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Ed Attanasio
Ed Attanasio is an automotive journalist based in San Francisco. Ed enjoys sports of all kinds and is a part time stand-up comedian.
He can be reached at era39@aol.com.
Is the Return Phone Call an Endangered Species?
I ran into someone at the 2013 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show who apologized profusely.
“I was meaning to call you back,” he said. “I know you left a message.”
“The one from 2012 or the one from 2013?” I inquired as nicely as I could.
Why don't people call each other back anymore? What is the psychology behind not returning phone calls? Do you have a group of friends or business associates in your life who will NEVER call you back, no matter what? The sad fact is that most of us do.
Automotive Marketing Company Garners Huge Kudos for its Website Clients
For many years, body shop owners in general weren’t enamored with the idea of hiring a company to design and develop their websites, thinking that they cost too much and would not bring enough new customers to their shops. But now most of those naysayers and doubters realize that a good, easy-to-read website that has intuitive navigation and is leveraged for searchability is a necessity, rather than a luxury. And that’s why companies such as Autoshop Solutions, an automotive website design and Internet marketing company based in Apex, NC, are flourishing.
Get your Brand Out There by Going Outdoors
Outdoor advertising used to primarily consist of billboards, but now with new technologies and other emerging types of media, the signage industry includes bus boards, taxi advertising, car wraps, trade show booth advertising, bus stop and train stop mini-billboards, video kiosk advertising, sport events advertising and even grocery cart advertising. It’s gotten to the point where almost everywhere we look we see an outdoor advertising message for some brand.
How to Improve Your Success with Google in 2014
I tell marketing people at body shops all the time that if you pay attention to Google and stay on top of its periodic algorithm updates, you’ll be way ahead of the game. It may not sound that important, but when you think about the fact that every website in the world is affected by Google in one way or another, you can see that those who know how to use it right will obviously have a distinct advantage over their competition.
Team PRP Wants to Know What Body Shops Need from Recyclers
At their recent Team PRP (Premium Recycled Parts) Midterm Training and Sales Conference held at the Crowne Plaza Galleria Hotel in Dallas, TX, more than 200 automotive recyclers were on hand to discuss issues such as warranties, sales, the state of the recycling industry as a whole and how they can best serve the collision industry better and more effectively.
Are the Yellow Pages Truly Dead?
Many people predicted that movie theaters would close right and left when VHS tape players started appearing in stores, but you know how that went. With 3D and IMAX, movie theaters are more popular than ever and buying a ticket to see one of the newest super hero films will cost you an arm and a leg. When digital book reading devices came out, experts were claiming that real books printed on paper were soon going to be obsolete, but that hasn’t happened either.
The SEMA Garage-Industry Innovations Center is State-of-the-Art
The modern automotive garage first appeared in the 1920s and, in addition to parking cars in them, inventors began to utilize them for different purposes.
For Body/Paint Tech Keenan Hons Life is Reality TV on Fast ‘N Loud
Twenty-six years old and already a reality TV show star? For Body/Paint Tech Keenan Hons, his 15 minutes of fame happened fast and randomly.
Is this Body Shop Truly and “Ultimately Green?”
Every body shop owner in the country wants to be green. Just ask them. But, are they willing to commit to a total green approach in every aspect of their business? Changing some light bulbs and installing low-flow toilets are positive things, but how many shops will really invest significant time, money and effort to be as green as they possibly can?
More...
Do Ad Specialties (“Swag”) Really Make an Impression?
As I start to pack for my annual pilgrimage to SEMA, I’m thinking about all those overloaded shopping bags carried through the exhibit halls bulging with what we know in the business as the advertising specialty.
Is Radio Advertising a Sound Decision For Body Shops?
Even though the Internet is continuing to explode and cable TV advertising is flourishing, radio is still alive and well and more body shops are using it, according to people who know—such as: advertising agencies, media buying companies, radio stations and body shops themselves.
Autobody-Review.com—Where Yelp Meets Reputation Defender
Every time I talk to body shop owners about social media issues, they invariably bring up three things: Yelp, Facebook and how to defend their reputations online, in that order.
Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr—Three ‘New’ Forms of Shop Media
Social networks such as Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr are rapidly gaining momentum as content distribution tools and becoming more and more attractive for B2B purposes, including within the collision industry. When new forms of social media get hot, others fall off and disappear—so how do we know which ones are gaining while others are failing? While many body shops use one or more of the aforementioned sites, smart operators can gain an advantage over other body shops that don’t know about them or care.