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Laura Thieme

Bizresearch President – 10 years - 2007

Fisher College of Business Lecturer on Search Marketing

OSU Russian Studies Grad – 1993

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25th September 2007

Toyota Prius Hybrid - Is it Worth It? 1 reply

The Toyota Prius Hybrid - Is it Worth It?
by Laura Thieme

I’ve had the chance to test-drive the Toyota Prius Hybrid on two occasions. Should you consider buying the Toyota Prius, or taking it out for a test drive?

I took advantage of an opportunity to get an extended test-drive of the Prius in Dallas through Enterprise Rent A Car. I thought it was great that Enterprise offered the car, however, they do market the car currently as an “exotic”, which of course costs extra. I encourage you to stare them straight in the face for at least a few seconds, and you might find they lower the daily rental rate and possibly even drop it to the regular rate.

I was fascinated by the car and would have enjoyed more of a tutorial from Enterprise. I found many of the agents know very little about the “exotic” car. I will claim “female novice” on my first Enterprise experience. The concept of pushing a button to turn on the car and pushing a series of buttons or various things to initiate the car and shift into gear was out of the ordinary. Often, my car simply did not start. Not at all. Didn’t even turn on. Sometimes it would turn on, but wouldn’t shift into gear. I actually got stuck at a client site and couldn’t get the car to shift into reverse gear for the LIFE OF ME. Very frustrating, sad, humiliating and quite funny and yet sad experience. Did I say “sad”?

Toyota Prius - Laura Thieme does a rent a car test drive

When the car was actually moving in the forward direction, I thought it was zippy, enjoyable, and fascinating to learn about through trial and error. I’m posting videos to Google Video so you can see what the inside of the car looked like. In a geeky kinda way, I really enjoyed the Prius and would have liked to learn more about how it worked. Mostly due to the LCD screen which demonstrates directional arrows feeding the battery or draining the battery.

Here’s a suggestion: If you’re going to give me a large LCD screen, why don’t you offer an infomercial, Toyota? Give me a 30 second demo like the airlines do of what I need to know about the car to get it to shift into gear. Second, offer me more helpful videos that explain how the car works. That would possibly be a real hit with those of us who are willing to check out the hybrid. I think the LCD screen is distracting, so if you could tell me everything I need to know in the video, perhaps I’d watch that less and keep my eyes on the road.

I did save on gas money. I drove from Dallas to Corsicana Texas and back, and around town, and only used up a tank of gas, or perhaps a little less. The extra money I spent on the car itself, probably around $20, I saved in gas money. And I can say I finally got to test an alternative car. The rental savings, “cool factor”, and knowing I was requiring less gas - that was worth it in itself.

I’d like to learn more. I have now rented this car twice. And once I figured out the ‘key’ to putting the Prius into reverse, it wasn’t so bad to drive. Just remember this - if you test-drive the car, remember to have your foot on the brake when you turn on the car. There is no “neutral” gear, so put the brake on, turn on the car, and the zero MPH should light up on the mileage lcd window in the dashboard. Then you should be able to drive the car without a problem.

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10th July 2007

Current TV Ecospot - Cameron Diaz and Al Gore 1 reply

Request for Video Ads - 15, 30, or 60 second ecospot
by Laura Thieme

http://www.current.tv/ecospotcontest and http://www.climateprotect.org/

In my social media craze, and desire to blog about electric cars, I found this recent blog opportunity.  Create an ad for the site, as an ecospot, and one of the ad opportunities is the Toyota Prius.  If you win the video ad ecospot, you get a Toyota Highlander Hybrid.  Now, I have a problem with this despite being a Toyota Rav girl.  Why a Highlander? 

Here’s a great video:

http://www.climateprotect.org/ah12

It illustrates black balloons as our CO2 release into the environment.  Very cool and somewhat morbidly cool at the same time.

7th July 2007

Electric Cars & Plug-In Hybrids: Funding Demand 1 reply

Electric Cars & Plug-In Hybrids - How do we fuel and fund demand for these type of cars?

I’ve got the electric car and plug-in hybrid bug.  It started at the SEW Live Columbus search marketing conference, where I spoke on a panel regarding paid search marketing and measuring sales and profitability.  WebProNews covered the panel and interviewed me afterwards.  An East Coast auto dealer that sells electric vehicles, amongst more well-known popular brand cars, solicited my search marketing services.  I’ve been trying to get close them for three months.  A recent concern expressed regarding electric car stability (manufacturer or the company selling them) - which I’m not surprised by, the more I learn about electric cars. 

A couple of weeks ago, I set out to test drive electric cars and blog about my experience.  I had two companies contact me regarding my desire to do this, within 48 hours of my blog post.  I’m having a hard time closing this deal because either the companies don’t get search or the power of the Web, or aren’t convinced I should get paid for doing this.  I see no sense in commenting further on the former or the latter.  However, I do think using the Web to market electric cars is an interesting topic.

There are over 50,000 electric car keyword searches every month on the Web.  Fewer people look for hybrid cars on the Web, far fewer, like 6,000.  There is hype right now on electric cars, alternative fuels and hybrids.  Look at the success of the Toyota Prius hybrid, definitely well-advertised.  But is it as good as other all-electric cars, and what about a modified Hybrid Prius to a Plug-In?  Google has enjoyed recent press about funding development in plug-in hybrids announced recently through Google.org Foundation.  

There is one car that I think would be super cool in electric car form:  the Mini-Cooper - how about a plug in hybrid or electric car version?  I want to test drive every single electric car that’s still on the market.  As I’m preparing to do my test-drive PR & social media experiment, I’m reading up on electric cars.  I read an interesting article contribution on CNN by Alexandra Paul on electric cars.  She’s a founding member of Plug-In America.  She owns a Toyota Rav EV, no longer in production.  I bought the DVD “Who Killed the Electric Car?” from my local Borders tonight.

The more I learn about electric cars, vehicles and plug-in hybrids, the harder I realize it is to actually buy one of these cars.  Why is that?  Paul makes reference to this in her article on CNN.com, and says that electric vehicle manufacturers basically spend no money on advertising for their electric cars.  I’m experiencing this as well.  The only EV company that I’ve seen thus far that truly gets the power of web search, traditional PR, and advertising, is Tesla Motors.  Tesla shows up in the top ten search organic search results for electric cars.  I’ve read the write-up in Vanity Fair on Tesla, and with purchase endorsements of George Clooney and Google’s Page and Brin, what more advertising do you need?  Their press is phenomenal.  And it is a beautiful car.  It’s Hot!  Hot!  Hot!  I’d drive it, if given the chance.   However, will this car suffer the same fate as previous EVs that actors and actresses endorsed?  And, since it can not be afforded by the average American, have we not progressed further than GM’s EV1?  Perhaps not.  If you watch the movie, and you know anything about the Tesla, perhaps it won’t suffer the same fate.

Other electric car dealerships and their vehicle manufacturers unfortunately do not understand the power of search marketing or affiliate marketing per my recent experience.  Yet they will spend thousands of dollars on traditional TV and print advertising in some cases, for other car types they sell.  It’s a proven fact that search marketing costs about $8 per lead, where as direct mail costs $70 per lead.  Electric car manufacturers and dealerships - learn the power of search, invest in advertising online, social media and PR.  Learn from Tesla - they’re doing many things right.   Zenn, Miles, Sparrows, or other electric vehicles, none of them are showing up in the top ten organic searches for “electric cars”.  Zap does - and also pays for it.    They get search but I have to receive a call from my stated interest in their affiliate marketing program and the car.  I filled out the form two weeks ago, and resubmitted yesterday.

Marketing & Advertising For the Electric Car:

Try to promote an electric car yourself.  Good luck.  I’m having the exact same type of problems creating hype for electric cars myself.  One Tennessee politician offered to arrange an electric car race with Robert Redford and Paul Newman many, many years ago.  But the person who set it up realized there were no electric cars in the showrooms.  Even if hype were there, how would they handle demand? 

One senator comments in the movie - you never saw a good lookin’ woman or man draped over an electric car - that’s how they sell cars.  That’s true in my experience.   Will Clooney, Page and Brin change that?  Of course, have you seen the Tesla?  It’s EVMcSteamy.  I seriously doubt we’ll see Tesla advertised during Everybody Loves Raymond on TBS or FOX.  HBO maybe, but the question is would Tesla advertise?  And, as of tonight, they just lost their organic listing.  Would they invest in paid search and organic?  Their page titles need to be optimized.  I could help them…. 614-846-7560.

Marketing - it’s all about demand -

Who Killed the Electric Car movie references the story behind zero emissions mandate in Californie, and the history behind the GM EV1, the Impact, and a waiting list for their electric cars.  GM initially had actors and actresses drive the car, because no one else could afford the car.   Reference is made to producing four cars per day.  The auto manufacturers sued the California Air Resources Board.  As of July 2004, all GM EV1s were off the road.  No actor or actress could in fact re-lease the EVs.   Most of these people loved the GM EV1, but they couldn’t get the car.  They were going to Mesa, Arizona - 50 EV1s crushed at the GM - Ouch - I just watched a seriously bad moment on the movie.  GM is interviewed - says that every single EV will be re-used and recycled, and hardly crushed.  But they were crushed. 

Toyota RAV4 EVs were also tracked down, and they were being crushed as well.  Perfectly good cars.  Honda’s EVs were also getting shredded.  You have to see this movie.  The cars get shredded into a million pieces.   GM’s Burbank facility had about 70 electric vehicles remaining.  Alexandra Paul watched over the parking lot where the EVs were being stored, as part of a protest.  EV activists asked if people would buy out the remaining leases - they offered $1.9M to GM to put the cars back on the road.  GM did not respond, according to the movie.

Car makers say that consumers weren’t demanding the car.  Most of us never even knew about the GM EV1, or the Toyota RAV4 EV.   How many advertisements did you see for the electric car? 

Batteries - Stan Oshinsky who has over 200 patents to his name - manufacturered Ovonic batteries for the electric car.  GM bought controlling shares in the company.  Then GM sold to Texaco.  Interesting.  An oil company buys controlling shares in the batteries that fueled electric cars.

I just read that Think, previously owned by Ford, sold to Norwegian investors, has bought interest in Tesla Motors batteries, to the tune of $43M.  So GM buys Oshinksy batteries, sells to Texaco.  Ford sells its Think electric vehicle to Norwegians who buy batteries from Tesla Motors.  Hmmmm.  Almost humorous.

In March 2005, GM had police escorts arrest the EV1 protestors, including Alexandra Paul.  I’d have been proud to have been arrested on that one.  The last EV1s were taken away and destroyed.  GM disabled the one that is at the Petersen Automotive Museum, but #99 remains. 

Personally, I’d like to meet Stan & Iris Ovshinsky, and get involved with Plug-In America.  I still want to test drive lots of electric vehicles and document my findings here and on Bizresearch.  The Web feeds grass roots efficiently and enables word of mouth through social media. 

1st July 2007

30 Days In An Electric Car? 2 replies

Is It Possible - to Survive/Drive 30 Days in an Electric Car?
And Why Would I Want To?

A week ago, on a Saturday morning, I decided to blog about my desire to test drive electric cars for 30 days.  By Monday morning, I had two companies calling my office asking me for details.  I am likely moving forward with both companies in various ways.  I’ve been asked by both companies and others, why I would want to do this?  What’s in for me, for them, and others?

Personally, I’m interested in electric cars, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and alternative modes of transport.  Gas went up to $3.18 a gallon, or thereabouts this week, which was timely as I was driving to Mackinac Island for the Bizresearch Search N Spa event preparation (in August), which is about 450 miles each way from Worthington, Ohio.  It’s also timely as this is peak time for driving vacations.  It’s the week of the 4th of July.  No better time to up the gas prices, right?  I think gas prices are going to have to peak more, unfortunately, for people to strongly consider alternative fuels, or decide to drive an electric or plug-in hybrid.  But quite frankly, all of us are hearing more about electrics, hybrids and plug-in hybrids, if we’re tuned into the environment, global warming, and the news. 

Curiosity as stated above, environmental awareness and civic stewardship is a main driver in this initiative.  I’m a search marketing agency exec, so marketing & PR is the other key driver for all parties involved.  I don’t blog for the sake of blogging, I blog for the sake of educating others and to get my thoughts on “paper”.  I like to see incoming links and reviews from other environmentalists, TreeHugger, search marketers and others who are curious about electric cars or any other topic I choose to cover.  I want to increase awareness about social media, PR and search, and how these mediums can drive traffic and sales for all involved.

Most people, including myself, have noted that blogs drive traffic, but as of yet, are not great in terms of sales or revenue builders.  I do web analytics, and speak at the major search engine marketing conferences on this topic.  I spoke in New York about blog analytics, at the SES conference in April, and talked about how we used three different web analytics programs (NetTracker, Google Analytics, and ClickTracks Pro) to see whether or not people were staying on our site, or progressing to leads as a result of coming to our site, via a blog entry.

Typically, myself and others are saying that blogs do not convert people to sales.  Therefore, for those who’ve asked, if you’re wanting traffic numbers on blogs, that’s not a good indicator of sales potential.   Blog traffic and sales do not typically match expectations.  The conversion rate and actually, bounce rate, might be high for a blog entry.   But my goal here is not just to drive traffic, I’m working on increasing awareness, using social media as one medium to document my work, but actually coordinating everything offline with my PR agency, news media, local contacts, government and chamber execs, and environmentalists.

I plan to coordinate the 30-day event with all my solid contacts in the areas stated above to create a story that people want to know about - not just environmentalists.  I think people need to know about the value of an electric car but its limitations as well.  People appreciate knowing benefits and limitations before they buy. 

Here are my goals:

*Bizresearch is a full-service search engine marketing agency, serving clients with services such as a Competitor Market Assessment & Online Marketing Strategy ($20-$65k), paid search services (approximately 10% of ad spend or retainer), organic search (retainer), and web analytics services.   The fees assessed our potential green marketing agencies are not a main “driver” of Bizresearch’s revenue.  However, they do cover our expenses and marketing initiatives as stated in the blog entry below.

23rd June 2007

Electric Cars in 2007

Electric Cars - Would You Buy One?

I want to test-drive for 30 days an electric car and blog about it.  The fee is $7,500 per car for one month, and is separate from any other agreement you have with Bizresearch, my company.  I will ask that you help me to decorate the car with “Bizresearch Goes Green - Sponsored by [Insert Your Dealership & Auto Manufacturer Name]”.   The car color would preferably be green or red.

I blog about my true experience, your auto manufacturer and dealership gets the press.  I’ll blog on both Bizresearch and LauraThieme.com.  The teaser will be on Bizresearch and will send users to more details on LauraThieme.com.   I’d also link to your site, and respective content pages.

I want to see what it’s like to have to plug in each day, or every 100 miles, or however far your car goes.  I want to see how fast it goes, and we’ll track our progress.   If it only goes 25 mph, I can’t think of one place I can drive it.  So it has to at least travel 45mph for local trips.  For longer distance, it’s got to go 75 mph.

I’ll involve my PR company, and they’ll also promote it.  Pictures and video will be uploaded to YouTube, Google Video, Flickr and other social media sites.   I’ll tag each one uploaded so it tags the car’s manufacturer, dealership, and “electric car” or whatever is appropriate.

The fee applies to each car I test drive.  I will drive each car a minimum of 750 miles.   I drive around Columbus, to work, to the store (Whole Foods), to social events, and to client events.  I have an event in Mackinac Island in August, so I could drive as far as possible, before the ferry is required.  It would be my main source of transporation for those 30 days.   You provide all transportation costs in getting the car to and from me.  Your lawyers and my lawyers can get involved to hold us mutually harmless and all that good stuff.  Your PR folks can talk to my PR folks.  I’ll be the sole car driver. 

If you have an affiliate marketing program, I’d like to receive referral commissions of $250 on each car I help you sell. 

Personally, I want to see what it’s like to plug in a hybrid, watch my mileage, and power up.  I’ve always been a Toyota owner, so the Prius comes to mind.  But I’m actually interested in test-driving other electric cars as well.   As a blogger, and well-known search marketer, you could get some significant press from this.

I also want my former employer, AEP, (www.aep.com) to tell me how much it will increase my electricity cost for one year, depending on the car I choose.

Electric cars I’d like to test-drive for 30 days:

 Zapworld - I just submitted a request to them today.  Let’s see what happens, and how long it takes to hear from someone.  i’ve decided that this is the one, the Zap Obvio 828E Electric Car, which is what I want to drive for 30 days and blog about.  As a Toyota RAV4 owner, the other electric car I’m interested in - it’s the Zap-x Crossover Electric Car, which is coming soon (when would that be by chance?).  And just to see if I send them any sales - I decided to become a ZAP Affiliate marketer, so I can earn up to 5% commission on every referral sale.   The only problem I already see with their affiliate marketing program is that they can only track referral commission sales every 90 days.  It could take longer than 90 days for a person to make a decision on an electric car.   In fact, I think it could take up to a year unless we see gas prices hit $4 a gallon.  Even worse, they have to establish an account on the first visit, so they can track the person, which to me says this is another reason I’d likely not see a referral commission.   Lastly, I had a problem with my affiliate program setup, which makes me wonder if I’m in their system.  As of yet, two hours after posting, I’ve still not had an email come in to say I’ve set up an account.

I’m looking for other electric cars to test-drive for 30 days, and will post more here soon.  Could your electric car be one of the cars I test drive for 30 days?   Contact me at laura@bizresearch.com or call my assistant, Karen, at 614-846-7560 to see if your car could be one I test drive.

To learn more about electric cars:

Visit The Electric Auto Association - takes forever to load - try this site instead:  www.pluginamerica.com