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Is Your Brand ‘APP’-licable?
| Guest post by: Suzanne Tulien |
Article Overview: The evolution of brand engagement is mobile! How can your brand reach your customers 24/7? How can your brand engage your customers beyond their belief? This article exposes the creativity of how some brands are leveraging mobile apps to keep top-of-mind with their customers, enlist them, and engage them in powerful ways.
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Free Download - Is Your Brand ‘APP’-licable? By Suzanne Tulien |
Is Your Brand ‘APP’-licable?
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Once a month I get together
with a colleague & friend of mine and over “dos” pomegranate margaritas and
chips and salsa (“patatas fritas y salsa”), we collaborate on and share the
latest new apps (is that an official word now?) we’ve discovered and downloaded
on our iPhones. At some point I wonder if there is a ‘Apps Anonymous’ group out
there supporting those addicted Apps junkies.
One of my most recent
downloads is ‘Translate’ (free), an app that equips me to translate any
language to any other language. My husband and I are learning Spanish through a
self training DVD course and it is just the thing for me to pull up and use
when we are out and about challenging each other on identifying the Spanish
term for day-to-day items and phrases, and in particular, dining out at Mexican
restaurants and ordering in Spanish. Gotta love it.
I am consistently amazed at
the creativity app developers have in finding ways to engage the user. There
are many apps that are not promoting or even representing specific brands, but
there for pure functional levels to just help make our lives easier, or
entertainment purposes to pass the time at an airport, or waiting in line. From
horoscope apps, to homeopathic cures, to quick tip calculators, to wine paring
(I could go on and on), these are becoming the new way to be efficient and
productive at the same time without being behind your computer.
Then, there are apps
specifically designed to enlist, equip, and empower advocates for brands large
and small, local and global. And it never ceases to amaze me how creative
companies can be in ‘inventing’ reasons for customers to download their apps
and connect with their brand. For example; I decided to think of random
industries that at first glance, you may think – “What the heck would they have
in an app for me?” Then, I researched a specific brand in the industry and
collected some data on their approach to app offerings to glean the vastness of
ideas that enlist, equip, and empower loyalty well beyond the brick and mortar
and well into virtual 24/7.
Chick-fil-A: Mobile App/Website
Engagement
1.
Website: Post
your story experience with their stores
2.
‘Save a Cow’ day
– April 18th – go to any
Chick-fil-A store dressed up as a cow and receive a free sandwich!
3.
Find restaurant,
get maps/driving directions, view menu, join text insiders for promotional
offers, restaurant details (i.e. playgrounds, Wi-Fi)
Billion Acts of Green: Mobile
App/Website Engagement
1.
Post a pledge for
an inspiring act of green
2.
Read other posts
by individuals or corporations
3.
Share activity on
Facebook
4.
Watch leaderboard
grow with acts of green
5.
Donate to the
Earth Day Network
North Face: Mobile App/Website
Engagement
1.
Find local hiking
trails, topography maps, distance, elevations, level of difficulty, pictures of
trail features.
i. Read stories of other hikers experience on this
particular trail
ii. Upload pictures and stories of your own experiences
2.
Participate in
outdoor activities sponsored by North Face all over the world, share stories,
pictures, etc.
Walgreens: Mobile App/Website Engagement
1.
Allows you to
re-order prescriptions, print digital photos, receive and use special coupons,
find nearest store locations, weekly ad promotions and coupon, product
availability and pricing, flu shot locator.
Toms Shoes: Mobile
App/Website Engagement
1. Mobile App: Learn about the critical aspects of shoes on children
in under-developed countries, how & where Tom’s gives, featured events to
participate in, news, blogs, tweets, participate in spreading the word and
uploading pictures, One Day Radio soundtrack player, watch video gallery from
events around the world.
2.
Shop merchandise;
‘wear the message.’
3.
‘Day Without Shoes’ (April 5th, 2011) event to participate in, share stories, post pictures
on One Day photo wall, and check out what others are doing.
And the grand-daddy of them
all!! This is totally serious…(it really exits), and you have to pay $1.99!
Jesus Christ; ‘Confession’: A Roman Catholic App
1.
Perfect aid for
every penitent with a personalized examination of conscience for each user.
2.
Password
protected profiles.
3.
Prayerfully
prepare and participate in the Rite of Penance.
4.
Custom
examination of conscience.
5.
Ability to add
sins not listed in standard.
6.
Confession walk
through including time of last confession in days, weeks, months.
7.
Choose from 7
different acts of contrition.
8.
Full retina
display support.
Seriously. Now, that’s
creative!
As far as trivia in the world
of apps…According to Wikipedia, as of October 2010, there are at least 300,000 third-party apps officially
available on the App Store. As of January 18, 2011, the App Store had over 9.9 billion downloads, which was
announced via the company's "10 Billion App Countdown".
At 10:26 AM GMT on Saturday, January 22, 2011,
the 10 billionth app was downloaded from Apple App Store. The revenue per application is estimated to be $700, although
on data no more publicly available.
The average price of non-free application is estimated between $3.5 and $4.
The distribution of price follows a power law distribution:
"Although prices can be freely chosen, most sellers price their
application at multiple of $5 (minus 1 cent)".
Apps are so popular there are now web
sites that help companies with limited ‘app-building’ skill sets, like ours, compose
their own via templates and best practices. The site Appmakr.com is one of those sites recently featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, which by the way has their own app. With ‘no coding
required,’ the site offers all kinds of ‘features’ to plug into your uniquely,
custom branded app like image galleries, video uploads, podcast feeds, rss
feeds, push alerts (coupons, specials, etc.), and so much more. I am currently
in the process of building out own app. Stay tuned, I will tell you how it
goes!
So, as I continue to think about the
uses of apps I thought about how my entire day could become ‘App’-licable. Here
goes:
o
6:30 am –
I awake to the ‘Sleep Machine Lite’ app where I set my alarm on my iPhone to
awaken me to selected music.
o
7:00 am –
I open my North Face app and choose a local trail to hike, learn about the
elevation, distance and see pictures of the trail uploaded from previous
hikers.
o
7:15 am –
I plug in my earphones and launch my Pandora app to my customized radio
‘station’ feature and being my hike.
o
8:30 am –
I launch my horoscopes app to get a feel for what my day might bring.
o
9:00 am –
I open my CNBC app to check out what is going on in the stock market.
o
10:00 am –
head out to meet up with a friend across town at a Starbucks I have not yet
been to, so I launch my Starbucks app and click on the locator feature to zero
in on my destination location.
o
10:25 am –
While waiting for her to arrive, I launch my Yahoo IM! app to chat with another
friend and confirm next week’s lunch date.
o
11:00 am –
Over coffee and a lite snack, my friend and I are conversing about a weird
symptom she has and it prompts me to launch my ‘Cures A-Z’ app and help her
locate some natural remedies for her ailments.
o
1:30 pm – setting up for my workshop, I realize an old colleague
friend is in my audience - I want to get their contact information so I launch
my ‘Bump’ app and we bump smartphone for an instantaneous delivery of contact
information.
o
3:00 pm - finish up facilitating a small business branding
workshop and am now launching my ‘SQUARE’ app to accept credit cards on my
iPhone for the sale of our Brand DNA book to workshop participants.
o
4:00 pm –
I open up my ‘LinkedIn’ and ‘Facebook’ apps to check in with colleagues,
connections and upload thoughtful content.
o
6:00 pm –
I video Skype my husband to confirm our dinner date rendezvous at a local
restaurant and let him know I am on my way.
o
6:30 pm –
‘Hello Vino’ app is opened to research suggested wine pairings with what I am
ordering on the menu – I choose a beautiful Viognier to go with my shrimp
scampi!
o
6:45 pm – we chat about the
latest movies that are out and I check my ‘Fandango’ app for movie trailers and
times and set a weekend date to see one.
o
7:45 pm –
I hand over my ‘Quick Tip’ app to my husband to calculate the tip for our
wonderful meal, it’s too late to do math!
o
8:00 pm –
as we are driving home, I open the ‘Distant Suns’ app to see what
constellations are at our zenith and find out what phase the moon is in, nice
discussion on the way home.
o
8:17 pm – we are pulling up
in the driveway and notice our porch lite is out so I launch me ‘Flashlight’
app and shine the way to the key hole!
o
9:30 pm –
Finally, I re-launch my ‘Sleep Machine Lite’ app, select my ‘go to sleep music’
beach#2 (slow wave action) to play for 30 minutes as I rest my head on my
pillow and review my very ‘app’-licable day!
The way we live as consumers and operate
and build our businesses is changing. You too can get on the ‘App’ wagon move
with mobile evolution and build your own. Take some time to brainstorm what
your app could possibly be used for, get
creative:
1.
Research other apps
features and functions to get more ideas.
2.
SDon’t forget to
ensure that every element of your app, from visual to functionality, is
congruent with your Brand DNA!
Now, go make your business brand more
‘App”-licable!
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Article Tags: branding, business growth, creativity, empower customers, engagement, mobile apps, profit
|
About the Author: Suzanne Tulien RSS for Suzanne's articles - Visit Suzanne's website The Brand Ascension Group is a multi-faceted, experiential branding firm. We partner with those organizations that want to achieve transformational and sustainable brand success from the INSIDE OUT. We do this by guiding them to define, create and build compelling experiences that engage and inspire customers, employees and relevant stakeholders. Our work with clients consists of progressive brand-building tools along with pioneered, step-by-step methods to help businesses elevate their brands through conscious branding practices. We deliver our brand-building processes in innovative on-line (virtual) and on-site platforms for companies as requested. Our consulting and training cultivates strong brand cultures that understand why every thought, every action and every decision by every employee in the business supports the brand promise. This internal collective-consciousness creates a powerful paradigm shift within the energy of organization and manifests congruent customer perceptions. Through our innovative methodologies (Brand DNA - Dimensional Nucleic Assets(R) and The Brand DNA Journey(SM), we educate our clients on the power of human perception and how to implement consistent, relevant, and distinctive behaviors that affirm and build the value of their brand. http://www.BrandAscension.com - 719.265.1707 - info@BrandAscension.com
Click here to visit Suzanne's website   From Whoops to Wow How Brands Can Recover from a Blunder ITS 2010 Do You Know Where Your Brand Is Going Is Your Brand APPlicable A SYMPHONIC MASTERPIECE ANOTHER BRAND BITES THE DUST |
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