Why Create an App for your Business? Because Mobile Marketing Profits Await

Over a very short period of time, nothing has been more successful in the mobile marketing world than what’s been happening with Apple and the iTunes store. Every day, thousands of apps are downloaded from iTunes to mobile devices such as iPhones and iPads, and we’re only in the infancy of this trend. If you can provide some kind of utility that provides an instant valuable service to the hundreds of thousands of people looking for apps to download each day, you’ll take your mobile marketing efforts to levels previously unheard of.

“There’s an app for that” is Apple’s marketing slogan for the ability to discover an app related to just about any topic. And because apps have become so popular, there’s no better way to effectively and inexpensively get brand awareness for your company or project. From entertainment to useful information, every company can benefit from having a well thought out application available for download to countless mobile devices ready to discover your brand.

There’s a couple of ways to make this happen. You can develop the app yourself, which generally isn’t really an option unless you’re a programmer by nature or would like to spend countless hours learning how to utlize Apple’s X-Code development program. (Plus, you’ll have to join Apple’s iPhone Developer Program at $99/year). You’ll also need access to a Mac, plus an iPhone, iPad, or whatever mobile device you’re targeting your app to run on for testing purposes. Finally, you’ll need to jump through all the hurdles of Apple’s provisioning for both development and distribution, a tedious process indeed!

The more viable way of developing an app is to find application developers that specialize in mobile application development and mobile marketing campaigns. This option may cost you a bit more money (unless you factor in the time and effort it’ll take you to generate the app yourself – remember, time is money), but the cost of your app will probably be dwarfed by the earnings potential apps can provide, even apps available for download for free!

How can that be you ask? For starters, apps can be created as “advertising vehicles” where thousands of mobile marketers compete for the privilege of advertising on your app – and you get paid for that. Develop an app that becomes a popular download and you may be earning more than you think possible just from other marketers advertising on your efforts. You can also find related businesses to advertise on your app itself, which makes for a very profitable strategy for many businesses with apps available for download today (again for free). Lastly, if your app back-end’s your service (such as real estate for example), the deals you close from leads generated from the app far outway the loss of upfront profits from the paid download option.

Or you can take the path of charging for your app as well. While you may not get as many downloads for paid apps, the real great thing about the Apple Store is that they’ll handle the payment process completely for you with absolutely no hassles at all. Sure, they’ll take 30% of the cut, but when you’re talking volume like you’ll get for a popular app, Apple’s fee is well worth the cost.

Take a good look at your core business and create a plan for how to incorporate an app for it. Sketch out your idea and flowchart it. One of the greatest parts of app downloads is that reviews are available for just about all of them. Do it right or don’t do it at all, as a bad app review obviously will not entice further downloads from others. Above all, your app should be interesting, addictive, and unique.

Every business is obviously different but you can be sure that no matter what the business is, there’s mobile marketing profits awaiting for those who create intriguing and addictive apps, whether they charge for it or make them free. The bottom line is this: Because the iPhone and iPad (among others such as the Android) have become so popular, if you can develop an app available for download at the iTunes store for these devices for whatever business you’re in, it’s entirely possible to potentially attract an entirely new source of business – perhaps more than you can handle. That’s why you need to start moving on an app for your business today.