Beginner Guide: Building Your Business App

Congratulations! Your business has finally decided to go mobile and implement a mobile app into your digital marketing for 2014. But you might be faced with some questions about starting out, which is why we have you covered. 

Many businesses out there are finally catching on about mobile apps and the effectiveness of their use. They are not simply a glorified mobile website, but rather a problem solving money making machine when used right. What you must take into consideration when starting out with your businesses mobile app is beginning to think like the app user. You want to build the app with features that are both useful and helpful solving daily problems. 

Useful Features

But what are these useful features? Well, that would depend on the industry you're in. But for example, restaurants would greatly benefit from mobile ordering as it allows app users to order food in minutes from their device. This saves the restaurant time and money because it keeps employees off of the phone and reduces order error because the end user is placing the order. If you are a hair salon, possibly introducing a mobile app scheduling service to clients would allow them to book on the fly. If you run a hotel, think about adding a room service app ordering feature. 

There are tons of ways apps can be useful, but when building yours for your business just keep in mind the end user during this process. What would you like in your app if you were the customer? 

Did you know Grand Apps actually offers all of the features we mentioned above. Give us a call today and let us brainstorm with you the industry your in and the features that can help. 

Engagement

You also want the app to be filled with engaging opportunities that harness social media sharing. We are all witnessing the power of social media sharing right before our eyes. It is the modern day word of mouth marketing for your business. When people share something with their friends, they are recommending those close family and friends to try your business out. Our apps are packed with social sharing opportunities and your businesses app should be too! 

Another amazing engagement feature we found useful for businesses was the integration of push notifications. We allow our clients to send out unlimited push messages to app users. You can inform app users about specials, services and even holiday messages. Push notes beat SMS marketing any day of the week! It's hard enough to get people to 'opt-in' to your SMS plan because they know they will be getting coupons & specials. Some people just get annoyed with these. But push notifications are more than plain messages. You can add useful content like links, pictures and even link to your app. 

Takeaway

When you decide to build your businesses mobile app, make sure you are packing it with tons of useful features that will engage customers to keep them coming back! Again, we offer a full mobile app marketing suite that is packed with features like this. Feel free to give us a ring or shoot us an email at support@grandapps.com

Thanks for the read & best of luck in 2014! 

Facebook Launches Calling App

Facebook has just launched a new feature on their message app, unlimited calling. You can now use WiFi to chat on the phone with your friends. This is a huge feature upgrade to their message app and a great idea. Lookout Spring, Verizon, AT&T & T Mobile...Facebook is knocking at your door. With an increase in WiFi and internet everywhere, technologies like this are becoming easier and easier to integrate. 

Also on a side note, maybe the purchase of WhatsApp had something to do with this? Overall, great work and upgrade on Facebook for integrating this feature!

So Your Business Is Shopping For Mobile Apps?

So after reading many of our articles about the mobile marketing movement in small business, yours is finally ready to pull the trigger on a mobile campaign. But you are now left with another decision, who to choose? Of course we want you to choose Grand Apps as your mobile app, website & mobile website provider but even if you don't we wanted to help guide you in the right direction.

Tip One - Credibility

As you already know, being credible in business is key to building a successful long term relationship. You want to make sure the company you choose has a strong dependable track record. Here are some questions you can ask the company you are seeking out to get you going on mobile marketing.

- How many mobile apps have you currently developed?
- How many businesses have you worked with?
- How many businesses in our industry have you worked with?
- Do you have any recommendations, news articles or publications about your company?

These questions can gauge the level of expertise that company has in mobile development & mobile marketing.

Tip Two - ROI

This is probably all you really care about as a business owner...the Return On Investment. Many people will not care if the company only has developed 10 mobile apps, but if it shows an ROI then your business is in. Make sure you check to see if the app has increased traffic to that business.

- Has your mobile marketing (mobile apps) increased foot traffic to businesses?
- Do you have solid numbers proving you increased that business with a mobile app?

These two questions alone are powerful enough to make a decision. If the businesses mobile app & mobile marketing strategies have actually increased traffic, people are using it and there are solid sales with a mobile app then that is really all you would need to invest in mobile.

Tip Three - Development Time / Implementation Time

You can't buy time, even with trillions of dollars. We understand that and want to help you out with this. The world has become so fast paced with technology that business works 24/7 with no sleep. So it is crucial that you gain a competitive advantage before your competition. This is done by showing up to the party first aka going mobile first. So, make sure you ask your potential developers this.

- How long until my app is live in iTunes & Google Play, ready to download and start marketing?
- How much time will it take to make changes to my mobile app?
- Any other time constraints I should know about in development?

These questions will help every business owner gauge how fast this app developer can work. Some are faster than other and some are slower than others. Just make sure their time of development fits your marketing efforts internally.

Tip Four - Is it affordable? 

You are a small business owner with limited capital in any investment, we understand this. But still many other developers or companies do not. We have worked with many small businesses with large budgets & very small budgets. This is your ultimate determining factor...can you afford it? So we recommend asking these questions to the potential company you will be working with?

- How much is it?
- Will you work with me?

Don't be shy as a business owner to tell the truth and try to work out a payment plan. That company should be open & willing to work with you. We believe they would if they truly understood small businesses and how they work.



Summary

So we have concluded four key tips for shopping around for companies that will help you kick start your mobile marketing efforts.

- Are they credible?
- Is there proven ROI or ROI Features?
- Implementation Time?
- What is the investment?

These might be basic, but still many people forget asking these basic questions. If you want to find out our answers for each of these questions to see if we live up to the standard, simply email our support team at support@grandapps.com.

Thank you all for reading & we look forward to working with your company soon.

*If you want exclusive Grand Apps mobile marketing & mobile app updates just subscribe below by entering your email.

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How Can Mobile Grow Your Small Business?

Many small business owners truly believe that mobile would benefit their business in a positive way, but they just do not know how or where to start. Before we continue, let's break down some quick statistics from this year so far.

• Qualcomm says that about 29% of Americans check their phone right when they wake up & right when they go to bed, everyday. 
• Pew Research Center says that 44% of cell phone users have slept with their cell phone by their side so they didn't miss a notification. 

Let's just stop right here. Are you picking up on a common trend from just these two powerful statistics? Maybe you can look around your business during peak hours and take tally of how many people are on their smartphones. You will see couples on a date, both looking down on their smartphone at times. People are attached to mobile smartphones and this is an opportunity of a lifetime for small businesses to cash in. 

So we know that almost everyone is on a mobile smartphone or going to be on one soon. Don't believe everybody is going mobile? Even the large cell phone companies are advertising people hate their "dumbphones". Remember this commercial from T Mobile? Guy gets robbed for his phone but the robber won't even take his non smartphone. 

So in this conclusion, we can all agree that everybody is going mobile and will be very soon. So where do I get started and how can I grow my business with mobile? 

That is simple. 

We have mentioned this in past articles, but maybe you  missed it. Grand Apps highly recommends that you begin with two main center-points for your mobile marketing campaigns; Mobile Website & Mobile App. 

Mobile Website

It is crucial today that every business has a mobile website, if not you're getting left in the dust. Over 50% of Google's searches are on a mobile device and you can believe that if they come across your site and have to pinch and zoom they will not be happy. We found in our research that if your business does not have a mobile website that consumers will turn to competition that does. Just think about it for a second, you stumble across a business but can't even view their website because you must pinch and zoom to find information, almost like finding waldo. 

People do not have time to sit there and try to find important information. Our society is fast paced and on the move, so you need to display relevant and important information in a user friendly way. If you do not know if your website is optimized, open it up on your phone and check it out. Chances are if you do not know, then it probably is not and you could have already lost a few customers by now. So we recommend you get a jump on this. It is only a baby step in growing your business with mobile but it is a start. 

Mobile Apps

Next we come across a more interactive way of introducing mobile marketing to your customers with a mobile app. These unique marketing apps are used for customer interaction. Grand Apps builds mobile apps for small businesses with over 40+ features targeted towards showing small businesses ROI with every feature. 

The reasons mobile apps can help you grow your business are unlimited but here are a few ways. 

• Push Notifications. With our platform you can send out Push Notifications sharing a message only with app users about your business. We remember reading that people even sleep with their phone to get notified and check it every morning. So our business owners can send out messages for example: "Merry Christmas from (Business Name)". This will keep your customers feel appreciated by your business and help keep them coming back. 
• Loyalty: It is always smart to reward your most loyal customers to make them feel appreciated to keep them coming back and bringing others in. Our mobile apps have tons of loyalty features that will help you even save money. Do you currently waste money ordering paper punchcards for your business? Stop. These are a waste of money because people always say, "Oh I forgot it". But how many times do people say "Oh, I forgot my phone". Chances are people think about their phone over a punchcard. Then they might get a new one and you just wasted more money. So if you have mobile punchcards, like the Grand Apps platform can build, you can save money ordering them and stop giving out doubles. 

These were just two reasons, remember we have 40+ features like this. 

Let's Grow Your Business!

So, we have concluded that virtually everyone will soon own a smartphone and it is important that you get started. As we mentioned, the first two ways to grow your business is to save money and retain customers. Getting a mobile website will stop driving customers away and a mobile app will retain customers with engagement. These two simple ways can help generate your business tens of thousands of dollars per year. 

We haven't even told you the best part. We really hate selling in our articles, so we won't...but we must inform you of some special information. Usually 9 times out of 10 it will take months or years to see your return on investment. But Grand Apps provides small businesses with a fast, easy and affordable solution for getting started in mobile and growing your business. 

Email our support center if you have any more questions. We have a full length PDF with all of our current app features. Just ask our support team for it. 

support@grandapps.com

Visit our website

www.grandapps.com

And lastly, don't forget to join our exclusive mobile newsletter from Grand Apps!  

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A Mobile App Development Company | Grand Apps

Grand Apps is a mobile app development company based right out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Our humble beginnings started us developing mobile apps for local businesses to clients across the country and even a few international businesses. Since our early years, we have grown from a mobile app development company to a full fledged mobile marketing firm. We pride ourselves in being the Go-To for mobile app marketing in Grand Rapids and everywhere else in the world.

But let's take a step back very quickly for those of you reading who are not familiar with Grand Rapids, MI. Our city is one of the most up and coming cities in the US. We have made Forbes list a few times under the following;

• 4 out of 10 best cities for finding employment (Forbes, 2013) 
• 15 best cities with emerging downtown's (Forbes, 2013) 
• Number 1 city in the country for raising a family (Forbes 2012) 

These numbers don't lie, we can vouch that Grand Rapids is an awesome city! Grand Rapids is also exploding in Tech as well. This explosion is providing tons of opportunities for new mobile app development companies. There are many great marketing & tech companies throughout the city, with Grand Apps one of them. 

But don't take it from us...take it from some of Grand Rapid's businesses we have worked with. We have developed mobile apps for some of the best known restaurants in the city such as Brann's Steakhouse, The Score, Kitchen 67 and more. We have even developed the Fifth Third Riverbank Run mobile app as well as the Snap Fitness Michigan mobile app. We pride ourselves in helping local businesses out with their mobile marketing needs. We also take great pride in showing the world stage what we can do. 

What to look for in an app development company.

Enough background about Grand Apps. Let's get to the material that will help you, the business owner. We wanted to list a TOP 3 of what to look for in a mobile app development company. 

• Reputation - Make sure they have worked with some well known local businesses. Even if you decided to have your mobile marketing taken up from an out of state company, make sure they have a sufficient amount of reputation and experience. 

• Mobile Features - This relates primary to the mobile app side of the mobile marketing campaigns. Make sure that the company is always providing you new mobile app features. Also you should note, they should already include features that will show your business some return for your investment. 

• Support - The old saying is "you get what you pay for". If there is a monthly cost associated with your mobile app, ask why. Make sure you are getting mobile marketing support from your app developers. Too many companies will simply develop an app without producing or providing any type of marketing help for their clients. So you should make sure you are getting full support, tech too. 

We believe these quick tips will help you effectively choose your mobile app development company. Quick note: Grand Apps fits all of these categories, just saying.

If you would like to view some quick simple marketing strategies for mobile apps, Click Here.

As always, if you have any questions you can reach us at our website or email us. 

www.grandapps.com | support@grandapps.com

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New Mobile App Feature Update

New App Feature Update

Hey Everyone!

At Grand Apps, we're always looking at improving our app features and improving our mobile app management system. Below you will find our latest upgrades we have made over the past few months. 

• New Global Fonts
• New Instagram Integration
• New "Music Tab" Design
• New "Around Us" Tab Design

If you have any questions or would like to learn how to get these new features, simply contact support@grandapps.com for a quick reply! 

Thank you again for ALL of your support. We will continually work hard to keep updating our features to be your Go-To Mobile App Developers. 

New Fonts!

New Instagram Integration! 

New Event Icons!

New Music Bar Customization!

New Around Us Design