A Call to Action: More About Marketing Scams Right Here in the Fleet Industry
If you force your email content on anyone too early, you risk preemptively losing their trust and their future business.
By Ed Pierce, Fleet Industry Marketer
Last month, I wrote about one of the more expensive marketing scams – vanity trade magazine offers by unknown industry publishers that promote glossy publications that none of your target market will ever see (unless you hand them one of your own copies).
This month, let’s review another common pitch that sounds good at first blush, but turns out to be “too good to be true.”
The Human Army Using Phones to Teach AI to Drive
As her fellow patients read dog-eared magazines or swipe through Instagram, Shari Forrest opens an app on her phone and gets busy training artificial intelligence.
Forrest isn't an engineer or programmer. She writes textbooks for a living. But when the 54-year-old from suburban St. Louis needs a break or has a free moment, she logs on to Mighty AI, and whiles away her time identifying pedestrians and trash cans and other things you don't want driverless cars running into.
"I am sitting waiting for a doctor's appointment and I can make a few pennies, that's not a bad deal," she says.
Could the U.S. Ever Ban Gas-Powered Cars Like France Wants to Do?
France this week announced a bold plan to ban the sale of all fully-gasoline and diesel fuel vehicles by 2040.
Other countries, like India and Norway have expressed interest in similar plans. But could, or should, the United States implement such a policy?
The answer, experts say, is complicated. One problem is the country's mixed attitude towards climate change. Some early adopters of electric vehicles are buying the cars to be more eco-friendly. But that motivation wouldn't drive the 52% of Americans who don't believe human activity is changing the climate.
Cars are Full of Tech That Gets Outdated Fast — So People are Leasing, not Buying
Buy a smartphone, use it for a couple of years, then ditch it for something new and improved.
It's a life cycle that has become the norm for cellphones. Now, that same short-term relationship is applying to what traditionally has been a long-term commitment: cars.
Instead of buying a vehicle, more Americans are shifting to leasing, which allows drivers to utilize a new or used car for a limited amount of time, typically three years.
Manheim Reports Used Vehicle Prices for Q2 End on High Note
The Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index hit a record high for the second consecutive month as wholesale used vehicle prices (on a mix-, mileage- and seasonally adjusted basis) rose 1.1 percent month-over-month in June.
The increase brought the Index reading to 129.3, which also represented a 2.5 percent increase from a year ago.
"The volume of transactions is up more dramatically than supply thanks to real demand from dealers and, in turn, consumers," said Jonathan Smoke, chief economist for Cox Automotive.
