Mad 4 Blog

The height of marketing power right now may come in the smallest of forms; in fact, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Although marketers have been employing cell phones for years—via call surveys and even text message campaigns, for example—the newest and smartest way to engage on-the-go customers is now by creating mobile applications that smartphone users can download immediately and use indefinitely.

Can’t They See My Website Online?

Yes, but mobile apps load faster and provide a much more user-friendly experience for someone who’s viewing your data on a small screen, with the range of buttons available to them (as opposed to a full keyboard and mouse). With a mobile app, your menu can be tailored to services that people are most likely to be seeking while out-of-home. For example, your main page can reflect your directory and a map to your location. Or you can offer one-click sales without all the flash and graphics or the dense text information that’s available on your website. Plus, you’ll be listed among their favorite and most-used programs on their phone. It’s an automatic bookmark and frame of reference so they’ll never forget your name—or that cute little logo or icon that reflects your brand.

What Perks Does a Mobile App Offer?

The greatest single advantage to offering a mobile app is that you can interject your business at any time, anywhere and give your customers—or prospects—an immediate, direct connection to your products and services the moment they think of needing them. Besides that, constantly seeing your application and thinking of your brand keeps you top-of-mind. At the very least, because mobile apps are so prevalent, if you don’t have one, it’s probable that your competition will make one first.

How Can I Stand Out in the Crowd?

There are numerous jokes being made about the number of apps out there in the world; but the answer to making a big statement with yours is actually quite simple: Target your key audience. It’s not like your account is going to be the new Facebook and show up on the face of every cell phone; not every single person will want a direct route to your business information. But there is a group of niche individuals who will. The greatest task with mobile applications, as with most forms of marketing, is identifying and getting in contact with those who will benefit the most by communicating with you. Once the app is downloaded, it’s all downhill from there.

By tying in your mobile app with a comprehensive marketing campaign, you can direct interested parties to your mobile app and keep them connected. Once someone has you listed among their collection of valued apps, you can offer incentives that are only available through your mobile app and then consistently reward prospective customers for having it on their phones and checking in on a regular basis.

Last week, we introduced the premise of using blogs in marketing, and what to do once you have your own blog. In that same vein, this week we are following up with tips for keeping your readers once you have reached out and engaged them in the first place.

Getting Readers to Stay on Your Site

In a world where single impressions are used to measure website results, one might wonder why it’s important to care how long readers actually stay on your site. When it comes to marketing, keeping readers engaged means that you’re increasing their familiarity with your voice and information. By staying on your site, readers are able to connect to the content, which may make them think about your ideas later or want to return (more on this below). You’ll also want visitors to move around on your site, which is why you should always provide links to other areas that might be of interest. For example, if you published a complementary article last month or previously mentioned the topic at hand, you’ll want to refer back to that old post. When readers move through your site, it increases your impression rate click by click–getting you more bang for your buck per visit or guest.

Getting Readers to Revisit Your Site

Why allow readers to have one single good experience on your site when you can encourage them to create a pattern? Readers make pivotal decisions about whether they might want to return to your blog in the first few seconds of landing on it, so inviting them to come back again begins promptly at the start of their very first visit—even with your blog’s title. An easy-to-memorize name will make it easy for one-time visitors to find their way back to you. The look and layout of your blog are also invaluable tools that can influence how the general populace—or your targeted audience—perceives the value of returning to your blog, so don’t skimp on the creative. Remember, you only get one chance to make a first impression.

The next step is to make your content as subscribable as possible by providing easily identifiable links to RSS feed, your newsletter or other forms of content subscriptions; this includes ‘following’ ‘friending’ ‘liking’ ‘fanning’ or other ways to connect with the page. It also helps to flat-out prompt readers to bookmark your hyperlink. Anything that removes the middle step of making your reader remember that your blog exists will be useful, so be sure to try to lock them to a mailing list or feed as soon as possible.

You’ll also want to make your blog extremely user-friendly so that it’s a welcoming and easy-to-navigate space that readers will want to revisit. We’ve previously discussed the importance of user-friendliness on the Web, but there are a few differences when talking about a blog rather than a website or forum. For example, utilize your blog’s sidebar to chronicle past posts, organize content by key words or add a search feature. Don’t just load this valuable space with heavy text and ads; besides, a busy blog will generally overwhelm readers and dissuade them against ever coming back.

Of course, no effort goes so far as introducing frequent, fresh content and enforcing quality control. By providing plenty of new, engaging content (that must, must, must be typo-free), readers will come up with the bright idea to come back again all on their own.

These aren’t stand-alone suggestions; each relates to one another in order to create a plotted process by which readers are easily directed and re-directed to the blog. Much like with all advertising, it takes several interactions or impressions before marketing tactics can truly take hold; and it’s those who have been most often exposed to your messages who are likely to convert to customers–and spread the word.