OpenMarket – October 22, 2015
How do you do business intelligently in a society saturated with mobile technology? If you expect to establish yourself as a leader in your market, you need to develop a company-wide mobile strategy that embraces all possible platforms, departments, and audiences.
Below are six key components for a visionary tech strategy that will benefit your firm, and grow your market from the inside out.
- Playing by the Rules
One of the biggest shortcomings of most mobile strategies is that companies insist on doing things their way. While there is some flexibility to how you build your strategy, there are certain rules that have to be observed if you’re going to succeed in the search rankings.
Many of these rules are set by Google. When you’re the dominant search engine, you get to say what goes.
A core component of your mobile strategy requires that you make sure your website is optimized for mobile use. Too many companies are still building static websites that are designed to be viewed on a desktop, but that isn’t where most people are doing their browsing anymore.
Instead, you need to build sites that redirect to scaled-down and simplified versions for mobile use. It’s also vital to verify that your videos will play on your mobile sites. Failure to do this will guarantee that you get bumped down the search ranks, and you don’t want that.
- Tackling the Platform Problem
Many companies discover the shortcomings of their mobile strategy when they start allowing employees to bring their own devices. While BYOD policies may not constitute a significant component of a company’s strategy, they tend to reveal when the business has focused on a single platform or operating system.
If you’ve been designing exclusively for an Apple environment, when some of your employees try to use the system on an Android device, the gaps become obvious.
Now it’s time to expand that awareness to your clients. Have you been ignoring some platforms in favor of others? If so, you’ve created an unnecessary barrier to engagement for a large sector of your potential market.
This tends to be less of a problem with static web pages. But when we assess the app market, these platform-based shortcomings become glaring.
- Text It Up
Part of a complete mobile strategy is intra-office communication. You need to have an effective way to connect with your employees.
Texting may be the best solution to the communication conundrum. Consider the fact that most of your employees have likely been sending 50-350 texts a week since their early teens and you’ll understand why texting is so effective.
Make sure to keep your texting style professional, of course, but don’t let the casual format scare you away from this medium. While it was once considered unprofessional to use text messages for business communication, it’s actually a fantastic way to deliver quick updates – for example letting employees know the main server is down or reminding them about an upcoming meeting. Texting is often viewed as less of a hassle than email for such messages.
The other great thing about using text messages for office communication is that it’s easy to implement. Your employees already have the necessary technology – it’s just a matter of taking that next step.
- Keeping It All Safe
The past year (honestly, the past several years) saw some significant data breaches. When major companies allow customer data to fall into the wrong hands, those customers lose trust in them and may never come back.
If you’re a huge corporation, this might just be a blip in your numbers, but most companies can’t afford any significant customer attrition. The key to your data security strategy is strong data encryption. It’s also vital that you work cautiously with any cloud-computing vendors.
While the cloud is an increasingly popular format for data storage and access, it’s also more vulnerable because it takes your data off-site and into a more nebulous space. If you’re even a little uncertain about the security practices of a cloud vendor, better look elsewhere. Don’t play with customer data.
- Monetizing Your Strengths
If your mobile strategy requires a well-developed app to be effective, it doesn’t have to be free; people will pay for a great app.
In fact, customers will often pay for a less-than-great app, so long as it makes doing business with your company noticeably easier. Good business would say you should monetize this convenience.
An app is like any other service your business provides. You would probably charge for expedited processing on an application, so why not charge for easier navigation, shopping, or other core digital-app functions?
The concept of in-app purchases has gained traction of late, and this can be a great way to monetize your strengths while providing the main conveniences of an app to your customers. You might charge for access to videos, real-time chat, or other experience-enhancing components.
This is your chance to offer access to your business at its best.
- Scaling Up
No matter how great your mobile strategy is, it will likely not be possible to launch all phases at once. In fact, this may be an especially bad idea because you’ll end up shortchanging critical steps of the process.
Instead, develop a mobile strategy that is intentionally organized to be scaled up. By building toward the complete plan, you leave room to adapt as technology changes or your customer base grows.
Things change, so be prepared to be flexible in your strategy. This may be the precise key to success.
Become a Mobile Visionary
To become a visionary, you need to work with visionaries. OpenMarket has been changing the face of business for sixteen years, by developing solutions that other companies could only dream of.
At OpenMarket, we specialize in creating the mobile messaging solutions you need to stand out from the crowd. Whether you seek to enhance your customer communications or improve your internal business processes, OpenMarket will work with you to custom-tailor the perfect solution for your business.
Contact us today for more information.