Mobile Movement: Are You Ready to Capitalise or Will it Leave You Behind?

Flappy Bird has just announced plans to make a film based on the app, Tinder is rumored to have more than 10 million active daily users and Uber has caused a huge storm with changing the playing field for cabs in cities around the world.

How often do you look at your phone? The average person checks it 110 times a day (and up to every 6 seconds in the evening).

Now consider the public excitement, media fanfare and daft diehards queuing for days for the latest iPhone releases.

All of these elements combined, it doesn’t take much insight to acknowledge that mobile is everywhere, completely changing society, and it is a trend that keeps gaining traction.

Yet it can be hard to see how businesses should approach the world of rapidly evolving mobile devices like smartphones, tablets… oh, glasses and watches too.

How to Evolve

Of course, if you use email marketing software to promote your business then your emails should be mobile responsive by now (if they aren’t yet, you need to modify this ASAP).

There are even changes to email marketing best practice that need to be acknowledged as a result of the latest iPhones with their larger screens.

Appsolutely Ideal

On top of email marketing adaptations, the best way for your business to conquer the cultural mobile movement is with your very own mobile and tablet app.

Apps are a useful way to cross-promote your brand across platforms, and ensure a secure presence across them all.

Cost-Effective Promotion

For many businesses, especially start-ups or SMEs with low marketing budgets, this way of ensuring your customers have a direct link to your product on their home screen could be the way to get mobile placement without splashing cash on hard-to-measure advertising. Basic apps - impressive in appearance and UI but with limited functionality - can be created relatively cheaply. Especially if you just want an app to act as a sort of mobile-catalogue or information portal.

B2C = Customer Experience

Mobile apps can improve the customer experience too. Using WiFi or GPS tracking an app can gather data about a customer so you can tailor an upsell to them based on their habits. Also, an app download is a great way to capture vast amounts of contact data for relevant promotional material later. The app can be used to instantly update users about new products or services; you could even use the app to offer customers special discounts or exclusive deals to keep them engaged.

B2B = Streamline Processes

Even if your company isn’t B2C, apps can help your employees to work together better: connecting staff wherever they are, streamlining processes and making information sharing easier than ever before.

Perception vs Reality

Browsing the most popular apps on the Apple App Store or Google Play might make you think this is just a realm for games or social media - but there is a huge and growing market for anything related to productivity, business, commerce, marketing, retail and more. As Clickfox research shows, 73% of users have used a mobile app to make a purchase or assist with a buying decision.

Also, the amount of companies that have their own mobile apps show how industry-agnostic they are. It's not all about selling to customers. From Coca-Cola to B&Q, having an app for their brand opens up a huge area of potential engagement and adds to their reputation when users see their presence in such a thriving area. It's a great way to offer added value to customers or clients, and there isn't much better way to stay fresh in people's minds than being positioned on the devices they're checking every 13 minutes throughout the day.