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BuyerBridge 2021 Annual Recap

It’s Time: 2021 Recap

Just like that, 2021 has come to a close – and I think we all are probably asking the same question: “Where does the time go?

…which is why as we head into 2022, it’s SO important to look back on and really reflect on where the time went; who we spent it with, what we spent it on, and remind ourselves of all that we’ve accomplished in such a short period.

January

February

  • One of our long-time team members, Miranda, welcomed a baby girl into the world!!! 👶 
  • Rachel got Facebook Blueprint Certified!
  • We officially replaced all instances of the Dealer Dashboard with the new and improved dashboard, bringing results to the BuyerBridge platform homepage.
  • We welcomed Sandra, Facebook Specialist, and Craig, Project Manager, to the team. As of February 28th, we earned the milestone of having our employees #WorkingFromWherever in 15 states! 🗺
  • We published a new blog on using the Offline Event Uploader Tool to prove Facebook ROI!
  • The Ad Ops team churned out tons of new playbooks, including campaigns for Honda Zero Percent Event, Ford Truck Month, Nissan Service, and Toyota Certified Pre-Owned. 

March

  • We launched our On-Demand Demo campaign that took users behind-the-scenes of BuyerBridge in an exciting video – shout out to our UI/UX Designer, Nathan, and Marketer, Lauren, who teamed up to make this 🔥video. 
  • Phil, Head of Ad Operations, joined the ranks!
  • Wow – March was a month full of employee certifications ✅:  Kristen &  Sarah became Facebook Blueprint Certified, and Sandra & Chris received their Customer Value Optimization badge! 
  • To be more in line with Facebook’s Best Practice guidelines, the Ad Ops team began creating new video ratio sizes for all accounts!
  • In March, we first began sharing our vision for “Omnichannel” social advertising, where shoppers’ actions are monitored and targeted across more than one or two platforms. (👀  Wait to see how this vision comes to life in upcoming months!)
  • The Creative Team wrapped Q2 with a whopping 110 Model Line Playbooks added to their arsenal! 
  • New Global Reporting Filters were added to the Dealer Dashboard, and Dealer Reports to provide users with the ability to further refine the data shown. 
  • We made the process of uploading offline events easier for users by advancing the Offline Event Uploader Tool design. 
  • Katelyn closed on her 1st house, and we all competed in a very competitive Egg Decoration contest…(Shoutout to Samantha for taking home the win with her rendition of Egg Starry Night!) 🥚 🤩
  • When Apple released their iOS 14 updates, we published documentation on Apple iOS 14 & Facebook Advertising to help agencies set their dealers up for success.
    • We also included a guide HERE to help agencies verify their dealer’s website domain in Facebook Business Manager. (Huge shout out to the entire BB Team for tackling this head-on!)

April

  • We dove into the BuyerBridge platform and all it has to offer in a new blog that “Breaks Down BuyerBridge.” 
  • To help agencies ensure their clients were set up for success despite the Apple iOS 14 updates released, we documented critical action items like pixel sharing & pixel event prioritization.
  • We deployed an update that gives users richer data when looking at the Facebook Advertising Report and Metric funnel!
  • A new customizable agency asset, “5 Key Facebook Campaigns Your Dealership Needs To Be Running,” was created for our partners to help their clients better understand the core of a bulletproof Facebook Ad strategy.
  • Katelyn finally got hitched after her wedding was postponed last year! 👰
  • With inventory at an all-time low, we shot a video walk-through of our Buyback Playbook that went over the benefits of Buyback ads + showed off our ready-to-deploy ads.

May

  • BuyerBridge participated in an exclusive test pilot for MSN Autos Marketplace.
  • All of our external communication and the BuyerBridge knowledge base was moved over to HubSpot – this was a big transition but we couldn’t be happier! 
  • One of our Partnership Managers, Chris, finished May at 150% quota attainment! (🤑  ROCK ON, CHRIS!)
  • Our Ad Ops team updated our Buyback Playbook to reflect the inventory shortage problem all dealers were facing.
    • Any mention of “Trade-In” and “Trade Keys” was removed and we added 19 brand new ads with “cash offer” and “buy back event” messages only. 
  • Agencies wanted more OEM-Specific Playbooks – so our amazing Ad Ops & Creative team created 4 brand-new OEM-Specific Playbooks! 🚙
  • We made a HUGE announcement…that Omnichannel Advertising in BuyerBridge was officially in the works! 🚀

June

  • Chaz joined the team as a Support Analyst and immediately hit the ground running!
  • Lorenz bought his 1st house 🏠   and Nathan P. got engaged 💍 ! 
  • 100% of the Client Services Team (Facebook, Creative, Performance, and Partner Teams) got their Snapchat Essentials Certification! 👻
  • Phase 1 of the BuyerBridge Monitoring System went LIVE to help our agency partners quickly identify any issues with client accounts, making them “unfireable”! 
  • We released new (editable) agency resources including a slide deck and one-pager to help our partners increase used-vehicle inventory for their dealer-clients using Buyback campaigns. 
  • We launched our PDF Performance Report Builder [V2] and provided agencies with the ability to easily create CUSTOM, personalized performance reports.

July

  • Danny completed the construction of his new home! 👷‍♂️
  • Our remote team was getting stuck in the “noise” of emails, Slacks, and meetings, so we set up an internal 4-hour time block on Wednesdays to increase productivity. 
    • During 3M Time, internal communication goes COMPLETELY quiet.🤫   (It’s been a huge success!)
  • To help agencies encourage dealers to reduce friction in the auto-buyer journey, we created new (customizable) agency sales assets for On-Facebook Destination for AIA!
  • There were over 100 dealers who added live inventory to MSN Autos Marketplace!
  • We began the process of re-documenting Onboarding the BuyerBridge platform to make sure it was super simple and easy for agencies to understand.

August

  • Facebook removed the ability for Marketplace listing automation, but BuyerBridge was there to pick up the pieces. We built a new Facebook Marketplace Management tool that made it easier for users to update, remove, and add listings to Facebook Marketplace!
  • We set Snapchat beta live as a new channel in the Omni dashboard for select agency users.
  • 4 new Onboarding articles were added to our support hub that helps users get started with BuyerBridge seamlessly. 
  • Our UI/UX Designer, Nathan, and Marketer, Lauren, teamed up AGAIN to completely overhaul the BuyerBridge website! 💪
  • Liz joined our team as a Partner Specialist! 💃
  • Chaz became Facebook Blueprint Certified; Samantha became Community Management certified while Joshua earned a Copywriting specialist badge; Phil, Miranda, and Rachel finished their Snapchat Ads Manager courses! 🧠

September

  • Phase 1 of the BuyerBridge Website overhaul was completed! 14 brand-new Landing Pages were added, and Nathan + Lauren proved teamwork makes the dream work. 💯
  • The BuyerBridge’s Marketplace Management Tool officially launched in September! We wrote a Q&A about the tool and explained how to troubleshoot Marketplace issues. 
  • To help agencies with getting their dealer-clients’ inventory back on Facebook Marketplace, we released 3 more new (editable) agency sales assets for our solution.
  • Shout out to the Ads Ops team, who willingly jumped in and aligned under a new team structure, and quickly organized around a new direction! 
  • In preparation for Snapchat Ads in BuyerBridge, our awesome developer, Ben, worked hard to ensure the Snap play deployment functional! (Go Ben! 🔥 )
  • Brand new pilot campaigns were launched on TikTok & Pinterest, + we added more A/B tests to further optimize our Snapchat campaigns.
  • The leadership team met in New York for our quarterly retreat for the first time since the pandemic! 
  • Samantha K., Chaz S., and Liz H. all received DigitalMarketer certifications ranging from Data Analytics to Email Marketing specialties, while Jordon S. and Chaz S. got Facebook Blueprint Certified! (LEARNING 👏  AND  👏  LEADING!)
  • WOW! Gearing up for the new year, the Creative and Ad Ops team added 31 new Model Line playbooks, and created 73 templates for 2022 Model Lines! 
  • Sarah was PROMOTED to Manager of Partner Experience! We appreciate all your hard work, Sarah! 🤩 
  • Omnichannel onboarding and reporting were set up in the BuyerBridge platform, helping agencies and dealers visualize their ad results across multiple channels.

October

  • BuyerBridge’s new and improved Market Analyzer Tool was released! This tool helps agencies identify which channels dealer-clients should be on, PLUS the exact advertising budget they should be spending on each channel. 
    • Watch our CEO geek out while going over how to maximize the MarketAnalyzer tool HERE! 🤓
  • We launched an “Unbeatable Buyback Strategies” campaign to help agencies solve the #1 problem for dealers right now – low inventory.
  • Facebook officially became Meta – and we wrote a blog going over what auto agencies need to know about Facebook’s new “Metaverse.”
  • In anticipation of Snapchat Ads being available in BuyerBridge, we created 3 agency sales assets to help agencies promote Snapchat Inventory Ads.
  • Miranda transitioned into a new role to help with documentation around all the powerful tools in BuyerBridgee, and led the charge with 8+ new support articles added in October! (Miranda = rockstar 🎸)  
  • BuyerBridge.io graduated to BuyerBridge.com!  🎓
  • We added a new BuyerBridge Partner Assets Portal for our partners to access and utilize the awesome animations + images featured on our new website.
  • With Snapchat ads becoming available soon in BuyerBridge, we created 3 Editable Agency Sales Assets for Snapchat Inventory Ads specifically! 
  • Our Leadership Team, Directors, and Managers all completed a Gitlab + Coursera course on “How to Manage a Remote Team” to help us be better leaders in a remote world.
  • In honor of one of our Core Values, “Learn and Lead,” many team members set up Google Classroom training courses to help our team cross-train and level up!
  • We began alpha testing ad campaigns on Pinterest, initiated “Buy Back” campaign tests on Snapchat, and launched full-funnel Messenger-based Lead Forms on Facebook!
  • Rachel joined the BuyerBridge Partner Experience team!
  • One of the most popular campaigns this year, the “Custom Order” playbook, was released!
  • Kristen, Rachel, and Sarah exemplified one of our Core Values, “Jumping In,” always doing much, much more than their typical job duties. We’re lucky to have them! 🙏
  • As a whole, shout out to the Engineering team for the biggest month of releases in our company’s history: MarketAnalyzer, Omni-Channel Onboarding & Reporting In-Dashboard, Marketplace Posting Tool!

November

  • Our VP of Marketing, Brooke, was selected for the SRQ Magazine’s 35 Under 35 Competition, which recognizes young professionals who have distinguished themselves with their leadership in the field. (WELL DESERVED, BROOKE!!! 🏆 )
  • The UX/UI team began designing our vision for a “creative studio” tool to help agencies and dealers alike create custom graphics easily for their ad campaigns. We can’t wait to release this next year!
  • We began testing a brand new Hubspot “Customer Portal” for better visibility of tickets. 
  • We hosted our “Seasonal Mixology” culture event, where we brought in one of Sarasota’s favorite bartenders to teach our team how to make (and shake) 3 fun drinks, virtually over Zoom! 🥃
  • 19 new Playbooks were launched in November: Ford Year-End Sales Event, Custom Order, Nissan & Chevrolet Service, Cadillac CPO, Co-Op Ready Playbooks
  • The Ad Ops team finalized a new 2022 BuyBack Playbook for the US and CA!
  • One of our partners had great matchback results: 10 dealers coming in under $200 cost per sale, 4 under $150 cost per sale, and 2 under $100 cost per sale. 💥
  • BuyerBridge’s Partner Manager, Chris, DOUBLED his quota last month – amazing! 
  • Miranda published 11 additional support articles to the BuyerBridge Knowledge Base QTD. 🎉 
  • Leveraging Co-Op for dealer-clients is critical, so we documented what the Co-Op program is and how to get pre-approved here.

December

  • We flew all of our managers down to Sarasota, FL to reflect on 2021, prep for 2022, and to talk about ways to be the best leaders in a fully remote world!
    • …and we invited our local team members to join the managers for some team bonding over dinner in Longboat Key, FL! 🌞 
  • The Marketing team organized one of the biggest events of the year, the State of Automotive, “5 Days of Omni-Social,” which gave agencies and vendors access to exclusive interviews with Pinterest, Facebook (Meta), Snapchat, and TikTok, plus over 23 FREE, brand-new resources. Catch the FULL recap here!
  • To celebrate the holidays, the entire team joined in on a virtual White Elephant gift exchange, where some of the gifts included a Burrito Blanket, Baby Yoda NFT, and a Portable Campfire! 
  • As a gift to all our team members for their hard work this year, we decided to close down our office in the final week of December to give everyone a chance to reset, relax, and be with their family and friends. 
  • We also hosted a Gingerbread House contest, where the only limit was our imagination…kudos to Justin for taking the “cake” with his New England Sugary Seaside creation!

Now Onto 2022… 

We feel lucky to be ringing in the new year with an awesome team, the best partners, and are super excited to see what 2022 has in store. 🥳

(If you’re not yet a BuyerBridge Partner, click here to let us show you how we make advertising for dealers across multiple platforms fast, efficient, and optimized. 

Thank you for allowing us to continue creating innovating AdTech and making day-day life easier for agencies. Happy new year!

Lauren Blackwell

Lauren Blackwell

Author