Three Things to Consider Before Building a Branded Mobile App

Developing a branded app is a long-term investment. Consider these factors before you start.

Thanks to Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android, smartphone marketing, mobile app marketing, and mobile in-app advertising have suddenly become hot trends globally.

At the end of 2011, among the 860 million mobile users in China (according to MIIC, China), there were almost 170 million smartphone users (estimated by our company data) or about 19.8 percent of the entire market.

It is easy to see that iPhone and Android phone users are very engaged with all kinds of apps – both for ‘saving time’ and ‘killing time’. Naturally, many brands have observed this and are now looking for ways to take advantage of this emerging trend.

Branded applications are an attractive alternative, both for building brand and loyalty. This kind of app brings many benefits, including the fact that the brand’s logo will remain on the user’s mobile desktop permanently. In addition, it offers a shortcut for users to access product information by a simple click without having to remember the campaign site or other details. From a functional perspective, the application can communicate with consumers in richer and more creative ways.

There are many reasons to recommend branded applications to our customers. But before that, let’s sit back, and consider these three important factors first.

Campaign vs. Long-Term Investment

The objectives of a campaign-based app and a long-term-branded app can be fairly different.

Often times, considering the production cost and lead times needed in developing a really innovative mobile app, it’s not cost effective for a campaign that may last no more than two months. Not to mention, according to Analysys International, smartphone penetration today is still less than 20 percent in China.

However, even under these conditions, there are cases where campaign-based apps make sense. That is, when the app is creating a unique/innovative branding experience that only a mobile app can do (and technically, it cannot be realised on mobile Internet pages). We have seen a lot of mobile augmented reality campaigns based on this concept. These apps can help drive attention and increase buzz, so as to establish a very advanced, cool, and exclusive brand image.

In addition, we highly suggest that a brand should consider their mobile app as a brand-owned media platform, where brands can not only release commercial information, but also collect consumer insights and build a CRM approach. In many ways, a branded app is a branded portal, and it helps to build a long-term relationship between the brand and the consumer.

But where to start? The best starting point is annual planning. Think about what kind of problems we expect the mobile app to solve or improve. How can it be integrated with the current marketing platform? For a fashion brand, maybe the mobile app is the best media for fans to follow the newest collection and see footage, mix and match their own style easily, and help them to get to the physical store (featured with a GPS store map conveniently inside the app itself).

And of course, the user’s personal account should be integrated into the app, so every time a unique visitor buys, the brand will know. After that, styling tips or cross sale tips should be pushed to her app, such as ‘what other items we think you would also like, or match the previous item you just brought’, plus a coupon she can use next time. And every time she buys, make sure she can just click and share the purchase with her social network.

This is just an example of what a long-term branded app should look like. It keeps the mobile user updated with the newest brand information, drives them to stores, records their actions, and rewards their loyalty. It solves multiple problems for the brand that the current marketing communication platform may not be able to do so well.

But in order to have consumers download and keep using the app, this requires some thinking and planning as well. The key word is: value.

Bring Value to the User

Open any app store, and there are thousands of apps available to download, free or paid, fun or dumb. Why? Why would you download a branded app? And keep it on your mobile phone? Consumers are usually looking for apps that are useful, so the app should be good at something – either good at helping ‘save time’ (daily needs management), or good at helping to ‘kill time’ (gaming and entertainment). If the brand really put itself into consumers’ shoes, this is really how they look at your app. No one would like to just download an app to browse your ads, or to understand your company better. We have to think of them. Find out what they need and if that need is relevant to our brand, our product, or our service, then offer it.

Promoting and Maintaining Branded Apps

The design and production of a mobile app is just the beginning. Consumers need to become aware that there is a new app on the market. So once we build our app, we need to promote it actively. Never rely on app stores only, as discussed in the previous column on ‘cross media campaign‘. Utilising every media resource to inform the consumer about how good the branded app is, what value it brings, and of course where it is available to download. The best way to promote a mobile app is to use the mobile Internet and target a smartphone user’s device directly.

Once the app is launched, update it consistently and constantly, keep on offering value, and continually add new functions to make it always refreshing. Give it a little attention and patience, and the mobile app will become a really good friend for your consumer.

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