In order to assure that your business remains fresh in the minds of consumers, you need to make sure that you design, build, and maintain your own unique brand. The Internet is positively awash in advice on how to create and nurture such a brand, but let's focus on how the right app can reinforce that special brand of yours.
So yes, apps are a "thing," and they should be an important part of your marketing and branding strategy. Here's how a brand can help your business.
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They Add Convenience To The Customer Experience
People who use the Internet, whether they're sitting at their desks or hunched over their smart phone, want convenience and expedience. Time is short, and attention spans are even shorter. A good app that makes it more convenient for a consumer to shop at your business will be well-received and talked about, which is part of what building a brand is all about.
If you give a customer a good experience, they'll come back; sometimes they'll even bring a friend or two. Distribute an app that makes their lives easier, and you'll make a friend for life; a friend that is willing to give you money. That's a nice friend for a business to have.
Apps Provide Incentives
Convenience is one thing; giving people something for visiting your site or using your app is a whole other thing, and if there's one thing a customer values more than convenience, it's a good bargain or special deal. Your app could include a QR Code reader that, if the user scans a particular code, gives them a discount or enters them into a drawing. Or perhaps it's having a visitor use an app to sign up for text messages from your business, and in return they receive a free promotional item (t-shirt, ball cap, key chain, etc).
No matter what you choose to offer, your app can be the delivery system for something cool and free, all the while strengthening your brand.
You Can Entertain While Reinforcing Your Brand
Take a good look around at all the games people play on their mobile devices. Every one of those people are focused on their phone, eyes and fingers engaged, attention seized, and all the while being bombarded with whatever images that particular game offers. Now consider a game in which your brand is featured prominently. Maybe you have a tax preparation service, and you decide to create a game app where the player tries to avoid IRS agents, and dodge the tax bills they fire. Alright, maybe that's a little silly, but the principle is sound.
A quick Google search can hook you up to game app design platforms or software, either of which can help you create a game in no time. It doesn't have to be anything complex; you're not trying to design the next Diablo or Call of Duty. All you need is a pleasant little time-waster that amuses and entertains, and yet exposes the player to your particular brand imagery.
It's Can Be A Method Of Advertising
While you certainly want to make sure that your app is providing a service for the consumer, it would be criminal to overlook the advertising potential that comes along with it. Let's face it, if people are using your app, then you have a captive audience. While you certainly don't want to bombard people with constant ads (a surefire way of alienating your customer base), a few well-placed logos and blurbs couldn't hurt.
One of the most unshakable truths of marketing is that you need to aim your message where the target audience is. As it happens, most of that audience is online, usually by means of their mobile device. And why are they online? Mostly for entertainment. By creating a branded app that entertains as well as informs, you present a product that increases customer engagement while getting your name out there. It's pure win-win.
Still not convinced? According to information found in "5 Reasons Your App Needs to Reflect Well On Your Brand," , "...among the 2013 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands, 89 have launched apps." Furthermore, there were 56 billion smartphone apps and 14 billion tablet apps downloaded in 2013.
Enough said.
