Know-How Exchange : Social Media

Dear Sales,

Do the kinds of people who drive SUVs and who go off road actually WANT sleek and discrete? That is: is there a market for this kind of elegant and near invisible sill protection?

I'm asking this because the vast majority of the SUVs I've seen with any kind of rock sliders, cow catchers, 'roo bars, or sill protection all make big, beefy, "move or die" statements.

Your product looks great but the point is, many SUV drivers don't just buy these things to protect their vehicles, they buy them to make statements: they buy them to be seen.

The whole side bar, rock slider, side step thing says "look at me".
And although YOU might think your product is hip and cool, alas, what YOU think is largely irrelevant. The thing that matters far more is what buyers think.

It's possible even though you've, as you say, tapped into the LR dealers (and I presume that by LR you mean Land Rover), AND EVEN THOUGH the dealers might like the product, it's possible that they don't want to carry inventory because they know that there may be little demand.

Do most uber cool—urban chic Land Rover buyers buy their Landie to drive off road? Or do they buy to impress and intimidate their neighbours? Were I spending well over $65,000 on a car that's DESIGNED to go off road, I'm not sure I'd WANT to take it off road.

If you see what I mean. But that's just me.

Although you may think your product is sleek and cool (and I tend to agree with you) is it hip and cool enough? Is it VISIBLE enough to make the kinds of statements the buyers of these kinds of vehicles WANT to make?

With your price point of $1,250 per sill wrap that's two and a half grand for something that is, in effect invisible. Most people when they spend that kind of money on a vehicle customization package want the thing they're spending the money on to be seen.

Now, I know none of this addresses your social media question, but I think it's an important issue to think about.

Would your own sleek, hip, and uber cool and more visible version of the basic angular designs most people see and use on their SUVs make more of a statement and therefore be more attractive to potential buyers? Perhaps an extension of your undercarriage box section that looks more like a side step, that sticks out more, and that makes more of a visible statement would draw more attention and draw more questions to the owners of Land Rovers, questions along the lines of "They're COOL! Where did you get them?"

Social media wise, you need to consider video on your site: video showing before installation, during the install, and after, and what these things do to prevent rocks denting and dinging those hard to repair spots.

Video distributed via www.tubemogul.com will reach farther than YouTube alone


I've no idea what your price point is

Dear Sales,

Do the kinds of people who drive SUVs and who go off road actually WANT sleek and discrete? That is: is there a market for this kind of elegant and near invisible sill protection?

I'm asking this because the vast majority of the SUVs I've seen with any kind of rock sliders, cow catchers, 'roo bars, or sill protection all make big, beefy, "move or die" statements.

Your product looks great but the point is, many SUV drivers don't just buy these things to protect their vehicles, they buy them to make statements: they buy them to be seen.

The whole side bar, rock slider, side step thing says "look at me".
And although YOU might think your product is hip and cool, alas, what YOU think is largely irrelevant. The thing that matters far more is what buyers think.

It's possible even though you've, as you say, tapped into the LR dealers (and I presume that by LR you mean Land Rover), AND EVEN THOUGH the dealers might like the product, it's possible that they don't want to carry inventory because they know that there may be little demand.

Do most uber cool—urban chic Land Rover buyers buy their Landie to drive off road? Or do they buy to impress and intimidate their neighbours? Were I spending well over $65,000 on a car that's DESIGNED to go off road, I'm not sure I'd WANT to take it off road.

If you see what I mean. But that's just me.

Although you may think your product is sleek and cool (and I tend to agree with you) is it hip and cool enough? Is it VISIBLE enough to make the kinds of statements the buyers of these kinds of vehicles WANT to make?

With your price point of $1,250 per sill wrap that's two and a half grand for something that is, in effect invisible. Most people when they spend that kind of money on a vehicle customization package want the thing they're spending the money on to be seen.

Now, I know none of this addresses your social media question, but I think it's an important issue to think about.

Would your own sleek, hip, and uber cool and more visible version of the basic angular designs most people see and use on their SUVs make more of a statement and therefore be more attractive to potential buyers?

Perhaps an extension of your undercarriage box section that looks more like a side step, that sticks out more, and that makes more of a visible statement would draw more attention and draw more questions to the owners of Land Rovers, questions along the lines of "They're COOL! Where did you get them?"

Social media wise, you need to consider video on your site: video showing before installation, during the install, and after, and what these things do to prevent rocks denting and dinging those hard to repair spots.

Video distributed via www.tubemogul.com will reach farther than YouTube alone and a video as an infomercial will do much to increase your visibility.

You can use Twitter and Facebook to drive traffic to your main site (on which people can see your video- or better yet, your range of videos), and you could set up a user content-based blog where customers tell their stories of use with and without your product.

And you could promote all these links through the many dedicated Land Rover online forums.

The search functions of Twitter and Facebook will give you a lot of links as to who is searching for Land Rover add ons. And through Twitter, if you can track down one or two high profile Land Rover fans and get your product in front of that person and get his or her endorsement, you create additional social proof.

I know I've covered a lot of ground here and trust me, it's not my intent to belittle your product. I think it rocks (no pun intended), really I do. I'm just wondering if perhaps it might be a wee bit too subtle?

I hope this gives you food for thought.

My product thoughts aside, the social media aspect needs elements of community, of social belonging as the biggest part of its mix, otherwise it will sound sales pitchy, which isn't what social media is about. Social media needs to be first, about getting people to feel that yours is a clan, a group, that they either do belong to or that that they aspire to belong to.

Before it's about selling it's about it's all about getting people to know you, like you, and trust you; it's about establishing relationships and forming bonds—bonds that form the beginning of a great and lasting relationship built on common interests.

I hope this helps. Good luck to you.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

Dear Sales,

Apologies for the unfinished initial post. I had some kind of system freeze while I was writing and the unfinished version got posted before I finished it. The second post is the complete version and the one I intended to post.

Gary B.

Besides posting, have you met people at either Land Rover shows (https://www.lroshow.com/, for example) or Land Rover clubs (https://www.roverparts.com/clubs/)? If you're trying to bootstrap things, then you need word of mouth, and the best way to get it is to talk with people, and get their feedback on what they're willing to pay for (ideally, prepay for). Talk to your potential customers to learn more.

I'm with Jay. I started a 10,000 product automotive ecommerce site which I sold a few years back.

Having been involved in the car world for most of my life, been a racer, collector, etc., I'd have to say that based upon your budget, the clubs would be my first target. I was involved in the Porsche Club of America and the BMWCCA and a lot of business is being done through relationships and small event sponsorships. Getting involved in off-road clubs would help to get your word-of-mouth sales kick started.

If you plan on getting anywhere you also need to establish a budget for supplying media channels samples of your kit. More coverage in publications will help.

Twitter and Facebook are also good channels for you. Keep the feeds less commercial. Throw in some special offers at regular intervals (Mozy.com is a good case study on Twitter).

Think of some partners that could help to generate some good cross-promotional buzz.

Also...you can't plan or expect something to go viral. It either goes viral (by the people who trust & like your brand) or it doesn't. Here's a great post from ZDNet:

"Nothing is viral, but everything is contagious" (https://blogs.zdnet.com/feeds/?p=2002&tag=col1;post-2002)

Beth Harte
Community Manager, MarketingProfs
@bethharte on Twitter