"Brand Safety" — Why Your TikTok Guy is Costing Your Dealership

0:07[music]

0:13>> All right gang, here we go live. [music]

0:15I am here with my new friend Don Moss,

0:17who's the executive director of

0:19marketing at Morgado Auto Group. Don,

0:22thanks so much for joining me on the

0:23dealer playbook. Absolutely. Glad Glad

0:24to be here. Um I'm excited to to chat

0:26with you because you have

0:29a lot of experience that I want to draw

0:31from. The The first one is this. I know

0:33that that you have worked in media. I

0:37know that you are a marketing

0:39professional and you have so much data

0:41looking at your dealer group. But the

0:43first thing I want to know is what do

0:45you see from a media perspective that

0:49dealers should be considering

0:51as part of their marketing mix? Oh,

0:53that's a great question. You know, I

0:55I'll tell you something that I think a

0:56lot of times people overlook.

0:58Maybe it's brand safety.

1:00Ooh.

1:01Yeah, so

1:02you know, we go quick to the ads and how

1:04to structure the right messaging.

1:07Sometimes we forget about how important

1:09it is

1:10to consider what that message is really

1:12saying about our company. Is it on point

1:14with our brand? And is there any

1:16considerations we should be making

1:17bigger than just did it get a click?

1:19Mhm. And so when you're looking at which

1:22is interesting because

1:24that is often what people can see. They

1:27can see the click, they can see the

1:28traffic. They can see the impressions or

1:31what we typically call the vanity

1:33metrics.

1:34But from your vantage point, talk to me

1:36about the safety piece. What are you

1:37thinking about from the seat that you're

1:39sitting in? Oh, wow. I mean,

1:42you know, the world's changing quick,

1:43but

1:43everything is recorded on video now.

1:45Everybody's watching video. We spend

1:47hours scrolling and scrolling.

1:49And so it's natural for our our teams to

1:51think

1:53man, I got to get I got to get in the

1:54mix. I got to start making videos. In

1:56fact,

1:57the industry's encouraging every

1:59salesperson at every store

2:01only way you're going to be successful

2:02is you get on TikTok, you you get on

2:04Instagram, you do these videos.

2:07And I don't know that that's wrong. I I

2:08think that's probably right. Sure. The

2:10problem is how do you execute that,

2:12right?

2:13>> Right.

2:14And I'm not just talking about the

2:15quality of the videos. I'm not I'm not

2:17saying is my lighting right? Is do I

2:19have a the perfect camera? It it's more

2:21about am I saying something that makes

2:23sense

2:24not just as a salesman, but does it make

2:26sense for the the the person that owns

2:28the building? Right.

2:29>> Does it match his values? Right. Does it

2:31match what what the store as a group is

2:33trying to do? That's a fine line to walk

2:35for a young salesman who's just trying

2:37to make make a car deal by selling some

2:39videos.

2:40>> Oh my gosh, you're bringing something to

2:41my mind that I have not thought about in

2:44this way. You drive past the billboards

2:46on the freeway that say, you know,

2:48Mergado Auto Group, family-owned and

2:51operated for how many years?

2:53Whatever it might be. And you go, well,

2:55why is that a USP? But now you're

2:57bringing something to my mind that I'm

2:59like

3:01because this is a real person.

3:04This is a real family that really lives

3:07in this area.

3:08And the the throughput here that I'm

3:10hearing you say is

3:12we can't just be so we have to be more

3:15thoughtful

3:16about what we're putting out there

3:18because ultimately there is a real

3:20family You are so right about that.

3:22>> whose name we've been tarnishing. Right.

3:25And the and they have mothers and wives

3:27and daughters and and they're involved

3:29in our communities. You know how dealers

3:31dealers are some of the most

3:32philanthropic community involved

3:34businesses in our communities.

3:36>> Right.

3:37And then you you pair that to the

3:39content that might be being created in

3:40their name. Right. And there's a a real

3:43chance that it's not that it's not

3:45aligned, right?

3:46And you know what's interesting about

3:48this is I I've thought about this. You

3:50see a lot of trend content. Uh

3:54drop it like it's hot videos on Tik Tok

3:57and you got full grown mid-40s men

4:00laying on the floor demonstrating what a

4:02four-wheel drive

4:04>> [laughter]

4:05>> And

4:07what they may not understand is that

4:09they're actually doing that in the name

4:10of

4:11Mercado. Yes. And what is the

4:14implication of that? What is the

4:15downstream effect on brand affinity or

4:19whatever? So How do you

4:21How do you position that properly? Is it

4:23"Hey, no, we don't want you creating

4:24stuff" or

4:26do you just have to be more intentional

4:28in creating

4:29I don't know standard operating

4:30procedures or like how do you safeguard

4:32really?

4:33>> Yeah, yes, that's a good question too.

4:34So probably the safest way to be

4:36absolutely safe is just to say no. We're

4:39not doing any of this. But how

4:41shortsighted would that be?

4:43Right. Since you can't say no, you got

4:46to you got to be very clear about what

4:48the expectation is.

4:50You got to applaud the effort. Hey, the

4:52fact that you built a business that a

4:54whole bunch of young people want to get

4:56on the camera and promote on their own

4:58free will, that's a good thing.

4:59>> That's great. Well, why would you ever

5:01want to squash that? Right. You just got

5:03to help them understand that what you're

5:05doing reflects more than just you.

5:07And

5:09yes, you might actually get a car sale

5:10out of this. You might get a whole bunch

5:11of clicks and sell some cars. What you

5:14don't always see is how many people just

5:17turned away and walked walked off. Maybe

5:19even in disgust.

5:21Right. So I'm happy you sold a car. I'm

5:24happy you got 100 clicks.

5:26What you didn't see was there's 10

5:29families now that don't look at us the

5:31way they looked at us before they saw

5:32your video. And now they're going to go

5:34tell their friends and family.

5:36Yes,

5:37which is the most powerful marketing.

5:39Right.

5:40>> word of mouth? Like

5:41measuring that impact. I had this

5:43conversation yesterday. I'm I'm your

5:45thoughts on it. Somebody asked me what

5:47is the most valuable metric you think

5:51people should be paying attention to?

5:53And I said impact, which also happens to

5:55be the hardest thing to measure.

5:58To your point though,

6:00this I'm feeling

6:02maybe maybe I'm feeling good. You've

6:04affirmed my my bias.

6:06But but I think that is it because how

6:09are you thinking about the ripple effect

6:12implication or impact of even yourself

6:15walking into church on Sunday and

6:16everyone's looking at you like

6:19cuz you did a real that's a really weird

6:20thing. But in a digital age when things

6:22are moving so fast, when it's almost

6:24become faux pas to not be on social, to

6:27not be making videos constantly, to not

6:29be using AI and getting lazy. How do you

6:32really advocate for

6:35this understanding of like, hey, because

6:38of all of these things, you're an

6:39ambassador for this business 24/7 now?

6:42In a world that's like, no, you pay me

6:44to be here from 9:00 to 5:00.

6:46Right?

6:47>> Do you know what I mean? Like how do you

6:48reconcile that? What do you think? You

6:50know,

6:50it's a fine line because often often the

6:53the content is not even being created on

6:56the social accounts that that we own

6:57that are our names. Often it's being

6:59created on on Donny Moss the car

7:02salesman sells cars.com

7:04like it's under a person's Somebody buy

7:07that domain.

7:09Right. Somebody's their own account,

7:11right? And then how how as a business am

7:13I going to say what you do on your

7:14account? The fact is I can't, right?

7:16You're you're filming

7:18on our location, you're using our name

7:20brand, you're you're asking people to do

7:22business with not you, with us. Right.

7:24Right? All that turns your personal

7:27account

7:29into our shared our shared activity,

7:32right? It's sticky it's like chippy a

7:33little bit. It's like it is. What are

7:35your thoughts on

7:37enforce sounds so strong and so

7:39official, but I can't think of a better

7:41word. How do you enforce that without,

7:43like you said in the beginning,

7:45completely discouraging the fact that

7:47you have people that are that are

7:48willing to be ambassadors for your name?

7:51You know how anything goes. You

7:52You can't get everything right, right?

7:54You're going to discourage some people.

7:56Right.

7:56>> Some people are just going to say, "No,

7:57well then if they they won't let me do

7:58what I want to want, I'm not doing it."

8:00Yeah. But I think most people are pretty

8:03logical. I think if you sit them down

8:05and really take the time to teach them

8:06and then show them the why. Look, we're

8:08not just trying to sell one more Honda

8:11Accord. Right.

8:12>> The owner's trying to buy

8:14three more Honda dealerships. And all

8:16this plays into that, right? I I I think

8:19if you can help people see that, most

8:21people

8:22are going to say, "Yeah, I I get it.

8:24Thanks for Thanks for explaining that to

8:25me. I get it now."

8:26>> More communication. Well, and now I'm

8:29thinking of an adjacent lane, which is

8:31how much money we actually spend or

8:34invest. If it doesn't work out, it's

8:35spend. If it works, it's invest.

8:38But how much money we spend on an

8:41agency, perhaps, that then goes out and

8:44finds local celebrities to pedal a

8:47message, at which message, depending,

8:51and I'm generalizing here, may or may

8:53not be a great reflection of of your

8:56brand. So, for example, I think

8:58Oh my gosh, I can't believe

8:59controversial topic of the day.

9:02The celebrity who is well-loved one

9:04week, who you've spent an exorbitant

9:06amount of money on.

9:08Who two weeks later is caught up in a

9:10scandal, but you've already spent all of

9:12that that marketing money.

9:15Yeah. Like Like that's another real

9:17world thing, right? Yeah. And not just

9:19automotive industry, every industry

9:21struggles with that. If you tie your

9:23brand to someone else's brand, you're in

9:25the same boat now, and you're you're

9:27along for the ride

9:29wherever they're taking you.

9:30I I think for automotive specifically,

9:32though,

9:33like

9:34are there really all that many

9:35influencers out there that are really

9:37specific to automotive. There really

9:39isn't. So so you're pushed to find

9:41people that are adjacent or maybe have

9:44nothing to do with automotive. Right.

9:46And I think that's where things get a

9:47little lost.

9:49I live in Miami.

9:51There is a lot of crazy content in

9:54Miami. That's just what what happens in

9:56in my neck of the woods.

9:57>> Right.

9:58And the crazier, the wilder, the more

10:01eyeballs on it. Acceptable fashion

10:03options are vastly different in Miami

10:06than they are Dallas, Texas.

10:07>> so.

10:08>> [laughter]

10:09>> And look, that kind of activity gets a

10:10lot of eyeballs and a lot of interest.

10:12Sure.

10:13But that doesn't mean that that's the

10:14right fit for what we're trying to

10:16accomplish. Right.

10:18You've got to be able to to decide,

10:20look, more than just

10:22some of this is going to help me get

10:23eyeballs. Is this person really going to

10:25help me either move my brand forward in

10:28as an image? Are you going to help me be

10:30seen better in the community?

10:33Or

10:34when we all love prevent attribution or

10:36literally help me sell cars and service.

10:38Right. I think the the latter is a

10:40little harder to do, but if you can at

10:42least say is this helping me move my

10:43image

10:45as a a legitimate member of this

10:47community in the right direction, then I

10:49think that's the right person you need

10:50to go with.

10:51From the seat that you're sitting in now

10:53with with Mercedes Auto Group,

10:56who needs to be included in that

10:57conversation from the beginning to make

10:59sure that that we don't lose focus along

11:02the way when when perhaps something

11:04might seem appealing and like, oh shoot,

11:06should we be doing that, too? Yeah.

11:09You know,

11:10the easiest decisions are made by one

11:11person, right? But that's not very

11:13practical. If you're a one rooftop

11:15store,

11:16yeah, one person in the gym can make

11:18that decision. The owner can make that

11:19decision. As you get bigger and bigger

11:21and more diverse geographically, you've

11:23got to just establish really clear guide

11:25guidelines of this is what we are

11:27willing to allow, this is what we

11:28encourage, this is what we don't allow,

11:31and then you got to empower the leaders

11:32of that that rooftop

11:35to know the standards and uphold them.

11:37I love this because I don't think and I

11:40the audience knows, okay, I'm breaking

11:42the fourth wall. The audience knows that

11:44I don't say things I don't mean.

11:47And I genuinely think, Don, this is the

11:50first time ever on this podcast in

11:55over a decade I have ever had this

11:57conversation. Wow.

12:00And we're at NADA, everybody's talking

12:01about AI.

12:03It's like what's that Siam Bingo? Was

12:05it? But AI was his name? You know, AI AI

12:08oh.

12:09We're talking about something that I've

12:12never talked about on this show before.

12:14And you're really surfacing for me how

12:17incredibly important this conversation

12:19is because of the far-reaching

12:22implications of it.

12:24Maybe you are a single point in a small

12:28rural town in the middle in Dog Lick,

12:31Nebraska.

12:33But you're you are an integral part of

12:35that community

12:37and that reputation either works for you

12:40or it really works against you. And I

12:42just find so many businesses that are

12:44caused to overspend. They can't figure

12:46out why why are my leads so expensive?

12:49Why are my And And is it because they

12:51just have to

12:53fire hose

12:55not understanding that maybe 10 years

12:56ago something happened that wasn't

12:58addressed that is causing a brand equity

13:02problem for them. For sure. Look Look we

13:04sell cars and we know that that there's

13:06some stig- stigma to it. There just is,

13:08right? Yeah, absolutely.

13:10>> We're not starting at a level playing

13:11field. We're starting below that.

13:13And we've got to shine a little bit

13:15brighter than other people just to get

13:17to level.

13:18And I think that has to be part of what

13:19we're thinking about as we're doing

13:21content.

13:23Content at the speed of light is what's

13:26happening. So we've talked about

13:28creating content for people in the

13:29stores, being brand ambassadors

13:31essentially 24/7. We've talked about

13:34having effective communication with

13:35them, which I love, by the way, cuz I

13:37don't see many leaders really discussing

13:39this um this angle that you've brought

13:42up, which is like, "Hey,

13:43let let's talk about this. I'd like to

13:45explain to you the why from our

13:47organization's perspective." Cuz there's

13:49probably a point of alignment in the

13:50middle. Like you said, they probably get

13:52it and go, "Yeah, I Okay, I get it.

13:53You're trying to We've covered a lot of

13:55territory. My mind is spinning. I feel

13:58like there's a million more questions

13:59that I want to ask. I'm not going to

14:00grill you. I told you I wasn't going to

14:01throw you a curveball. I'm no Walter

14:03Cronkite uh for you young

14:06uh Gen Z

14:08uh listening. There's a reference you

14:10can go look up for some fun trivia after

14:12the show. What are you looking to the

14:15next

14:17couple years? What's on your mind that

14:20you're saying, "Hey, we really need to

14:21focus and pay attention to this

14:24uh as things begin to evolve, and as

14:26we're looking to acquire more stores and

14:28increase our footprint, and increase our

14:30impact. What What's on your mind? What

14:32What's the thought? What What do we need

14:33to be on a lookout for?" Yeah, you know,

14:35you know, for us I think a lot of people

14:37can relate for as you're adding more and

14:40more stores to a group,

14:42you got to think make things a little

14:44more more simple. You can't keep adding

14:46bolting on more and more and more.

14:48The ability to to have just

14:51a few less people in the conversation

14:54really helps putting it all together,

14:56right?

14:56>> Yeah. So, for us I I I think it it's a

14:58matter of how do we build processes? How

15:00do we assemble the right collection of

15:02people

15:03to to help us move the next step

15:05forward. The next step might be a really

15:07big step,

15:08which means it really needs to be a

15:09little less complicated, a little bit

15:11more boiled down. Ooh, I love that. It

15:13It's not a return to basics. It's

15:15enforcing a foundation. Yeah. I love it.

15:18Well done.

15:20See how quick this goes when you're

15:21having a good time talking about brand

15:23safety. I I cannot believe it. It's

15:25seriously

15:27I can't believe we've never had a

15:28discussion about this on the show. I'd

15:30love to have you back at sometime

15:31because I again I have a million one

15:33questions. But until next time how can

15:35those listening and and viewing connect

15:38with you? Hey, you can reach out to me

15:40on on LinkedIn is a great way to find

15:41me. Don Moss. Um happy to talk to

15:43anybody. Love this business. Love

15:45talking to folks in it. You're the man

15:46Don Moss. Thanks so much for joining me

15:48on the Dealer Playbook. Thanks, bro. And

15:49man Hey, thanks for listening to the

15:51Dealer Playbook podcast. If you enjoyed

15:53tuning in, please subscribe, share, and

15:56hit that like button. You can also join

15:58us and the DPB community on social

16:00[music] media. Check back next week for

16:02a new Dealer Playbook episode. Thanks so

16:04much for joining. [music]