To App or Not to App? This is NOT the Question.
September 04th, 2010The world of mobile apps is exploding and we here at JMango have certainly been busy making apps and taking part in the boom.
The mobile is now an effective tool for brands and corporations to create a meaningful relationship via the handset, with their customer base.
And while it is true that some organisations have realised benefits from having mobile apps as part of their communications toolset, it’s not about being cool and keeping up with your competitors.
Just because your competitor has an iPhone app, say, doesn’t mean your business should follow suit and throw resources into building one as well.
Using the mobile channel to interact effectively with customers is not just declaring I want an iPhone app or an Android one.
Thinking about the technology or the platform before the content or customer engagement is the modern day equivalent of putting the cart before the horse.
Mobile is a great medium and can deliver fantastic business results if organisations and marketers in particular treat it no different to any other channel used for brand promotion and sales. To do otherwise is to waste time and money.
To get the best results marketers or the decision maker should define what the business objectives for mobile are, and how the channel can be used to enhance the brand.
Forget the technology, the first questions marketers should ask themselves are:
- Who is my audience?
- What do I want to say/do/feature?
- How will the audience engage?
- How does mobile help me to do this?
Determining the business objectives first enables an organisation to select a strategy which will deliver the best outcomes, and this could be a mobile app, mobile website, SMS promotion, proximity campaign and/or everything in between.
If you want to implement a loyalty program and have customers interact with the brand every second of the day then putting resources into building a mobile app is the way to go. A mobile phone is one thing that consumers never leave home without.
On the other hand, if the object is to provide general information about the brand a mobile web site is perhaps a better option.
Mobile is a very simple medium that is wrapped up in a lot of confusing and intricate technologies. It’s best for marketers to focus on the content and brand engagement.
Once a business has determined its objectives and how the channel can best work for the organisation, it’s up to digital agencies or companies like ours to make recommendations about the technology and delivery platform.
We’d like to hear your thoughts on what should come first the technology or the content? Is it better to be cool or develop objectives that will deliver fantastic results to the business? Is it sometimes ‘Hip to be Square’?