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Posts tagged app makers
Mobile Marketing Will Rise to $400 Billion by 2015
Jun 19th
Here in our blog, we often report that mobile is strongly trending upward, but a recent study by the Mobile Marketing Association references some figures that have even us surprised.
Mobile marketing currently contributes about $140 billion to the U.S. economy. The MMA projects that this figure will now grow to about $400 billion by 2015. That’s 50% annual growth! In a time when interest rates on the average savings account don’t crack 1% annually, that’s a pretty amazing projection. Mobile marketing is also expected to add over a million much-needed jobs in the U.S. over the next five years.
Roughly $6.7 billion in this market is spent on mobile marketing, and this is projected to increase to $19.8 billion by 2015. Most of it is spent on mobile ads and mobile CRM solutions, and about half of it is spent by three industries: finance, retail, and manufacturing.
While this is good news for mobile ad platforms, it also indicates that businesses are seeing worthwhile returns from mobile marketing activities. Interestingly, this spending is not yet subject to diminishing returns. That is, the more you spend, the more you get back, in general. This point of difference means that mobile media is truly perceived differently than traditional media, and is subject to its own laws of cost effectiveness.
That’s great. But how can my business grow using mobile?
You have a few major strategies that you can experiment with: mobile websites, SMS (text) marketing, and mobile apps, to name a few. Our favorite strategy, naturally, is using mobile apps, and not just because our core business is building them – they generate amazing returns! This is due to the numerous advantages they have over other strategies:
• Apps are customizable. Mobile apps can be built to your specifications, and so they can be tailored to fit any concept that makes sense for your business, no matter how simple or complex.
• Apps provide a smoother user experience. While mobile sites have to compromise to work across numerous devices, an app can be perfectly designed to work on the device on which it is downloaded.
• Apps are more robust. Apps have access to all of a device’s features (GPS location, accelerometer, and more), so the advanced technology in today’s devices doesn’t go to waste.
• Apps provide a better connection to users. Using push notifications with offers, and other messages that keep people engaged with your business, you can create a stronger bond with your users.
Mobile continues to be one of the strongest, fastest-growing trends. For businesses looking to grow, mobile apps are a perfect match. With built-in mobile activity increases projected to pour in for years to come, those who invest in mobile now will likely gain a significant edge on the competition.
5 Apps to Make Small Business Owners’ Lives Easier
Jun 14th
For any challenge faced by a small business owner, we try to find an “app answer.” Accordingly, each of the apps below is a solution to a common problem encountered by small business owners. Have a look – your biggest problem might be solved by a blog post, today!
Problem: Accounting and billing aren’t seamless or remote-accessible
Solution: Freshbooks Cloud Accounting
If you’re still living in the darkness of “Spreadsheet Land,” it might be time to step out into the light of day. It’s 2013, and cloud-enabled tools like Freshbooks provide enough advantages to put old-school solutions to shame. With anywhere access (even from mobile devices), your business’s accounting can become more seamless and easier to manage than ever before. Using Freshbooks, you can log time, bill clients, track expenses, and generate reports about your finances at any time, automatically. Welcome to the future!
Problem: Keeping tasks organized and coordinating the team is a nightmare
Solution: Orchestra To-Do
Getting things done and keeping them organized is officially easy, with Orchestra. You can speak your tasks into the phone, have them sync across your devices and platforms, integrate with email, share tasks, chat with team members, set reminders, and more. Email and calendar apps are useful, but Orchestra takes things to a whole new level, bringing your team together to get things done like never before.
Problem: People that aren’t in my office can’t see what I’m trying to show them
Solution: Join.me
Join.me offers instant meetings and screen sharing. You could keep describing things endlessly over the phone, or you could just use Join.me, and it will be like the person you’re talking to is in the room with you. Physical barriers should really be no excuse for collaboration problems, at this point. And Join.me is yet another tool you can use to break down the walls that make working remotely difficult.
Problem: I’m all over the place, and so are my trip documents
Solution: Tripit
If your business requires team members to travel frequently, Tripit is the solution you’ve been waiting for. Instead of having to cut and paste trip details into calendars, Tripit keeps everything in one place, neatly organized, and easily sharable or editable. You can also set up alerts, access everything from your mobile device, and manage team trips easily. Stop digging through emails. Let Tripit be your travel secretary!
Problem: I want to promote my business easily online
Solution: Localvox
You know that mobile online marketing is a big opportunity for small businesses, but you don’t know how to make the most of it. Well, now you don’t have to learn. Localvox will handle everything for you, sending promotions wherever they need to go, including your email list, social media channels, and websites. With the wealth of apps now available, coordination of pretty much everything is now someone else’s job. Enjoy your “retirement!”
Mobile Apps Trumps Mobile Web Usage
Dec 6th
While the amount of time spent watching T.V. has stayed relatively stable over the past few years, time spent using mobile apps is increasing wildly. Mobile app usage was averaging about an hour each day in 2010, and it has now doubled to more than two hours, as reported by the app data analysis company Flurry.
For reference, television watching takes up almost three hours each day, and web browsing takes a bit over an hour (although, for some of us, web browsing is running neck-and-neck with breathing for our most popular pastime).
At this level of importance, mobile apps are far too popular for businesses, especially small businesses, to ignore. As we have discussed in other posts, the mobile web is still very important, and the best strategy is always to create both apps and quality mobile websites. In terms of daily usage, however, apps are currently in the lead.
If you want to communicate with a particular market, you need to meet them where they are. What this new data reveals for small businesses is that people are spending a ton of time on their mobile apps, and that this channel is far ahead of websites in terms of daily time spent (and quickly catching up to television).
Of course, a lot of this time is double- and triple-counted, as users browse the web, play with apps, and watch T.V., all at the same time. But the numbers don’t lie.
As far as practical advice goes, small businesses can 1) develop their own app, 2) develop their own mobile website 3) do both. Developing apps or developing a mobile website, as app usage continues to climb, will increasingly have greater value and impact.
Look into it app makers!
