2013 Year in Review: Five Key Mobile Mentality Posts

calendar

2013 was a year of incredible growth, not just for Apptive, but for the mobile ecosystem as a whole. 2014 is set to continue the trend as advanced mobile strategy sets the divide for ecommerce merchants worldwide.

In order to make sure you get 2014 kicked off on the right foot, we curated some of the most useful posts from the Apptive blog up to this point. Check these out to get caught up on mobile strategy for the new year!

Think Mobile, Act Local

Have a physical presence but want to engage with your users on mobile devices? This post will give you insight into a mobile customer’s mindset and strategies to effectively engage them.

Infographic: Email Marketing vs. Facebook Page vs. Mobile App

How do you market to an online audience? This infographic will give you a quick (and dare we say, attractive?) visual guide to three primary methods of digital marketing.

The Smartphone Impulse

Impulse buying has a bad rep. This blog post will show you how to trigger impulse purchases the right way in order to increase customer satisfaction as quickly as you increase your sales.

How to Match App Design to iOS7

2013 also marked the release of Apple’s most significant update of their iOS operating system. This post will help you match the style of your app to the iOS7 standard.

Infographic: M-commerce and You!

Mobile ecommerce is the most rapidly growing trend for online store owners. This infographic will give you a good idea of the current state of m-commerce and how to use it for your online store.

We appreciate all of our readers and hope that these posts have proved and will continue to prove helpful. Check back often for more insights in 2014 and beyond!

On Mobile Devices, Dental Hygiene, and Origin Stories

Apptive co-founder Jason Jaynes recently gave a presentation focusing on emerging mobile trends. Here is a clip that demonstrates some interesting mobile statistics as well as the Apptive origin story!

Apptive Mobile Apps

Mobile Ads for Mobile Apps

mobilead

If you keep up with digital marketing trends, you are probably familiar with the current conundrum facing marketers: there is a disparity between the great potential for mobile advertisements and the people who have been able to effectively leverage them for their business. There are a number of contributing factors, but ultimately they all deal with the limiting factors that traditional businesses and advertisers face when placing their ads on a mobile device. That being said, we are also aware of the fact that mobile experiences which build upon other mobile specific features get quite a bit of traction.

A mobile app serves as a uniquely branded ecosystem that a customer can access from his or her home screen. Once someone actually downloads your app they become exponentially more valuable. Therefore, it is worthwhile to spend a few marketing dollars to drive potential customers to your app. The good news is, while some mobile ads can be difficult to configure, it is easy to test the waters and drive customers to your app.

There are a number of fantastic articles that can get you started in mobile advertising. For a first timer I recommend you start with this one from Entrepreneur. It’s a quick read, but to sum it up the article states that, when getting started, you should focus on creating mobile-specific landing pages and also piggyback on existing ad networks with mobile options, such as Google Adwords. We’ll also recommend Facebook ads, which are not native specific but DO show up only for Facebook users on mobile devices.

As far as the mobile specific landing page goes, its best to keep it simple. A picture of your app on several devices, four or five bullet points describing the functionality, and an icon that will allow customers to click and immediately start their app downloads (as an aside, Apptive provides you with these icons so you can easily enable customer downloads). This is more powerful than it may at first seem, since users who visit landing pages for your app on a desktop or see a physical advertisement will first have to search the app store for your app.

Mobile ads and mobile apps are both fresh marketing tools that have only been around for a few years. As time goes on people will begin to harness their power with the same acuity they have shown towards traditional methods. Fortunately the two can be used in concert right now to provide immediate benefit to your business!

Increase Content Exposure with a Mobile App

Automatic_Telegraph_Reciever

Excellent content is a prerequisite for effective business engagement nowadays. However, anyone who has dipped their toe in the pool of content marketing knows that the content itself is only one part of the battle. Content exposure is equally, if not more important to great content. After all, the most eloquent and helpful guide in the world is useless to you if no one ever reads it!

In the past, email and social marketing were the primary ways to spread content. Let me state up front, these methods are the standard for a reason. They can be incredibly effective assuming you have a large audience. However, in terms of raw efficiency they can not match a mobile app.

You can reach users who have downloaded a mobile app through push notifications, which completely change the game where engagement is concerned. Consider the fact that a 20-25% open rate for emails is generally considered very good. Now, compare that to push notification views. Because push notifications appear directly on a customers smartphone, views of 40% or higher are not at all uncommon. An app allows you to cut through the clutter and reach your customers directly.

Deals Module Best Practices

 

Stephen Panico discusses some strategies to maximize the value of the Apptive deals module both for you and your customers.

How Should You Use Push Notifications?

Watch as Apptive Co-founder Jason Jaynes answers a customer question about best practices for push notifications.