Mobile has brought drastic changes in the consumer’s shopping and searching behavior. As reported by the search engine giant Google, around 82 percent of smartphone users consult their phones before purchasing anything in a store. The steady rise in the number of mobile phone users also indicates our growing dependence on the mobile platform.
Globally, marketers have taken cognizance of this paradigm shift from desktop and laptops to smartphones and started building digital marketing strategies by keeping mobile devices in the center. Many experts consider incorporation of mobile app development in marketing strategies as one of the most important steps of modern digital marketing campaigns. Irrespective of industry sectors and business model, customized mobile apps are becoming an increasingly powerful online marketing tool.
Before knowing how mobile app development process revolutionizes digital marketing, we will go through the importance of digital marketing for the modern business:
Digital Marketing — Scope and Importance
Digital marketing is an umbrella term that involves all the online channels like social media, search engines, and emails to address the marketing requirements of your business. It enables you to connect your company with existing and prospective customers directly. It is a go-to strategy for branding and building the online reputation of your business.
Digital marketing facilitates enterprises to utilize the efficient assets like blog posts, brochures, social media posts, and interactive tools through different techniques including PPC, content marketing, affiliate marketing, and email marketing.
Though effective in serving various business objectives, digital marketing has a few limitations:
- Internet Access- Any digital marketing effort or strategy requires uninterrupted Internet access. The campaign remains ineffective for the people who have limited or slow Internet network.
- Competition- As a cost-effective marketing strategy, many companies have started digital marketing campaigns. As a result, when the potential customers start searching for a product, too many results are displayed that make the customers confused.
- Imitation- There is no copyright on any of the digital marketing techniques, therefore, it is fairly possible that your competitors may copy your campaign. Even if you find that someone has copied your campaign, you cannot take any action.
- Negative Feedback- Negative feedback can readily tarnish the reputation of any company. Even a single negative comment can ruin the well-earned fame. It is, therefore, necessary to watch on the reviews and comments.
Mobile apps can help companies to get rid of these limitations while making the digital marketing campaign more powerful and effective. Firstly, let us find out how mobile apps overcome these limitations:
- Internet Access is necessary but not mandatory
With a mobile app, your company or brand finds the place in the customer’s smartphone. A feature-rich mobile app does not require the Internet for limited functionality. In a way, the users can utilize the mobile app even when there is no Internet.
2. Competition is intense but manageable
On the mobile front, the competition is getting more intense, but with user-friendly features and a seamless performance across major OS, your app can serve business objectives more efficiently and for a long time as compared to the digital marketing campaign.
3. Copyright prevents imitation
Your app is protected by the Copyright Act, and your competitors cannot imitate your entire app. Though features can be the same, your app can stay ahead of the curve with enticing UI and flawless user experience.
4. App’s popularity requires focused approach
Unlike digital marketing, your app can do well regarding a number of downloads and retention rate by implementing ASO (App Store Optimization) techniques. You can also neutralize the impact of negative app reviews through an ASO campaign.
Now we will see how mobile app development can change the way of digital marketing by making an app a direct marketing channel.
How mobile app development process brings radical changes in digital marketing
A reliable and experienced mobile app development company can assist you to make digital marketing campaign more powerful by the following ways:
Social media integration
No digital marketing campaign can succeed without involving social media. While making a business app, the app developers integrate social network to enable the end users to stay connected with the company. The social media integration in the app can make social media marketing more effective and increase its reach. In other words, the social media campaign can be combined with the mobile app and enterprises can get benefits in terms of increased customer loyalty and enhanced reputation.
Database integration
Customer’s data can play a vital role in assisting the company management to decide marketing strategy and various key processes. Even the digital marketing campaign also based on Analytics to find the outcome and determine the future course. There, the mobile app development services provider can make the data storage and access easier with the database integration. From providing the necessary information to the user to collect the data regarding the user’s behavior- the database integration can help businesses and marketing experts to address and serve their customers in a better way.
Mobile Analytics integration
In addition to database integration, the enterprise mobile app comes with mobile analytics that enables the entrepreneurs to know the app usage and behavior pattern of their customers. It is easy to build the digital marketing campaign targeting the app users by using such data. What’s more, companies can create a long-term strategy based on mobile app usage, number of downloads, demographics, etc. When it comes to branding and customer engagement, a mobile app can help your business in many ways.
Push Notification
Digital marketing campaigns are about spreading awareness about the products and promotional offers. The inclusion of push notification in the mobile app serves this purpose efficiently and effectively. Be it addressing a targeting audience or existing customers, push notifications can help you promote your products. What’s more, with push notifications, it is easy to reach customers on the move, which is otherwise difficult with the digital marketing campaign. Of course, social media promotion can enable you to reach a vast audience, but, mobile apps can meet this requirement more effectively. In brief, push notifications can serve as a supplement to the digital marketing campaign and act as a whole marketing system.
Simple Registration
What is the ultimate goal of a digital marketing campaign? The answer to this question is: an increase in the number of customers. But then, a complex signing up process can annoy the new customers and as a result, they may switch to other websites. The mobile app development company takes care of registration process and when the customers find simple and straightforward registration, chances are higher that they will stay with the brand or business for a long time. The clean and easy interface on any size screen can make digital marketing efforts more effective, and you get an optimum outcome as an increased number of users.
Localization Feature
Both digital marketing campaign and mobile apps can address a specific audience. But, mobile apps can serve this objective more effectively through localization features using GPS and iBeacon technologies. When brick-and-mortar retailers opt for a digital marketing campaign, the mobile app can act as a supplement to this campaign and send a real-time notification to the customers with iBeacon functionality. What’s more, the many B2C businesses can take the benefits of localization with ease through a customized mobile app. In brief, a digital marketing campaign can target a specific audience, but a mobile app can boost the efforts by addressing local people.
On-demand Apps
How about offering an on-demand app to your customers? This revolutionary concept gains ground because it can help you serve the customers in a better way. Many industry sectors including hospitality, health and fitness, transportation and logistics, etc. have started availing the advantage of on-demand apps. Such apps can improve accessibility and increase productivity while reducing the operational cost of the business. In the future, it is possible that the digital marketing campaign will revolve around the on-demand application.
As the futuristic technologies like AR, VR, and AI have started to incorporating in the mobile apps, there is no exaggeration in mentioning that apart from playing a significant role, the mobile apps would change the face of a digital marketing campaign in the future. As a result, globally, enterprises have to plan their marketing strategy by keeping the mobile platform in mind.
Concluding Remarks
With 24/7 visibility, improved customer engagement, and increased accessibility, a customized mobile app can help your company provide value to the customers. Today, mobile apps are not limited to big and established enterprises, even startups have also started leveraging its benefits. The primary objective of digital marketing is to enhance the customer’s engagement. The interactive mobile app can fulfill this objective by enabling people to interact with each other as well as with brands. It is fair to mention that you can avail the benefits of a digital marketing campaign with a feature-rich and futuristic app.
That’s not all! You can consult a reliable and reputed mobile application development company to know how a business app can boost the digital marketing efforts.