There is no reason to doubt this prediction. Smartphones are less expensive and more ubiquitous. Smartphones (that will eventually mean all phones) are much more accessible and portable and than PCs (laptops included). They are certainly becoming just as capable, at least as far as surfing the web is concerned, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of iPhone, Android, and Blackberry apps available.

The technology behind Apple OS devices (the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad) has improved faster than any other technology, including AOL and Netscape in the early days.

Take the experience in Japan where social networking on mobile devices rapidly took over from the desktop about three years ago and now accounts for 84 percent page views for Mixi, Japan’s largest social network. Facebook is preparing for the same..

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Smartphone usage increased by a staggering 48.7% to 54.3m units in the first quarter of 2010 and is growing faster in the UK than in Europe.

Web Analytics and Social Networking Techniques Critical

Digital marketing is too often cheque book marketing. Site optimisation remains the least expensive marketing tool for which analytics are essential. The glory days of rapid online traffic and sales growth are on the decline and a more pragmatic business model is emerging where online marketing creativity and networking is more critical then ever. Traditional online consumers are spending more time researching price savings online and using price comparison and discount aggregators. The 2011 retailer needs to think beyond.

We Can Help

The Marketing Farm’s mobile web development team I lead, based in our Romanian office, are helping online retail businesses seize mobile opportunities and develop cross browser compatibility. Please contact our UK office to see how we could help your business.

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1. Make sure your app covers all smartphone platforms.

• iphone

• Blackberry

• Palm Pre

• Windows Mobile

• Symbian

• Android

Apple continues to dominate the market, and with the iPad its share will continue to increase. However, if your customers are mainly business users then you may have more Blackberry than iPhone users.

2. Release platform by platform

Be cautious. Each app solution for each platform should be tested and reviewed prior to developing for other platforms.

3. Don’t rush

Ensure you have developed the feature set that will excite your customers and make your app resident on the home page of their phone. In the app rush, too many businesses suffer from providing a poor user experience or worse, a slow or buggy app. This can damage your reputation with your customer base, and you will lose later opportunities to impress.

4. Website Consistency and Integration

The users of new mobile app may have been users of your website for years. Make sure that their mobile experience is consistent and integrates with their web experience.

5. Critical Path of Releases

You can’t release new incremental versions of an app every week as you would with your website, so we recommend an app roadmap that clearly identifies and prioritises future functionality, with regular (bot not too regular! Release updates.

6. Analytics

Like your website, you need full analytics on your mobile app. Make sure you’re at a minimum tracking the following analytics:

•  Number of app downloads and installations

•  Number of app removals

•  Number of app starts

•  Average usage time

•  Where the app is being used (GPS data)

E-book fever has well and truly gripped the publishing world, with national publishers forecasting that by 2020 50% of books will be read online. We are delighted to be now working with specialist book publishers to help turn the threats represented by the opportunities of the new digital era into tangible opportunities.

The digital revolution is not to be feared, but instead a key time to grow your business.

Threats

The threats are very obvious. With the growth of e-books, authors can bypass publishers completely, with Amazon offering authors 70% of royalties if they self-publish with them. Authors are demanding higher royalties. Martin Amis, amongst others, is backing a campaign for authors to get 75% of royalties.

But, ever pragmatic, as marketeers we consider these technology led opportunities. DisplaySearch predict that by 2018, the global revenue of e-book readers will reach 5.8 billion – a huge increase from just 264 million in 2008. There are clear opportunities for the publisher to become the author’s agent and increase revenues and sales with a greater range of titles, increased profit margins through direct online sales, and reader dialogue.

The shift from physical to digital publishing may be challenging, but, with the right tactics and a cunning strategy in place, we believe publishers are set to reap the rewards.

How Can We Help?

• Marketing strategy
• Brand and web development
• E-book stores
• Ebook publishing
• Author micro sites (with dedicated CMS systems)
• Reader forums and online participation
• Mobile Apps (inluding Blackberry and iphones)
• Results led search optimisation campaigns

Mobile apps provide brands a plethora of opportunities to reach mobile users. They are essentially mini-programs, apps (an abbreviation of application) allowing users to download their own collection of favourites and store them on their phone. Many are free; others cost a few pounds each. The average iPhone user is downloading 10 new apps every month, and spending 30 minutes a day using them.

It is the internet made easy on a phone!

The app market is evolving fast. Some apps are starting to use “push” technology to alert users when they have new content (or stories in the case of news apps). This means that rather than the phone having to check online for updates, the provider sends an update to a subscriber’s phone the second it becomes available.

Click here to find out how we can help you integrate the mobile explosion into your marketing mix.