Have you got a Mobile App Strategy Yet?

There was a time not that long ago when small businesses wondered if they needed a website. After a company site became an absolute necessity, then came the question whether small businesses needed a presence on the top social media sites. While most business owners maintain an active social media profile for their companies, now there is a new question that many are asking. That is whether your business has a mobile app as yet?

While many of the bigger companies have already started or even completed creating their business app, the smaller business owners are the ones who are faced with the dilemma of investing in an app. Most companies know that the Smartphone or tablet market has exploded and hundreds of millions of users now access internet via their mobile devices. However, creating an app is still quite expensive with developers charging several thousand dollars and this does not include future maintenance of the app. In a case like this where small business owners realize an app is now a necessity but they do not have the funds to create the app, they need to work out an app strategy for their business.

To begin with, small business owners should look for online services that allow any company owner to register and build their own app. Of course the service provider would charge a nominal monthly fee but this completely beats spending thousands of dollars in development and then in maintenance of the app. There are several services now that have already created the most important must have features for an app and anyone registering for their service can simply drag and drop the features in to their own business app. This could include creating GPS coupons, providing GPS directions to your place of business, sending a message to all app users, adding important information about the business and latest events etc.

The easiest thing to do would be to go through the feature list offered by the online service provider and ask which features your target market would use the most. Once you know what your customer wants, simply add them to your app and ask your service provider to publish the app. Now for some users a do-it yourself mobile app creator could feel too technical and something they would either not prefer doing or simply do not have the time to design an app. In this case, look for an online app service provider that also offers app management at no extra cost. While this is rare for companies to offer, it is not entirely impossible to find.

Apart from strategizing on creation of the app, small business owners need to particularly pay attention to what happens after the app is live on the respective mobile app markets. It is important to provide some dynamic content in your app that allows users to return to it often. Dynamic content could be anything such as providing new real estate listings for a realtor or providing recipes or daily specials for a restaurateur. Sending out coupons is also a great way to make sure your app is used more often. Whatever may be your purpose for creating an app, one thing that is for sure right now is that your business cannot do without one at the moment.