Everyone who manages and develops an app wants it to be used by their target market. Growing an audience, especially monthly users for apps, enables the developers to reach their goals or get further funding to continue developing the app. However, Mobile App Marketing doesn’t cover only the downloading process of Mobile Apps; but it also includes keeping users engaged and retaining them.

In this article, we’ll be exploring seven effective ways to Marketing Mobile Applications. These methods have been proven to be useful for getting potential users to download the mobile app that you are marketing.

Referrals

The first marketing strategy in this list applies to mobile app marketing and many things. Word of mouth is, by far, the essential tool when it comes to marketing. No matter what type of product, service, or app you are marketing, people talking about it will get others to think about using it.

Researchers have found out that approximately 2.4 billion brand-related conversations take place today in the United States. If people talk about your application a lot, especially if there are additional incentives to talk about it more, you can get more downloads and increase users.

A method to market your app through word of mouth is by establishing a referral system and incentivizing users to use it. Most apps that have referral systems work by rewarding users who invite other users to use the app’s feature. 77% of people are more likely to buy a product when they learn about it from their friends or family. Taking this into account, this is a guarantee that you’ll get an increase in users.

Push Notifications

As a user, push notifications may sometimes be annoying, but it’s essential for the app developer. Push notifications are enormous and very obvious. They ensure that your users are kept engaged with your app when needed.

Researchers have found that users open 90% of push notifications, but only 68.9% of marketing emails are given attention. Taking this into account, push notifications are more important than marketing emails.

The next goal should then be to incentivize the users to turn on push notifications. It’s essential that they do because otherwise, push notifications won’t even pop up. This is when app developers consider where they can place options and tips to turn on push notifications. Maybe insert them at the homepage, or have a notification pop-up when opening the app.

App Feedback

App feedback is essential for Mobile App developers. Not only are they necessary for marketing, but they’re also important in further improving and developing your app.

So how does App Feedback work when it comes to Mobile Applications Marketing? It shows your users that you’re willing to improve. That you’re always on the look for things you can do to make their experience better, and that you’re eager to hear them out if they have anything to say. Overall, this creates a connection and amplifies trust between the developers and the users, which is excellent for retaining users and keeping them happy.

Lastly, to ensure that your App Feedback marketing strategy works, they should be very accessible in the app. Try to place it in noticeable areas in the app that people can easily access. You can even try to incentivize people to give their feedback, and in exchange for their feedback, you reward them with perks.

Future Update Notifications

Like all our other strategies in Mobile Application Marketing, keeping users up to date is very important. Not only does this inform them of what’s to come shortly regarding the app, but this also gets people exciting for new up-and-coming updates.

Never keep your users in the dark. Hiding upcoming updates from them and only notifying them a day before the update is problematic. We want our users to trust us. A great way to build on that trust is to be transparent.

Future Update Notifications are vital because they build both trust and excitement, resulting in users’ retention. You might even get more users if they’re interested in the upcoming update.

App Branding

Branding is essential in all fields of business. It covers factors like uniqueness and in-depth characteristics like the logo, brand colors, and even culture. You can incorporate this with your Mobile App and ensure that your users get an experience worth their time.

People value their time. They won’t be spending it on things that aren’t productive, entertaining, or useful. No matter what product, service, or experience you provide with your app, embracing a specific culture ensures a level of competency and expectation set with your users.

Instructional Videos / Demos

People want to see what they’re getting into. An instructional video or a demo video does two productive things for an app developer. An instructional video introduces possible users to the app’s experience and, at the same time, informs them of what the basics are when using the app.

This is a great way to introduce people to the app because instructional videos are often needed to fully experience an application. However, please don’t limit yourself to instructional videos because some apps might not need one because it speaks for themselves. This is when snippets or demos of your app can be inserted instead. You can upload clips of your app being used as a form of promotion, so you get more people interested.

Social Media Promotions

Last on this list is one of the more critical things to consider if you want your app to flourish. Social media is a vital tool for promotion. With everyone on their phones for a long time nowadays, it’s the perfect tool to promote your Mobile App.

There are several ways to use social media for promotion. The highly suggested strategy is to create your own social media page and promote your application through the page, but you can also give influencers and ads a try. Influencers bring in an entirely different demographic when marketing because promoting is a more personal and intimate approach.

Overall, there isn’t a Marketing strategy that’s guaranteed to work for all, but you can try a few of these, and you’re bound to get an increase in users in no time.

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Companies are now taking several extra steps to improve their branding and make sure that it leaves a positive and lasting impression on consumers. It also helps if the company employs timely and efficient strategies to capture and keep the target audience’s attention. These strategies could include using technology-based and customer-driven approaches.

In this article, we’ll be listing out ten branding strategies that every company should be using. These strategies range from the fundamentals like logo design and target audience to more specific and timely ones like diversity, inclusivity, and social media branding.

Identifying Your Target Audience

In branding a business, it is essential to identify the target audience of the service or product you are providing. Ask yourself who your ideal customers are, who you can sell your product or services to, who’s more likely to keep on buying from you.

A key to this is first to analyze your product/service. Try to find out what demographic is likely to keep buying your products. This helps you determine where you should focus on and what products or services you should prioritize to maximize profits.

Developing your Brand’s Identity

Most good brands are easily recognized through their logos and sometimes even their brand colors and catchphrases. This goes for both long-lasting brands that have been active for decades and even modern brands that haven’t been around for that long.

Conducting a brand audit, a checkup that evaluates your brand’s position in the marketplace, its strengths and weaknesses, and how to strengthen it, is an excellent first move. This enables you to understand where your brand stands among your competitors, and it helps you gather insight into how to proceed.

Suppose you know your target audience, and you play your cards right. In that case, you can build a relationship with them, ensuring that your business stays afloat and most likely flourishes as you create a more reliable connection with them. Then, customers’ retaining of the little things like logos, brand colors, and catchphrases will follow. Thus, properly developing your brand’s identity.

Visual Content Branding

Visual Content is one of the most important factors to keep in mind when establishing great branding. People naturally lean towards visual images more than words or phrases.

According to research, brand marketing with well-branded and established visual content yields 67% more attention than those who do not maintain great visual content.

Although you shouldn’t be dependent on visual content, logos, brand colors, and themes should be prioritized when publishing materials like fliers, advertisements, and even social media content.

Consistency in Branding Identity

Branding should always be consistent. Changes in branding, especially
when it comes to the visual aspects like the logos and brand colors, should be kept at a minimum. Being consistent is parallel to being reliable and dependent in the eyes of the consumer. Consistency builds trust.

If a business is continually changing, it gives off an unpredictable vibe, making it much harder for people to trust you and your company. Keeping it consistent should be practiced by the team handling the brand. All your employees should value consistency in terms of service, quality, production, and branding.

Logo Adaptability

This strategy might not be as sought out as other strategies in this list, but it is still essential. We have seen many major brands like Nike, Adidas, Coca-cola, Pepsi, Balenciaga, and even Chanel adapt to a more minimalistic logo while still retaining their logo concepts.

Long gone are the days of logos that are too detailed. Minimalistic logos have taken over. Although it isn’t bad to have a complicated logo, it’s harder to be consistent in branding as they often do not merge well with products compared to more minimalist ones.

Maintaining Positive Relationships

Relationships with your employees and customers are significant and should always be on your list when evaluating your business.

If you have well-built relationships with your existing customers, it’s more affordable to maintain them. It’s crucial always to retain a positive with your customers.

You can do this by keeping customers satisfied. Exceed their expectations. Provide more than they expect. Employ individuals who are great at dealing with customers and ensuring that they maintain the quality of service. Make them feel special, and they’ll never leave you. They might even bring their friends and family the next time around.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Purpose-driven brands are more appealing to customers. 87% of customers tend to purchase products and avail the services of brands that share their cause.

Brands teaming up with organizations that support causes like environmental advocacies, equality campaigns, and mental health awareness tend to get more customers than those who aren’t involved in campaigns.

Inclusivity

Equality and inclusivity are valued by a lot of consumers nowadays. Long gone are the days of products only exclusive to a specific demographic. Diversity, body positivity, and inclusivity have taken the market by storm,

As seen in today’s market, consumers value equality and inclusivity. They tend to buy products or avail services from brands that give importance to these values.

Branding through Employees

Employees are your most excellent and most versatile tools in maintaining great business and branding. Keeping their employees just as satisfied and happy as their customers are something that all brands should aspire for, but not all brands can achieve that.

Employees who are well-compensated, well-treated, and active in different work activities are less likely to leave their company. Aside from the product or the service itself, employees are the next significant factor in maintaining positive relationships with customers.

Customers tend to be more comfortable with employees they already know, and it’s also more convenient.

Social Media Branding

Nowadays, everyone is on social media. No matter what kind of product or service you are offering, you should have the basics of social media branding and marketing down.

Maintain social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Through these accounts, you can communicate with people who might be interested in your product or services.

The post 10 Effective Branding Strategies for Every Company appeared first on Corsiva Lab Malaysia.

Marketing is essentially a fixed pattern of methods and tools employed to promote the business. Often this includes billboard ads, newspaper segments, and even social media promotions. On the other hand, branding focuses more on the brand’s identity, the logo, the colors, and even the vision and mission.

This article will explore and analyze nine key differences between branding strategies and marketing strategies.

1. Branding is the Identity, and Marketing is the Message

Before we dive into the actual strategies, we first understand the basics of branding and marketing. Branding is the identity that covers everything from how unique a brand is to the more in-depth characteristics like the logo and brand colors and culture.

Marketing is the message conveyed through branding. Marketing strategies take into account the business basics through branding like brand colors and logos. They utilize it to disseminate the news: social media posts, advertisements, promotions, and even publications.

This is easier to understand and control as compared to branding. Branding is, however, not as simple and easy as it seems.

2. Marketing is Received, Branding is Perceived

Contrary to popular belief among business owners, branding isn’t something that you can take complete control of. How a brand is seen and accepted is totally up to the consumers. This is why branding is perceiving. On the other hand, marketing is entirely up to the team of people in charge of the business.

Your branding is not your idea. Sure it might depend on how the culture is built and what values you prioritize in the business. Still, the primary variable of branding is ultimately how the consumers perceive it.

Marketing, however, is much more reliant on business owners. It is totally up to the marketing team of the business what marketing strategies they’ll be applying. It’s up to them what product they’ll prioritize, what price they’ll bank on, and how they’ll promote it.

3. Branding over Marketing

Despite us having established that both branding and marketing are essential, it has long been set in the business world that branding is the foundation, which means that it is what should be prioritized.

Without proper branding, no matter how much effort your marketing team puts on promotions and advertisements, they will be minimal progress, if at all any. This, however, does not mean that once you have logos, package designs, brand colors, and a slogan, you’ll be set to go. You still have to build a culture and the shaping of a brand’s worth.

4. Marketing Invites and Branding Retains

Like we’ve already mentioned, marketing covers value proposition, essential brand messaging, data on target customer demographics, and other high-level elements. Essentially it is what racks in the customers. Branding retains these customers by maintaining a reputation through several things like product quality, affordability, or credibility.

This system applies to all forms of business. No matter what product you sell or what service you provide, marketing will always serve as the gateway for your product or service, and branding will make them buy products from you again or avail of your services.

5. Branding is the Strategy and Marketing is the Tactic

At first glance, strategy and Tactic seem to be the same thing, just like branding is similar to marketing, but several nuances should be taken into account. A process is an overarching plan. It’s generally what dictates the business’s flow over the decades, and almost minimal to no changes are made at all. For Tactic, however, it’s essentially a day-to-day approach for the company.

Branding covers an extended period, and almost little to no changes should be occurring. It’s problematic for a business always to change their product’s quality and price range because certain expectations of your consumers should be kept. However, for marketing, consumers’ attention span and preferences are dynamic, meaning they change on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis. As a business, it should be your goal to always be up to date in marketing.

6. Branding Includes the Personnel does the Personnel and Marketing

The employees in your business are precious. They build trust between the consumers and the brand. At the same time, trust between employees and the company should also be strengthened.

Your personnel are critical when it comes to business. Branding through personnel means building a reputation as a business with excellent customer service or building relationships with customers through dedicated personnel.

The difference between both is that even though they are both being done through personnel, branding is more of an appeal and a culture. At the same time, marketing is merely done by personnel, like handing out fliers or promoting through social media, which are still technically done by personnel.

7. Branding is Case-to-case, Marketing has Trends

Contrary to what people might think, branding doesn’t have an exact formula. The way people perceive your brand, the way reputation flows is on a case-to-case basis. They’re unique for every brand, and no situation is the same when it comes to branding. Despite this, however, you can still follow several guidelines, like defining how you want to be perceived, organizing your business based on goals, communicating your promise, and being consistent.

8. MISCONCEPTION: Branding is Marketing

This is a very grave misconception. Branding requires a much deeper understanding than marketing because understanding the culture being built in a brand is much harder than following trends in marketing, like advertising on Instagram.

Building a culture and reputation is something that takes more than knowledge. Experience and wisdom are applied, and character, expression, message, and advocacy, are built over time.

9: MISCONCEPTION: You Dictate Your Branding

People think that companies have total control of their branding, specifically over their culture and reputation. Although the company has some levels of influence when it comes to building a reputation, it is totally up to the consumers. This is why some brands adapt over time because of the demands of their consumers.

The post 9 Key Differences Between Branding Strategy and Marketing Strategy appeared first on Corsiva Lab Malaysia.

If you look at successful brands right now, you understand the reach and influence on people. Something as simple as their color palette or a slogan their brand has can trigger feelings of excitement. All of this is what it means to be a brand!

To be known, to extend beyond their products, and to have an influence. If you want all that and more, here are the eight branding strategies you need to apply to your company today to dominate the market!

Branding & Its Importance

Before we step into the hows—we have to understand what a brand is and why it’s crucial!

A brand is what distinguishes you from all of the other businesses out there. It’s usually composed of a set of features such as a name, symbol, tagline, aesthetic, brand voice, and many more. The brand is the company’s soul and is usually associated with its reputation—may it be good or bad.

Branding is the method by which you develop and apply the distinct features required to make a brand. This is the first step to getting your customers to acknowledge your brand and relate it to the products or services you sell.

Branding is crucial because it gives you an identity that people can cling to. When you have a brand, you aren’t just a corporate enigma anymore. Your customers can relate and connect with you a lot more fluidly as well!

It also helps make marketing a breeze, makes you more memorable and distinguishes you from the competition!

Branding Strategies To Keep In Mind

Adapting To Your Target Audience

Every brand has a target audience. It’s your job as a brand to cater to your target audience and resonate with them. After all, building trust between you and your target audience is how you can ensure that you get recognition, revenue, and most importantly, awareness!

Before finalizing your ideas on how your brand should look and feel, make sure you understand who you want your audience to be. Find an ideal vision of what a customer should be and work around trying to satisfy that image.

Authenticity

Showing authenticity is the quickest way in which you can gain the trust of your consumers. Presenting your brand to your audience without any lies or filters make your brand seem genuine and less difficult to connect and sympathize with.

You can show your authenticity by sharing recipes of products such as food for the public to see. Depending on what industry your brand is in, the way you can show your authenticity can be different. However, there is always a way in which you can be fully transparent to your customers.

Kindness & Charity

Showing kindness and compassion, especially now during a pandemic, has become a well-received trend that everyone can get behind! This trend is probably going to be applied even after the pandemic eventually subsides.

Finding positive ways to connect with your audience and make an impact can be a great branding strategy that you can use to impact. Even something as simple as an infographic or an ad relating to helping people out can make a difference in getting your brand out there!

Using Social Media

Almost every brand has some sort of social media account or page that they regularly post content on. However, utilizing it strategically and to its utmost efficiency is an entirely different story!

Social media is a weapon that you can use to enhance your branding as a whole further. Evolving from a place where brands would post short promotional material and images to a platform endorsing the use of more lengthy content, make sure you don’t sleep on social media sites!

Utilizing Creative Art

It doesn’t matter whether you’re catering to a younger audience or not—using quirky and eye-catching imagery for your brand will boost your brand’s image. You can use any art style that you want for your illustrations, but it’s usually portrayed with a more hand-drawn style.

This can be a great way of portraying your brand’s creativity to the general public. Make your art as whimsical as you want, don’t be afraid to experiment with a little trial and error!

Make a Stand

There are loads of bad things happening around the world due to centuries of untreated prejudice and injustice. Taking false neutrality and not making a statement about certain stances for environmental, societal, or economic situations will put your brand in a bad light.

For younger consumers such as Millenials and Gen-Z, they expect brands to take a stand in something. However, make sure you aren’t doing it to gain brand awareness. Make sure you aren’t just playing along to get on your customer’s right side! Take a stance on important issues and stand with the right side along with your audience.

Give your Brand a Personality

When trying to find ways to strengthen your branding, go back to the roots and think about what you want your brand to be like in the first place. Instead of treating it as an image for a business, try thinking of it as if it was an actual person!

The purpose of branding in the first place is to connect with your audience. If that’s the case—giving personality to your brand is perfect for this! It humanizes your brand and your business and makes it more relatable to your customers.

Be Consistent

Inconsistency is the last thing you want when you’re branding. It not only confuses your customer—but it also heavily undermines your brand as a whole!

Ensure that your brand is consistent and has a set presence that makes it recognizable across any medium.

Now that you’re ready to give branding another shot—make sure to apply these strategies and watch your brand as it flourishes!

The post 10 Branding Strategies You Need to Apply to Your Company Today appeared first on Corsiva Lab Malaysia.

Improving business productivity is the goal of the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG). The PSG aims to support companies keen on adopting IT solutions and equipment to optimize business processes!

Think you fit the criteria? Learn more about the Productivity Solutions Grant below!

Productivity Solutions Grant Coverage

Businesses that include provide support to various industries. These industries include construction, food, landscaping, logistics, precision engineering, and retail industry are covered by the Productivity Solutions Grant. Nonetheless, for different sectors and for non-sector-specific industries, PSF can also provide various support such as data and inventory analytics and tracking and customer management. Adopting solutions that cut across most industries is also something that PSG supports!

Innovating from both the micro-level and macro-level not only ensures that your processes become more efficient—but they also ensure that your clients won’t have to face any delays when asking for your services. As long as your IT solution increases the efficiency of a process, the productivity solutions grant will cover it!

Supporting Innovation

The productivity solutions grant isn’t just supporting companies that can think of a means to boost productivity, but they also encourage innovation. Providing resources to those who can improve the way multiple industries function is the goal of the PSG.

Various government agencies have pre-scoped these IT solutions—some examples are Enterprise Singapore, the National Environmental Agency (NEA), and even the Singapore Tourism Board (STB)!

Encouraging Going Digital

The recent enhancement of the productivity solutions grant is the stepping stone towards getting most, if not all, enterprises to go digital. Encouraging enterprises to continue their pursuit towards digitalization will do wonders towards the progression of business efficiency in the future!

Through the continued upgrading efforts of companies to further optimize their workplace productivity using technology, more and more methods to boost efficiency will be developed. With the maximum funding support of PSG being raised to 80% the realm of opportunities has only become wider and easier to explore.

The merit of digitizing aspects of what keeps a company going is incredible. Keeping data has suddenly become more relaxed while also being safer. Managing appointments and managing client information has become seamless. Even getting access to company analytics on sales, productivity, or efficiency has become smooth and hassle-free!

Productivity Solutions Grant Eligibility

Gaining eligibility to apply for the productivity and solutions grant is quick and hassle-free. As long as your SME can meet the criteria listed below, they can apply for PSG:

• Your SME must be registered and operating in Singapore
• The SME must have a minimum of 30% of the local shareholding
• The company’s group annual sales turnover must be less than S$100 million
• Must have less than 200 employees (for specific solutions only)
• The purchase, subscription, or lease of IT solutions or equipment can only be put to use in Singapore

Eligible employers who also fit the criteria listed below have the opportunity to qualify for additional subsidies under the Skills Future Enterprise Credits (SFEC) scheme:

• Must not have been able to qualify for SFEC at any earlier periods in their career
• Contributed S$750 minimum for Skills Development Levy over the period in which they qualified
• Employed three Singapore Citizens (SCs) minimum or Permanent Residents monthly over the qualifying period

If you fit any of the criteria mentioned above, you will be eligible to apply for the productivity solutions grant!

Applying for the Productivity Solutions Grant

Once you verify that your company is eligible to apply for the productivity solutions grant, all that’s left to do is go ahead and sign up. Here are the steps that you might need to take when applying for the productivity solutions grant:

• Visit the GoBusiness Gov Assist website
• Browse the list of supportable solutions and find out which relevant solutions suit your business needs
• If you’re in need of IT solutions, get a quotation from a pre-approved vendor
• If you’re in need of tech and equipment, you have to source for the equipment and get a quotation from the vendor
• Submit your application for the PSG on the Business Grants Portal (BGP)

Be sure to register for a CorpPass account for full access to the transaction processes on the portal!

Step by Step Guide to Applying for a Productivity Solutions Grant

1. Using your CorpPass account, log in to the BGP.
2. Go to the “My Grants” tab and select “Get a new grant.”
3. Afterward, select your business sector and the grant type you want to apply for (make sure to choose a sector that best describes your business!)
4. Check if your business is eligible and hit “yes” if you meet the criteria
5. Fill in the details for the primary contact person and the letter of offer addressee details.
6. Fill up your proposal by indicating whether you need equipment or an IT solution, select the vendor and details of the solution, and fill in the deployment location (don’t forget to upload the quotation from the vendor by clicking “select files”).
7. Indicate the cost of the project.
8. Explain the business impact that the proposal will have. Elaborate on the overall positive results that this will have on your company and the productivity gains.
9. Review your application.
10. Read through the consent & acknowledgment.
11. Accept the terms of consent and click “submit.”

Companies can request more than one Productivity Solutions Grant application based on what their business needs. However, companies are limited to one package per solution category for one deployment location. If a requested IT solution is attempted for deployment at the same location more than once—the application will be subject to rejection.

Productivity Solutions Grant—Helping Businesses Evolve

The Productivity Solutions Grant is a step in the right direction for businesses around the world. Incentivizing companies to keep their processes digitized and efficient will improve their overall productivity by a large margin!

At a time like this, when technology is everything, keeping up with the trend and adapting is what will keep your business thriving.

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