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The best marketing strategy for any industry is an amazing product. When you have a web application, this is even more true. As one of the nation’s leading web application development and design agencies, we often find ourselves in meetings that start something like this:
CEO: “Our sales cycles are too long. Our growth is stagnant. We are missing our revenue targets. Competition is eating our market share. What marketing programs or campaigns do you suggest to get us back on track?”
Often, these companies have a few proposals in hand from other agencies suggesting clever TV spots, dramatic onsite events, street teams or a complete “rebranding” to freshen up the logo mark to be more modern and memorable.
At Integrity, we know if sales are down, your consumer is telling you something: It's time to look closer at your product.
Think about the apps on your phone. Which one do you use the most? What commercial did you see to entice you to download it? What billboard did you see to encourage you to Google something, or which radio jingle drove you to sign up for Facebook?
You probably heard about these apps, websites and applications through word of mouth from an advocate who loved it. You tried it once out of curiosity and kept using it because it solved a real problem for you as well. No doubt you shared your experience and caused others to sign up too. That's how it works.
Useful is the new clever, after all.
If you would like your website, mobile app or web application to share a similar level of success, here are a couple of questions to ask yourself:
If you say your product is the fastest, easiest, most secure, most reliable – make darn sure it is. Any separation between product promise and product reality is perceived as dishonesty or incompetence. Taglines that say what people want to hear might have sold product in the past, but today you actually have to deliver.
Your web product should be solving a real problem for you right now. If you are a group of men launching a woman-focused product, you had better add some women to your executive and product team ASAP. If you find yourself saying, “I’m sure those other people will love this,” you are in deep trouble. Be a consumer of your own product or services and make something YOU can honestly fall in love with. Be the first to know when a new feature misses the mark. Share your customers' frustration if something goes wrong. There is no other way to build an authentic solution to a real world problem.
Sluggish sales? CEO, heal thy product/service. Take an honest look at your entire consumer experience and divorce yourself from the allure of the marketing quick fix. Your customers are smarter than that. They deserve the best product you can give them and are at this moment demanding it.
Are your customers trying to tell you something about your mobile app, website or application? Drop us a line and let’s talk.
