Get Plugged In!

It's time to get plugged in & stop resisting change. 

Many times we often hear entrepreneurs & business owners say statements like "I hate technology" or "I don't need to upgrade, I'm fine with where I'm at". Maybe your target market are all older and the likely chance of them using an iPhone is low, but reality is that times change and so do markets. It is better to get plugged in now, adapt & learn before it's too late. As a business owner you should always strive for continual growth for your business in every way possible and yes technology is one of those areas.

So for all of you resistant business owners out there, we just wanted to show you that adapting to mobile technologies is a must and pain free.

Begin with a Smartphone

The reason many business owners do not see value in a mobile app for their business is because they simply do not have a smartphone device. They do not use apps and it seems as a foreign language to them. But reality is, tons of people are using mobile phones & apps. 91% of Americans use cell phones and the number of people switching to smartphones is exponentially growing year by year. Currently, 34% of Americans go online primarily using their smartphone. This is amazing! Just a few years ago you could only access the web from a desktop or laptop computer. Now people use their mobile device over the other devices.

Start by buying yourself a smartphone, downloading apps & seeing the value. These apps provide so much value for your life! You can deposit checks from your device, transfer funds, check business analytics and much more. Just think, no more bank trips three of four times per week. Think how much gas you would save! So get mobile & get plugged in.

Next, is your business mobile?

Now that you are familiar with using mobile technologies, you'll find yourself using it almost daily. Checking emails, browsing the web and even catching up on your favorite Netflix series. But it is time to focus efforts on your business. Go to your website on your mobile phone and see if it is optimized or not. By optimized, we mean if you have to pinch and zoom...it's not mobile optimized for customers, leaving a very poor mobile experience that can turn away business.

You might even find it frustrating yourself that you cannot see your web page from your phone. So now it's time to begin your marketing for mobile. We recommend contacting a great company like Grand Apps to help you out or another local web firm to help you out. We suggest planning your steps before beginning. Here is a layout order for your mobile presence.

-New Website
-Mobile Freindly**
-Mobile App for your Business

So if your website is outdated, get a new modern website. After make sure it is responsive or mobile. Then launch your mobile app. Even though we are a little biased when it comes to mobile apps, we still recommend making sure you have a strong mobile presence before the app stage.

Takeaway...people are changing, so should you. 

The main takeaway here is that people are changing. They are adopting mobile apps, surfing the web with their smartphone and using for many other things. It's time to stop being resistant to change if you wish to grow your business. Taking small steps (with an open mind) can do wonders for growth. We hope this helped a little and we really hope to see you on the other side, the mobile side. Great success to your business and if you have any questions please email our support team.

support@grandapps.com

Mobile Apps | Bands

Musicians everywhere are trying to build their audience by the numbers. What a better way to do this than with a mobile app. As a band, rapper or group, you have the ability to control what music is on your app, send exclusive songs and get in touch with your audience. Let's explore a few key features your mobile app will help you with in regards to growing your audience. 

Music Player

As a musician you probably have some music on iTunes or Digital 7. Our mobile apps will link these two sites and sync all of your music into your band app. You can also upload MP3 files to your app as well. This music player feature is awesome for pushing your audience towards purchasing your music. 

The iTunes link will only play a few seconds of your song until it changes to the next song. This gives the people a taste of that song and they have the option to purchase it in iTunes, which will allow you to grow your business. The MP3 songs can be full format and listeners will be able to listen to the entire track. 

Your followers who download your app can get the most exclusive songs because they will be notified first with your app. You can send out Push Notifications to all of your app users telling them you are about to release a new track. Every artist needs a mobile app and every fan would love to receive new exclusive tracks. 

Fan Wall

This feature is great for keeping in touch with your audience. They can login with Facebook or Twitter and leave a comment on your app. You can also manage comment in case there is one that is not supposed to be there or inappropriate. 

Artists can also write back to fans by replying to their comments. This is the most interactive besides text messaging your fans. This feature also allows locations of people comments and the ability to upload pictures. Fans love interaction and this will keep them loyal. 

And More...

We also offer artists way more features for their apps and show you how to engage your users and build your app downloads. Other great features are as follows;

• Push Notifications - The ability to send a message out to all app users. 
• Events Calendar - The ability to post all your shows and let your users know where you'll be performing. 
• Social Media - The ability to link all social accounts to the app.
• M - Commerce - The ability to sell merchandise (besides music) in the app such as; T Shirts, Hats and more.

Again, we offer many useful features to artists and help you find ways to make money with your mobile app. If you are interested in learning more, just visit us at our website or email us. 

www.grandapps.com | support@grandapps.com

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Mobile Marketing Tips | December 2012

Mobile Marketing Tips | December 2012

Grand Apps Followers,

Mobile app marketing should be apart of every business owners marketing strategies in today's world, which is why Grand Apps is here to provide our followers some inside mobile marketing tips that will help increase awareness of your app. This increased awareness will increase app downloads, which will help business owners increase more repeat traffic to their business. 

First, learn more about the: Mobile App Industry


QR CODES

An effective way to increase traffic to your app is by linking your iTunes app and Android App with a QR code. Here are some benefits of having a QR code linked to your app;

• Users can find it easy
• Users can download it quickly
• Users like scanning QR codes

We have also listed some QR code statistics below;

• Consumers ages 35-44 lead in QR code scanning, with 26% of the market
• QR scanning traffic has increased a dramatic 4,549% since Q1 2010
• In June 2011, 14Mm mobile users in the U.S., representing 6.2% of the total mobile audience, scanned a QR code on their Mobile Device
• 65% of smartphone users had previously seen a QR code

Marketing QR codes

Social Media: 

Post your QR Codes in all forms of Social Media from your business Facebook page to your company LinkedIn account. If you have social media, post the QR code there!

Marketing Material:

Post your QR codes in ALL marketing materials; Yellow Pages, Direct Mailers, Newspaper Ads, Service Trucks, Business Cards and everywhere else. If you have any type of marketing material you use, post a QR Code on there. 

E-News:

Send out an E-Blast to all of your subscribers with a huge QR code in the email encouraging people to download your app. 

Incentives:

When you give someone an incentive, they are twice as likely to do a task. In this case, tell everyone that "Scan the QR code to download our app to receive a coupon when you download it". People will flock to your QR code, scan it and download your app for the coupon. 

Mobile App Industry | December 2012

Mobile App Industry | December 2012

Grand Apps Readers;

It is crucial today that small businesses start thinking about mobile, and with Grand Apps, small businesses have an opportunity to go mobile with the leading Grand Rapids app developer. Grand Apps will provide you a complete mobile marketing strategy with a mobile app and a mobile website for less than the price of newspaper ads. 

Mobile websites are perfect for acquisition through local searches, and mobile apps are perfect for customer loyalty through engaging features such as loyalty programs, coupons, mobile shopping, food ordering, push notifications and more. 

Still not totally convinced that mobile is the way to go? Checkout the below images. 

Mobile Apps are being downloaded at exponential rates by users. Also, the smartphone business will grow at 30% compound annual growth rate for the next five years!

Customers are shopping online by the millions, should't you give them the option at your local business? Also, by 2015, 81% of U.S. cell users will have smartphones. 

Overall, your customers are downloading apps at very exponential rates and spending millions of dollars on them. Isn't it about time you invested in a mobile app for your local business. Again, Grand Apps is the leading Mobile App developer in Grand Rapids, MI. We do not limit to West Michigan App Development, we actually develop mobile apps for iPhone and Android Apps across the country. 

Checkout our website and we will talk soon.