Does My Brand Need a Mobile App or a Mobile Website?

Much of marketing is platform driven. Businesses seek benefits by making themselves accessible, driving communication, conversion and contribution through real-time services and constant connectivity. Mobile devices have changed the marketing world.

In 2023, the United States witnessed 320 million mobile users. People of all ages use smartphones, and businesses are taking advantage of the “always connected” consumer, benefiting them with instantly obtainable options.

Both mobile apps and mobile websites are useful. They are, however, different. To solidify your marketing strategy in 2016, you’ll need to draft a campaign based upon your platform’s biggest channels. Check out the differences between mobile app and mobile website marketing below, and boost your business’s presence in the best ways possible.

Brand Need a Mobile App or a Mobile Website

The Mobile Website

Consumers everywhere are accessible mobile-based websites. Currently, over 50 percent of mobile-based Internet searches are used to make purchases. If your brand is accessible via mobile web, it’s doing things right.

Mobile websites are designed for small screens. They’re also enabled for touch-screen capabilities. Widely accessible, mobile websites take advantage of Safari and Chrome’s streamlined ad abilities.

The Pros of a Mobile Website

Mobile marketers prioritizing mobile websites benefit from an entire “toolbox” of choices. Mobile websites carry the options of a normal website while sustaining a mobile-friendly environment. Improved functionality and readability, too, are offered, ensuring the smart phone user’s ease-of-access.

Mobile website layouts are quick, intuitive and easy on the eyes. They also greatly boost e-commerce sales. By having a mobile website, your buyers will want to visit your brand’s page anywhere.

The Mobile App

Mobile apps are similarly beneficial to mobile marketers. In fact, experts have tailored much of their sales-driving strategies to mobile app use. Unlike a mobile website, the mobile app needs to be downloaded, installed, and loaded. It won’t benefit from Google’s SEO system, but it can prosper in Apple’s App Store and Android’s Google Play platform—given its popularity is high.

The Pros of a Mobile App

Modern mobile apps function similarly to mobile websites. Mobile apps, however, grant businesses the ability to focus on a segmented audience.

There’s no brand competition in a mobile app. Users need to download, install and run a mobile app prior to usage. Businesses retain population control within a mobile app, directing consumer directions, cross-platform access and even advertising initiatives.

Mobile apps work in a smartphone’s background processes, too. Geo-targeted services can push notifications, and consumer data can be gathered, generating new, behavior-driven solutions.

Mobile apps power loyalty programs, too, enabling user payments within a single platform. Highly accessible, mobile apps need only a single tap to operate, rather than the many needed to locate and access a web browser’s mobile site.

The Verdict

Both platforms serve the consumer. They serve the marketer, too. Because four out of five consumers use their devices to shop, they’re going to need constant accessibility. If your brick-and-mortar shop carries a marketing initiative contingent upon in-depth information, store locations, unique hours and constantly-changing services, a mobile website should be your priority.

If, however, your business’s deepest needs rely upon location-based services, consumer utility and audience segmentation, it should craft a mobile app first. Every business is different, and each benefits from different benefits.

Don’t forget your business’s basics. A restaurant with unique dine-in options would benefit greatly from a mobile website. A custom deliver service, however, would thrive alongside a real-time tracking app.

At the end of the day, both a mobile website and mobile app should be contained within your brand’s strategy. Both benefit marketing and sales initiatives. They additionally complement one another within a unified marketing platform.

What’s Next?

What do you feel of what I’ve covered so far? Will you invest in your own branded mobile app?  I would love to read your comment below.

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