Most people can easily understand the importance of having a mobile website. With over 40% of local Internet searches done on mobile devices,( 2012) it’s a no brainer as to why a business would want to offer a good mobile experience.
QR codes are also becoming more visible in the media and in publicity / marketing efforts. The idea of the QR code is to offer an easy way of accessing coupons or other information directly from a person’s mobile device, or to direct them to the company’s website or to the their mobile app. Again without getting into too much detail , it is pretty obvious as to what the advantages and benefits are of the QR code.
So what about the marketing app ? Here is a list of the benefits in simplified form.
Apps are popular with business owners and their customers. With today’s market going mobile, Apps help you keep pace:
Benefits for Business – Apps:
Build relationships
Build loyalty
Reinforce your brand
Increase your visibility
Increase your accessibility
Solve the problem of getting stuck in spam folders
Increase sell-through
Increase exposure across mobile devices
Connect you with on-the-go consumers
Generate repeat business
Give you tools that are driving the “New App Economy”
Enhance your social networking strategies
Benefits for Customers – They’ll receive:
Easy access to your inventory
Notifications of special events, launches, and more
One-touch access to your contact information
Directions to your location from wherever they are
Fast, seamless appointment scheduling
Automatic recording of their next appointment
Automatic reminder of their next servicing date
A record of their mileage and most recent servicing
Embedded QR Code Scanner
Free one-on-one Chat
Extras: parking markers, loan calculators, and local gas prices
Why is a Mobile App better than browsing the Mobile Web?
It’s much faster. It takes a second to launch a Mobile App. It can take up to several minutes for a Mobile Web site to load in an area with bad reception.
Mobile Web Sites are important but they do not replace the need for Mobile Apps for the following reasons:
Mobile Apps: Function offline
Mobile Web Sites: Don’t
Mobile Apps: Enable Push Notifications for Direct Contact with Customers
Mobile Web Sites: Don’t
Mobile Apps: Always visible on your phone’s home screen
Mobile Web Sites: Not always visible
Mobile Apps: Appear in the Apps Stores
Mobile Web Sites: Don’t
What are other businesses doing?
Big businesses like Amazon, eBay, Target, and Gap, started promoting their brands and merchandise with Mobile Apps a few years ago. Smaller businesses quickly followed suit. Auto dealerships, hair salons, realtors – a whole host of industries – jumped onto the App wagon. Why?
Because Mobile Apps are the most affordable and effective way to reach out to customers these days.
What can you do with a mobile App?
Connect
Inform
Build Loyalty
Generate Business – and repeat business
It is easy to see what the power of mobile marketing apps can offer, however there is another very important benefit to the business owner. Return on investment.
Many businesses spend a fortune on mail outs and other traditional advertising. Over time with a proper marketing strategy, it has been proven that businesses over time can start to decrease spending on mail outs and other expensive advertising . As more and more people download your company’s app, the more people you can reach out to directly with offers through push notifications without the huge costs and efforts required through traditional methods.
Think about it, if your business sends out flyers to the same customer base multiple times a year, that can cost a small fortune , literally into the thousands of dollars per mail out.
However imagine over time as more and more people download your app, you can start reaching them instantly with push notifications instead, without any extra cost and with much less effort and time . This idea can be applied to newspaper ads, magazine ads and any other traditional marketing methods, resulting in much lower costs as you can reduce the amount of traditional advertising required as your app base grows.
Hopefully this article has helped shed a little light on the possibilities and benefits of mobile marketing apps.
Source: http://punchmobility.com/the-benefits-of-having-an-app-for-your-business
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