Life on the Curve

July 14, 2010 — aspeyer

John HoltIt’s business as usual at Cobalt, and everyone in the company knows that means change.

“I’m 53 years old, and I’m still learning,” said CEO John Holt while addressing the company on the morning of July 9. “Change is constant. You can either close yourself to it or open your arms to it.”

Holt had announced that Cobalt, the company he co-founded over 15 years ago, is now in the final stages of being acquired by ADP, one of the world’s largest providers of information technology. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and ADP logois expected to close in the third quarter of 2010. Until then, ADP Dealer Services and Cobalt will operate as independent businesses.

Once the acquisition is finalized John will lead the new ADP Digital Marketing group within ADP Dealer Services from Cobalt’s offices in Seattle. The new group will include all of the digital marketing capabilities of ADP, including BZ Results, Cobalt and Dealix. This organization will be uniquely positioned to deliver a comprehensive set of digital marketing solutions that will help transform the ways manufacturers and dealers market and sell vehicles and related services.

It’s going to be an exciting time, especially since Cobalt will still be Cobalt – the company’s vision and brand in the marketplace will continue. And Holt will still be here to lead the ADP Digital Marketing group onward to new ideas.

The company meeting was clearly a poignant moment for Holt, as he expressed his pride in the Cobalt’s accomplishments to the packed Seattle auditorium by videoconference to meeting rooms in Lynnwood and at Dealix and Integralink as well as by phone to hundreds of employees over the Internet.

“We’ve come a long way together, but we still have a lot to do,” he said.

Founded 15 years ago at the start of the Internet era, the company has grown its customer base and its capabilities to become a market leader – not just in websites but also in integrated digital marketing solutions for auto manufacturers and their dealer networks. ADP’s existing model complements Cobalt’s, since ADP solutions helps dealers convert opportunities created by Cobalt’s digital marketing capabilities into sales.

ADP’s financial strength, global footprint and capabilities in social media and other technology areas are expected to open up new doors for Cobalt employees and customers. Cobalt will remain laser-focused on building brand awareness for its customers and driving traffic to their stores.

“Some things will change, for sure,” Holt told employees this morning. “But many things will be the same,” he assured. He then entreated everyone watching and listening to keep doing what they’ve always done by sticking to the four C’s: Curiosity, Commitment, Creativity and Community.

“Stay curious,” he said. “Don’t be afraid to commit completely, with a full heart and mind. Be creative, even in the face of things that seem ‘the way they’ve always been.’ Keep community alive; it takes a community to have a company, and this fact is core to Cobalt’s success and spirit.

“I see life as one learning curve after another,” Holt said. “If you embrace them rather than run from them, you can drive yourself to personal achievements that may surprise you. Because of the things I tackled and learned, last year was the best year of my life. It’s daunting to try to make this year even better, but with this announcement it’s off to a pretty good start!”

Like we said – business as usual.

What’s next for John Holt, Cobalt, and Dealix? We’re not done yet. Not even close. Stay tuned.

The Cobalt Group
www.cobalt.com
www.twitter.com/CobaltMarketing
www.youtube.com/cobaltlive

The Cobalt Group

Posted in Cobalt Corporate Culture, Cobalt Group. Tags: , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

A Win-Win Scenario – Social Media and Ownership Email Marketing

April 29, 2010 — digitalmileage

Hello my Friends:

I am proudly presenting my colleague Louise Smith and her guest post in conjunction with some thoughts of mine.

GUEST POST: Louise Smith and VJ

Of great interest to you is the acquisition of new customers, the engagement of your existing customers, promoting customer loyalty and driving revenues. Social Media works “with” your Owner Marketing email campaigns – to do just this. Relevancy and value are keys to successful email campaigns and social media. Here are some ideas:

In your email campaigns:

Implement links/buttons into your email campaigns to promote and link to your social media sites as well (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn). VJ’s thoughts: May be the customer is not ready right now to jump on your inventory page or visit your dealer URL, but he would like to see what else you are talking about in the future. Capture them!

Integrate (brief) teasers in your email campaigns about your social media postings such as your involvement, following or supporting local groups, charities, teams, events etc. VJ’s thoughts: An old PR rule is “Do good things and talk about it” – so do it and brag modestly!

Have so called “Calls-to-Action” in your email campaigns that promote postings of events and happenings that your dealership is involved in (Car Clinics, Open House, Charity/Fundraiser car detailing etc.) – then link these activities to your social media page with more information about events. VJ’s thoughts: Create RSVPs for customer evening events, make them feel important, make them your V.I.P.

Keep up the core premise of successful email marketing: right time, relevant messaging, of value to targeted customers. VJ’s thoughts: When tailoring your sales messags think about the three categories according to a study of Nielsen Online: Baby Boomers love monthly and quarterly cash-back savings  –  Generation X is looking for convenience factor (Loaner cars, Play area, Business center, WiFi)  –  and the Millenials just appreciating Specials and Deals in what is ”Cool and In” with instant gratification!

On your social media postings:

You need to be relevant, give value, share information, follow/support your “locals”, be conversational, embrace the fanatic fans and respond to the problems in a timely manner. VJ’s thoughts: Best example: Toyota, where were they the whole time when the issues of their recalls occurred. Now they are pumping millions of $$ into national ne page print-ads and prime time T.V. commercials.

Who to follow or to be-friend? Support your local teams, organizations, chamber, business groups, consumer groups, community events. VJ’s thoughts: Reach out to them and let them know about your ambitions for them. Tell your local community that you are supporting them and you will steadily talk about their deals (barber shop and the retiree Wednesday haircut for $7)!

Not sure what to “tweet”? – You can start off by re-tweeting relevant information about happenings in your community, great news about your brand, events etc. – share local business news. Is a neighbor business or a good customer who is a local business owner offering “specials”? You can support these in brief tweets or postings. VJ’s thoughts: Has a customer of yours “pimped” their ride and is this possible share worthy? Post it with a testimonial from them. Did you solve a problem for a customer – turning them into a satisfied customer – share it!

Always include a sign-up for email actions on Social Media site and promote a value (like free car wash, a special price for the next oil-change) of signing up for email sign-up. VJ’s thoughts: Allow your customer to decide if they want to follow you. Permission based marketing has since decades the highest ROI.

Call to action value of your service coupons on your website. VJ’s thoughts: Involve each of your profit centers – Service, Parts, Wholesale Parts, Bodyshop, and even Finance!

Keep your postings current. VJ’s thoughts: Please, it does not make sense you are telling on your website “follow me on twitter” and a customer who then finally follows you will see that your last post said “Happy Thanksgiving”, even so it is now March!

Be authentic in your postings, and do not speak about politics, race or use “bad” language. VJ’s thoughts: It happens and I showed it numerous times on my speaker sessions: ” Wow, the customers are so crappy today. Is it full moon or what?” – YES, this is an original twitter post I grabbed and just imagine when I would be a customer of this dealership, and had visited them today for an oil-change. How would feel? Really CRAPPY after reading this, right?

Be conversational, sharing and relevant! VJ’s thoughts: That means with all due respect – NO INVENTORY FEEDS appearing in your twitter stream. I see frequently tweets or facebook posts which are stating “Just uploaded a YouTube video of an 2002 Ford….” and a second later the next tweet says “Just uploaded a YouTube video of an 2004 Buick…” Come on, please!

Here are a few links that you may find as great resources:

Posted in Insights. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Cobalt Past & Present: What It Means to Be a DieHard Part Two

March 11, 2010 — aspeyer

On St. Patrick’s Day, Cobalt will be having a 15th anniversary party in celebration of its expansive growth as well as the hard work and dedication given by the company’s employees, both new and longstanding. Within Cobalt, there are 50 people who are given a badge of honor for their venerable commitment to the success of Cobalt. They are dubbed Cobalt DieHards and have been with the company for nine or more years.

Community Counts
Over the past few months, I have had the privilege of getting to know a few of these well-respected and enthusiastic DieHards. They have shared with me their stories of Cobalt’s past and present and are certainly on board for the future. Cobalt’s exponential growth within the past decade and a half is undeniable and couldn’t have been accomplished without them.

“Seeing us grow from dot com to big company is amazing. Throughout the ten years I’ve been with Cobalt, no matter what department, there’s a feeling of close-knit, small community. I love working at Cobalt because of the people I work with as well as our strong leadership,” said Ben Patawaran, account advocate.

DieHard Dedication
In Part One of this article, I wrote about the amazing transformation Cobalt underwent from using dial up connections and hard-copies of websites to being first in line for dealer and OEM digital marketing. One thing that remains consistent with Cobalt, despite new technologies and the ever-changing automotive industry, Cobalt has held true to its motto of “work hard, play hard.”

“During the 2001 earthquake, I was the safety coordinator for my floor and had to make sure everyone evacuated. I ran through the floor to double check; and there was still one person typing away at her desk. She just had to send off one email before leaving. That’s dedication!” said Patawaran.

Room for Even More Growth
Many of the DieHards began when Cobalt had fewer than 100 employees. Now, the company has grown to over 1,000 strong, expanded their offices across the nation and gained large accounts with Lexus, GM and Volkswagen.

“Winning GM was definitely one of the greatest accomplishments we’ve had at Cobalt. We were in the right place at the right time. After that moment, we doubled revenue, hired 350 employees and did 5,000 websites. The aftermath of that sale was incredible,” said Matt Muilenburg, vice president of enterprise marketing solutions.

With its efforts to double innovation, the company’s growth trajectory will not taper for quite sometime. Cobalt remains on the pioneering end of digital marketing for the automotive industry with its unique and successful digital ad packages that coordinate marketing messages from the brand to the dealer.

Work Hard, Play Hard
Another point that rings true for Cobalt’s corporate culture is its strong sense of community. Aside from company parties, events and celebrations, trust and camaraderie is the foundation of Cobalt and one of the reasons why the company has so many DieHard employees. In everything they do, DieHards and newer employees, alike, work hard and play hard.

Posted in Cobalt Corporate Culture. Tags: , , , , . 1 Comment »

Cobaltians go for the gold

December 22, 2009 — digitalmileage

When describing his experiences with the Paralympics, longtime Cobalt employee Mark Bathum used these words to describe his fellow athletes and their attitude toward the endeavor, “It’s just what you do. You try to make a difference.”

Cobalt believes the same thing, a belief that manifests itself in many ways. For the next few months, Cobalt is sponsoring two Cobalt employees – Mark Bathum and Shane McSimov – in their efforts to do good.

Mark is realizing a goal he has had for 20 years, and started seriously trying for in 2008 – to race for the US Paralympics ski racing team. In 2010, in Vancouver, he will achieve that dream, but only after a lot of hard work and arduous training. Mark raced all last season to see how it would feel to do it. This year he’ll still be working, though remotely, while ramping up his ski training schedule in preparation for the big event. Cobalt will be following his efforts closely and supporting him in his bid!

Mark’s not the only one reaching out, though. Shane McSimov, another Cobalt employee, is organizing his own charity event in a very different way: a charity ping-pong game. Shane has challenged Scott Harrison, the founder of the organization charity: water to a $5000 ping-pong match in New York City, with the money going to build a well for a community that needs fresh water.

As Shane says, “A ping pong match in NYC can that save lives overseas and give clean drinking water to an entire community for 20 years; that’s a game worth playing.” The event will take place in early 2010, and will be streamed live on Ustream.com.

We’ll be writing more about Mark and Shane in the next couple months. Until then, keep updated on Mark’s progress on his website at www.markbathum.com, and you can donate to Shane’s ping-pong game by clicking here.

Cobalt is proud of both Shane and Mark for their efforts to give to something greater than themselves. As hard as we work, Cobalt also knows that when it comes to what really matters, it’s just what you do.

The Cobalt Group
www.cobalt.com
www.twitter.com/CobaltMarketing
www.youtube.com/cobaltlive

The Cobalt Group

Posted in Cobalt Corporate Culture. Tags: , , , , . 1 Comment »
« Older posts