That’s a wrap on 2024! 🎉

What a transformative year it’s been at Dealers United! We’ve evolved from being social media focused experts to becoming a full-service digital powerhouse, bringing together the power of search and social to help our dealer partners dominate digital. Our team doubled in size, welcoming 40 incredible new faces who share our passion for innovation and excellence in automotive marketing.

Join us as we celebrate the wins, the growth, and the incredible journey of 2024! 💫

January

• We kicked off 2024 with a bang by announcing the launch of our search marketing services, including SEO and SEM! This exciting expansion came with a complete website rebrand to showcase our evolution into a full-service digital marketing agency. 
• Our content team hit the ground running, publishing four powerful blogs to help dealers maximize their digital presence:
• Targeting and Retargeting Techniques on Social Media for Car Dealerships
• Building a Strong Brand Identity on Social Media for Car Dealerships
• Pros and Cons of Different Social Media Platforms for Car Dealerships
• Local SEO vs General SEO: Key Differences for Car Dealerships
• A major milestone for our leadership team: We proudly welcomed Brian Malsom as our new Chief Executive Officer!
• We published a Video interview with Matt Sneed, Director of Operations at our partner Power Ford in Albuquerque NM.  Watch the full video interview (<15 min!) and learn how Power Ford turns prospects into customers for life.

February

• The DU knowledge hub grew stronger with four more blogs:
• Facebook Advertising For Car Sales: A Guide For Dealerships
• Drive More Leads and Sales Through Online Advertising for Car Dealerships
• Leverage Video to Drive Car Sales for Your Dealership
• Optimizing Your Social Media Ads Budget for Car Dealerships
• NADA 2024 in Las Vegas was a blast! 🎰 The DU Leadership Team hosted an epic Topgolf event where we gave away custom-fitted golf clubs for “The Longest Drive.” Nothing beats connecting with our dealer partners while #DrivingTheFuture! 
• We published 2 Case Studies: 
• How Dahl Ford Used SEO + SEM + Social Ads To Lift Leads & Traffic In 90 Days
• Royal Chevrolet GMC Climbed Search Results With Automotive SEO
• Team DU grew by one tiny member as Jorge Lafosse, our Head of SEO, welcomed his daughter Luna on February 9th! 👶
• We hosted a Webinar “14-Point Digital Inspection For Car Dealers” to help dealerships understand if their digital engine optimized for performance across SEO, SEM, and Social
• The Culture Committee incited some friendly competition by hosting Superbowl Squares 

⭐️ 2024 by the numbers: Dealers United drove 730K+ SEM & Social leads for our Dealers Partners!

March

• The creative team released our first holiday (not seasonal) themed Inspiration Playbook For Mother’s Day!  Click here to see the Playbook.
• We published our 3rd case study of the year with Power Ford covering their 2023 Social media results
• We teamed up with TikTok Agency Partner Manager, Julianna Wanner to teach car dealers the best ways to leverage TikTok in our webinar: The Most Powerful TikTok Strategies For Car Dealers with TikTok! 
• Watch this video interview with Jay Healey, CMO of Healey Brothers Automotive Group, where he breaks down their success in building a people-first, tech-driven approach to automotive marketing.
• March Madness fever hit the Culture Committee, keeping the competitive spirit alive! 🏀

⭐️ 2024 by the numbers: We documented over 250 new SOPs!

Welcome to the Team in Q1!

In the first quarter of the year we welcomed 10 new team members!

• Welcome to the team: Ezekiel (Zeke) Hamor, Jasmine Smedley, Zach Bauman, Madelyn Capehart, Gil Marquez, AJ Jusufbasic, John Jireh Lizaso, Tessa Brooks, Michael Sigel, & our new CEO, Brian Malsom!

April

• Check out these 2 blogs we pushed live:
• How Dahl Ford Boosted Leads & Traffic with SEO, SEM, and Disruptive Social Ads
• Maximize Online Visibility: The Power of Dealers United’s Website Optimization Services
• It’s a boy! Aleena, Performance Manager, Welcomed Sullivan Henry Martin into the world April 25
• We published #4 and #5 Case Studies:
• How Rob Sight Ford Increased Organic Traffic & Call Volume Over 40% In 90 Days With SEO + SEM
• Strategy Spotlight: Dahl Ford’s SEO + SEM + Social Ads Lift Leads & Traffic
• A major milestone achieved: We proudly earned our Google Partner Badge! 🏆
• The Culture Committee hosted one of our favorite annual events: DU Cribbs! 🏠 Team members dropped their Zoom backgrounds to showcase their real workspaces, share their office stories, and introduce their furry coworkers!

May

• 2 more blogs made their way onto the site: 
• 25 GA4 Questions for Car Dealerships: Automotive Analytics Answers
• 10 Car Dealership Blogging Tips – Automotive Marketing
• We published a case study with Pinterest! Our sixth case study of the year featured Zeigler Subaru of Kenosha’s results. 
• May’s Webinar: Decoding GA4 For Car Dealers! In this session we shared the biggest GA4 updates & features important to car dealers, and more.
• New Resources were published to help dealers dominate digital:
• SEO Checklist for Car Dealers
• Organic Social Media Guides Collection For Car Dealers
• The Culture Committee got nostalgic with “Who’s That Kid?!” 👶 Team members had a blast guessing who was who in childhood photos!

June

• More blogs? You got it! Read:
• How Dealers United’s Automotive SEO & SEM Strategies Drove 40% More Search Traffic for Rob Sight Ford
• Mastering SEO: The Ultimate Checklist for Car Dealers
• Another full-service case study made the list! Our 7th case study featured the SEO, SEM, Social results of St Albert Dodge in Alberta, Canada.
• The Culture Committee hosted an Emoji Game. The team had to guess the titles of movies based on the emojis describing the plot.

⭐️ 2024 By The Numbers: 10,196 Hubspot Tickets created & solved by our Support team! 

Welcome to the Team in Q2!

The more the merrier! We welcomed 12 more team members in Q2!

• Welcome to the team: Stuart Hardy, Farzad Jafari, Mallory Sackey, Xavier Miles, Cameron Smith, Matt Hilend, Ashley Rogers, Ashton Day, Nick Mitchum, Crystal Kulpa, David Dreier, & Clyde Jenkins! 
  

July

• Our eighth case study revealed Power Ford’s transformation after implementing Meta’s Conversions API Integration.
• We joined forces with Meta for an epic webinar: “Maximizing Meta: AI, Ads, Reels, & More” 🤖
• 📱 Dealers looking to optimize their search game got a boost with our comprehensive SEM Checklist!
• The culture committee hosted a DU favorite, the “Remote Scavenger Hunt,” where the team found objects in their homes from a provided list in 5 minutes! 

August

• We published a new search-focused blog: “SEO Strategies for Car Dealerships: Boost Sales“
• Case Study #8 featured Rob Sight Ford’s Strategy on SEO and SEM. It included a Video Interview with Bobby Sight, where he claimed “Dealers United crushes the Search game. It is a night and day difference…”

September 

• To help dealers understand how their digital marketing is performing, we hosted a Webinar with digital dealer: DIY Search & Social Digital Audit For Car Dealers
• The Culture Committee got lost (in a good way!) in our virtual Corn Maze in Kumospace! 🌽
• Digital Dealer prep kicked into high gear with our first DU Sizzle Reel Video! 🎥

⭐️ 2024 By The Numbers: 2.9M vehicles were ingested by our proprietary platform that powers our inventory ads, with over 26.6M images!

Welcome to the Team in Q3!

We welcomed 18 more team members! We are happy to have each and every one of you on Team DU.

• Welcome to the team: Jesse Charchut, Chad King, Erin Carter, Brett Ponda, Jay Shindledecker, Joel Mosquera, Mandi Eddings, Rob Steinberg, Wendy Gill, Andi Plotts, Sydney Jones, Victoria Fistler, Jason Dinh, Jennifer York, Kyle Roberts, Morgan Trent, Brad Zerman, & Emily Leasure! 

October

• The biggest event of our Marketing team’s year was the Digital Dealer conference and Expo in Las Vegas! This was our first time exhibiting in a long time, and it was so fun to set up our booth and network with dealers!
• We also co-hosted a session on the keynote stage with TikTok, “TikTok Masterclass for Car Dealers.” Watch the TikTok Masterclass recording here!
• To kick off the week, we held a party at Topgolf where a hundred dealers competed for $2,500 custom golf clubs. Congrats to the winners!

• This month’s webinar was: Sushi, Robots, Other SEO Strategies. Think our webinar title is weird? The SEO strategies we’ve seen dealers use are even weirder…
• More BLOGS coming up…
• How to Audit Your Dealership’s Search & Social Digital Marketing: The Complete DIY Guide
• Boosting Online Sales with Google Vehicle Listing Ads: A Car Dealers Guide
• 3 additional Case Studies made the website:
• #9 Power Ford’s 365-Day Results | Quick Lane, Social Ads, and Cohesive Campaigns
• #10 Royal Chevrolet GMC Climbed Search Results With Automotive SEO
• #11 Heritage Chevrolet Benefits From 125% Boost In Organic Traffic Through Advanced Search Strategy With Dealers United
• Spookiest culture event of the year: the virtual Murder Mystery! The team gathered in character to try and catch the killer in this 90s themed music awards murder mystery!

November

• We published more BLOGS to continue to educate on search and social:
• Local SEO for Car Dealerships
• How Much ($$$) Should Car Dealers Spend on Facebook Ads?
• Case Study #12 featured dealers who are dominating the SRP!!!
• Power Ford Gains 51% Boost In Organic Traffic Through Advanced Search Strategy With Dealers United
• Power Ford Achieves 71% More Store Visits Through Strategic SEM Partnership With Dealers United
• During our webinar, “6 Tips to 2x Google Performance Max ROI,” we were able to answer a ton of dealer’s questions about Pmax LIVE. 
• The #TeamDU Culture Committee planned a company give back initiative by teaming up with Letters Against Isolation. LAI’s mission is to “Fight senior loneliness one letter at a time.” Our team created greeting cards that were sent to assisted living centers around the country! 

⭐️ 2024 By The Numbers: Shout out to our Creative Department who decreased Creative Ticket turnaround time by 66% (from Q1 to Q4) ⏰

December

• The team is gearing up for NADA Show 2025 in New Orleans! 🎭 Join us for:
• Expert-led “14-Point Digital Inspection” sessions (with a special gift waiting at our booth!)
• $5K -A- DAY NADA SWEEPSTAKES – Enter to win!
• An exclusive 2-day party on Bourbon Street with VIP balcony access
• An insightful NADA workshop by Justin Friend and Jay Healey on “17 Battle-Tested Social Ads“
• Party passes, prizes, and more all at Booth #7757!
• We hosted the webinar “7 Essential Tactics to Dominate Digital” based on our most impactful webinars and trending topics, you will find out the top search and social tactics to bring into the new year and beat your competition.
• Case studies #13 and #14 showcased more incredible dealer results… 
• How Serra Ford Buick GMC Achieved 47% Increase In Conversions QoQ Through Strategic SEM
• How Big West Quick Lane Achieved 73% Lead Growth Through Meta Ad
• The Culture Committee closed out 2024 with our beloved traditions: a virtual white elephant gift exchange and our fiercely competitive gingerbread house contest! 🎁 🏠

Wrapping Up 2024 – What A Blast!🚀

What a remarkable journey 2024 has been! From launching our full-service digital marketing solutions to welcoming 40 new team members, every milestone has strengthened our commitment to delivering exceptional results for our dealers. 

We’re filled with gratitude for our amazing dealer community, dedicated team members, and industry partners who made this transformative year possible. 

We’ve built a foundation that combines the power of search and social, assembled an incredible team, and delivered game-changing results for our partners. But this is just the start – we’re already gearing up to bring even more innovations, insights, and impact to the automotive industry in 2025. 

That’s a wrap on 2023!

A lot has happened over the past 365 days, or 8,760 hours, or 525,600 minutes… 

No matter how you count it up, the count down to 2024 is over. This annual Wrap Up blog is one of our favorite traditions to end the year.

As a team, we produced 7 videos, 3 webinars, 8 case studies, 3 trade show seminars, and 19 blogs!

We also welcomed 4 new faces to #TeamDU, celebrated the addition of 10 new babies (4 human and 6 fur) and visited 12 countries (mostly by our Controller and HR Guru Josh).

While ALL of that was happening, our main focus was on connection. We are most proud of the relationships we have built and continue to nurture with dealer partners, social platform teams, and industry colleagues. Big shout out to our dedicated team who has kept their sights on creating IMPACT and real results for our clients. 

Lastly, we are so grateful for being able to spend this year with YOU. 

Now, enjoy seeing how we spent 2023!

January

• Three team members started 2023 by adding to their families! Performance Managers Alix and Meg added a corgi named Jӧri and a frenchie named Moose to their families. Kevin, Director of Engineering, adopted two cats named Adventure and Orange. ????????????????

• ???????? Two team members purchased new rides of their own! Sandra, Ad Productions, purchased a 2023 Volkswagen Tiguan (she’s been in the VW family since 2008 #brandloyalty) and Carrie, Performance Manager, opted for a 2023 Kia Seltos!
• We published our first Dealership Case Study of the year for Dahl Ford, highlighting their “Market Disruptor” campaign on Meta and TikTok. Click here to see how they matched over 85 sales to their social media ads!

February

• Sandra was promoted to Manager of Ad Strategy! Congrats, Sandra! ????
• We fueled up attendees at NADA in Dallas with our Herbster Coffee Truck. It’s always amazing to get to see our dealer partners in person. (Hi, Sam and Lindsay! ????) Looking forward to NADA 2024!

• We published a Dealership Case Study showcasing how Zeigler Subaru of Kenosha drives results on Pinterest! (Psst…a $15.22 Cost Per Lead! ????)

• Thanks for this awesome testimonial Josh Hall! We love working with KMA Auto.

March

• We published two Dealership Case Studies this month. We showcased Grand Blanc Mitsubishi’s Full-Funnel Meta Ads Strategy and Diamond Valley Honda’s Omnichannel Ads Strategy with Meta, Pinterest, Snapchat, and TikTok ads.
• Did you know that Barbie Custom Ordered a Bronco? Our favorite dealership social media ad for Q1 goes to Pollard Friendly Ford who wanted to jump on “The Barbie Movie” hype!

April

• Cute babies alert! Sarah, Manager of Partner Experience, welcomed her first daughter, Zinnia, and Nathan, UX UI Developer, welcomed his first son, Jonah!

• Two more Dealership Case Studies were published. A Meta Ads Case Study for Steele Chevrolet Buick GMC showed 90 sales matched at <$78 Cost Per Unit Sold; and an Omnichannel Case Study for South Country DCJR showed 10x Results with Meta, Snapchat, Pinterest, and TikTok!
• We celebrated the promotion of Shea to Sr. Account Manager, and welcomed Lauren, Content Marketer, to the #TeamDU marketing crew!

• This month we opened a virtual office using Kumospace! As a ???? remote company, finding ways to nurture meaningful connections is a big priority. Think of Kumo like Zoom meets “The Sims” – each team member has their own “office” they can decorate, and there are plenty of open meeting spaces for co-working and meeting with dealer partners. It’s been a fun addition to our remote culture.

May

• We were so excited to host a session at Digital Dealer Tampa! You can still get the resources from our session, “The Strategy That Yields More ROI Than Radio, Billboards, Direct Mail & Newspaper Ads Combined” by clicking here!
  

• We hosted a Cinco De Mayo Cocktail contest in Kumospace. In lieu of a taste test, MJ and Meg tied for “Best Name” with their drinks “Strawberry Marj-arita” and “The Large Marge.” Special cheers to Rob Sight Ford who helped Alix win “Most Likely To Reorder” by naming her drink “The Island Delight” ????
• This was a really cool Meta + Pinterest Ads Case Study for Healey Brothers Hyundai (if we do say so ourselves). You can download a PDF copy here or watch this video break down of their Social Media Omnichannel strategy producing impressive results.

• Our social advertising services expanded to feature auto manufacturers such as Stellantis, Honda, Hyundai, and Mitsubishi, to provide customized solutions tailored to each brand’s marketing needs and audience.

• Our favorite ad of Q2 was this model comparison Pinterest ad for Zeigler Subaru of Kenosha. The goal of this ad was to educate auto buyers on the Outback’s benefits in order to re-capture market share from the local competitor.

June

• Our SVP, Justin, bought a new house and moved from Massachusetts to North Carolina!
• Alix started a podcast! Check out “Little Too Much with A.K.” wherever you listen online.
• We hosted a Team Jeopardy in Kumo. The questions were generated based on a fun employee survey to find categories like: “First Car,” “Spirit Animals,” and “Growing Up I Wanted To Be A…”

• Launched a new format for our Dealer Case Studies ???? Check out the interactive Strategy Spotlight: DELLA Chevrolet Leveraged Meta Ads To Reach & Convert Highly Qualified Leads.

• Our first time speaking at CXAUTO in Marina Del Rey, CA. We were so happy to present “The Power of Omnichannel Social Media: Overcoming Six Obstacles”  along with our dealer partner Tim Wilson of El Cajon Ford.

• We turned our Digital Dealer Tampa presentation into a webinar! You can catch the replay of “The Strategy That Yields More ROI Than Radio, Billboards, Direct Mail & Newspaper Ads Combined!“
• HOT OFF THE PRESS! Automotive News Canada featured our case study for Steele Chevrolet Buick GMC! Read “How Steele Auto Group turned social media into sales, at a reasonable cost.”

July

• Ad Strategy Analyst MJ bought a 2024 Kia Seltos!
• Rachel joined the Performance Management Team “DU-CX” (also known as the Mighty DUCX ????)

• The Culture Club hosted one of our favorite annual events: a virtual scavenger hunt! The team has 5 minutes to find as many items as they can from around their house like paper clips, a sparkly shoe, or Italian seasoning. ????
• Thanks for this five-star review Hugo Marciales! We appreciate the partnership with Anyone Rides.

• TikTok released some major updates that greatly benefited automotive advertising. We covered the new features in a blog, “5 Ways TikTok Is Revolutionizing Car Dealership Marketing.”

August

• Say hello to baby Reed! Performance Manager Meg welcomed her first baby boy.

• Two New Dealer Strategy Spotlights! Check out how Zeigler Honda of Racine leveraged Meta ads to promote a “Summer Sell Down” event that resulted in 8 vehicles sold in under 30 days with only $300 ad spend. 
• Hunt Ford Chrysler’s commitment to innovation paid off… They matched 48% of vehicles sold to their Omnichannel ad campaigns on Meta, Pinterest, Snapchat, and TikTok. Click here to see their ads and watch a quick video breakdown.

• Fun Fact: The average US adult spends more than 6 hours each day watching video content across devices. ???? ???? Find out how to generate more leads and dominate your market with video ideas you can activate immediately with our “Exclusive Guide: Lights, Camera, Car Sales!“
• ????Our most comprehensive resource yet! We published the “Ultimate Guide to Mastering Social Media Ads For Car Dealers.” It’s jam-packed with everything you need to build a Full-Funnel Omnichannel Ad Strategy proven to beat your competition. 

September

• Ad Strategy Analyst Mitch picked up and moved from Arizona to Oregon! ????
• Another cute furry friend joined Team DU: say hi to Pixie, Controller Josh’s AussieDoodle

• A virtual corn maze?! Yup. Kumospace has several fun, interactive, templated scenes including a (really hard) corn maze! Our virtual team was scattered around the maze trying to find our way out, and some were faster than others…
• We hosted a webinar to share the Secrets To TikTok For Car Dealers. ????????You can watch the replay here!

• Our favorite ad for Q3 was this football themed ad for Lasco Ford!

• Did you know that your dealership can maximize your TikTok videos as high-performing ads? Learn all about it in our blog: From Likes to Leads: TikTok Spark Ads For Car Dealers

October

• Surprise, Account Manager Amy: you are the owner of a new kitten! Amy’s husband’s pool cleaning company rescued this cutie in a pool skimmer… Meet Skimmer! 
• Oh boy! Creative Lead Katelyn welcomed her first son, Tucker!

• We met up with the TikTok Automotive team at one of their Florida locations in an effort to continue building a powerful partner relationship, plus learn more about new beta opportunities and best practices (Hint: TikTok Lookalike Audiences!)
• WHO DID IT?! Was it Colonel Mustard with the Candlestick? Or Director of CX Andrew in the Kumospace parlor room?? We hosted a virtual Murder Mystery party and a Costume Contest in our Halloween themed Kumospace office.
• Thanks for the Review Mitch Randall! We appreciate the partnership with Toyota of Warsaw.

• We would bet on this crew any day! Kelly Majauskas, Senior Partner Manager at Pinterest, Lindsay Latsko, Director of Internet & Marketing Operations for Zeigler Auto Group, & Justin Friend, SVP of Dealers United, took the Keynote Stage at Digital Dealer Las Vegas to present “Discover, Decide & Drive: The Road To Dealer Success on Pinterest.” 

• In preparation for a MAJOR announcement in November ???? we welcomed Dale Hewett, VP of Search, and Melissa Liu, Head of SEM!

November

• Congratulations are in order for two team members on magnificent milestones! Support Analyst Eugene closed on his first home- best wishes on creating happy memories in your new abode. ???? VP of Marketing Brooke got married to her fella in a magical ceremony followed by a super magical honeymoon in Thailand! We love all the love. ????????‍♀️♥️

• The #TeamDU Culture Committee planned a company give back initiative by teaming up with Letters Against Isolation. LAI’s mission is to “Fight senior loneliness one letter at a time.” Our team created 62 greeting cards that were sent to 5 assisted living centers around the country! 
• It’s time for our most exciting announcement of the year…???? In 2024, we’re going BEYOND social to expand Dealers United’s Full-Service Digital Solutions with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Through the power of best-in-class Search AND Social, Dealers United is ready to double down on digital to provide even more value, more impact, and more results for the auto industry. You can learn more about our Full-Service expansion here.

December (so far)

• Performance Manager Aleena moved from Chicago, IL to West Lafayette, IN! ????
• Congratulations to Chaz who was promoted to Sr. Support Analyst! Thank you for all that you do for our team and partners.
• Special WELCOME to Jessie Sigel-Dean who started as a Performance Manager, and Jorge Lafosse who joined as a SEO Manager! We are so excited to have you join Team DU.

• Who doesn’t love a little friendly competition? Our most competitive culture event of the year is our annual Gingerbread House build. The creativity comes out in full force! This year’s winners: 
• Winner Takes the Cookie (1st Place): Andrew’s “Team DUBB Super Bowl”
• Second Best Baked (2nd Place): Aleena’s “Ellie and Carl’s Up House”
• Most Likely To Be Eaten (Get in my belly): Rachel’s “Dunkie Junkie Mojo Dojo Casa House”
• Family Fabrication (Made with your family!): Eric’s “Alice in Wonderland — but make it Barbie”
• Simple Yet Sweet (Not too much, Not too little, Just right): Lauren’s “Winter Wonderland Went Wrong”
• Decorated Those Halls (Most Festive): Shea’s “Palmer’s Log Cabin”
• Unique Treat (They WENT there!): Melissa’s “The Gingerbread Trap House”

WOW! What a year.

With a heart full of gratitude and a tank full of rocket fuel, Team DU is blasting into the new year in a major way. 

We are so excited to expand our digital solutions to provide even more for our dealer partners. No matter what – our lens will always be focused on what is best for our customers and rock star team. 

By the way…we are hiring! If you know someone looking to join a fun remote culture that embraces the finesse of balancing between “work hard, play hard” – send them to www.www.dealersunited.com/careers

See you in 2024!

Wow, what a year.

It’s safe to say a lot happened in 2022. The days seemed to fly by as fast as minutes, and I think we are all asking the same question: “Where has the time gone?”

The biggest lesson from the year is also a great reminder for 2023: Stay ???? Resilient????.

As the automotive industry evolves and customer behavior changes, so do our processes and strategies. In the words of Friends’ Ross Gellar, “PIVOT!” ????

However, there is a ton to celebrate!

At Dealers United, this Annual Wrap Up blog is one of our favorite end-of-year traditions. Thank you for being a part of our year, and enjoy seeing how our team spent 2022!

January

February

March

April

May

October