In this guest piece, Logan Merrick, co-founder and director at Buzinga App Development, outlines six simple ways startups, entrepreneurs and enterprises can implement a mobile strategy that delivers real value.
Mobile is the world’s fastest growing tech phenomena. Audiences are living increasingly online, spending up to 93 per cent of their day online – with 51 per cent spent just on their mobile.
Although we may be constantly scrutinised for our ‘consuming’ smart phone habits, they are an integral part of our everyday lives, offering unbound potential for businesses operating in the 21st century.
The struggle for businesses to engage with their audiences through the right channels is one felt by many, particularly new start-ups finding their feet in the competitive landscape. Mobiles, uniquely, can ‘herd’ large amounts of users into a shared space, where businesses can take full advantage of the audience-filled environment and better target their messages.
With its ability to connect various systems on one device, mobiles are an essential element of an omni-channel strategy. For businesses and start-ups seeking to supercharge their growth, look no further than what’s in your pocket.
With the benefits of increased revenue, better engagement with users, and more efficient data usage, here are six easy steps for implementing a bullet proof mobile strategy into your business.
- Find out what works, and what doesn’t
The first step in implementing a mobile strategy, is finding out where exactly to implement it. You need to identify key information first, before you can reap the success of an effective strategy. Ask yourself these questions:
- What problem will your product solve?
- Who are your target users?
- How are your target users currently resolving the problem?
- What are competitor products doing?
Once you’ve answered these questions, and have identified where a mobile strategy can be best implemented in your business, it’s important to formulate objectives related to how you will measure the success of the strategy, as well as identifying the essentials such as budget and minimum ROI.
Taking these steps will help you determine if a mobile strategy is right for you, and allow you to formulate a strong one that will work.
- Adopt a lean approach
In the case of initial mobile strategies, less is more. When first formulating your product, only include core features and keep the purpose of the product clear for users. This strategy allows you to collect real user data that will inform future, expensive versions.
Once these requirements are agreed upon, ensure they remain as your focus. ‘Swiss army knife’ approaches can fail easily when trying to branch out and take on too much. Your prototype should be customer-focused, and have strong objectives that reflect their needs.
What’s the minimum solution you can build that solves the customer problem?
- Think like your target users
Expanding on point #2, put yourself in the shoes of your desired consumer. Adopting a user-centric design is key to the initial success of your strategy. Then ask yourself these questions:
- Why would I use this product?
- How am I keeping engaged?
- How is my engagement being measured?
- How can I offer my feedback?
If you, as the designer, wouldn’t use the app then why would anyone else? Sell the product to yourself and this confidence will resonate with your future users.
It’s also crucial not to assume you know your users. Constant engagement with them and providing opportunities for feedback will allow you to identify limitations in your strategy and act on opportunities to improve.
- It won’t be perfect and that’s ok
Keep in mind that this is your first mobile strategy. You won’t be able to think of every possibility in the development process. Your prototype won’t be perfect, and that’s ok.
Giving yourself the opportunities to expose limitations and room for improvement in your strategy plan will leave the door open for continual improvement. Keep your focus on the core features, and allow users to assist with the rest. After all, the app is for them; their input should be an important component in your strategy and design.
- Good communication is key
Where possible, appoint one internal person with an understanding of the project as the ‘Project Manager’ to allow for better communication and leadership between the team.
Identifying and effectively communicating with your stakeholders is crucial to ensure organisation-wide understanding of the test plan, and to receive valuable feedback. Communicating your project, goals, tactics, or overall strategy too late can result in poor engagement with your stakeholders, and ineffective feedback received from them.
- Make sure everyone knows their role in the team
Ensuring everyone knows, and more importantly fulfils, their roles is crucial to the success of your team and strategy.
Assert positions and levels of expertise to establish communication channels, such as those between your subject matter experts and your technical experts. Plainly: let the experts be experts. This will ensure the smooth running of the program.
