Mobile Marketing Statistics from - AIMIA: The Mechanics of Mobile Marketing Conference

•     1.7 million Australians have iPhones
•     60% of all mobile phones in Australia have 3G
•     9 million people use their mobiles to access the Internet
•     $13.5 million was spent on mobile advertising last year
•    Mobile web has experienced 148% growth worldwide in the last year
•     Designing for user behavior should be considered for the mobile web.

Consider the needs of the user. Key needs include:
•     To be informed (news and information)
•     Manage my life (life and business management tools)
•     Social Glue (communication and social networking)
•     Create and publish (social networking, blogs)
•     Be entertained (video, games, etc)
- When creating an app it is important to have purpose built content. A good example is Virgin Blue's "Check-Mate'" app. The Check-Mate app allows you to make flight bookings with seat selection, check in and then go straight to boarding via 2D barcode scanning. As there were many booking variables such as locations, dates and times, it was imperative to make the app totally encompassing of all its requirements while being as efficient as possible, also keeping in mind the limited interface.
Other mobile check in and concierge apps include Air New Zealand, World Mate, TripIt and Apple's own iTravel.

When commercialising your mobile apps consider these points;
•     Mobile advertising
•     Value of free (offer a free lite version of the app)
•     Price point (cheap isn’t always best. People pay for quality; they are more likely to rate a product more highly if they have paid for it)
•     Exclusive Content (offer exclusive content as a value add rather then locking people out of paid/members content)
•     Sponsored Content

Ratings:
•     The better the rating and comments in the App Store the more downloads you are going to experience
•    User rating and comments do influence people’s choices
    - TIP: When adding the rating function be sure to offer this as a pop up within the first few uses of the app. A lot of apps have their ratings pop up upon deletion, and generally someone deleting an app will not be providing great feedback!

•     Mobile advertising revenue is increasing at a rate of 82% per year

•     Dominoes mobile advertising campaign achieved $2 million in sales and 200 000 app downloads in the first 12 weeks
- Domino's used their app as more of a revenue-generating piece of software rather than just a marketing tool. By concentrating on the consumers needs and focusing on usability and relevance, they were able to create an app that delivered a significant value, therefore the users were more likely to keep the app. The ability to browse, purchase and have a pizza delivered all via the app was so appealing and convenient to their consumers that many were simply downloading the app to 'test it out'.

•     Entry level mobile apps costs between $15 000 - $20 000 to design and develop

•     Apple takes 30% of the purchase price of your app

•     Making money from only developing mobile apps is extremely hard. Consider these points when developing you mobile initiatives:
    • Consider a mobile website rather then an app
    • Consider other revenue streams such as advertising
    • Offer the app or mobile website as a value add for a business

•     You must consider a budget to promote the app after or during development
    - Remember to factor in the budget to promote your app, not just to create

•     Choose a platform to deploy the app on and have strategies for others

•     Only create the mobile app or website because it makes business sense