My second time as a guest speaker for The New Brunswick Auto Dealers Association was great. Very thankful to be invited back for a second year in a row. Jane Young who is the Executive Director put on a marvellous event with meetings and speaker sessions in the afternoon and then an amazing Gala with entertainment from a hypnotist in the evening. I love attending these events as it gives myself a broader knowledge of the auto industry in Canada, not just from a marketing stand point, but as an industry in general.

I attended a close door dealer only meeting that had Rick Gauthier, President and CEO of The Canadian Auto Dealers Association giving some information and updating the dealer body on relevant and important items pertaining to the industry. The one statistic he mentioned was absolutely mind blowing in that the auto industry is a 160 billion dollar industry here in Canada which includes dealers, auto body and after market. The dealer portion is around a 100 billion which makes up for around 20% of retail sales in Canada. This industry is alive and well and offers so much diversity, happy to see more and more high performing people enter in.

For my topic this year, I wanted to diversify a bit and not just talk about social media, but rather mindset and digital marketing for auto dealers as a whole. I created a presentation that was thought provoking but zoned in on specific examples that auto dealers in Canada face on a day to day basis.

David Brown, General Manager of Downey Ford introduced me and also sits on the board. He gave an amazing intro speech but most notable is how he mentioned sending one of his marketing people to my digital marketing workshops who was brand new to the auto industry coming from a newspaper background and managed to double their website page views after just one session, you can watch what he say’s in this video. Thanks David!

I want to wrap this note up by saying 2015 has been a monster year for the auto industry in terms of change and education.

On my plane ride from Edmonton to Toronto was Premier Rachel Notley who I had to take a quick selfie with, super nice lady! Just goes to show that you never know who you will bump into at any given time! I am super humbled to have the clients I do, but also super excited for our industry moving into 2016. I think for people who are involved in our industry right now or thinking of coming in, there is not better time then now now to immerse yourself in it. So much change and possibility! See you soon!