This is a guest blog on The Marketing Sage by Kenneth Sytian is the CEO of Sytian Productions, one of the leading web design services in the Philippines.
Are you thinking about creating an app to support your business? If you are unsure how to kickstart your app development, here are seven critical yet simple steps to developing a marketing app. Although some steps seem obvious, being clear on these issues before you begin will help you succeed.
#1 – A Clearly Defined Goal
Every successful mobile app out there has a clearly defined goal. Having a firm grasp of your intended target market and the value people can get out of your app is integral to app development.
Be prepared to answer these questions:
- Is this app tailored to attract new customers and engage existing ones? Or both?
- Will this provide information, promotion, e-commerce, or a combination of these three?
- What part of the user experience will require this app instead of a mobile site?
- Does the app need to work on different platforms?
- Why are you using an app versus other methods to support your customer’s needs?
- Do you want customers to be able to place a reorder for something they previously purchased easily?
- What is the tone and voice of your brand, and do you have brand standards for the developer to follow?
If you can’t come up with a specific part of your app that is also available on a mobile or desktop website, it may not be worth your time and money to develop it. A significant development team will question, challenge, and prod you to make sure you have thought through all of these considerations.
#2 – Research Your Competition
It is vital to know your competitors if you plan to develop a mobile app. What are they doing, and how will your app be different? Will your app be faster or simpler? Why would someone choose to use your app versus a competitor?
This knowledge gives you an idea of your customers’ expectations and the app’s functional requirements. By having this information, you can stand out from your competitors. Researching your competitors also gives you insight into how users interact with an app like yours. Moreover, studying other apps lets you identify your mobile application’s unique selling proposition.
That way, you can position your app to gain a competitive edge.
#3 – Identify Your Target Audience
If you want to create and launch a successful app, you probably have a good idea of what problem you are trying to solve. You may already know that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to these apps.
Every app aims to target a specific demographic, so you must establish who your app is for and how it will benefit the user.
Usually, your specific target audience comprises people who understand and engage with what you’re offering. These are people who come to you for a reason and will even invite more people to see what you have to offer. Your target may share a common problem, and the app can be a tool to help achieve the desired outcome.
In the long run, creating an app for the right target audience drives long-term engagement and profits.
- Map out the competition
- What names are they using for their app
- Are there features/functions you’ll add or delete from what they do?
- Review keywords they rank for in advance of designing your app.
#4 – Choose a Development Platform
The next step is choosing a development platform. Ideally, it should cover basic security and reliability. It should also work on various mobile operating systems unless you have a reason to focus on IOS versus Android. Some apps, like Clubhouse, launched on only one platform to reach a specific audience.
Also, know what your priorities and capabilities are. Some platforms provide you with great pre-packaged functionality. Thus, it can reduce an app’s development time to 80 percent. If you want to scale your app, then you might want to focus on the platform’s ability to handle a rapid surge of users.
No one platform is perfect. So you need to know its importance.
#5 – Provide Excellent User Experience
If you don’t provide users with an excellent user experience, you’re not giving them a reason to come back and use your app. Your app will eventually define how a user will think and feel about your business and the services that you offer.
It’s all about offering something valuable, simple to use, and practical to your target audience. Think of a tool you reach for when you cook or garden – it has a specific job that it can do, it is well-designed for that purpose, and is easy to use to achieve your goal.
#6 – Launch a Dedicated Site or Page
The next step is to launch a dedicated site for your app. A dedicated page for your mobile app makes it searchable on desktop results. As a result, people who search on Google using your target keywords can easily find your brand.
It also makes your content shareable on social media. That’s because you can use your dedicated page to embed a demo video, sign up for newsletter updates, and more.
#7 – Test Your Marketing App
Finally, it’s time to test and optimize your marketing app. With A/B testing, you can compare how your original design performs against your app’s more updated version.
This test gives you an idea of the layout, copy, or promotions that work best to drive conversion and engagements.
The mobile app development tips listed above can help you create and promote your marketing app. That way, your target users would know that your app exists. Sites like Test Flight on the IOS platform be helpful to give you feedback.
Appetite for Apps
The best advice is to create a marketing brief that outlines everything you can think of for your app. Please write it down and share it with app developers as a draft and build upon the document. This approach gets your ideas out of your head and helps make sure your engagement with a developer will be successful.
Need help getting a marketing app created?
I can help.
You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Watch a short video about working with me.
About the Author:
Kenneth Sytian is the CEO of Sytian Productions, one of the leading web design services in the Philippines. He has been designing websites and developing web apps for more than a decade. He is considered one of the top influencers in web design and development.
Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash
