Successful advertising sales through mobile

”Constructing mobile websites tailored for consumers who are looking for specific functionalities offers unlimited opportunities,” says Sharon Knitter of US-based Cars.com.

Launched in June 1998, Cars.com is a joint venture of 5 newspaper companies, including Belo, Gannett Co., The McClatchy Company, Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company.

The site lists more than 2 million new and used vehicles from more than 14,000 dealer customers, classified advertisers and private parties. It has more than 8 million unique visitors each month. Cars.com combines inventory search tools and new-car configuration with pricing information, photo galleries, buying guides, side-by-side comparison tools, original editorial content and reviews to help millions of car shoppers connect with sellers each month.

Cars.com has been developing its mobile advertising services since 4 years.

Sharon R. Knitter, Senior Director of Consumer Products at Cars.com, spoke at the INMA/IFRA Classified Advertising Seminar, organized in Prague on October 22-23, 2008.

“Mobile as from now is a true mass-market media”

She quoted data that 86% of Americans own mobile phones and in Europe it’s even higher. In Scandinavian countries the mobile penetration is higher than 100 per cent. ”And mobile is more important to 18-24 year olds than TV!”

Sharon identified three groups of mobile users:

1. Mobile Pioneers (15%): forge ahead using advanced features weekly (internet, applications, video).
2. Mobile Wannabes (25%): try advanced features but want to use them more often.
3. Mobile traditionalists (60%): just use mobile for phone calls and texting.

And according to Sharon there are three key factors important for the growth in usage of mobile internet:

• full browser on the phone;
• great user experience;
• flat data rate-plan.

How to develop a mobile site

Sharon gave three ways to start with a mobile site:

1. Create download-able mobile applications like Cars.com mobile site.
2. Create WAP site which is optimised for the mobile browser.
3. Use code conversion to translate your web site into lowest common denominator xhtml.

”Each way has it’s advantages and disadvantages. Think carefully before you choose what is the best option for you,” she adviced.

She explicitly told newsmedia executives gathered in Prague: “When developing mobile websites DO NOT develop it in-house! Whatever your IT department says, it’s impossible to develop mobile sites for all the different mobile devices in the world.”

Consumers promote mobile Cars.com

Sharon Knitter presented in detail results of mobile site for Cars.com.

”We see sharp growth in traffic. Projected 2008 ad revenue is more than $200,000. It is not a lot of money, but remember it was also ‘dead cheap’ to launch the mobile site,” she said.

As she said, mobile site gave Cars.com a clear competitive advantage, as no top competitors offered a mobile site to search for cars listings.

She admitted, there were only ”few barriers to entry in the space by competitors,” but she added: ”Listings are necessary to complete with us directly.”

According to Sharon, dealers are embracing the mobile site, as consumers themselves demonstrate the site to dealers. ”Dealers are increasingly asking for their own branded mobile site.”

According to research, users really like mobile Cars.com. ”In comparison to other mobile sites, Cars.com received really high ratings from users. 89% of the users rated the site a 4 or 5 (out of 5).”

Lessons from Cars.com

At the end of her speech, Sharon gave a few lessons to keep in mind:

1. Keep consumer needs and user experience at the forefront.
2. Be prepared to adapt to a rapidly changing environment.
3. Be handset manufacturer, carrier and mobile browser agnostic.
4. Keep overhead and costs low.
5. Some of your best promoters are internal - make sure your management team knows how to access your site on their Blackberry!

More about Sharon Knitter

She joined Cars.com in May of 2006 as the director of product management. In addition to the strategic management and development of Cars.com’s consumer automotive buying and selling channels on the web, Knitter has led the site’s mobile initiative, working to bring the best of Cars.com to shoppers on the go.

Sharon joined Cars.com from the Tribune Co., where she began in 1987 as a research manager. Most recently, she served as the director of business development for Tribune Interactive, where she was responsible for identifying and analyzing new opportunities, joint ventures and acquisitions as well as the management of Tribune Broadcasting’s websites.

Sharon is also a past president of the Newspaper Association of America’s Research Federation.

Case studies on journalism, interactions and marketing of newspapers

Obama would win the US elections if they were held in eight other countries

Is not it a somewhat crazy idea? Canadian daily newspaper La Presse invited the leading titles from many countries of the world to make a poll about US presidential candidates. Seven newspapers followed. The result: Obama would win everywhere. An international... 

Stanislaw Lem’s unpublished works discovered

Newspaper’s idea to publish a collection of the greatest works by a science-fiction writer Stanislaw Lem helped to discover his unpublished opera on Stalin. Stanislaw Lem was 85 when he died in 2006. His books — like Solaris, Tales of Prix... 

Revealed: Pope John Paul Wounded by Priest in 1982

The Pope John Paul II was wounded by a knife-wielding priest in 1982, a year after he was shot in St Peter’s Square, but the injury was kept secret, his former top aide says in a documentary film, co-produced by a Polish newspaper. Cardinal Stanislaw... 

How to engage bloggers into the newspaper

Here are some tips from John Wilpers of Innovation: You need to go out into the community, find the quality bloggers, send them an e-mail or call them on the phone. ”It does not take a lot of convincing.” Mr. Wilpers, a consultant for Innovation Media... 

How to change our newspaper’s image

”When you try to change an image of a newspaper with a marketing campaign, changes in its content must follow. Otherwise there would be a disconnection between the new image and the content,” says Bernard Asselin, Vice President of The Gazette in... 

Mobile content: snack, speed & snip

”Content on mobile phone is all about snacking. All about speed. You just want little snippets of information,” says Annabel Hembry, Head of Communications at Associated Newspapers (UK). Ms. Hembry is responsible for mobile channels at the Mail titles... 

Media convergence: dare to make mistakes

“90 per cent of newspaper reporters can become good TV or radio journalists. It is not difficult. Don’t make it a rocket science,” says Ulrik Haagerup, Head of News at Danish Broadcasting Corporation and former newspaper editor. Mr....