“I started with Preston Ford as a salesperson in 1977. I spent the early years prospecting constantly. Sales rose, and I made the transition to ownership. By the age of 22, when our group acquired other brands, I had become the youngest first-generation dealer in the nation. Over time, with the help of my management team, I expanded the Preston Automotive Group to nine brands at multiple locations in Maryland and Delaware.
I have always used an aggressive marketing strategy to fuel growth. When the digital age arrived, I saw even more opportunity. My automotive group did too and worked tirelessly to develop a system that moved us to the forefront of digital success. In the past, what we did was market to everyone but only two percent of the viewers or listeners were in the market. With digital, that changed. I know it makes us dealers nervous not to be able to do the same old thing and hope it works. You want dealers who think this way to be your competition. While they are shouting from the rooftops, a savvy dealer with a strong digital strategy and in-house processes will eat away at their market share. Our automotive group is living proof. Though our geographical location is relatively isolated, our sales have steadily grown. Last year Preston Ford was the 52nd top selling Ford dealer in the nation.
iFrog is the culmination of years of continuously refining Preston Automotive Group’s digital strategies. Using the automotive group’s success as a model, Brent Durham and I founded iFrog Digital Marketing. Our goal was to offer other dealers digital marketing strategies and services that we knew worked. I also had another reason for starting iFrog, one closer to my heart. Whether as a member of Ford’s National Dealer Council or in other ways, I have always loved serving other dealers. I have an abiding passion for what we do and want to help dealers exceed their expectations.”
KT is a digital marketing veteran and possesses a wealth of experience, including holding the post as senior vice president for GTB (formerly Team Detroit) since 2012. He also developed numerous Dealer War Rooms for the Ford Dealer Advertising Fund Associations, along with being a crucial leader of Precision Retail Marketing and helping dealers improve their own digital marketing efforts.
Before joining GTB, KT held leadership positions with a handful of smaller digital marketing companies to help them with business operations, sales generations, and operating at scale. He also worked at Washington Post Newsweek Interactive, where he spent 11 years as the Vice President of Operations running the business operations of their digital properties: Washington Post (washingtonpost.com), Newsweek (newsweek.com), Slate (slate.com), and Budget Travel (budgettravel.com).
Before Dave assembled his in-house digital marketing team, he signed with a vendor. Minutes after the vendor left Dave's office, he posted Facebook ads for employees needed to service a large new account. At iFrog, Dave vowed he would never hire new employees to service new accounts. iFrog hires and trains employees before the need arises. If you have looked through our website and are interested in working us, we'd love to hear from you.
If you have questions about your current digital marketing strategies, we will help you answer them. We will look at everything from the optimization of your website to your social media presence, from your store’s unique branding to the tools used to drive traffic to your site. In short, our team will look at your entire digital footprint, tell you what we would do differently and explain why. We will also explain why the strategies and services we provide are different because we were Born in a Dealership®.
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