Marketing to Moms: Four Things to Consider Before Developing an App

Considering an app to market to moms?  A recent study found that 97% of moms made a purchase on their tablet in the last month and they’re spending significantly more time on their tablets than laptops. There’s a huge opportunity for brands to provide value for moms on their tablets.

One way to make the most of moms on tablets is by developing an app for your brand. However, developing an app, especially for the first time, is not an easy task. It requires a big budget, skilled engineers, and dedicated marketers to build a useful, powerful app.

So before you begin, there are 4 key things to keep in mind when planning to develop a new app:

App functionality – In order to be truly effective, apps must be smart, innovative, and provide value to the customer. Know when your customers will be downloading the app and why they need it at that moment. Determine the use case scenario and keep it top of mind throughout all stages of development. Also know that you don’t have to include all potential features in the first release of the app. Prioritize the essential elements and add additional functionality in future releases.

Operating systems – You don’t need to develop an app for all platforms to be successful. Rather, understand the devices before choosing one or a few. First, narrow down your options by knowing which device your target audience uses. For example, about 51% of moms own an iPhone, iPad, or iPod, compared to 52% of teenagers owning an Android. Second, understand the pros and cons of the various platforms. Windows is known for its flexibility and provides a great user experience. Apple has fewer models and screen sizes so testing is easier. However, a rejection from Apple’s App Store means more time and money to make improvements. With Android, though, it’s easier to get apps into the Google Play store. On the down side, there are many Android models and testing on all of them is nearly impossible. Finally, testing on various devices requires lots of Quality Assurance (QA), not only for the first release but also to maintain the app as devices update their operating systems. Don’t forget to budget for ongoing QA as you develop your plan.

Pricing model – Will the app support your core business or will it be the sole revenue stream? If your business has other revenue sources, you may offer the app for free because it builds mobile presence and authority for your brand. If this will be your main revenue source, the app itself might be free but perhaps it will generate revenue through an eCommerce engine or paid membership. While some paid apps are very successful, tablet users have been shown to prefer free apps with ads to paid apps. Paid apps accounted for only 23% of all tablet app downloads in 2012. Does your app offer something that customers will pay for or does it offer another value to your business?

Download strategies – Marketing your app and getting customers to download it provides a huge challenge. Make sure your app is searchable within the app store. You can do this by choosing the most relevant keywords. What will customers be looking for when you want them to find your app? Find out and use those keywords. Note, you are limited a specific number of characters for keywords. For Apple, keywords must be less than 100 characters. Another download strategy is through email marketing. Email your existing customers and include a direct link to the app store so they can download the app immediately. Make it easy for them to find and download. Also consider integrating a social sharing element into your app so users market the app for you.

Creating an app may or may not be worth it for your business, but after thinking through each of these topics you should have a better idea of your approach and strategy. For more insights on the habits of moms on tablets and how to build the best app strategy for your brand, download the white paper, “Tablets 101: A Primer for Mom-Focused Brands.”

This guest post is by Katie Petrillo. She is the B2B Marketing Manager at Punchbowl, where she writes about marketing to moms for the Punchbowl Trends blog. Follow her on Twitter @PunchbowlTrends and find her on Google+.

The Top “11” Lipstick Economy Posts on Marketing to Women

Bloggers love them.  Readers love them.  The Top Ten list.  We have even written about the allure of the Top Ten.  But 2011 was such an incredible year, it deserves a bonus – a Top Eleven list of topics that  you incredibly intelligent – and sophisticated – Lipstick Economy readers deemed important.  Technology and how we use that technology were the headlines of the year.

11.  Ten Things You Need to Know about E-books.  One of the best books I read in 2011 was Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff.  I downloaded it on my iPad and got to thinking about some of the incredible shifting world of book consumption.  So here’s an update.  Half of all tablet purchases have been made by households with children under 18, according to Forrester Research. And that doesn’t include e-readers, where women already dominate – 63% versus 37% of men own e-readers.

10.  12 Outrageous Facts I Learned at M2Moms.  I am still reeling from some of the great info at M2Moms.  Probably the most dramatic is the number of births of children occurring outside of marriage.  Forty-one percent of births are to unwed Moms, and when you look at just millennial moms, the percentage rises to 50%.  I think this trend has unbelievable impact on society and how were define families.

9.  Moms Won’t Deprive Family of Vacation This Year.  This 2010 poll looked at Moms attitudes towards the family vacation.  Travel began to rebound in 2010 but American workers are still somewhat reluctant to take too much vacation.  Only 57% of U.S. workers use up all of the days they’re entitled to, compared with 89% of workers in France, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found,  according to CNN.com.  Some 64% of employed Moms were optimistic about actually taking all their paid vacation in 2011.

8.  Tablet is Most Important Device We Own.  Women are beginning to use tablets for shopping in a major way. Sixty percent of users shopped for the holidays with their smartphone or tablet.  Mobile shoppers consider it a type of “mobile mall”, purchasing products and comparing prices.  Home usage of tablets is now greater than out-of-home usage.

7.  The Mother and Daughter Shopping Experience.  This is a really interesting subject.  Moms and daughters may call it retail therapy, but it’s actually an important bonding and socialization activity.  One particular group who share shopping preferences are Baby Boomer Moms and Millennial Daughters who spend time together and value their relationship.

6.  51%.  Just a number?   Professional and entrepreneurial women are 51% of the workforce and 51% of small business owners.  Women are not just consumers; we are business leaders and we are heads of households.  Unfortunately, we are not represented in the same way in America’s boardrooms.

5.  Only One in Five Groupon Users Return.    This has been a rocky year for Groupon.  With the proliferation of group buying deals, both retailers and buyers are trying to find the best way to use Groupons.

4.  iPhone Moms:  A Growing Target Audience.  Can we say obsession?  That’s the relationship that iPhone Moms have with their phone.  See our Lipstick Economy and Social Moms study showing Social Moms prefer sleep and their smartphone over sex.

3.  Marketing to Women:  How Many Use QR Codes?  Fad or fantastic?  They are part of our shopping experience.  57% of consumers who have scanned a QR code say they did nothing with the information, compared to 21% who shared the information with someone and 18% who made a purchase, according to  a survey released in January 2012 by Chadwick Martin Bailey.  Top reason for scanning a QR code?  Curiosity.

2.  The Demographics of Groupon and Living Social.  There are definitely differences in the two users.  So what is the demographic for Deal Chicken?  Now that there are hundreds of daily deal sites, will 50% become the standard for discounts?

1.  Groupon or Groupoff?  10 Facts You Need to Know.  Drumroll please.  The Year of  Groupon. But will daily deals continue to hold the fascination of marketers?   Yes, they raised $700 million in a limited IPO.  But the value of the company is half of what it was just a few months before.  There may be 600 competitors, but no one knows exactly because some 25% of them have already bit the dust.  Are we suffering Groupon Fatigue? What do you think the marketing story of the year for 2012 will be?

Happy Reading, you amazing group of Lipstick Economists!