Andrew Street is the CEO and Founder of Dealer OMG, an innovative social media marketing agency specializing in data-driven strategies and personalized support for the automotive industry. Andrew, an automotive advertising technologist, started his career focused on mastering cost-effective advertising platforms. His extensive experience includes working as a Local Business Consultant for Facebook, where he gained valuable insights into the platform’s advertising rollouts.
Building on this experience, Andrew created Dealer OMG with a vision to revolutionize the automotive industry by eliminating cookie-cutter ads. Dealer OMG is recognized for blending custom creative with the precise targeting of its proprietary adtech, vinAMP. Under Andrew’s leadership, the firm has grown rapidly, earning a spot on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in the US.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- Andrew Street talks about Dealer OMG and how they help their clients stand out
- The importance of asking the right questions
- How Dealer OMG’s services evolved throughout the years
- Why Andrew prefers building software instead of buying it off the shelf
- What are the challenges and pitfalls of creating internal software?
- How Andrew attracts and retains talent
- What Andrew does to create an upward trajectory for his employees
- Andrew’s favorite and highly recommended resources
In this episode…
In the dynamic world of digital advertising, the difference between success and failure often hinges on nuanced strategies and deep market insights. It’s a sphere where data-driven decision-making reigns supreme, and those who leverage data experience substantial business growth.
Andrew Street is no stranger to this concept. Andrew has a rich history of helping automotive dealerships supercharge their growth through powerful digital advertising tactics. His experience spans from understanding the nuances of Google’s ad platform to effectively hiring and nurturing talent for his remote agency, making him a wellspring of valuable insights for any entrepreneur navigating the digital landscape.
In this episode of the Rising Entrepreneurs Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Andrew Street, CEO and Founder of Dealer OMG, to discuss the art and science of digital advertising in the automotive industry. They delve into how Andrew’s agency has transformed dealerships’ growth trajectories, effective hiring practices for remote teams, why it’s essential to maintain a robust company culture in a fully remote environment, and how to nurture customer relationships in the digital age.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- EO Austin
- Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO)
- Dr. Jeremy Weisz on LinkedIn
- Rise25
- Andrew Street on LinkedIn
- Dealer OMG
- Tread Partners
- Gain Traction
- “[Top Agency Series] Most Valuable Advice When Selling Your Agency With Todd Taskey of Potomac Business Capital” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
- Second Bite Podcast
- Jason Swenk on LinkedIn
- Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler
- Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
- Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight
- Agency Management Institute
- Drew McLellan on LinkedIn
- Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman
Sponsor for this episode…
At Rise25, we’re committed to helping you connect with your Dream 100 referral partners, clients, and strategic partners through our done-for-you podcast solution.
We’re a professional podcast production agency that makes creating a podcast effortless. Since 2009, our proven system has helped thousands of B2B businesses build strong relationships with referral partners, clients, and audiences without doing the hard work.
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We’ll distribute each episode across more than 11 unique channels, including iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. We’ll also create copy for each episode and promote your show across social media.
Co-founders Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran credit podcasting as being the best thing they have ever done for their businesses. Podcasting connected them with the founders/CEOs of P90x, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, Rx Bars, YPO, EO, Lending Tree, FreshBooks, and many more.
The relationships you form through podcasting run deep. Jeremy and John became business partners through podcasting. They have even gone on family vacations and attended weddings of guests who have been on the podcast.
Podcast production has a lot of moving parts and is a big commitment on our end; we only want to work with people who are committed to their business and to cultivating amazing relationships.
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Rise25 Co-founders, Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran, have been podcasting and advising about podcasting since 2008.
Episode Transcript
Intro 0:02
Welcome to the Rising Entrepreneurs Podcast where we feature top founders and entrepreneurs and their journey. Now let’s get started with the show.
Jeremy Weisz 0:13
Dr. Jeremy Weisz here, founder of inspiredinsider.com where I talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders today is no different. I’ve Andrew Street of dealeromg.com. And Andrew before I formally introduce you, I would like to point out other episodes, people should check out of the podcast. We are talking about Neil Maier, Mike Edge, David Christopher at Tread Partners, they serve tire shops, right. And we’re going to talk about niching because Andrew has really niche down to dealerships. And we’re gonna go deep on that but they have a great podcast over there Neil and Mike and David so check them out Tread Partners Gain Traction Podcast. Also a great guest since this is part of the Top Agency Series, Todd Taskey. Todd Taskey has a Second Bite podcast and Todd helps pair agencies with private equity. And he funny we talked about valuation and and everything around what he’s found in the in the agency industry, but he’s found that some agencies made more on the second bite and then did on the first so they sold in the private equity sold again, and some of these agency owners made more on the Second Bite. So his Second Bite podcast is amazing. I think I’ve listened to every episode at this point, as well. So check all those out on inspiredinsider.com. And this episode is brought to you by Rise25. At Rise25 we help businesses give to and connect to their dream 100 relationships and partnerships. How do we do that? We actually help you run your podcast we’re an easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast we do the accountability, the strategy and the full execution and production. So that it makes it easy for them. You know, we call ourselves Andrew kind of the magic elves that work in the background to make sure everything happens. So the host could sit back relax, build the relationship and run their business. So you know for me the number one thing in my life is relationships. I’m always looking at ways to give to my best relationships I’m I found no better way over the past decade to profile the people and companies I most admire and share with the world what they’re working on. So if you have questions go to rise25.com and we’re you know, we’ve been doing it for over a decade, so feel free if you have anything podcast related. I’m excited to introduce Andrew Street, CEO of Dealer OMG. He bootstrapped it from an idea to an Inc 5000 fastest growing company in the US and his digital marketing firm is best known for lead generation and digital advertising innovation for car dealerships. And he actually started out working as a local business consultant for Facebook. And he witnessed their ad platform rollout and got a front row education on how to unlock its power. Now he does that for dealerships. So Andrew, thanks for joining me.
Andrew Street 3:00
Jeremy, I’m honored to be here. And that was a really impressive introduction with the the elevator pitch for you and the sponsors and all in one take. I’m happy to be here.
Jeremy Weisz 3:13
Even if I mess it up, I still keep it. So it doesn’t matter. Yeah, it’s a one take regardless. But talk about Dealer OMG. And what you do. I mentioned briefly, but tell us a little bit more.
Andrew Street 3:26
We were formed by my business partner myself, branched out from Facebook. And started working in e-commerce like was a big focus of mine is because I really liked outdoor apparel. That was mountain hardware in North Face, Columbia, Arcteryx and all these cool outdoor sporty kind of gears that I like to see myself in. And we were doing kind of complicated Co Op programs between the manufacturers and retailers, helping the manufacturers sell through the retailers. And what we found it was a lot of labor. And there was constantly reinventing things coming up with creative campaigns that were giveaways and things like that. And we picked up one car dealership in town. And it was a Toyota dealership that I didn’t have a lot of understanding of how they worked. But a lot of the same approaches that we were doing with E commerce were working really well with our car dealership. And over the course of like a year we were under a different name at the time or call for kicks marketing. We watched their sales go from 200 cars a month to about 1000 cars in a month. And it was new management and it was new inventory and whatever they were doing. They were getting a ton of success. But a lot of what they were doing, they’re pointing the finger at us and they grew their spend tenfold over the course of that year and so it started catching My attention like Okay, let’s start figuring out more about these dealerships. And they introduced us to another dealership, where we started doing the same, the same processes with Facebook and Instagram, just Facebook advertising at the time. And saw them grow from 200 to 700 cars a month. Like okay, so I ended up on a plane going to a dealership conference. And, and sat down next to somebody that worked at the dealership, who’s in their marketing department, and I just bought them a Bloody Mary or two, and ask them all the questions about how does the dealership work? People are talking about fixed ops department. What is that? Exactly? And you guys can sell new cars but lose money. When you lose $200 per car on average? How do you guys stay in business? And just explain it, ask them all the stupid questions of…
Jeremy Weisz 5:56
That doesn’t seem like a stupid question to me.
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