If your automotive dealership hasn’t implemented an effective mobile-first strategy yet, what’s holding you back? Consider this: not only do automotive dealers that lag behind in mobile risk the loss of potential customers, but they may be actually helping those competitors that provide a better mobile experience.

McKinsey says that 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they had trouble accessing, and 40% say they would simply visit a competitor’s site instead. Inferior mobile user experiences also can hurt word-of-mouth—57% of users said they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site. If that’s not enough, as of 2015 more Google searches were performed on mobile devices than on desktop computers, and according to Zenith Media, mobile devices will account for 75 percent of global internet traffic in 2017.

With proof of the power of mobile on the rise, our 2016 Google Channel Sales Mobile Champion Award becomes that much more meaningful. Winning this prestigious award, not once—but twice (as Search Optics did in 2015 and 2016)—is no easy feat. In 2016, the highly contested awards program once again evaluated an elite group of Google premier providers based on their mobile technology platform capabilities, using metrics such as mobile click-rates and overall spend.

Coming out on top as a Google Mobile Champion gives our customers the confidence of knowing they are working with a digital marketing service provider that has a proven track record in mobile. And we all know that mobile is where the money is today, especially for businesses that target local buyers. Google says that 88% of consumers who search for a type of local business on a mobile device call or go to that business within 24 hours. That’s powerful.

At Search Optics, we also know that what matters most to our automotive dealer customers is to increase leads, create greater demand, and of course, drive better results. As a pioneering force in the use of mobile in the automotive market, we’ve based our business on ensuring our clients accomplish all of these things.

How can you get started with a successful mobile-first strategy? Many of our dealer customers begin with a comprehensive platform approach. Search Optics’ Blueprint Platform®, our truly responsive website platform, is a great example. Blueprint enables businesses to take a mobile-first approach to website design, and offers the ability to optimize campaign and website performance across highly targeted mobile audiences. It also provides a good user experience for those you drive to your website utilizing other important mobile strategies including:

• Leveraging user location combined with audience targeting data to provide users with innovative, mobile experiences. Through insight into real-time consumer behavior, from local searches to map usage, dealers can target nearby prospects with timely and relevant e-commerce type opportunities (e.g. special offers or coupons).

• Encouraging prospect action through apps or banner ads that can take mobile users directly to dealer or brand sites to browse vehicle inventory selection, review and compare features and even take a video test drive – all from their mobile device.

• Integrating social media to amplify prospect awareness, reach and frequency through increased impressions and engagement opportunities.

• Streamlining online content, not only enabling web materials to seamlessly render correctly for both mobile and non-mobile devices, but also to allow easy access to make changes quickly through your content management system. At the same time, this content should be SEO-enabled to ensure it is visible in mobile search results.

• Optimizing campaigns through reporting and analytics, empowering dealers to allocate the ideal mix of marketing campaigns including: Organic Search, Managed Paid Search, Social Media, Local Search and Display and Video Advertising.

The bottom line is that your prospects are using mobile in a variety of ways, and that means you need to engage with them where and how they want to interact with your brand as they move forward in their online shopping journeys. With a mobile-first strategy built to cover all the bases, automotive dealerships can dramatically improve customer engagement and product consideration – and increase revenues, too.

If you haven’t taken mobile seriously yet, now is the time to get started. Contact us today to find out how we can help you jumpstart your digital marketing results in the New Year.