A mobile strategy is not just for the dealership, it's for you too!
It ‘s no secret that smartphones have become a part of our daily lives. A part of everyones lives and when I say everyone, I mean EVERYONE! From Seniors citizens, to 1st graders. Everyone is rocking the smartphone.
I know what you dealer principals, GMs and other industry "big wigs" are saying…." We need to have a mobile strategy no shit " and your right at this stage in the game you better but what I am about to go into is not for you. This is for the automotive professional who is on the front line hopefully building his/her business.
Sales pros this is a step to running your own business. Being a entrepreneur, a Showroom Executive.
Mobile/Smartphone statistics
Mobile now accounts for 10% of internet usage worldwide (this has more than doubled over last 18months) (The Next Web)
• 1.08 of the world’s 4 billion mobile phones are smartphones
• Apple and Android represent more than 75% of the smartphone market
• 7.96% of all web traffic in the U.S. is mobile traffic. That number skyrockets to 14.85% in Africa, and 17.84% in Asia — up 192.5% since 2010
• 29% of mobile users are open to scanning a mobile tag to get coupons
• 39% of instances where a consumer walks out of a store without buying were influenced by smartphones
• 91% of mobile internet access is for social activities, versus just 79% on desktops (Source: Hubspot)
• Over 1/3 of Facebook’s users access Facebook Mobile; 50% of Twitter’s users use Twitter Mobile
• QR code scans increased 300% in 2011 compared to 2010
• The average tablet user spends 13.9 hours per week with the device
• 73% of smartphone owners access social networks through apps at least once per day (Source:Hubspot)
• There was 103% growth in website traffic from smartphones from 2011-2012
• US consumers spend almost 1 in every 10 e commerce dollars using a mobile device (Source:Hubspot)
• There are currently 6 Billion mobile subscribers worldwide
• This equals 87% of the world’s population
• China and India account for 30% of this growth
• There are over 1.2 Billion people accessing the web from their mobiles
• Over 300,000 apps have been developed in the past 3 year
• Google earns 2.5 Billion in mobile ad revenue annually (Source Digital Buzz Blog)
And that trend is even venturing over to car buying. People aren’t just using their phones to login to Facebook or check their emails.
EBay Motors, a division of eBay Inc., did a study of millennials, that’s young people, and found that more than a third used their mobile phone to help research pricing and other factors while on dealer black tops. That’s compared to 19% for other age categories.
So what does this have to do with being a Automotive Professional you might be asking?
Well people buy from people. These days you need to somehow get in front of your prospective buyer. There are a few ways to do that:
1.Advertise to get new prospects (Whether it be online, newspaper, etc.)
2.Keep a good relationship with existing customers to build repeat business.
3.To get existing customers to refer you to their friends, families, co-workers etc.
Now lets look at this.
The cheapest way of getting extra business is by building up a good relationship, providing great service and showing your customers that you care.
The question is how do you get in front of them. Well if you have done a good job of building your relationships then your existing customers will refer you to their friends.
How is this done? Usually they hand out a card or maybe its just word of mouth and the prospect is left to look up your number online.
Well what about this idea. Get a premium mobile friendly website. It will work on any phone, or device that can access the internet.
On your business card you hand out, have a QR code that someone can scan which then links them through to a video of you right their in your mobile website.
It can have tap– to-call. Tap-to-email. It can have a map of where the dealership is so they know how to find you.
It can be loaded with 100’s of photos of each customer you have ever sold a car too.
It can have video testimonials from existing customers telling prospects what it is like dealing with you and why they would recommend you.
It can have video walk arounds of you doing a review on a number of cars.
It can have a contact form so that people can send you there details and any comments.
They can share your mobile site to Facebook, Twitter and or email it to a friend. (Much better then sending a business card.)
It can have other photos albums of new cars with videos of those cars and all their specs.
The ideas are endless of what you can do with a mobile website.
When you think about it who doesn’t have a phone these days?
What younger generation person doesn’t have a phone these days. They are all over it with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc
That’s where you want to be. You want to be in front of their eyeballs.
Your premium mobile website is like an interactive business card. It’s your marketing tool that you can keep updating and getting circulated.
To see what a premium mobile website looks like check out mine at "http://m.yourhyundaiguy.com" http://m.yourhyundaiguy.com once you see that it will give some ideas and then with your own imagine added to it you will have the best marketing tool to crush it.
Not all mobile websites are the same just like not all cars are the same. With mobile you want something that is gong to work on all devices and is designed with the latest mobile technology.
Mobile is your next big move as a "Showroom Executive". If you do not already have your website up, you need to knock that out before you kick your mobile strategy in gear in my opinion.
Building brands and marketing strategies are very much a passion of mine so any automotive professionals reading AutoSuccess Magazine please feel free to contact me for a strategy session.
You can find me on the internet!
Robert Wiesman
Comments
Robert, how well does your mobile site work at driving traffic toward you? How many of your contacts are new, and how many of those are referrals?
I'm impressed with the effort, and I can tell that it works, but I'd like to know how well. Thanks.
Great stuff. This is exactly why I started our company back in August of Last year.
I've been in this great industry for 20 years now, the first 12 on the retail side then with Cars.com & Edmunds launching products and training dealers/sales people and the biggest area of missed opportunity has been helping dealers connect with mobile shoppers. Not just connecting with them, but doing it in the way that the consumer is going to also want to connect.
Back in November, Nielsen/xAd/telmetrics did mobile Auto Shopper research and learned that 49% of the Auto Shoppers who start shopping on mobile intend to purchase within 24 hours, that is an AWESOME opportunity for dealers if the mobile shopper is handled right.
The challenges come with many of the sites that Dealers have being 'not so mobile friendly'. Contact At Once has some great tools chat-wise so that consumers can text to chat with the dealer, etc.
June 1st, our company is Launching AutoOption which is the first site built specifically to help dealers connect with mobile shoppers and deliver incentives from the site to the mobile shopper's phone.
There are a million 'mobile marketers' outside of automotive that see the potential for $$$ in our industry so they fly in and sell crap to dealers all over because the lack of familiarity has opened many dealers up to be taken advantage of. Thankfully, there has been more and more information out there to help dealers get a better understanding of this growing segment.
Thanks for sharing some solid info Robert!
If you google best mobile marketing for Automotive Dealers you'll see that KonigCo is #1 and it's mostly due to our AutoCapture tool.
What an awesome article Robert! Like Aaron, I have been in the business since 1991 and I, too, have witnessed so many changes. You either learn to adapt, or you will get passed by. Thanks for sharing SO many great ideas with the group.
I don't know how long you have been in the auto industry , but going way back in time , when I first began of course there was no such thing as interent leads etc Our leads were developed from basically your previous customers and referrals cold calling door to door etc etc, so as they say what's old is new again . . The shopping experience is the entire key to creating new buisness, repeat business and referral buisness. As far as mobile is concerned , it has completely changed consumer behavior and forced dealerships to adapt their processes, marketing strategies and technologies The mobile segment will continue to grow and represents a huge growth oppurtunity.Consumers are on , when they are on the go. Great article Robert!