(And If There Isn’t, There Could Be!)
Smartphone applications (or ‘apps’) have been growing in popularity since the launch of Apple’s first smartphone in 2007. The speed at which people are adopting smartphones is offering businesses an exciting way to gain brand exposure. The most effective marketing communications create some level of interaction or exchange with the customer; an app can be an effective way to achieve this. Apps can also be an excellent way to interact easily with employees, streamlining business or operational processes.
Developing a concept for an app needn’t be a hugely technical or complex process; just think about things that would make your business easier to manage. A product portfolio app would ensure your sales team are always ready to give a great sales pitch, even when they can’t access the web. A pricing app could instantly calculate complicated mark ups or discounts on a sale. And surely giving staff access to an employee handbook or health and safety information via an easily updatable app would make perfect sense.
When it comes to offering something of value to your customers, whilst keeping your brand fresh in their minds, the possibilities are equally endless. Offering app-based customer loyalty schemes or a store of important but easily forgotten dates and figures could encourage repeat custom. And wouldn’t it be great to play a round of golf without the pencil and paper. Scores could just as easily be entered into an app and then fed into a league table style database, increasing the competition and camaraderie and encouraging more frequent visits.
If your business is relatively small, you might have considered your own app to be beyond the realms of possibility (or marketing budget). This isn’t necessarily the case. Of course cost will depend on the level of complexity of the app, but with a growing number of businesses now offering development services, a simple yet worthwhile app shouldn’t be beyond even a fairly conservative marketing budget. If you have an idea for an app that would be useful to your customers, make it a reality!