How Mobile Apps can Help Small Businesses?

Consumer behaviour has changed drastically since the rise of handheld devices as a medium for interaction. As a result, the brands are shifting their methods of advertising in order to reach out to their target audience. According to a report on Shop.org 55% of consumers were reportedly originated from smartphones. These numbers display how there has been a distinct shift towards mobile devices as compared to laptops or desktops. In an era when consumers are spending big money on their mobile devices, online marketers cannot afford to overlook this trend. But unfortunately, most of the small businesses still do not realize how important the mobile apps are to tap the potential consumers.

Can a mobile app help you?

While it is true that a mobile app is especially helpful for a small or local business, it is important to ask yourself whether you actually need an app. Mobile apps can work wonders for most of the small businesses. However, these are not necessary for everyone. If your business requires you to reach out to your customers 24X7 or you can offer a productive experience for your brand, you definitely need an app. Even if you require reaching out to the customers round the clock, will it benefit your business? It is important that you have clear business goals before developing an app for your business. It will help to ensure that your expectations from the app are not unrealistic.

Mobile marketing vs. others

On an average, it has been estimated that users have 26 apps installed on their smart phones. Does this ring a bell? It means that you will have to compete with 26 apps in order to grab the attention of the customers. But this competition sounds easier when compared to the websites. There you have competition from millions of websites.

Mobile marketing over social media

There are many small businesses that are still getting used to social media. Managing social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter requires experts. For small businesses it might not be always possible to acquire dedicated resources to manage such platforms. Moreover, when users are on social media, they are not merely looking for making a purchase. There are various reasons why they are on social media. In this regard, your profile will have to compete directly with numerous things that your target audience might find more interesting.

However, if you are developing mobile apps reaching your audience becomes easier. You are visible to your customers at all times. Moreover, you would not need additional resources to ensure customer engagement.

Customer Engagement

Whether you own a spa service, bakery or flower services, your customers require to reach you. With a help desk feature in your app, it helps to communicate with your customers better. For example, if you want to place an order to a local bakery, its mobile app can save you the hazard of commuting to the shop. Customers prefer such a kind of engagement.

Mobile apps are better than email marketing

Email marketing is an old concept that works well for most of the businesses. However, even if people subscribe to your list there are no guarantees that they will have a look at your mail. Mobile app, on the other hand, has ‘push notification.’ Through this, the users are notified when some new activity takes place within the app. For small businesses, it is a direct way of communicating with their audience about the latest updates related to their products and services.

Developing mobile apps

Many small businesses avoid developing apps for their businesses because of the cost. It is a fact that mobile app development services is an expensive affair but getting into unnecessary details can help you reduce the cost. It can be used further to make money by applying strategic app monetizing plans. You can earn money from your apps with the help of ads too.

Finally, all you need to get a mobile app is smart planning and creative ideas. It is time to walk away from the usual Google ads and explore something that will engage your audience better. If you are sure about your business goals, no small business owner can go wrong with the mobile app development.