Smartphone Applications for Brand Marketers
The rise of smartphones like the Droid and the iPod is an opportunity for brand marketers. Consumers are able to live on their computers less as they live on smartphones more. The time is right for brand marketers to follow their customers to this medium by bringing fun and useful applications to the party.
Smart phone use is growing
More and more we’re going to be living on our phones rather than our computers. Smartphone production is expected to double by 2014. Much more of the information carried over the Internet will be delivered to the consumer by looking at their phones instead of their computers.
If you are a brand marketer interacting through computers alone and not phones, you will be increasingly left out. Brand marketers should consider how can they interact with their customers through mobile phones as well as computers.
Now is the time.
The time to test the waters of smartphone applications is now. Grow with the technology rather than have to jump in later and figure out how to catch up. Technologies tend to be more forgiving while they are newer. Whatever mistakes you make will be easier to correct now than later.
Developing an app is not very expensive. There are software developers all over who could create a test application for less than $20,000.
Is it for me?
Consider whether your customers are likely to use mobile apps. Look at how your customer is using applications on the web. If your customer base is young, they’re likely to do a lot more on their phone than if they’re of retirement age.
Explore small test applications that drive people to interact with their phone and look for technologies in the future that will support that. If your customers are interacting with you on your website, add to that interaction by giving them the option of using their phones also. See how many people opt in.
A good app is relevant to the relationship, valuable to the user, and integrated with your existing customer activities.
Relevant
The app also has got to be relevant to the relationship of the consumer and the company. For an automotive company, an app that involves cars or car maintenance is effective. Sports with fan bases are a no-brainer. Other types of marketers might have more of a stretch, but it’s still a good idea to investigate.
Integrated
Don’t abandon the relationships you have built through your website, coupons, cards or other means. Integrate the mobile app into your existing programs. Let your customers bring the relationship into the new space.
Valuable
The application the company provides has to be useful or entertaining to the customer. In return, the company gets an opportunity for a long-term relationship and can build long-term customer value. Through that relationship, the consumer gets more relevant information and useful tools delivered to their phones.
Mobile apps that promote the customer relationship fall into at least three broad categories: Operational apps, marketing apps, and loyalty program apps.
Operational application
Operational applications let the user access or manage the product or service you provide. Online banking for the phone is an example. Banks were early to test mobile online baking and ever more banks are following. Banking on the phone follows naturally from banking online. The consumer now can get to the information and the service any way they want to.
Marketing application
As a hypothetical example, if your company makes baby food, you could build an app that accesses a database of questions new moms ask all the time. It could be m.kidinfo.com. (What do I do if my baby has a fever? When should my baby start eating beets?) Moms would download a useful app. The baby food company could then deliver useful information and also promotional offers to build a customer base through the phone. The company that built the app will have an ongoing relationship with the customer.
Loyalty program application
You can create a loyalty program where customers sign up and rewards coupons are delivered right to their phones. This would be a good mobile app for a coffee chain, for instance. When they go in for coffee, all they have to do is press a button on their phones and the cash register can read the discount or reward for that day.
Classic database marketing
All of these applications provide a chance to collect and analyze data. If you deliver a link to an app user, you know whether or not she clicks on that link for more information. Therefore, you can also deliver information based on past interaction. You probably know where she lives. You send more relevant information and your app becomes more useful to that customer. You can be smarter in your messaging. Not only can you say “try this diaper”, you can tell them what nearby store sells them. “They’re on sale. Check it out.” The interaction becomes much more relevant and useful to the application user.
This collection, analysis and use of data is just classic database marketing taking place with the aid of a new technology. I love collecting and analyzing data. It’s fun. I’m excited because mobile phone applications could bring more new opportunities for data analysis than anything since the Internet.
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