1. Make it super useful.
For many businesses — Starwood Hotels, Target, and Bank of America among them — the virtue of their apps is that they make a user’s life easier. These apps offer simple ways to find bargains, keep track of accounts, or locate the nearest shop or ATM.
2. Make it interactive.
If people interact with your brand on their phone, they’ll develop a relationship with it. Nike has an app called NikeWomen Training Club that does this well. It lets users customize their workouts, access videos, and invite friends to compete.
3. Make it entertaining.
Amuse people and they tend to feel good about your brand. Coca-Cola’s Spin the Coke app is a simple spin the bottle in digital form. Swipe your finger across the screen and the Coke bottle spins. One customer reviewer on the Apple’s app store says he and his roommate use it every night to decide who takes out the trash.
4. Make it a mixture.
Kraft’s iFood Assistant
Many brands take this route, combining utility and interactivity. Kraft’s iFood Assistant, for instance, suggests recipes, lets users upload their own and share them, and then helps users create a shopping list.
5. Make it free.
For now, you are better off considering the development costs as marketing expenses. There’s just no way around it: Charge even $1 for your app, and people will hesitate before trying it. Go free, so you can go big.
More on BNET:
- Want to Revolutionize Advertising? There’s an App for That.
- How to Innovate Like Apple
- The 5 Inviolable Rules of Branding
