Are mobile apps really necessary for the success of your small business? Is being “mobile app ready” worth the effort and time that you will be spending to complete the process? What benefits can you exactly earn from using mobile apps for small business? These are just a few of the many questions that you will definitely think of, once introduced to the idea of using small business applications.

What Makes Mobile Apps Better for Your Business?

Look around and you will see every person having his or her own tablet or smartphone. More and more individuals are switching to using such devices instead of using traditional PCs, laptops or desktops. Smartphones these days have the capability to do most of the things that the personal computer does. Smartphones allow you to search online and browse websites. They enable you to track your sales, receive emails from customers and even send promotional offers without turning on your PC. And since Smartphone’s are lightweight and very handy, they can do the said processes anytime and anywhere.

Using Apps for Small Business

Enables you to connect to your customers 24/7
Helps you monitor your business even when away from home or office
Makes it convenient to take your business, with you, even when you’re out of town or traveling abroad
Facilitates customers to make purchases using just their smartphones – they can buy your product or service on the go, as against having to find your store or a computer, to place their order
Helps keep up with changing needs of the market
The good news is that creating apps for small business may not require you to hire an expert or pay a skilled developer. You can build the app on your own. You can begin the process by accessing a software platform that can help you build your own small business mobile app. If you really want your business to grow, it is worth investing enough time and effort in developing the right application for your business.

Outside of your own business app, here are a few other apps that you might find useful to help you with your small business.

Google Drive

It can sync and edit files from multiple devices such as smartphone’s, tablets, laptop and others. It has a free storage space that is equivalent to 5GB. Google Drive is accessible anytime, regardless of your location.

Expensify

This app is extremely useful when it comes to managing the company’s finances. It allows users to scan and save receipts, forward reports for approval and import expenses, apart from offering functions such GPS mileage tracking, receipt sync and auto expense sync.

LocalVox

LocalVox can help you market your brand effectively. It is one of those apps for small business that is very useful when it comes to marketing and other pertinent aspects.

If you are interested in building your own mobile app that can power up your business, do take a look at small business mobile app platforms. The right choice can get you going on multiple platforms ranging from mobile web, to Android, iOS (iPad, iPhone) etc. as well as from start to finish in a matter of few hours with push-button ease requiring you to do no-programming, and further help you with the ability to manage your apps real-time, at any time.

Marketing includes matters such as pricing and packaging of the product and creation of demand by advertising and sales campaigns. There are other options, of course, like product creation, resale rights marketing, joint ventures and the likes, but they are merely secondary to the above.

If you take the freelance route, it is important to ensure that all rights to profit from the final product, or any materials produced in its making, remain yours. Bookkeeping, physical product creation or delivery of goods can be done better with specialized help. Determining the purpose of the product is vital in niche product creation.

Implementation of Methodology – The choice of implementation of Six Sigma methodology depends on whether development is required on existing processes (DMAIC) or on new process/product design creation (DMADV). Determining what you really want to sell, something that you can be relaxed selling is the first step at the creation of a niche product. With the technological advancements in the hosting industry, from automated control panels and scripts that simplify creation of accounts; to complete turnkey solutions, there is no excessive need to worry about spending time on the actual product sold to the customer.

For instance, you should be prepared to either perform yourself or to subcontract the completion of the following tasks:- Product idea research (are there any existing products or patents already existing for this idea)- Product specification document training (what it will do, how it will look, how will it be powered, and how the user will interface with it)- Marketing study (what it will be named, who would buy this, how much would they pay, how will we get customers to purchase the product)- Schematic or electronic circuit design process- Creation of a bill of material or BOM and an approved vendor’s list or AVL for each component in the design, preferably with multiple sources identified, with a BOM and AVL for each assembly level in the product- Printed circuit board layout design process (single sided board, double sided board, or multilayer board; size of the PCB; board material)- Mechanical packaging design with user interfaces (displays, buttons, switches, key. This removes all product creation costs from your budget as a marketer.

No other database of affiliate programs offers such a possibility for profit on either the affiliate side or the product creation site. Your chosen niche should allow for the creation of more than one product or service.

There are several marketing strategies that are necessary in the creation of a successful e-commerce web site – Email marketing (broadcasting) of prospects/customers – Effective use of auto responders (generate automatic email messages) – Online Newsletter – Online Form / Survey to capture your prospect’s email address – Electronic Product Delivery (if you sold a digital product) – Advertisement (Ad) Tracking – Back End Sales – Affiliate program etc.

Product creation in Internet marketing is getting stiffer and stiffer nowadays owing to tough competition between Internet-based businesses. Putting up a new product requires plenty of brainpower and finances along with an ability to take risk. With that, even if you have the product well-set already, you have to position it strategically in the Internet landscape for others to notice. You should get the interest of Web users and turn them to actual customers. Aside from the usual physical products, many different products that thrive well on Internet marketing include E-books, membership sites, and video lectures.

The long and difficult process of product creation begins with ideas. They are easy to get – compared to the effort that comes with analyzing the market for that idea. Before the idea turns to a product, businesses often spend money, even amounting to millions of dollars, to ensure the success of the new product that emerges from an idea. Businesses undertake many types of market research and surveys before releasing their products to the public. Now, you may think that because your business is small, you can’t afford research or you don’t have to do research; you can and you should. The Internet allows you to disseminate materials needed for your market study to many people at once without your having to spend a cent.

It is a common maxim in business: Look at your destination first before mapping out your journey. So what are the goals you intend to accomplish with your product creation ventures? The everyday travails of your business may make you forget the end in sight. On the other hand, prepare to entertain new developments that come to your mind in your product creation. Your conception of a product may have started this way, but a few tweaks here and there along with some market research results and it ends up another way. Take it as the result of a creative process, not as a failure to reach your goal. After all, your product creation activities are intertwined with a long-term goal that you should strive to sustain at your utmost: profit generation. So if your less profitable initial idea evolves to a more profitable product, be thankful!

With your product made up already, start doing some aggressive Internet marketing. A product purchase typically comes after more than five times a customer is exposed to an informative call-to-buy message. Thus it is important to get the contact details, like the e-mail address, of potential customers who are on the brink of a sale. Use the results of your market research to determine the demographics to which you should concentrate your marketing efforts.

With consistent product creation, you can make an inventory of your products that you can market in due time. Just keep making products – the moment you succeed in making and marketing a product, customers are surely wanting more from you, so give it to them. Keep them on your side through constant product creation.