Loyalty Cards for Mobile Apps – NEW!

GET the SCOOP at: 

http://mobileapploader.com/myapp/LoyaltyCardsLearn.aspx

For more info, email:
contact@MobileAppLoader.com

Mobile Apps Promote Memorial Day Savings

MobileAppLoader customers – including auto dealerships – are using mobile apps to reach their customers EXACTLY where they are: on their iPhones, iPads and Android devices. Check out some of these Push Notifications announcing upcoming Memorial Day savings. To see how easy it is, check out our video at:

http://mobileapploader.com/myapp/notificationlearn.aspx

Impossible to Miss!

Your customers see your news on their phones … and seamlessly reach you via their phones via One-Touch Call.

Alice Inoue: A Star Shares her Light (with help from her new mobile App)

by Ruth Littmann, MobileAppLoader

Alice Inoue, Chief Inspirational Officer (CIO) of Alice Inoue Life Guidance

As a popular news anchor and TV personality, Alice Inoue was a star, who later turned to the stars for help establishing her own business: Alice Inoue Life Guidance.

“Every day, I was filming something for TV,” she says of her former life in broadcasting.

In addition to anchoring the bilingual Japan TV News, Ms. Inoue hosted her own show, sponsored by top names like Nike, Polo and Ralph Lauren.

One afternoon in 1999, a co-worker suggested she consult an astrologer. Just for fun, Ms. Inoue did, and the astrologer predicted that her life would “go in a different direction” in April 2001.

It did.

But Ms. Inoue didn’t believe the astrologer’s prediction at the time. “I was at the top of my career,” she says. “I thought to myself: How could it be true?” After her appointment with the astrologer, she recorded the prediction in her Palm Pilot – just for laughs – and promptly forgot about it.

Fast forward to early 2001:  Sponsorship was on the decline. Ms. Inoue remembers entering the TV studio in early April. Her boss greeted her solemnly and said the company had been sold. Her show was discontinued.

“He advised me to walk down the street to the unemployment office…”

She did. While waiting in line, Ms. Inoue took out her Palm Pilot and happened upon the prediction she had recorded – just for laughs – nearly two years before.

“My clients and I have really been enjoying it…It’s so easy to use and create.”

Waves of shock washed over her. Incredulous but energized, she headed directly to the nearest bookstore, where she purchased books on astrology, life cycles, psychology, and life guidance. She studied all dimensions of her newfound fascination and became Chief Inspirational Officer (CIO) of Alice Inoue Life Guidance.

Now, the former TV star’s mission is to inspire, guide and empower other people through astrology, feng shui and spirituality. She has written multiple books, produced DVDs, she pens a newspaper column, meets with clients in person and over the phone, and these days – rather than working in TV studios – Ms. Inoue is invited by news people for interviews featuring the insights she has gleaned through years of study, experience and inspired living.

“The most rewarding aspect of what I do is helping people understand that what happens to them is not haphazard. There is meaning to their lives, and challenges can help them arrive at a better place,” she says.

One recent Friday afternoon, a client was running late. He arrived to Ms. Inoue’s office and blurted out:

“You need an App!”

To which Ms. Inoue responded: “What’s an App?”

The client, who had lost Ms. Inoue’s phone number and felt altogether frazzled en route to her office, explained that mobile Apps are like a “one-stop shop,” instantly providing access to business’s contact information and services – and Apps are easy to access because they exist on the home screens of users’ cell phones.

Ms. Inoue discovered MobileAppLoader and created an affordable, feature-rich App with all of her contact information, links to her web site and blog, along with the ability to send Push Notifications (instant messages with text and images).

This is one example of a Push Notification that Alice Inoue sends users of her mobile App.

“My clients and I have really been enjoying it,” she says. “It’s so easy to use and create. What I’ve found to be the most amazing thing is that even a small business can afford to do it.”

Her favorite App feature?

“Push notifications,” she says. “They provide a way for me to connect with people. Emails are so often missed, but my clients see the notifications …

“People are downloading the App and telling me how neat and how professional it looks,” Ms. Inoue says.

Describing herself as “not a technical person,” Ms. Inoue nevertheless says that the process of building an App was simple. Even getting the requisite developer’s license from Apple was a snap.

“I’m very proud. I tell people I’m a licensed Apple developer,” she laughs, and referring to MobileAppLoader she adds: “The people there are so fast and helpful.”

Which is, perhaps, where the stars of both business align: Just as Ms. Inoue’s mission is to empower her clients with tools for making the most of life’s opportunities, so too does MobileAppLoader provide Apps for helping businesses reach ever-greater levels of success by reaching out to their own stars – their customers.

Towing Company Recognized for 21st Century Marketing

Congratulations to MobileAppLoader customer, Santa Fe Tow Service, recognized by Towman magazine for its cutting-edge Mobile App and its all-around 21st Century approach to business. Check out the excerpt below and click here to read the full article:
Santa Fe Tow Service

“There’s no fumbling through a book or directory assistance or a web search to find a tow truck” – Jon Kupchin

App-Happy! Signs indicate the New App Economy continues to ramp

By Ruth Littmann
Marketing Director, MobileAppLoader.com

January 13, 2012 – There are SIGNS all over the place, and they indicate just how popular mobile apps are becoming among the masses. When MobileAppLoader CEO Zvika Ashkenazi left San Francisco for a speaking engagement in Minneapolis this week, he saw advertisements – SIGNS everywhere – promoting everything from mobile Apps that let you upgrade inflight seating to Apps showcasing automobile dealerships.

That’s no surprise to Ashkenazi, who started MobileAppLoader three and a-half years ago with the foresight to know that Mobile Apps would quickly replace the Internet.

It’s happening … fast.

This is a good SIGN for owners of mobile apps, including MobileAppLoader’s 1,000⁺ trailblazing client mix of auto dealerships, hair salons, realtors and other business owners, who are poised to stay competitive in this New App Economy. Early adapters are profiting (and will continue to profit) from the easy-to-use features of apps. Some of the most popular features are: Push Notifications, one-on-one customer chat, location finders, VIN scanners, QR Code readers, one-touch calling, and more. With mobile apps, businesses have found affordable ways of reaching customers where they are:

On their mobile phones, of course.

CTIA estimates that Americans own nearly 100 Million smart phones, and the number is ramping. In a couple of years, all phones will be smart phones. Flurry Analytics reports that people spend more time on Mobile Apps than on the Internet. That’s why mobile marketing will play an increasingly vital role in building strong relationships with clients.

As Ashkenazi points out:

• Mobile Apps are the new URL
• Phone screens are the new home screens
• Push Notifications are the new email blasts
• Mobile Coupons are the new mailers
• App shopping is the new online shopping

And that’s a clear sign that mobile apps are not just a novelty, but rather a must these days.

For more information, visit: www.MobileAppLoader.com

And/or email: Contact@MobileAppLoader.com

Mobile Apps: Essential, Excessive? You Be the Judge…

Does my Business Need a Mobile App?

By Zvika Ashkenazi, CEO at MobileAppLoader.com

“The New App Economy” is a recently coined term reflecting big changes in today’s world of business. It highlights the fact that mobile marketing strategies are vital to companies whose customers are increasingly on the go and on their phones.

Does that describe your customers?

If so, it’s important to note the hard data showing that people are spending more time with Apps than on the web. Fresh statistics reported by Flurry Analytics reveal that consumers now devote a daily 81 minutes to mobile Apps versus only 74 minutes to surfing the Web.

Businesses with Mobile Apps are winning exposure in “The New App Economy” – but those without are quickly becoming invisible.

Be Visible.
Be Accessible.
Be Successful.

Compelling reasons for buying a Mobile App include:

The Recession. Now more than ever, businesses need fast and affordable ways of gaining exposure. Businesses increase response rates by 50 percent when they add a mobile marketing component to their print and web campaigns. One reason: People are significantly more inclined to open text messages or “notifications” than emails.

Also, Mobile Apps that appear in the App Stores (Native Apps, not web apps) are easier, less expensive and more effective than direct mail campaigns and announcements in the mass media. They win businesses visibility by “being on the shelves” of the App Stores. Businesses without native Apps, don’t have shelf space.

“Smart” Demographics. By the end of 2011, more than 50% of the US population will be using smartphones, according to numerous recent reports. Customers between the ages of 25 and 44 comprise 50% of all smartphone users in the market. That’s why, if you’re a business that caters to this age group, the answer is clear: You need a Mobile App.

Apps – The New Web Site. A decade ago, if you didn’t have a web site, your business looked passé. Nowadays, if you don’t have a Mobile App, you’re not keeping up.

Features, Features, Features. Mobile Apps are all about winning repeat business with features that make your company

- more VISIBLE
- more ACCESSIBLE, and
- more INTERACTIVE

Engagement builds success. Here are some examples of affordable and effective features for building customer loyalty.

PUSH NOTIFICATIONS
This is the “killer App” of Mobile Apps. Push Notifications are like SMS or Instant Messages but they are capable of appearing as full-color graphics. Otherwise known as Mobile Coupons, they’re a great way of reaching out to your customers with deals.

* Studies have shown that 100% of instant messages are opened and responded to within 60 minutes versus only 5% of emails and 1% of direct marketing material.

* It’s important to note that only Native Apps can support Push Notifications. Web Apps, which don’t appear in the App Stores, do not support Push Notifications. Before purchasing an App, businesses should verify they’re purchasing a Native App.

* Car dealerships regularly use Native Apps with Push Notifications to send their customers full-color coupons for deals on oil changes and other services. Why? Because they know that keeping buyers coming back to their dealership for servicing needs will dramatically increase the likelihood of those same customers buying cars from them – not from their competitors.

FREE CHAT
Apps can help enhance communication between companies and their customers by enabling both parties to chat one-on-one with each other for free.

APPOINTMENT SCHEDULING
App-based appointment scheduling provides an easy way for customers to send you requests for appointments directly from your App on their smartphone. Some App developers even record appointments directly and automatically to the user’s iPhone calendar.

INVENTORY SEARCH

One of the most sought-after features of car dealerships, this feature enables car buyers to search the dealership’s stock directly from their mobile phones.

* According to Microsoft, mobile consumers (versus online consumers) tend to take more immediate action based on their mobile search experience.

ONE-TOUCH CALLING

Mobile Apps that offer one-touch calling make businesses instantly accessible to their customers. Customers don’t have to flip through their electronic phone books. They simply open the Mobile App and click “one touch call.”

AN INTEGRATED MARKETING PLATFORM

Mobile Apps often provide links to a company’s web site and social networking pages, like Facebook and Twitter. This helps extend the company’s exposure still further into their markets.

So, in answer to the question, “Does my company need a Mobile App?” I would say: If you want your company to compete – and succeed – in today’s New App Economy, the answer is clear.

For the most affordable and feature rich Apps on the market, visit: www.MobileAppLoader.com

Is Your Business Visible to Consumers Using App Store Search Boxes?

Be Visible To
On-the-Go Consumers

How the New App Store Search Box helps you compete in an increasingly mobile market.

By Zvika Ashkenazi, CEO MobileAppLoader.com

Current research shows that people are spending more time on their Smart Phones than on computers. They are becoming increasingly mobile and need ever-faster access to information. That’s why, when the iPhone’s App Store was launched, people began using it to search for businesses and services.

Conclusion: If a business does not have an App in the App Store, consumers won’t find it. They might, however, find Apps of the competitors.

Before I illustrate this point with a montage of “screen grabs,” I should mention that businesses spend thousands of dollars on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), purporting to make them more visible on the Internet. It should, therefore, be a no-brainer to invest $10-$15 in native mobile Apps, guaranteeing a presence in the App Store.

A picture is worth a thousand words. The following montage will visually prove my point:

1. Open the App Store on your iPhone or Android device.
         
2. Type these keywords into the App Store search box:  Toyota San Jose
3. Observe what comes up.
4. Now search for your type of business in your specific locale. Are you there? Are your competitors listed?• For additional examples of Apps – of car dealerships, realtors, salons, and towing services – scroll down.
   • To learn how to choose the best App for your business – with all the questions you need to ask before purchasing – click here.

Car Dealerships:

 

If you’re a realtor, do you appear in the App Store? Do your competitors? To find out, type your business name and location in the Search Box. It might be time to buy an App.

• To learn how to choose the best App for your business – with all the questions you need to ask before purchasing – click here.

Real Estate:

If you’re affiliated with a salon, do you appear in the App Store? Do your competitors? To find out, type your business name and location in the Search Box. It might be time to buy an App.

• To learn how to choose the best App for your business – with all the questions you need to ask before purchasing – click here.

Salons:

If you’re a towing service, do you appear in the App Store? Do your competitors? To find out, type your business name and location in the Search Box. It might be time to buy an App.

• To learn how to choose the best App for your business – with all the questions you need to ask before purchasing – click here.

Towing Service:

To learn how to choose the best App for your business – with all the questions you need to ask before purchasing – click here.

Native Apps vs. Web Apps

How Hybrid Apps will help your Mobile Marketing Strategy

By Zvika Ashkenazi, CEO MobileAppLoader.com

Ever since the “App Store” phenomenon began, there have been many discussions pitting Native Apps against Web Apps. Which are better? To me, this debate is peculiar – a bit like asking business owners, “Would you rather have a website or a phone number?”

Technologies often work synergistically to generate more business. When it comes to Native Apps and Web Apps, both are important to businesses that want to build a comprehensive Mobile Marketing Strategy.

Let’s start by defining our terms. Native Apps are mobile phone applications that are downloaded from the App store and are customized to run on a particular type of mobile device, like an iPhone, iPad or Android device. Web Apps, on the other hand, reside on the web, and users link to them with phone browsers

My advice? Based on our experience at MobileAppLoader – which has 1,000 customers with Apps in App Stores – I recommend taking a holistic approach. That means building Hybrid Apps, which combine the benefits of both native and web-based applications.

Why are Native Apps so critical to businesses? Hard data indicates that people are spending more time with Apps than on the web these days. Let’s look at some recent statistics, reported by Flurry Analytics, showing that consumers spend a daily 81 minutes with mobile Apps and only 74 minutes on the Web.

“Our analysis shows that, for the first time ever, daily time spent in mobile apps surpasses desktop and mobile web consumption. This stat is even more remarkable if you consider that it took less than three years for native mobile apps to achieve this level of usage, driven primarily by the popularity of iOS [iPhone/iPad/iPod] and Android platforms,” Flurry reports. *

If you are still not convinced that your business needs an App, I recommend asking yourself a few questions:

1. Are your customers mobile?
2. Do your customers use mobile devices?
3. Will prospective customers be searching for your business – and businesses like yours – on their mobile devices?
4. Does your business need to reflect cutting-edge technology?

I won’t argue that every business needs a mobile marketing strategy, but many clearly do. For instance, if most of your customers are 25-44 years old, you need a plan. People in this age group comprise 50% of all smartphone users in the market, according to a recent ComScore report. **

There are a total of 70 Million smart devices in the US market today – and the number is growing. If you decide not to pursue a mobile marketing strategy for your business now, there is a good chance you’ll need to reconsider soon. It is estimated that in 2011, nearly half of all mobile devices will be smart phones, giving their users easy access to App Stores. Customers will expect all businesses to have an App – just like, somewhat more than a decade ago, customers began expecting every business to have a website.

So when planning your Mobile Marketing Strategy, what kind of App should you choose?

• a Native App, which can be found in an App Store and downloaded directly to your phone’s home screen? (It launches on the phone’s native operating system (OS), hence the name “Native.”)

Or, should you choose

• a web app? (This is a website that looks like an App.) In very simple terms, a web app displays web pages that are narrowed to fit the screen-size of the device. Touch buttons within the app are, in fact, links to different web-based URLs. This type of app, however, can only be utilized after launching mobile browsers and typing in the relevant URLs.

Both of the aforementioned apps serve a purpose, and when thinking about your mobile marketing strategy, it’s wise to consider the synergy between Native Apps and the Web Apps. Each can complement the other – and work independently in certain scenarios.

Native Apps have several unique features that help consumers discover your business and help your business engage consumers on a regular basis.

• Discover – If you don’t have a Native App, you won’t be discovered in the App Stores. Period. You won’t exist. To become visible to the growing market of people spending more time with Apps than on the Web, you need a Native App, which is listed and searchable in App Stores.

• Engagement - Once your customers have downloaded your Native App, you can send them alerts, otherwise known as “notifications.” This is a feature unique to native apps. Web apps cannot offer it. With the ability to send alerts/notifications, your business can broadcast news about sales, merchandise arrivals, even coupons, which can include colorful eye-catching graphics.

Web Apps also have certain advantages, which can be used to complete your mobile strategy.

• Non-App Phones – For mobile devices that offer web browsing but lack App Store access, web apps enable users to view businesses online, provided the phone users have an Internet connection.

• Remote Updating – Web apps tend to be easier to devlop and faster to update.

Symbiosis between Native Apps and Web Apps

MobileAppLoader has developed the Hybrid App, which incorporates advantages of both native and web apps. We believe this has been one key to our success. We combine discoverability, engagement, ease of development and updating, as well as a wide range of apps for iPhones, iPads and Android-based devices.

MobileAppLoader’s Hybrid Apps are – put simply – native apps that can also fetch content from the web upon request. Local content, such as phone numbers and street addresses, are always available to users regardless of their phone’s Internet connection. Fetched content, such as videos and database searches (e.g. automotive dealership inventory searches and real estate property searches)  can be executed upon request. This “fetched” content, which resides on the Internet, is delivered through web-app functionality that is rendered in the Native App. As mentioned earlier, Hybrid Apps also win visibility in App Stores and have the ability to engage customers with alerts/notifications.

Hybrid Apps: The Best of Both Mobile Worlds

The choice isn’t either-or. It’s both. An effective mobile marketing strategy requires the ability to reach the growing number of Smart Phone users who are spending an increasing amount of time with Apps. When deciding what kind of app to build, don’t think in terms of native versus web. You’ll need functionalities of both. Think instead of how to offer your customers the best mobile experience – because that reflects well upon you.

To learn more about how you can build a Hybrid App for your business, click here.

CITATIONS

* http://blog.flurry.com/bid/63907/Mobile-Apps-Put-the-Web-in-Their-Rear-view-Mirror
** http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/4/Apple_iOS_Platform_Outreaches_Android_by_59_Percent_in_U.S