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Communication of the Social Message: Tips for Business

04/10/2013 by

For every brand, it’s important to think about public perception. How the public, your customers, thinks and feels about your company is vital for maintaining a competitive edge. Companies make impressions through their corporate message and how it’s delivered. As your organization grows, and you add talented players to your team, it becomes increasingly important to ensure that every member of your staff is on the same page. The last thing you want is for a team member to send out a Tweet or status update that’s completely at odds with your company’s overarching social message.

It’s also important to realize that your message may experience some shifts throughout the course of your company’s life. Every company needs technology to help keep everyone up to speed on your company’s branding message. In this post, we’ll discuss some of the resources and tools companies of all sizes should consider and implement.

Tools for Unifying Your Message

—     Collaboration Tools: Collaboration is the lifeblood of the modern business structure. With tools like hosted SharePoint services, companies of all types can stay connected in real time with employees. This is one of the most effective ways to keep everyone up to speed on branding. In most cases, if your employees are engaged with your collaboration platform, it’s easy to disseminate information in a way that is both non-intrusive and easy to access.

—     Cloud Data Access: Another similar way to deliver this information is through an integrated cloud storage service. Not unlike your collaboration tool, a cloud storage platform is a seamless way to deliver complex branding information in an easy-to-access package. While some companies are still wary of the cloud, studies indicate that more businesses are experiencing both the financial and logistical benefits of implementing cloud resources.

—     Virtualization Infrastructure: Regardless of what platform you use to deliver sensitive branding data to your staff, every company needs a powerful infrastructure to make branding data easily accessible for everyone. The problem many SMBs are facing relates to infrastructure itself. Smaller businesses often don’t have the financial resources to integrate and manage a dedicated server to deploy and manage complex branding and messaging information. This is why many SMBs are migrating to virtualized infrastructure solutions like virtual private server technology, which gives you the control and computing power of the cloud without costing what an entire cloud platform would.

Branding Communication is Serious Business

Keeping your team up to speed on your overall social message is no easy task. Not only is it difficult logistically, but you’ll come up against employees that disagree with how you approach your branding. It’s crucial to maintain dialogue about branding processes with your employees. If your employees weren’t on staff, they would be potential customers, so their feedback is valuable. The fact that not everyone is in the same geographic location can muffle this communication. Again, having powerful collaboration and cloud storage tools can serve as the proper remedy.

Filed Under: Social Media, Strategy & Business Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Social Media Positives: Conversion is Achieved with a Personal Touch

04/03/2013 by

Marketing strategies are always evolving, and chances are, even the best methods today will be outdated within five years. However, that doesn’t mean that your business should ignore them. You need to be up-to-date with the best ways to reach your customer base, and right now, social media marketing is one of the methods at the top of the list. Familiarize yourself with the rules of the road when it comes to marketing on social media, both in terms of what to avoid and how to reach people and convert them into customers.

Remember you’re reaching individuals: Even if the person you’re marketing to is representing a company, you’re still interacting with an individual. Therefore, your marketing needs to have that personal appeal that will engage people. After all, your content is going to be lumped in with everything people are seeing from their friends, too. A casual voice, lighthearted tone and a little bit of personality will go a long way in connecting with your audience. Before posting anything, ask yourself whether it’s something you would be interested in looking at during your leisure time. If it’s not, rethink your content and adjust it to make it more interesting and relevant for the people you’re trying to reach.

Be trendy, but don’t break copyright: Sharing viral content on social media is all the rage, but you have to do so in a way that doesn’t infringe on the rights of others. For example, many companies ran into trouble when they tried to post Harlem Shake videos because of copyright issues with the song. The safe method is to reference trends, while still keeping all of your actual content original. That way you’ll attract the attention of your customers without running into legal issues.

Keep the conversation going: Social media marketing isn’t your traditional outbound marketing. Rather, it’s a continual conversation with the people who interact with your company or brand. People are going to be posting questions or comments directed at you, or replying to questions or comments you make. Therefore, you need to be checking these and engaging with the people who have made the effort to engage with you. This often comes easily when people have positive reactions or honest questions about your products, but it can be more difficult with customer complaints. Remain polite and address everything, even the negative items.

Consider what people are interested in: People who are connected with you on social media don’t just want to hear about your brand and products all the time. Instead, they’re interested in information, fun facts, and news related to your type of product and services. Therefore, do lots of linking to interesting blog posts, news stories, and other content that will add value to those you reach. Go light on the promotional links, and tread carefully if you’re linking to anything that could be considered misleading.

Your business marketing strategy needs to include social media involvement, but it’s not going to be effective in converting customers unless you’re using the right tactics. Take a look at how companies similar to yours run their social media accounts and the results they’re getting in terms of customer engagement. Engagement often translates into sales, so if people are interacting with them, they’re doing something right. Of course, you don’t want to just copy your competitors, but to put your company’s unique voice and style into your social media marketing messages.

 

Filed Under: Strategy & Business Tagged With: , , , , ,

Designing for Social Engagement

03/21/2013 by

Businesses invested in social media are aware of the benefits it can deliver. While social media is a long-term investment focused on increasing brand visibility and recognition through consumer engagement and relationship building, it can pay out enormous dividends over time. A social presence is particularly useful when your website is publishing original content with value to your consumer base.

By creating content designed for social sharing, you can essentially turn a normal blog post into productive inroads with prospective customers, using a shared link to bring new traffic to your website. From there, you have the opportunity to produce a conversion — but only if you have a well-developed website waiting on the other end of the link. I repeat, if there’s no ill web design waiting for users who click through, they’ll bounce faster than the king of the four square courts. Whether you do it yourself or hire some professional Web designers, make sure it looks good!

Ultimately, social media can become another conversion and revenue stream if you use smart development strategy at every point. Read on for tips to make sure your online strategy is aligned to maximize social opportunities.

Creating content worth sharing

Developing a social brand should be the first focus of any company. In the early stages, you don’t need to worry about creating phenomenal, mind-blowing content as long as you keep the quality high and consistent. Instead, start cultivating followings on major social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest, to create a broad base of followers.

Once that base is established, work on increasing the uniqueness and quality of your content. Whether you offer whitepapers, blogs or static Web pages, the things you produce need to be relevant and useful to your consumers in ways that point to the value of your business. These aren’t explicit marketing materials, but they all need to relate to your company’s mission and your value to prospective customers.

As you develop your following and people consume your content, you’ll see more people sharing your content with others. Not only is social sharing a high-exposure, low-cost form of marketing, but it’s a great way to gauge what content is most valuable to your followers.

From content consumer to product consumer

By sharing your website’s content online, you’ll draw followers to your website. When that happens, they become social referrals and potential sales or lead conversions. That’s where your website comes in. As your content is making a case for your company’s value to the consumer, your website should make it easy for them to identify and enter the conversion process.

To do this, you need a simplified Web design that makes your marketing mission clear. Your site’s various links and images need to be simplified so they aren’t distracting — you want consumers to immediately recognize where and how to begin the conversion process. If you can get online referrals this far down the funnel, you’ve got a good chance at securing a conversion.

Efficiency in the conversion process

Once in the conversion process, the trick is in seeing consumers through to the conversion’s completion. This is an efficiency game you have to play well to maximize your opportunities. Online consumers are deterred by seemingly insignificant obstacles. Every line of data you request — address, phone number or email — decreases the odds of potential customers completing the process.

Similarly, every step in the process — every time they have to click “next” or wait for processing to take place — gives them a chance to reconsider their purchase. The more you condense steps and minimize workload, the better. The proof is in the numbers: the easier you make the process, the more conversions you’ll accrue.

By optimizing every point in the consumer process, you can increase the efficiency of your website. From there, focus on creating worthwhile content that engages your consumers. The more useful and worthwhile your content, the more social shares — and, ultimately, referred traffic — you’ll generate from this rich resource.

Filed Under: Social Media, Strategy & Business Tagged With: , , , , ,

Email Marketing and the Importance of the Title

02/14/2013 by

Email marketing isn’t dead, but it sure could use a style makeover. Those old, boring titles just don’t grab a potential reader’s attention anymore. It’s no longer enough to be informative; you have to be creative and just a little bit snazzy as well. You want to stand out among business emails, communique from your customer’s family and friends, messages they’re receiving about store discounts, and, unfortunately spam.

Why email titles are important

How many email marketing messages have you opened recently? If you’re like most of us, you’re very selective about which email messages you choose to spend your time reading. Nine out of 10 messages get deleted without ever being opened. There’s a reason for that. Nearly 90 trillion emails were sent in 2009. There’s likely more today. You simply can’t read everything that hits your inbox.

What that means is that the majority of your hard work composing, researching and editing your email marketing message ends up in the recipient’s computer trash can. Just think of the results — i.e., sales — you could reap if you could get an extra 10 percent of your recipients to open your message. That’s where email titles come in. Make the title enticing and the recipient turns into a reader.

How to write effective email titles

How do you write email titles that will grab a recipient’s attention? It’s a slightly different skill than is necessary for the body of your email message, so it may take you a few tries to come up with a winner. Don’t feel bad if it does. Here are some suggestions for success:

  • Keep it short: Although each email service is slightly different, you have approximately 60 characters (including spaces) to grab your reader. Anything longer than that will get cut off and not show in the recipient’s email log. Be concise and be seen.
  • Be intriguing: Nearly 90 percent of online consumers check their email inbox at least once a day. In this age of information overload, you can be assured most readers have seen, heard and read all of the obvious marketing lead-ins. Be original to grab the recipient’s interest.
  • Pick clarity over creativity: The average email reader wants to know what’s in the body of the email before he or she opens it. If your title, intriguing as it may be, doesn’t impart that information, the recipient isn’t likely to become a reader. Subject lines like “Hey” or “Check this out” can come off spammy and result in your perfectly legitimate email being moved to the trash folder post haste.
  • Use numbers: Numbered lists attract readers. Titles like “5 Reasons to Buy More Car Insurance” or “7 Kitchen Accessories You Can’t Live Without” will get read more often than the same titles without the numbers. Readers like detailed information that’s also packaged in an easy-to-read format.
  • Use your name: Email titles that include the name of your company or the name of the sender get opened at a dramatically higher rate than those without a name. Yes, your name is probably in the sender information, but add it again. You’ll be surprised.

Don’t settle for just any title atop your email marketing messages. The title is the key to whether any of the rest of your work will get read. Content is king and that includes email subject lines.

Filed Under: Strategy & Business Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tweak and Repeat

10/25/2012 by

Any business can apply multi-channel marketing, but cross-channel marketing is the ideal way to increase revenue and customer loyalty, especially when marketers apply the Pareto principle. Cross-channel marketing is more challenging than multi-channel marketing. Instead of focusing on disseminating a message via multiple channels, cross-channel marketing is customer focused. Companies must expend significant resources to capture adequate information about users and track their needs across all channels. Applying the Pareto principle cuts down the time needed to discover client needs while maximizing ROI.

The Pareto principle

Although originally not related to marketing, the Pareto principle stems from work by an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto, who discovered 80 percent of the land in Italy was owned by 20 percent of the population. Surveys he conducted confirmed other countries had a similar ratio. The economist even discovered 80 percent of his garden peas came from 20 percent of his pea pods.

Pareto did not actually come up with the principle, however. A business management consultant named Joseph M. Juran discovered 80 percent of quality control issues stemmed from the top 20 percent of problems. He named the principle after Pareto. Over time, people have expanded the principle to explain other business matters, such as:

  • 80 percent of complaints stem from 20 percent of customers
  • 80 percent of profits come from 20 percent of time spent
  • 80 percent of sales are by 20 percent of sales staff
  • 80 percent of sales are made from 20 percent of products

Perhaps the most relevant discovery for cross-channel marketing is knowing 20 percent of the customers are responsible for 80 percent of the profits. Knowing this, cross-channel marketers should focus their efforts on identifying and tracking those 20 percent.

The efficiency of the Pareto principle

Cross-channel marketing requires companies to track users across all channels, meaning each customer must have their own profile and sales staff must be able to match content to the customer. Taking the time to track all of a company’s customers is a waste of time and resources, according to the Pareto principle.

Only 20 percent of the customers possess exceptional brand loyalty. These one out of five customers are really the only people worth tracking because they produce most of the profits. Tracking the top 20 percent is a more realistic goal than tracking everyone as well. Once the top 20 percent is identified, sales staff can not only concentrate on marketing to them but they can also see who those people influence socially and push to expand their ideal customer base.

The Pareto principle and staffing

For the most effective cross-channel marketing, a company should identify their best salespeople and then expand. Cross-channel marketing relies on well-trained sales staff, especially in a call center. For example, a customer sees a product on TV or in a magazine he likes. He goes online to view the product on the company website, perhaps even scanning a QR code with his smartphone, before calling the company to ask questions. All of the data about what the customer wants is available. When he calls in, a salesperson has the chance to study the data and anticipate the customer’s needs, increasing the potential of a sale and the chance the customer will become part of the core 20 percent.

Companies can use sales figures to find the most effective employees, but they should also look for people who display leadership qualities, are self starters and who influence others. These people will attract more high-quality workers, ensuring the sales staff comprises only the best employees. The remaining 80 percent should be retrained, reassigned or possibly let go.

Companies can even use the Pareto principle when recruiting workers by looking for the natural leaders at other companies. Often times, recent college graduates who have not yet had the chance to prove themselves with sales numbers or a customer service history can become part of the top 20 percent. They are highly educated and motivated to prove themselves.

Bridging the gap between marketing within channels and creating integrated customers takes significant effort. Narrowing down the targeted group with the Pareto principle simply makes sense. After brainstorming the best ways to accomplish this goal, companies can even use the principle to narrow down ideas as the top 20 percent are most likely to result in 80 percent of the results.

Filed Under: Guest Bloggers, Strategy & Business, Success Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Creative approaches to Inbound Marketing

09/27/2012 by

Many people in the business of marketing love the assignments where they get to be creative and really have fun with a project. As a marketer, you see jobs come in that at first glance seem too dry or straightforward for a fun approach, but you should think of these customers as a challenge. It’s possible to take straightforward material and make it fun through different marketing techniques. This fun approach to marketing is often more inviting for a consumer and more sharable between potential customers. Social shares and other micro-conversions lead prospects down the marketing funnel toward those sought-after macro-conversions that our clients love.

Finding the fun side

What’s fun about filling out paperwork? Where’s the humor in payroll or human resource software? Sometimes, the best way to find the funny side of what a client offers is to produce a short video that amuses people by turning their expectations on-end.

A great example of how an ordinary product or service can be made more entertaining is this short video about payroll software: Confessions: I Love Payroll from Paycor Payroll on Vimeo.

Viewers see a woman explaining that her dream of owning her own bakery comes from a lifelong desire to handle payroll. The video then expands on that premise, with the woman ignoring customers – and even her daughter’s bedtime story duties – due to her excitement about handling payroll tasks at all hours of the day. The marketer plays on the prospect’s need for efficiency, work-life balance and desire to focus on her true career love: baking and seeing other enjoy her bakery treats.

As a marketer, it’s your job to help clients find creative ways to showcase their company and/or the products and services they offer. Video is a great way to showcase whatever you are advertising. People identify with each other, which is why advertisers often use faces in their marketing materials. Videos allow people to see themselves in various settings. Videos can also be less of an investment of time and energy than reading. And consumers want their info easy.  And the video about payroll programs – while humorous – still delivers the message that what’s being offered provides a real-life solution to a problem. Because more than anything, consumers want answers to problems. Anyone spending unwanted time on payroll tasks will relate to this video.

Exaggerate the situation

When you choose videos for your marketing channel, you can use humor to your advantage. Who doesn’t like a hilarious video? Exaggeration is a great tool for injecting humor into your video. If you’ve ever seen the “Don’t Wake up in a Roadside Ditch” commercial for DirecTV, you can appreciate how an outlandish chain of events creates a memorable and funny ad. Most people have travel-gone-wrong stories or other kinds of stories that they tell over and over because the absurdity was fantastic and goes over well at parties. Generating this kind of humor in marketing makes sense because these are also the kinds of pieces that get tweeted and retweeted. And that’s when brand awareness can take root with a prospect.

Call customers to action

In another type of video, the call-to-action is more than just a single link or nudge to a website. The video takes the opportunity to introduce the company, explain how the company is different and then urges the viewer to visit the website. Some marketers are afraid to take too much time on a call-to-action, but if you provide the right information and stay positive throughout, then you’ll have nothing to worry about. Most potential customers will want to know as much as possible upfront, and the views on the website are far more likely to come from people who are actually interested in the product. Without a clear call-to-action, you risk losing the customer who’s ready to take the next step.

For many, the use of video as a marketing tool is still relatively new and like most marketing tools, there’s a right and a wrong way to use it. Keep your audience in mind when shooting and be sure to plan out the video before you begin. Explore your client’s needs and figure out the right ways to accentuate a product’s usefulness with humor and fun – even payroll software!

Filed Under: Social Media, Strategy & Business Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Your Message is Inbound

09/13/2012 by

As social media changes the boundaries between personal and professional, personal and commercial relationships are merging. For marketers, this changes the traditional relationship between the company or the brand and the consumer. Now, consumers are likely to follow their favorite celebs on Twitter and become fans of their preferred brands on Facebook. If you can provide useful information to consumers, they’re more likely to stick around and are more likely to send business your way.

What today’s communication landscape means for marketers

At the same time this increased connectivity is happening, consumers are also becoming more self-reliant. Sounds like a contradiction, but it’s true. Consumers are more likely to do independent research on the Internet or through word of mouth before coming into a store or even reaching your website. A ZMOT survey found consumers needed 5.3 points of information before purchasing a good or service in 2010 and 10.4 points of information in 2011. They’re more likely to find this information themselves, using either a smartphone to look up information on the go or performing independent research online. Marketers are tasked with reaching out to people who may feel they don’t need to be marketed to because they can find the information themselves.

Connecting with consumers

Companies that do a good job with marketing tend to focus on useful information or action that turns existing customers into repeat business and generates buzz that can tempt new business. Being an information maven and sharing information before the point of need spells success in this environment.

Companies with a personal touch

  • Hyatt: This worldwide hotel chain generated a win for consumers and employees with its “Random Acts of Generosity” campaign. Each Hyatt location was given a sum of money to spend on guests by offering them a free meal, free drink or spa service. As a result, guests were more likely to prefer Hyatt when surveyed and employees enjoyed surprising guests. Consumers’ personal travel needs — food, shelter and comfort — were met with the Hyatt’s offerings.
  • Jet Blue and Southwest Airlines: Both of these airlines tweet flight information including flight delays and schedule changes. These airlines recognize consumers keep track of travel information from home and on the go and try to give customers timely information. Additionally, the companies also tweet flight deals. Might this increase the loyalty factor by making these airlines seem responsive? It would seem so.
  • Comcast: Internet providers like Comcast know customers complain when service is interrupted. The company personally monitors social media outlets like Twitter and responds directly to customer tweets, enhancing that sense of connection as well as problem solving.
  • Carnival Cruise Lines: Carnival tweets real-time information on ports and weather, updated information on programs and cruise features and fun photos of cruise destinations. Not only do they come across as a breath of fresh Caribbean air on Twitter, they also know how to lure in folks planning that fall vacation.

Companies like the above have a way of reaching out to their customers and making them feel their needs are being met, both in person and via social media. A company whose human resources department treats their employees as well as they do their customers all but guarantees success. Happy workers are happy to provide stellar customer service, no matter their industry.

Trust that a good campaign will generate buzz that reaches beyond its scope, attracting good PR and new customers. Being responsive in person and through social media can help you monitor the success of existing campaigns and connect with your customers and staff.

Filed Under: Guest Bloggers, Strategy & Business Tagged With: , , , ,

Joining the Conversation: How To Make Your Small Business Internet Famous

07/19/2012 by

Social media provides small business owners with a novel and effective way to market their business directly to a customer or client base. The advent of the Internet and widespread social media has eliminated the obstacles that once stood between a brand and the consumer. Without a middleman, brands can directly interface with their consumers through all the usual social media haunts. Social media is important enough to the business cycle that marketing companies have cropped up to aid brands in their endeavors to capture the hearts and the minds of their consumers directly. You need to learn how to take advantage of social networking to get the word out about your small business, and to interact with customers for great virtual word of mouth recommendations. However, you also need to accomplish this without coming off as being pushy, sales orientated or a complete tool.

How to Play the Social Media Field

The first thing you’ll need to do is to get a feel for the specific social network you’re targeting. Each social media site has its own focus, flavor and specific features that you need to be aware of so you come off as savvy. Look at your competitors’ profiles on the same site to see how they approach things, and how their customers respond to them.

Keep things professional, but don’t be too uptight. Most social networks provide you with an informal and personal platform to connect with your target demographic. If you approach them with the personalities behind your small business, they’re going to be able to relate to you far more than a faceless big box company. Don’t be afraid to be real and honest with them throughout the conversations. Just always be aware that you do still represent your company. Always be aware of the impression that you’re putting out.

Provide incentives to get your customers to share your profile. Maybe you can run a contest or giveaway that depends on sharing a post or picture. You can also provide discount coupons or access to exclusive sales by favoriting or friending a social media profile.

Let them look behind the curtain. People are always curious as to how the product creation process is conducted, how ideas are generated and other information about things you might consider mundane since they’re part of your day-to-day business. Show your customers what’s going on behind the scenes and let them feel like they have a better understanding of exactly how your business works.

Go beyond your own profiles. Not everyone that’s talking about you is doing it on your social media profiles. If the network provides tools to find out where you are mentioned, use them to your advantage. Try and respond outside of your own profile in order to show your customers that you’re involved and care about the impression that your company makes. Even if you find bad experiences, do what you can to help the person out. You just might end up with a great deal of word of mouth recommendations or even viral traffic for your troubles.

Everyone is playing the social media game and you can’t expect to stand out right off the bat, especially if you’re getting started now (good luck!). As long as you are honest and professional with your presence, you can always cultivate your user base and build new fans out of skeptics. Don’t give up!

 

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Creating More Engagement

06/28/2012 by

Social media offers businesses unrivaled opportunities for direct customer connection. A new poll from the Allstate Corporation found that, while Americans are skeptic about the information found on social media, they believe that interacting via social media makes them more informed as consumers. They also feel it gives then the edge of influence compared with consumers that do not use social media. This engagement carries over in a variety of ways: The Allstate Corporation poll found that social media users are more likely to perform some type of volunteer work and are more likely to seek out opinions before making larger purchases. Sixty-four percent of consumers expressed a desire to see companies using social media for customer service purposes, and 59 percent revealed that they found a company more accessible if it had a social presence.

Each social media outlet has its own strengths. For spreading the word about sales, giveaways and sweepstakes, Facebook works very well since it supports image hosting so well. For connecting with individual users and seeming responsive to customer concerns, Twitter allows for a quick but meaningful interaction. And for leveraging business connections, LinkedIn is best. Additional benefits of growing social media use may include reaching more consumers with less money than you might spend on a traditional ad campaign, benefiting from being seen as accessible and modern by consumers, and leveraging social media presence to other parts of the workforce, such as human resources.

As customers go mobile, social media outlets place increasing importance on mobile connection. Recently LinkedIn developed an iPad app that runs via mobile web. And Facebook keeps taking about developing a mobile phone and recently bought the popular web and mobile photo sharing Instagram. They’ve even developed an app for feature phones, showing that all mobile platforms are primed for social experiences.

By mobilizing your web presence, you increase the chance of converting mobile users to social fans. There are many ways to develop a mobile website; creating a stylesheet that controls screen size and strips your web content of large images can help users navigate your website on the go and doesn’t require an expensive developer. If you want to invest time and money, you can customize an app interface. Having a mobile website also helps users who click on a link in Facebook or Twitter and get directed to your website. If it’s not mobile, chances are high that they won’t stay to read the content.

To keep mobile sites lean–and therefore faster to load–place video, image and other media on the social networks and link to them from the website. Dual promoting keeps your website quick to access, something vital to mobile users, and archives your material.

Of course, to make the most of this social presence, you’ll need to have someone monitoring your social presence on a regular basis, to connect with customers and identify problems, such as unhappy customers, before they get out of hand. As users increase the frequency and the ways of social communication, this social point person must keep up with the volume so you maintain the appearance of approachability.

Given the changing context of social media, which is increasingly going mobile due to high smartphone and tablet use, businesses need to constantly adapt to stay on top of the game. Look out for new platforms that arise, such as Pinterest, and become an early adopter to maintain social prominence with existing customers and attract new fans.

Filed Under: Blogging, Contributors, Guest Bloggers, Social Media, Strategy & Business, Success Tagged With: , , , , ,

Small Business Going Mobile

06/21/2012 by

You probably have a website for your business. It’s a great, low-cost way to market your products and services. You’ve probably also considered the need for a mobile application, too. Look around; it seems like everyone is getting a smartphone. Should you jump in and build an app for your small business? Do you need a mobile presence? Mobile applications can be developed for very little money and users can download them in under a minute so the answer to both questions seems to be affirmative. But what can these little software applications really do for you? Well, that depends.

Why You Should Bother

According to Pew Research, about 35 percent of American adults owned a smartphone as of July 2011. That figure is certainly growing. It represents an opportunity for small-business owners to use technology to their advantage. Gartner Research reports that mobile applications are expected to earn providers $58 billion by 2014. That’s a pretty staggering figure, right? Can you make interacting with your customers a little easier, more convenient or even playful? Consider it if:

  1. Your business offers a service that could be ordered or used by customers on the go.
  2. New customers might be enticed to buy from your business when they interact with your mobile application.
  3. Your customers currently interact with you and each other using social media technology such as wikis, blogs and forums.
  4. You’re willing to try creating a mobile application and dedicate some staff and budget to the effort.
  5. You can envision new ways to make money for your business using a mobile application. For example, if you offer a global product or service, you might be able to find new customers in Asia, where mobile application use has been rapidly adopted.

Getting Started
To get started, check out websites such as Infinite Monkeys or BudgetAppDev. You can create a basic business application with display advertisements with the Infinite Monkeys drag and drop interface for free. It’s easy (and fun) to create your application. Video help provides guidance along the way. By specifying some basic information and uploading a background graphic, you can create an application that reinforces your brand and helps you connect. You get to choose which features and functions you want added, including photo sharing, blog feeds and videos. You can download your custom QR code and put it on your brochures, signs and marketing collateral. Users will be linked your application or the HTML5 version in the event that your customer doesn’t have an Android or iPhone. You can also view usage statistics.

If You Need Inspiration
Check out the BudgetAppDev portfolio for some excellent examples to trigger your creative flair. People love to use their mobile phone to pass the time. Can you develop a dynamite quiz related to your small business that people will play while waiting in an airport or train station? Want to package up training and support tips, tools and resources for your company that your customers can access from any location? How about a restaurant guide for the area surrounding your business as a benefit to visitors?

If any of these ideas appeal to you, you’ve already taken the first step in designing and developing a mobile application to support your small business. Now, take your idea and consult with your customers to find out what they might need.

Filed Under: Contributors, Guest Bloggers, Social Media, Strategy & Business, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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