- Heather and Matt join the Facebook Team.
- DU brought on another industry leader: Branded Dealer Videos!
- More blogs were published, but this one is probably our favorite.
- The DU Team jumped on the Ugly Sweater bandwagon (and liked it)!
Well there you have it: 2016 recapped, Dealers United style.
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Written By Cara Lane
Cara's hybrid love for marketing and sales has made her our beloved Inbound Marketing Manager here at Dealers United. Outside the office, she's busy doing mom things, like chasing her kids around the playground and sipping lots (and lots) of wine!
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