SEMA Archives - Clarity Digital Marketing Dallas Fort Worth

Passion about Hot Rods, Muscle Cars, and all things automotive overflows at SEMA 2017 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Robert Riggs talks to Jim Ring of the Ringbrothers about the custom muscle cars they unveiled and how it sets social media on fire for their business.

Transcript

[Mike Ring of The Ringbrothers Talks Muscle Cars & Hot Rods at SEMA 2017] [03:01]

Robert Riggs: Hi, I’m Robert Riggs with Clarity and we’re here at SEMA 2017 with Mike Ring, the older half of The Ringbrothers.

Mike Ring: That’s correct.

Robert: Which I think I best describe as the Michelangelos of car customizing.

Mike: Thank you.

Robert: So let me talk to you about passion. What is the passion? You go through here, there’s tens of thousands of people in here. What is that passion?

Mike: I think you grew up with it or you’re influenced by something or someone at a very young age, and for us, it was just wanting to get out of a small town and trying to find a way to get out of there, and it was amazing.

Robert: So behind me is what I’d call an old school restoration truck customization and we baby boomers, we love that, so what was it in that car that you were doing it for yourself that knew you wanted to do it?

Mike: We’ve done so many cars and we really hadn’t been known for doing any trucks at all, and what’s nice about it is we didn’t have to get super crazy and it wasn’t to make a statement or anything, it’s just about making a cool little truck for the shop, so using the original chassis to start with was not normal for us and it was just fun, it was just fun.

Robert: So you got a new wave coming up of Millennials.

Mike: Yes.

Robert: What’s their passion and do you see them – do you see Millennials some day as older adults being your clients?

Mike: I think the Millennials are going to demand a whole different type of vehicle. I hope they do. I’m really nervous that they will just take Uber everywhere and not even want a vehicle anymore. I don’t know where it’s going but I hope they do, but I think the technology with these kids and what they’re going to want, I mean, we’re seeing it the young guys that are working for us to be able to model things like I say in CAD, and create a car maybe that’s not even been out there – it’s their dream, and really, with technology today, there’s shops like ours that can build anything.

Robert: So you see basically scratch customized cars?

Mike: Scratch-built cars, yes, I really do, I think people that have the money are going to – they have a dream and they’re going to want to be able to create a – and a lot of the young people today could probably design their own car in some way that could bring to somebody and pull it off.

Robert: So do you ever just pinch yourself and say, “Wow, how did this happen?”

Mike: Yes, I mean, I come from a town of 600 and just think that people know who you are around the world sometimes. It’s pretty crazy.

Robert: So did you ever tried to race it?

Mike: No, not yet. I’m just kind of the one that is to do the bodywork and paint. My brother loves to just tear them up and chip them up, and he doesn’t care. I get a little bit upset with that but after seeing it done, the pressure is off.

Robert: Okay, well, hey, I appreciate you talking to us and understanding passion and the Millennials.

Mike: Yes, thanks.

Robert: Thank you, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Mike: Very much.

Brad Besancon talks to Mike Ring of the Ringbrothers at SEMA 2017 about how Facebook marketing expanded their custom car business to an international market. If these Baby Boomer hot rod builders use social media, don’t you think it’s about time you started?

Transcript

Brad Besancon: Hello, everyone. It’s Brad with Clarity again and we have the honor of sitting here with Mr. Ring of Ring Brothers and we are going to talk a little bit about social media. We’re not going to talk too much about cars which is kind of odd for you, isn’t it?

Mike Ring: It is, yes. It’s the end of 2017, same line, it’s been all cars.

Brad: So yesterday, we were in a Hot Rod Association panel with you and listened to you, and you indicated how important social has become to your business in kind of bringing on the passion of the next generation. Tell me a little bit about when you guys realized that social should be a part of kind of your overall business model.

Mike: Well, I got to tell you, we were pretty late in the game. I mean social has been around – we didn’t pick up on it until probably five years ago, how important it was and I’ll tell you, it was truly important. I mean, it got us to be able to reach out and find people and have people find us that we’d never have the opportunity to get. That includes all over the world. I mean, we’ve got customers from London, England. We’ve got a customer from Russia. You can’t get that without social media.

Brad: Right, and it just helps you spread your message and what you’re doing, and your passion for cars because you guys are very unique in what you do. You guys talked about that yesterday, about how it’s your kind of model and what you do, so you realized that, and then what did you start doing? Did you just jump in there full-fledged or did you like, “Hey, what do we do with this stuff?”

Mike: It was honestly way over our head. We had to hire a company to do it. Our sales went up, everything about it was good. Today, I don’t know how you could be without it.

Brad: Yes, and so let’s talk about that. So here we are, it’s not a typical business. We heard that also in the seminar, “I don’t use social, I don’t use social,” and then here’s The Ringbrothers using socials. How has it influenced business from a standpoint – because you guys do a lot – you don’t just build cars. You do parts and some other things.

Mike: We also do collision work.

Brad: So how has that affected your overall business?

Mike: It’s tremendously, like I said, you could get customers that you could never get without it and it also allows people, to really show them what you’re doing. The followers we have right now, I mean, I don’t even know the exact numbers, a couple hundred thousand Facebook, which that’s a couple hundred thousand people. That’s a lot of audience for just kind of starting out into this.

Brad: Yes, and you never know which one is going to pick up the phone and call you and say, “Hey, man, I really liked what you did. Can you do that for me?” So let’s talk about what you are doing. How do you use, let’s say Facebook or social media now in kind of keeping that connection with your customers and your fan base?

Mike: I think just showing everybody what we’re doing from start to finish is a big part of that. It’s one thing to show somebody a final product but it gets them engaged when you’re showing them little pieces here and making them wait for the final, the final ending.

Brad: It makes them a part of it, right?

Mike: It does, it brings them around, makes them part of the build, part of the process, and I think it’s exciting.

Brad: Yes, I think it is too, and they are killing it on social so if you guys are into cars and like custom builds, get over here and watch these guys. They are doing a great job. Hey, thanks for your time.

Mike: You’re welcome.

Brad: I really appreciate it.

Mike: Thank you so much.

Brad: Congratulations on everything.

Mike: I appreciate that.

Brad: Alright.