The costs of operating a small business are always rising. Because of this, it’s important to make sure you’re increasing revenue, not losing it.
Staying ahead of growing marketing trends is often difficult, but there is one that is a surefire way to stand out amongst your competition and is extremely cost effective.
Implementing a mobile app into your marketing strategy can change the way you operate, as well as give you key advantages when attracting new customers. Here’s three reasons how.
1) Your Business NEEDS to be Where Your Customers Are
Consumers are more mobile now than they’ve ever been. The chances of you getting a customer who doesn’t have access to a mobile phone is very slim depending on your industry. According to an article in Time’s magazine, Americans are checking their phones 8 billion times per day.
Keeping your doors open 24/7 isn’t always an option, and neither is dedicating someone to manning the phones for your business at all times of the day. A mobile app can give you more options in communicating with your customer.
By having an app, your business maintains a constant presence that can answer questions, schedule appointments, and even handle customer support at any and all times. In this way, you can do business with your customers more often and in a way that they are more accustomed to.
2) A Mobile App Creates High Customer Loyalty and Retention
While initially not everyone will choose to use your app, those who do install it will be more likely to become a long term customer. As far as follow up marketing is concerned, an app install is just as valuable as a phone number or email address.
Through your mobile app, you can deliver what is known as push notifications to your users’ phones. Push notifications give your customers an alert to various information from you, such as deals, order updates, and reminders. These are just as noticeable as a text message or voicemail notification on their phones, so they won’t be easily missed or ignored. With continued exposure, you will be able to get closer to your customers and have more chances to do business with them via your mobile app.
3) Having a Mobile App Improves the Visibility of Your Brand
For the time being, it’s still not a common thing for every small business to have a mobile app, so if you have a helpful one, it will improve your brand’s perception among your competitors. Creating one for your small business could go a long way to showing you as a forward thinking leader in your industry.
If you’re worried about the costs of creating a mobile app being too much for your business, don’t be. There are do-it-yourself options that allow you to create an app from basic information on your website. If you’re totally incapable of doing anything too technical, there are also options for having them done for you at an affordable price.
The time is now to get involved in planning your mobile strategy. There are so many opportunities available to making long lasting relationships with your customers via mobile that you need to be taking advantage of. If you have loftier goals for your app, you may need to consider what you can afford with your small business finances. But the fact remains, you need to consider all the options.
This is a guest post. Nick Rojas combines 20 years of experience working with and consulting for small to medium business and a passion for journalism to help readers grow. He writes about technology, marketing, and social media for the aspiring entrepreneur. When Nick is not sharing his expertise, he can be found spending time at the beach with his dog Presto.