The Mobile App Evolution

Many of us now have smart phones. Samsung, Apple iPhones, Nokia, Blackberry and so on. We all know the power of our mobile devices. They are not just mobile phones but mini computers. The age of the Mobile App Evolution is here! I like to rant and rave about this. The reason being is that with the world population is going heavy into mobile there has been an opportunity to market to this segment. The smart phone mobile user. Where is your smart phone? I bet no more then arms length from where you are standing or sitting and I would go far to say, close to you in bed at night. I have a Samsung S3 and it is with me everywhere all the time. I use it to access the internet, to play games, to locate my where abouts, to find places and businesses in the area I am at, to do my banking, to text message, to build my online business plan, to listen to music, to engage in social media, to check my phone bill and usage, to check the time and oh...to make a phone call. I can't leave home without it. It is like my house keys and my wallet. I am sure you feel the same way.

We have established that our phones are on us or close at hand at all times. Our smart phones are the best receptors for marketing on the planet. The open rate of a text message is 97% in 5 minutes or less. One has to look at the smart phone to get the message. You got the text from a family, a friend, an opt-in to a coupon or loyalty program or a with "Push Notifications". Humm,... what is Push Notification? Push Notification is a way of being able to multi-task on your smart phone and still receive a message from anyone who you have opt-in to allow the service. This is most likely to be a mobile app which you downloaded on your smart phone. Just as a text message the open/view rate is 97% in minutes. Nothing comes close in any direct marketing open rate.

This kind of marketing is the reason why your business or organisation will have success in spreading the word of what you are doing and what you are offering to get more business. The goal of any business is to increase revenue, reduce costs and develop into something bigger ever year. The saying is so true,... "You have to spend money to make money!" The most successful business offers superior products with a marketing program to bring in customers willing to buy. The most profitable business do all this and more. What is the more? Value add to your products and/or services and stand out above other businesses. Product features could be value added. That would just be product development or purchasing smart to resell. The other end of the product value is the service value. If two car dealers are selling the same car and you want a new car. Who will you buy from? The one who will give you the best service even if the price might be a little higher or the dealership with the lower sticker price with less service? The long term service will have more value than the lower costing car from the other dealer. Value adding can increase the sales for your entire business model.

How can you create economical value added marketing that is not expensive and creates loyalty from your customers? I said it already. You market to mobile devices of your customers. You can do this in two ways. The first is text message marketing of SMS marketing. It works well, but you need a mobile site to be successful with this type marketing campaign. Many sites have flash and servers might be slow. Most mobile users can't see flash and will not wait more than 3 minutes for a site to download. Successful companies like autotrader.ca have all the platforms covered. Autotrader.ca has their main site, a mobile site and a app for download. They know the value of mobile.

Why should you go into a mobile platform for your business site? Google knows! Google has been active in purchasing mobile platforms for advertising and content. The have paid third party companies to get statistical information for this purpose. Google even created a site to demonstrate this value which anyone can put into a bar chart. The site is called Our Mobile Planet check it out.

Yes, mobile is big and growing so fast. This year local searches with a mobile device will surpass local searches done on a computer. What this means for local business is that they need to get on board with mobile site platforms and mobile apps to accommodate the new trend of search queries. The businesses that have web presents and who don't get into the mobile web arena  will slowly loose their potential on-line customers.

This is the reason you will want to consider a Mobile App. Why a Mobile App and what are the advantages?   Here are the reasons. It is that mobile and smart phones are popular and sales are increasing. The open rate on SMS message or "Push Notification" is 97% in 5 minutes.  Your customers will want to opt-in to download the app because you will offer a coupon/discounts and/or loyalty program and your professional knowledge (e-book or info product).  In marketing there is something called the 80/20 rule. This rule states that 80% of your customers come in 20% of the time and 20% of your customers come in 80% of the time. The coupon and/or loyalty program will cause your 80% to come in 30% instead of 20%. A business app will increase your customer base through social media, poster, tent card and paper marketing. You can boast to your competitors that you have an app and your app in the Google Play and/or the Apple App Store.  Just having an app shows your business success! It means you know what you are doing in regard to mobile marketing. There is call to action (tap tab to call the business) on a mobile app. You can show your business description, about us page,  map location, hours of operation, products, menus, order form, opt-in e-mail and best of all “Push Notification”.

It is all to clear that Mobile Apps have a growing place in marketing and business development.  Finding the right entry to this market might not be so easy.  The cost of programing and time to create the app are the down falls.  In my next blog comment I will show how a small business can beat the costs of an expensive app.  Business apps are going for $3,000 to $4,000 in today's market.  Can a small business owner afford this?  What will be the Return on Investment,... is the question to answer?  I will discuss the formula in my next article.  I will show you where the revenue will come from to justify the cost of a mobile business app.  I will then give an example of a Immigration Law Firm App.