Klient:
Harley Davidson
The brand’s European dealers have learned to work in an online environment
case study
The brand’s European dealers have learned to work in an online environment
30
H-D dealers attended the training
3 days
that's how long the training took us in total
4
of our specialists participated in the training
their story
A BRAND THAT HAS BECOME SYNONYMOUS WITH MOTORCYCLES
Fat Boy, Road King, Electra Glide. Even a person who doesn’t know much about single-track travel can probably guess that these are machines from the Harley-Davidson factory. The brand was founded in 1903 by William Sylvester Harley and his friend Arthur Davidson. That’s when he and Arthur’s brother Walter built their first motorcycle.
Although suffering from a number of common ailments at the time, their first bike laid the foundation for a successful production run. Through diligence and considerable invention, the pair were able to refine and improve their subsequent products. The brand quickly gained a reputation for producing quality and sophisticated motorcycles that have kept their owners happy for decades.
It is no exaggeration to say that over time, “hárlej” has literally become synonymous with motorcycles. The company survived both world wars, the Great Depression in the 1930s and the rise of Japanese manufacturers in the 1970s and 1980s. They literally flooded the market with machines that were in many ways more technically advanced, better equipped and, in most cases, cheaper.
But one of the main reasons people buy motorcycles was missing from the Japanese models. Every Milwaukee “machine” has a soul in its basic equipment that makes it more than just a pile of iron and chrome. It’s also why the company has built an extremely strong community of fans who literally live the Harley-Davidson brand.
The manufacturer also has its loyal fans in the Czech Republic. After all, the oldest operating brand club in the world is based in Prague! Its full beginnings date back to 1927, but the company only really penetrated the markets of Central and Eastern Europe after the fall of the communist regime. Certified Harley-Davidson dealers can be found in selected cities in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Romania.
However, new technologies and the transition of marketing to the online environment cannot be ignored by an established brand like Harley-Davidson. Marketing executives in the Central and Eastern European region realised that simply drawing on history and relying on tradition was no longer enough. That’s why the brand representatives decided to join forces with us and prepare an online marketing seminar for the dealerships under their umbrella.
their goal
MAKE THE MOST OF THE POTENTIAL OF ONLINE MARKETING
We at Four Bros came to work with Harley-Davidson on the recommendation of one of our satisfied clients. The management had been planning online marketing training for dealers in the CEE region for some time. The goal was to familiarize dealers with the opportunities that modern online marketing provides, as well as what it can bring to their dealerships.
They can use the acquired knowledge not only in their own promotions, but also when communicating with specialists, marketing agencies or freelancers. In fact, thanks to education, they are able to better specify assignments and goals. At the same time, they are also able to monitor the performance of campaigns and subsequently evaluate whether cooperation with an external supplier is really effective.
The knowledge of online marketing is also closely related to the strengthening of brand awareness and the resulting increase in sales. While a brand may have a relatively large and dedicated community, that alone is no longer sustainable in today’s world. In particular, the way potential new clients were approached was highly inconsistent across dealerships. We therefore devoted a special section of the training to this. Given the premium segment in which the new “Harleys” and related products are sold, it is necessary to work with the target group all the more effectively.
our solution
TRAINING TAILORED TO THE CLIENT’S NEEDS
The content of the training sessions we were to deliver to Harley-Davidson dealers was put together fairly quickly in collaboration with the company’s marketing management. As this is a large company from the USA, we had to approve everything with the HQ in Milwaukee together with the management in the Czech Republic. It took us almost half a year to prepare contracts, agendas, arrange accommodation, training facilities and administrative details related to joining the Harley-Davidson partner database.
For better organization, we divided the training by where the dealers come from. Representatives from the Czech Republic and Slovakia attended the course in Fairhotel in Brno, while we invited dealers from Hungary and Romania to Budapest. Since the participants were from several countries, we chose English as the language of the training.
1
ONLINE PERFORMANCE MARKETING AS A FOUNDATION
The focus of the courses was on the basics of performance marketing. Our goal was to explain to the salespeople what falls into this category, how performance works and what it can bring them. We introduced them to how PPC campaigns work, explained how search campaigns or social ads work. It is these basics that, if set up and used correctly, can positively drive sales.
However, before we started, we pointed out to the dealers one fact that many companies still have problems with, namely the rivalry and poor cooperation between sales and marketing departments. However, they are not supposed to compete with each other, but rather cooperate with each other. If this is not the case, even the best performance marketing cannot solve sales problems. The aim of the lectures was not simply “marketing for marketing’s sake”, but to present the industry as a functional system that can help dealers if set up and operated correctly.
We started by explaining to the attendees what all falls under performance marketing, how it can be useful and if they really need it. We also introduced and explained the marketing funnel.
Our CEO Vitya described how modern performance marketing works, how to collect data and then use it, how to determine the target groups of campaigns, how to ideally segment products, or how to optimally determine margins. We then explained to the participants basic concepts such as PNO, ROI, or ROAS, how they are calculated and how to set them. Because the success or failure of a campaign depends on the right settings.
We also advised dealers on how to include visuals or how to work with branding in the process.
2
KNOWLEDGE OF ALL TOOLS IS ALREADY NECESSARY
An inseparable part was also the theoretical introduction to the tools used for online marketing management. We explained how to use Google Analytics, how to set up campaigns on Facebook or the specifics of advertising on Google.
Another topic we covered was working with marketing freelancers or agencies.
It is on the basis of the acquired knowledge that dealers can assign different campaigns and then monitor their proper execution. Thanks to the knowledge gained from the training, they will be sure that the external contractors are doing their job really 100% and there are no gaps anywhere. Together we also touched on the topic of brand awareness and how to increase it.
3
CONCRETE EXAMPLES FROM PRACTICE WILL TEACH YOU THE MOST
The theoretical part was smoothly followed by the practical part. The participants of the course tried out how to work with campaigns. Under the supervision of our performance specialists, they set up their campaigns together and completely set them up to be as effective as possible. From our experience, we know that it is what you actually “touch” that gives you the least problems.
At the end of the discussion. We were surprised that everybody always joined in and tried to ask what they needed. It was clear that they were genuinely interested in the lectures and wanted to learn as much as possible in a field that was still almost unknown to many of them.
common success
As each dealer had different requirements and the level of knowledge of the participants was very diverse, the preparation took us a lot of time. However, we managed to successfully combine all the requirements together and in the end we managed to do everything together.
The dealers who attended the training praised not only the content, but also the format and the overall atmosphere. In addition to the knowledge of our performance specialists, they also appreciated the fact that they presented the information clearly and answered even seemingly trivial questions. We ourselves are pleased not only that the training was useful for the participants, but also that we confirmed that we can handle such a specific task to the client’s full satisfaction.
We do not rule out working with Harley-Davidson in the future either. We already have several other topics for seminars in mind together with the client that could be implemented. We are confident that we will succeed.
Mirek Carvan, Lead Network Development HDMC EMEA
The Four Bros agency prepared a training course for us focused on online marketing. The cooperation with them was excellent and on a very professional level. It was obvious that the lecturers really understand the field and were able to introduce the participants to the basics of online marketing and thus move them further in their growth. The training was interesting and certainly beneficial and I would like to continue to deepen my knowledge in this field.
