A decade ago, only one out of 10 businesses had their own website. Yelp or Facebook was not commonly used by all businesses, and many business owners just didn’t understand the huge potential that a website held. However, some savvy businessmen felt that a website was essential, and as a result they got a huge jump on their competitors. It is the same scenario with mobile applications. Many people felt that they were worthless just a few years ago, but now companies understand how important they can be to give their businesses an edge. If you own a business near Reston, VA, you may want to consider building a mobile app to take your marketing efforts to the next level and review your ideas with a mobile app developer in Reston, VA area.
Why businesses need a mobile app?
If you want to stay ahead of your competitors, a mobile app is now a necessity. Whether you have a small grocery store or a coffee shop downtown, making a mobile app can benefit your business in the following ways:
1. Be more connected to your customers.
2. Create a direct marketing channel, where all the necessary information about your company will be right at the customers’ fingertips.
3. Create a smartphone-based loyalty program your customers will appreciate.
4. Contribute to your brand awareness.
5. Create company recognition in Apple and Google stores.
6. Stand out from your competitors.
7. Cultivate customer loyalty.
The website vs. mobile app
Even if you have a mobile friendly website, there are many additional benefits of providing clients with a mobile app. Can your website notify customers about sales directly on their phone? Can your website adjust the price of an item based on a customer’s social influence? Can your website always be visible to customers, creating “effective frequency”: which means that customers truly notice and remember your brand only after hearing or seeing it approximately 20 times? Mobile apps have many things that websites lack such as biometrics, geo-location, augmented reality, 3D gaming, cameras and sensors. Your company logo/icon on their phone is a constant reminder about your company.
Today vs. tomorrow
Mobile apps have a lot of benefits at the present time and they are highly effective in a number of ways. They will be even more useful in the future as technology improves. A few things to consider before building a mobile app include:
1 – What are the goals of the business?
2 – How does this fit into our current marketing plan?
3 – What target market do we want to reach? Location? Gender? Age?
4 – What are our competitors doing?
5 – How can we engage our clients and encourage downloads? Coupons? Offers for downloading?
Many companies want to build a 5th generation mobile application out of the gate. The first version of a mobile application can be basic. Then updates roll out that will correspond with your marketing strategy and customer feedback.
