Mobile Marketing: The pie is getting bigger!
by Al Hess, General Manager
How Much Do You Want?
As auto retailers watch mobile commerce evolve, car dealers will need to begin developing a plan that incorporates this new consumer engagement channel. Stats point to consumer’s preference for going direct to a dealer’s inventory in search for the ‘product they want, and are ready to buy now’. Most mobile shoppers are interested in the core functions or utility in a website, and prefer a ‘digest version’ of the traditional site. Let’s all remember these screens are small and mobility has its own unique set of needs. Mobile auto shoppers want to see photos and read about vehicle features that interest them, and they expect a fast and diverse way to ask questions – how they want, when they want. You’ve heard the coined phrase ‘location, location, location’, right? Well, in the mobile world – it’s all about location, geo-location, which means search with immediate access to requested information with multiple call-to-action options in which the retailer may communicate. Mobile is PC computing with a broadband connection in the palm of one’s own hand!
So remember, whether the statistic is one out of five or one out of four consumers shop on-the-go, the ‘mobile point’ is they are shopping for cars – and it’s on their mobile device. And the number of mobile auto shoppers will grow in relationship with the exponential growth of mobile! To see an example of how to effectively promote your inventory on a mobile device, text ‘promo2’ to 50123, and click on the link.
If you are not engaging your shoppers properly in the mobile environment today, consider your store closed and your customers/prospects are going to the competition. Welcome to the mobile party where being ‘fashionably late’ may have its cost.
What’s the opportunity cost of NOT playing in this space? And is it worth the risk?
March 08 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
Mobile Marketing: Generating customers (part 2 of 3)
by Al Hess, General Manager
What was the last purchase you made on your mobile device? Really?
Industry stats and trends fluctuate and are only as credible as their source. Yet, it would be a wasted effort to argue the point that there are several core trends developing and capable of sustained momentum which will change how we all shop. Whether the last fixed phone line will terminate in 2015 or 2020, the point is people are abandoning fixed phone lines for their mobile device. We all want communications to follow us where-ever we go. Whether we text a billion messages or some other huge number last year, the point is many people have found an alternative to talking on the phone – instead they are texting because of the control, expediency and spontaneity of the tool. The personal efficiencies of texting have been embraced and leveraged to communicate in large scale, and still allows for texting to be fun and productive.
Regardless if retailers will double their mobile ad spend to $2B in 2010 or not, the point is retailers are finding value in investing in mobile and are migrating advertising dollars from broadband to where the traffic is: wherever they want to be. Whether or not smart phones are 20% or 40% of total handset penetration, the point is more hardware manufacturers are building more smart phones and more retailers are selling more smart phones. The perfect storm of decreasing hardware costs, decreasing data subscription plans, expanding supply and exponential growth in usage and value will continue to fuel this self-fulfilling cycle to the point where mobile technology will be core and central to much of our communications and daily culture, beyond what we experience today.
So what does this all mean to the retailer, especially the automotive retailer? It means being an early adopter is passé and forward thinking retailers need to have a mobile presence now. Think ‘websites’ five years ago. Mobile is the next frontier, right? It also means having your website built for a mobile world. Tapping and increasing screen size will not work in a mobile environment where consumers have choices to view actual mobile developed sites. Translate: lack of a mobile website = shoppers visit a website they can actually read and enjoy! These same trends also reflect a dealer’s need to carefully evaluate spending on features and advanced technologies that have yet to be proven on a larger scale, specifically mobile e-commerce.
Past behavior predicts future results, right? If so, will your local market’s behavior change to accommodate technological advances or will they hold their ground with traditional means?
March 02 2010 | Mobile Technology | No Comments »
