This article looks at why should an organization build an iPhone app from a marketing perspective, what are the features that can be leveraged and some ideas around what can be built.

1.
The iPhone as a marketing tool
Why should you build an iPhone app for marketing
your product/service?
January 20, 2010
Siddharth Sethi
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Contact: siddharth.sethi@infobeans.com
Siddharth Sethi
InfoBeans INC, 2410 Camino Ramon, Suite 288, San Ramon CA 94583 USA +1 888 4INFOBEANS
www.infobeans.com

2.
The iPhone as a marketing tool
Much has been said about the iPhone. It is curvy, easy to use, pricey, eye candy, blah, blah. But what is
the true story and how does it affect business, specifically, for this post, marketing?
Consider these facts
• The iPhone AppStore has over 3 billion app downloads and counting everyday.
• There are more than 100,000 apps to do pretty much anything
• The iPhone leads by a huge margin when it comes to mobile web browsing and mobile web
searches
• And Apple has been in the business for just over 2 years
Whatever the personal biases are, one needs to know that it is the single most important smartphone in
the market. None of the competition, including the mighty Google (Nexus One) has been able to come
anywhere close to the reach of the iPhone. At least not yet. And even if they were to, it does not seem to
be happening anytime soon.
For marketers, it is best to stop ignoring the iPhone and embrace it as an essential marketing tool that will
help reach their target audience.
What are the ways in which an iPhone can be used as a marketing tool?
• Advertise on apps from other providers
• Advertise on websites that target mobile users
• Create your own apps that talk about your products and services in an interesting way
The first two (advertisements) are straight, in your face advertisements. They aren't anything new for the
advertising world. Advertisements have long served as a subsidy for other products and services, and will
continue to do so. Just hope that your intended user hits the advertisement and buys your product or at
the very minimum becomes a qualified lead you can pitch to.
What is more interesting from the mobile experience and specifically the smartphone is that you can
create applications that specifically talk about your products and services. Not only that, they have the
capabilities to interact with your potential, and if you go the whole nine yards, you can actually have them
cough up right there for your product.
Mobile, being well, mobile, also changes the dynamics of interaction, the user being able to interact with
your app pretty much anywhere. This increases the chances of your app being used and in turn of you
getting more relevant and targeted data on your prospect.
The advantages of creating iPhone apps for marketing
As mentioned, the iPhone generates interesting opportunities for marketing. Let us first understand what
makes the iPhone interesting to marketers and then we will see how those can be leveraged.
A great user interface
The iPhone offers a user interface that is unparalleled in computing ‐ any kind of computing. How does
this help you as a marketer? Well, if your app is interesting enough and has that sticky ability ‐ you have
leveraged the user interface capabilities, your users will flock back to your application again and again.
Isn't that what you want?
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InfoBeans INC, 2410 Camino Ramon, Suite 288, San Ramon CA 94583 USA +1 888 4INFOBEANS
www.infobeans.com

3.
Location aware ‐ GPS integration
This is something marketers would die for. Trying to get your location in real time. See what you are upto
and where. If an app can take advantage of the location features, marketers could make valuable use of
that data.
Multimedia content
Push out content in any form you wish ‐ video, images, text or a combination. You want your reader to be
totally mesmerized by the content. Well the iPhone's video and audio capabilities, enhanced by that super
screen and its orientation, allows you to do just that. Take your audience for a ride by showing relevant
videos, podcasts and of course, text.
Accelerometer and compass
These two tools allow you to add a lot of fancy (and sticky) touches to your applications. Use the
accelerometer to create interesting gestures that do interesting things. Like the shake or the tilt. Or just
the throw. One of my favorite apps that uses the accelerometer well is UrbanSpoon. Shake it and it gives
you a restaurant recommendation!
Multi touch screen
Now this is what is the king of all features and something that no other phone in the market has ‐ Multi
touch. Multi touch has opened up immense opportunities to create gestures that are intuitive and simple.
All of the above features pretty much point to one basic idea. That you can create apps that extremely
easy and fun to use and therefore provide you a great channel to get your message across to your user
group.
Let us see how some of this can be achieved.
If you are a toy manufacturer, creating an app around your games/toys might help. The kids and
teenagers are heavy users of the iPhone/iPod Touch. Many companies create these free apps that have
product placements in the app, that are highly relevant to the user and derive excellent mileage and
brand stickiness.
If you are a travel company, create apps that show content related to your products. Show sample
itineraries. Allow the user to play with those itineraries and see the effect real time on custom maps.
A healthcare provider can create apps that allow users to access data related to the ailment and provide
tips to users to manage their health. You can add information on how to reach the provider ‐ maps, phone
numbers, auto calling etc.
In pretty much any industry, you can find ways to interact with your target audience. It is all about
leveraging the features and tools available to your advantage without losing sight of the end goal – to put
your message across in a subtle and succinct manner.
Just creating an app that shows your marketing message will not help. Don't expect people to download
such apps and continue to use them. The mantra here is to create apps that are interesting to use first,
and then they show messaging/products/services/brands that make sense in the context. Yes, remember
‐ you need to create the context!
if you need more information on how your marketing department can benefit, please contact us at
iphone@infobeans.com. We will be happy to help you.
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InfoBeans INC, 2410 Camino Ramon, Suite 288, San Ramon CA 94583 USA +1 888 4INFOBEANS
www.infobeans.com