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AUTOS: Bot detection tech, digital marketing optimized
In the market for a new vehicle? Talk to Daniel Kim.
"I probably helped two dozen people buy cars on a yearly basis," said the self-proclaimed auto enthusiast, who doesn't charge for the service. "I just know how to work with the dealers. I know the pain points and how to negotiate for a good deal."
Kim's day job, meanwhile, is helping those same dealers sell more cars by optimizing their digital marketing spending. His Irvine-based analytics company, Orbee, focuses on "advertising waste," including bot traffic that eats up about 40% of paid digital advertising stemming from the automotive industry.
About 200 dealerships nationwide have subscribed to Orbee's services since the company's 2015 inception, including Mercedes-Bens of Laguna Niguel, Audi South Coast in Santa Ana, Delillo Chevrolet in Huntington Beach and Tuttle-Click Automotive Group in Irvine.
"We haven't experienced a lot of issues with bot traffic, but I do know that it's rampant across our industry and probably across several industries for that matter," said Shirley Dordell, marketing director at Tuttle-Click, which posted about $950 million in sales last year. "[The Orbee collaboration] has definitely brought a lot of transparency when it comes to where our (digital) traffic is coming from and where we are spending our ad dollars, and what's working and what's not."
What's a Bot?
Bots are software applications that perform...