Friday, May 13, 2011

Local Car Companies Still Don't Get It

I wrote last year about how local car dealers were flooding YouTube with sales videos very few, if any, people viewing their productions.

Since they can obviously tell by the number of views that the videos aren't cost effective, I looked to see if they'd fixed that excessive YouTube upload habit.

Sadly, the answer is no.

A few moments ago I did a YouTube search sorted by upload date using the small town keywords "Little River, SC".

The entire first page was car and real estate video ads, not a single useful one for people wanting to check out the historic farming and fishing village of Little River, SC, one of the oldest settlements in Horry County, South Carolina.

Near the end of page two were two short videos taken from a moblie phone while on a small boat on the ICW.

On page four were two non-car, non-real-estate video ads, on for River Heights Circle, in Anderson, SC, and one named "Duck Dog", about a dog jumping in a river retrieving a stick, nothing to do with Little River, SC.

All other videos from page one to the bottom of page four were real estate and car video ads.

So next, using the same search term, I sorted by view count, to see if anyone was even looking at these sales videos.

The answer again is no.

There wasn't a single car video ad until page 11, the most watched of all car video ads, with a total of 53 views. The next highest watched video ad for the local car dealers was on page 14, with only 19 views. Many others had 2 or 3 views but the vast majority had 0 views.

Yet the local car companies keep producing and uploading these videos, when it's clear they're using the wrong medium, or at least the wrong platform. One local dealership has uploaded 295 to date.

The web is the new powerful medium but, to me, these continued video ads on YouTube is just one example of companies trying to jump on the internet advertising bandwagon, but they clearly do not "get it".

:( sunshine

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Spending Other People's Money Showcases Bad Decisions

I'm actually going to make a post without getting into specifics. Yeah, that stinks, I know.

What I will say is this: I've witnessed over and over again, first hand, how local chambers of commerce spend members' dues and donations in a haphazard and fruitless manner, to achieve nothing for the members and only to be self-serving to its own staff and Board of Directors.

Our company used to belong to four chambers, which has now dwindled down to one membership (and that'll be expiring soon - not to be renewed) due to what we see as mis-management of funds and self-serving agendas.

The days of your local chambers of commerce caring about any business except their own are long gone, my friends, neighbors, and fellow business owners and managers.

All that matters to them is paying the staff salaries, travel expenses, fringe benefits, and promoting the Directors' businesses.

We small business owners are just sheep funding their agendas.

Wake up and smell the corruption.

:( sunshine

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Glad I Dodged that Bullet!

I've been traveling for industry conferences for several years; however in the past couple of years I've scaled back due to the number of rescued cats we take care of at home.

Normally, I feel some sense of loss for having missed interacting with my colleagues and friends, but events unfolding after the most recent conference have me dancing in my home office that I didn't attend!

Now international news, locally the LA Times reported that, apparently at the Playboy Mansion, one of the parties where a fundraiser was held the last day of the conference, over 170 people contracted some form of Pontiac Fever, or legionellosis disease - a milder form of Legionnaires' disease, allegedly from the fog machine used that evening.

Strong, healthy men and women (many of whom hadn't been sick in decades) were wiped out and bed-ridden for a week!

So I'm fairly happy we missed this one! I absolutely do not like being sick, and subsequently slowed down in my daily work and businesses.

I'm praying for all my stricken friends and colleagues for speedy recoveries to optimum health.

:) sunshine

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