Make Your App Stand Out
If you’re thinking about developing an application for iPhone, Android application or an iPad application, your potential audience is massive and growing at an accelerating rate. Individual smartphone users across the globe will have downloaded 98 billion mobile apps by the end of 2015 according to a recent estimate by Berg Insight. And while this is encouraging news regarding usage, it also points out that it is more important than ever to carefully develop mobile applications that will stand out in the marketplace and stay on your users smartphones.
One of the key attributes and considerations that we tell our clients when discussing mobile application development is that they need to do more than just market a business. While this often seems to be a driver to build mobile applications, it’s far from the only one. You should consider functions such as customer service, a tool to augment your product line or simply providing your customers a mobile application of value that they will utilize regularly. This way your app is something that they will interact with regularly, this isn’t necessarily the case with apps that exist solely to promote. Consider all aspects of your business and goals and then develop an app strategy that actually supports those goals and works inline with them.
The second idea that we always tell clients is that an app should deliver value. Even if it’s free, the app needs to give the user a reason not just to download it but to actually use it. Reasons will vary by business and industry–giving you lots of opportunities to be creative. You know your customer, see that they will get some value from your app. If you do they will appreciate it and use your iPhone or Android application.
Finally, have a plan to get the word out. Just like with your website, a mobile application won’t just magically find an audience. They need to be marketed like any other part of your business. This could be as simple as a sign in a physical retail location, links from an emails or your website, or a mention that you have iPhone, iPad and Android application on your print marketing materials. Remember that apps are hip and new, people want them and it very easy to get people to download them if you let them know that you have an iPhone application, iPad application or Android application available.
Kimber Johnson is the Managing Director of Vanity Point, Kimber has worked within the web development, graphics design, mobile application development, marketing and advertising fields for over 17 years.