Mobile Apps for Every Small Business

Most of you know that my background is in email.  Specifically, I’ve had a 20 year business centered around corporate email consulting, anti-spam services, and email security.  I mention this only because I want you to understand that I REALLY know what I’m talking about here!

So, I want to talk to you a little bit about marketing.  Now, this is marketing for ANY kind of business.  Online, Home, Brick and Mortar, ANY business.  Let’s talk about what most businesses do to market, and why these things are failing.  Here are a few ways we market:

Direct Mail Marketing

Okay – you know what I’m talking about here right?  The original “junk mail”.  The paper that piles up in your mailbox.  I don’t know about you, but I only look through the paper “junk” that is delivered to me about once a month tops.  By that, I mean those coupon books, newspaper type coupon ads, etc.  They go into the recycling bin in the garage before I even get into the house!  Direct Mail just doesn’t really cut it these days for most industries.

Email Marketing

Now, this is where my 20 years of email consulting experience really can help you out.  YOUR MAIL IS NOT GETTING TO YOUR CUSTOMERS!  My company PERSONALLY helps to keep marketing email messages from ever getting into the mailboxes of corporate email users.  And Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, whatever email client you are using, also has its own Junk Mail functionality to try to protect you from unwanted email.

And the messages that do ultimately make it to your mailbox are often just deleted without you looking at them.  Here are some interesting stats.  My anti-spam server blocks over 1000 messages destined to me EVERY DAY.  My Junk Mail filter on my Mac sticks about another 20 or so in the Junk Mail folder every day.  And even with all of that, I wake up and delete about 25 messages every morning without even opening them.  If you really think your email is getting to your customers, you are kidding yourself.  I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that’s just the way it is.

Social Networking

I have a business page for my company on Facebook (http://facebook.com/moveoutoftheoffice).  I have a Twitter account (http://twitter.com/danitaz).  I have a LinkedIn account and page (http://linkedin.com/in/danitazanre).  I have it all!  And I will not say that these methods of advertising do not work.  They do, and I use them every single day.  However, the social media marketing world is getting very busy.  Your Facebook page post is getting lost in the fast paced news feeds of your followers.  Your tweets are fleeting.  These all become extremely “passive” ways to market.

Mobile Apps Marketing

Mobile Apps Marketing?  What’s that, you ask?  Pretty simple really.  Almost everyone who walks into your place of business, reads your blog, meets you at a coffee shop to learn about your business or opportunity has a cell phone in his pocket!  And many of these are now “smart phones”.  But regardless of the type of phone your potential customers or partners have, they have a phone and a cell phone number!  How would you like to be able to “push” them information about your business that will come directly to the cell phones in their hands?  This allows for “just in time” marketing to your customers and potential customers.  Want to have an impromtu sale in your clothing store tomorrow?  Send out a notice/coupon tonight.  Want to get people into your bar on a slow Tuesday night?  Send them a Two-Fer coupon Tuesday at noon to announce it.  Want to remind your church members of an important guest speaker on Sunday?  Send them a message today, and follow-up on Saturday.  The sky is the limit with mobile apps marketing.

Here’s a little video that my friend Ray Higdon put together for restaurants.  It’s only 10 minutes long, and I encourage you to look it over.  If you are in the restaurant/bar/club industry, this is a no-brainer.  But you can get some great ideas on how a mobile app can help you and your business.

I’d love to help you get an app going.  If you want to know how you can bring your marketing to customers at such a personal and immediate level, let me know!   Next step?  Just fill out your info below, and we’ll get down to business!