Today I would like to introduce you a guest post by Katrina Bertacci, Marketing Manager at GoodBarber, the self-service apps builder platform, about how important it is to integrate a mobile app in a marketing strategy.

Check it out! 🙂

Much has been said about how people access internet more and more using mobile devices. Since the advent of smartphones and tablets, people have been migrating from PCs to these devices at an incredibly rapid pace.
An interesting article on CNN.com shows how in January 2014 mobile usage in USA has grown so much that it has surpassed pc usage for the first time, you can also notice that most of the traffic from mobile devices comes from apps, not browsers!!

Marketing on mobile is so much more powerful than many other forms, mobile has completely changed the trends of consumerism and we now use our smartphones for socializing, shopping, traveling, practically everything! The graph above confirms that to be present on mobile you have to build an app, you cannot expect people to visit your website from mobile devices.
All the most important companies have an app supporting their website (or should we start saying the opposite) and it’s not just because it’s trendy and cool to have an app. Nowadays it’s crucial to use mobile tools as means of communication with your public. Not only because mobile traffic is growing so fast, don’t forget that mobile devices allow a much more personal relationship, people always carry their smartphones around in their pockets so they can access your content at any time. One of the biggest advantages that a native app has, is the possibility to send push notifications, it’s practically like sending a sms to whoever has your app, you can’t ask more than that!

Until just a few years ago apps may have been out of some companies reach, because they either had to possess developing and designing skills or hire a third person with these abilities to do the job for them, with considerably higher costs. Now there are plenty of app builders online that allow you to create apps using a simple graphic interface so there is no coding involved 😉

One of these app builders is GoodBarber, a pioneer of the app building segment as it was launched about 3 years ago when this kind of service was not common at all. This european company’s great sense of style is what enabled them to become one the best apps builders world-wide, they believe that it’s not enough to just be present on mobile, nowadays almost everyone has gone mobile so you have to offer some extra value that allows you to differentiate your app from the crowds of apps in the store.

The simple and clear responsive design of the graphic interface of this platform enables you to create beautifully designed apps that offer a fluid user experience. This is what will really bring your content to life!

The fun begins when you sign up for a 30 day free trial, you are then redirected to this page where you can see the three steps you have to follow to create your app; This way you don’t have to waste time wondering about where to start.

The app is filled with sample content so you can focus all your attention on the design, you can choose between more than 50 themes and you can then personalize them down to the very last detail, a smart little menu to write guides you through all the steps to define the most important aspects: Your browsing mode, header, body, splash screen and icon. Then once the app looks and feels just like you want it to, you can start adding your content.

There is a vast choice of connectors to the most popular external sources of content, such as WordPress, Blogger, Soundcloud or YouTube, you can also connect the app with the main social such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This is fundamental for a good user experience: an app that is not properly connected become a static cage with fixed content.

And if you don’t have an external website to connect, you can generate content directly in the back office using the CMS feature, this allows you to write articles and upload images videos and sounds directly from your pc!

When you’re ready, you can build your app in three native versions, one for iPhone, one for Android devices and one for the iPad, these are studied to individually give the best performance on the device they are developed for. Being native, they offer the best user experience and of course, the connectors work also offline. For all the other devices GoodBarber offers a high quality HTML5 version.

GoodBarber is not just an app builder that allows you to showcase your content, as said before, it’s a great marketing tool because it helps you manage your app and build a relationship with your users over time. You can send push notifications from your backend or directly from your smartphone if you download the free My GoodBarber app.

You also have access to accurate and detailed statistics directly in your back office to be able to deeply analyze your user’s behavior. This is extremely useful to monitor the success of your marketing campaign and make modifications on the go, or maybe segment your client base and then send targeted notifications.