Blog : mobile marketing

What Things to Know About an App Development Company

What Things to Know About an App Development Company

Introduction to a Software Development Company

Today the significance of IT apps has increased too much. There are many reasons behind this. But here you have to know all the things about an app development company. You might see as well as know that the task of app development is a tricky one, but it involves making software applications with which you can operate any kind of programming language.


Most companies that are involved in this task also create and develop applications that are concerned with mobile phones, Android, iOS as well as web applications. When you contact these kinds of mobile app-making companies then you might also know that they also make networks to work with computers that are in remote places.

Who works in a software app company?


All of you might ask us who works in an app development company.


• Well here when you browse the team of such a company then you will know that here a team a software developers is involved in the long way.
• You may know that an app developer is a well-trained professional who designs as well as makes apps and software programs that work well with the help of software and codes.
• Here all the software professionals collaborate with one another and do the task of writing high-quality coding languages.
• They also do the task of software testing. When any software or app faces trouble shooting then these professionals fix them.


What Tasks are being done in App Software Development Companies?

mobile application development


Today you might also ask us what is the scope of app-making companies in the present and the coming future. Well, here you might know that a mobile app Development Company in New York is gaining a great scope for meeting the software-making needs of clients like you. Here you might observe that a mobile app development service involves a very good procedure so that the software professionals can make high-quality mobile devices to meet your personal or business-related goals.


This process involves many stages like maintenance, testing of software, development of apps, and checking their working quality. Here professionals have to also design the software apps according to the needs of their clients.


Reasons to contact an App Development Firm

BEST Mobile App Developer Company


With the genuine help and support of an app development firm, you can easily get design the desired software and apps to meet your personal and business objectives. Even then your hired software and app developer will make the best app according to his strategy and planning.
You can tell him about how and what kind of software you need from him after testing it according to the rules of app development. Designing software and apps is not a kid’s play. So here you have to get in contact with a reputed app-making firm that has a high reputation and a proven service record.


When to take services of app making?


You might see that today with the increasing globalization even business companies are making active use of apps and advanced software. This is being done to get success in the business and overcome business rivals. So here when you hire an app development service then it will design and make that app for you like Android and iOS with which your business tasks will run well on a smooth platform.


Thus these services can be taken for the purpose of making and buying IT and software-based apps that will serve your personal and business-related goals. Here even with the support of a mobile app-making firm, you can get create new and unique software that has many attractive features.


Get Make Apps at Affordable Service Fee

Mobile App Development Cost


If you see that now the services of application development in mobile form have come in trend then you can get many benefits from it. These apps are being used in making and manufacturing smartphones, and phones from Apple brand and iOS operating brands.


Now for this purpose, if you contact a mobile app and software-making company then they will meet your needs as soon as possible. In other words, you can say that you can keep your business running smoothly and can defeat your rivals with app-making professionals. Now when the cost factor comes here then you can find those IT firms that charge affordable service fees.


Our Final Conclusion


Now when you ask our final conclusion from us then we will say that today software and app-making companies are the backbone of the modern age.
These companies can make any kind of software and apps so that you can get success in your business goals. All you need is to make use of those apps with which you can save your time and effort.

The iPhone 15: A Game-Changer

The tech world is ablaze with excitement as September 2023 heralds the arrival of Apple’s latest masterpiece – the iPhone 15. Apple, known for pushing the boundaries of innovation, continues to set new standards in the smartphone industry with each new release. The iPhone 15 is no exception, poised to dazzle consumers with a slew of cutting-edge features that promise to redefine our mobile experience. In this article, we’ll delve into the details and explore what makes this release a true game-changer.

Apple has always been synonymous with sleek and elegant designs, and the latest iPhone lives up to that reputation. Its bezel-free, edge-to-edge display not only maximizes screen real estate but also captivates with its refined form factor and premium materials. Holding this iPhone is like holding a piece of the future in your hand.

Under the hood, the iPhone 15 is fueled by the most advanced chipset ever seen in a smartphone. Its lightning-fast processing speeds and unparalleled graphics capabilities ensure that it effortlessly handles any task you throw at it. Whether you’re a multitasking pro or a mobile gamer, this iPhone is your trusty companion.

Apple’s commitment to smartphone photography shines brighter than ever in this release. The device boasts a state-of-the-art camera system featuring a triple-lens setup with unmatched low-light capabilities and cutting-edge image processing algorithms. No matter the lighting conditions, expect stunning photos and videos with unparalleled detail.

Privacy and security are paramount, and Apple goes the extra mile in the September 2023 iPhone. The device incorporates advanced facial recognition technology, ensuring that your phone is truly yours alone. Furthermore, Apple maintains its unwavering commitment to data encryption and secure payment options, granting you peace of mind in a digital age.

Prepare to be transported to new realms of multimedia bliss. The edge-to-edge display enchants with vibrant colors and razor-sharp visuals, breathing life into every photo, video, and game. The device’s enhanced stereo speakers complement the visuals with immersive audio, making every moment a sensory delight.

Apple’s ecosystem continues to be a testament to seamless integration between devices. The iPhone seamlessly connects and syncs with your other Apple devices, elevating your digital life. The latest iOS iteration introduces a myriad of features and improvements, ensuring a user-friendly and intuitive experience.

As we eagerly anticipate the arrival of the iPhone 15, it’s evident that Apple is once again poised to redefine smartphone innovation. From its groundbreaking design to its formidable performance and cutting-edge features, this release is set to rewrite the rules. Whether you’re a tech enthusiast, a professional, or simply someone who appreciates the beauty of cutting-edge technology, the September 2023 iPhone promises to leave an indelible mark. Prepare to embark on a new era of mobile excellence.

Ready to experience the future of mobile technology? Contact Colure Media today to explore how we can elevate your brand with the latest in digital advertising, app development, and social media marketing strategies.

Unleashing the Potential of AI Chatbots for 24/7 Customer Support

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, setting your brand apart from the competition hinges on exceptional customer service. While conventional customer support methods like phone calls and emails are indispensable, they often fall short in meeting the expectations of modern consumers who demand rapid and personalized assistance. This has paved the way for the rise of AI chatbots, a revolutionary solution for offering round-the-clock customer support.

AI chatbots are sophisticated computer programs that simulate human conversations through the fusion of natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning. These digital assistants possess the remarkable capacity to manage a multitude of queries simultaneously, furnish personalized responses, and operate ceaselessly, every day of the year. As AI technology continues to advance, the capabilities of chatbots are expanding, empowering businesses to optimize customer experiences and augment sales.

The speed and efficiency afforded by AI chatbots are at the heart of their adoption in customer support. These bots excel at handling numerous inquiries concurrently, ensuring customers receive instant resolutions without enduring prolonged wait times. Consequently, businesses can amplify customer satisfaction, cultivate a sterling brand reputation, and foster loyalty by elevating the quality of customer interactions, all while incurring minimal costs.

Personalization has emerged as a cornerstone of contemporary customer service, further fueling the integration of AI chatbots. These intelligent bots adeptly learn customer preferences, purchase histories, and other relevant details, enabling them to deliver tailored recommendations, assistance, and promotions. This personalized approach resonates with customers, engendering brand loyalty. Moreover, chatbots bolster service quality by swiftly accessing real-time data and product information, thereby furnishing accurate responses to customer inquiries.

The utility of chatbots extends to conserving time and resources for businesses. The process of recruiting and training call center agents to provide round-the-clock coverage can be both expensive and time-intensive. Chatbots, on the other hand, can function cost-effectively with minimal oversight, rendering them an appealing alternative.

Finally, the symbiotic relationship between customers and AI chatbots drives continuous improvement in service delivery. As chatbots accumulate insights from their interactions, they incorporate machine learning to enhance accuracy and suggest tailored offerings aligned with customer preferences. This iterative approach optimizes customer satisfaction, accelerates response times, and curtails associated expenditures.

In conclusion, the evolution of AI chatbots into indispensable tools for businesses is undeniable, offering top-tier customer service, improved brand perception, enhanced customer loyalty, and streamlined operations. With their exceptional capability to provide seamless support and personalized interactions, AI chatbots stand as a transformative asset in modern customer engagement strategies. As industries continue to navigate the ever-evolving customer-centric landscape, embracing AI chatbots becomes a strategic imperative that can catalyze success. For comprehensive solutions that span from influencer marketing to digital advertising, reach out to Colure Media today. Let us help you elevate your brand through tailored strategies, including social media marketing campaigns and cutting-edge mobile app projects.

Elon Musk Completes the Transformation of Twitter Into X

Elon Musk Completes the Transformation of Twitter Into X

According to one recent study, Twitter had nearly 436 million monthly active users as of January 2023. The only thing more impressive than that is the fact that just one month prior, it only had 366 million – representing a staggering amount of growth in a short amount of time. Twitter, by its nature, has been disruptive since its inception.

But now, thanks to new owner Elon Musk, it is especially so. The tech billionaire has recently changed the name of one of the most popular social networking platforms on the globe to X – a move that is worth examining for a number of key reasons with big implications for the future. Twitter is Dead. Long Live “X” To quickly get caught up to speed, keep in mind that Musk only closed his deal to purchase Twitter on October 27, 2022. He quickly became the company’s CEO, at which point he also dissolved the existing

Twitter board of directors. To say that a lot has happened in that time is a bit of an understatement. He completely changed the way Twitter identity verification works, turning it into a paid subscription service. He laid off nearly 50% of the Twitter workforce. His tenure has been so controversial that it has been said it was the main reason why Mark Zuckerberg and Meta developed the new platform Threads, which has more than a passing resemblance to the way Twitter previously looked and functioned.

The company has also lost roughly 66% of its value during this period by most estimates. Now, the Twitter branding is no more. In addition to a new name and logo, Musk has changed language like “retweet” and removed other references to its past. In its place is “X”, which Musk has said he hopes will become a state of “unlimited interactivity” for people around the world. In other words, he wants it to be something far grander than Twitter was or could ever hope to be. Something he says is centered in “audio, video, messaging, payments, banking,” and more. Disruption is in the Eye of the Beholder If nothing else, Elon Musk’s transformation of social networking giant Twitter into X is nothing if not a lesson on the very nature of disruption.

Even though the word itself often has a negative connotation, the truth is that it is neither inherently good nor bad. The perception has less to do with the act itself and is more about the interpretation of those observing it. When Steve Jobs walked across a stage in 2007 and introduced the iPhone to the world, few could have predicted just how much disruption he would cause. That device changed the way we think about personal computing, standalone GPS units, digital cameras, wireless communication – you name it. But at the time, it was met with a lot of skepticism.

After all, mobile phones had existed for years prior to that. Why should anyone care about this one in particular? Another example would be a group of Reddit users employing the Robinhood app to disrupt the way we think about the Stock Market, possibly forever. They used a mobile app to suddenly shift the balance of power on Wall Street in a way that there may be no going back from. But at the time, it was met with derision and laughter. A bunch of “know-nothing kids” trading stocks and sharing information with each other on a message board? You’ve been able to trade stocks online for years. Why should anyone care about this specific instance? What both those examples have in common is that the disruption they brought with them was simultaneously a positive and a negative depending on your point of view.

They were disruptive not necessarily in ways people wanted or how they expected, but were ultimately what they needed at that moment in history. As the great Henry Ford once said “if I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” All this is to say that, while Elon Musk’s transformation of Twitter into X is certainly being met with criticism in real-time, will that perception stand the test of time? Will this, too, be something that people one day look back on and think “that’s where it all started” in the same way they do about the iPhone? Does Elon Musk have a grand plan in mind, one that will also give the people not what they want but what they need? Or will this all go down as one of the most clear-cut examples of a brand in decline in the history of not only social media, but of business in general?

A master class in having a brand transition go so poorly that you end up potentially getting charged by the San Francisco authorities as a result of it? Right now, nobody can say for sure. But one thing is certain: X has already managed to be disruptive and will likely remain so for the not-too-distant future.

The Top Mobile App Trends to Be Aware Of For 2023 and Beyond

According to one recent study, the average American has about 80 different apps downloaded on their phone at any given moment. That makes sense, given the fact that there are an estimated 5.7 million apps on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store combined.

Steve Jobs disrupted and revolutionized a lot of things when he first walked on stage and introduced the iPhone to the world in 2007 – and the hardware itself had little to do with it. Apps have changed the way brands communicate with consumers, how people communicate with each other, and how we live our lives.

That’s why paying attention to the top mobile app trends for 2023 and beyond is so crucial. They can help give you an incredible amount of insight into just how far we’ve come… and where this all might be headed before you know it.

Essential Mobile App Trends: Breaking Things Down

Maybe the biggest trend in mobile app development for 2023 is actually contrary to why this type of software became popular in the first place.

Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, desktop applications were the “Swiss Army Knives” of software. They did as many things as humanly possible, all from a single screen. Then, mobile apps debuted as a straightforward alternative. Instead of doing 100 different things moderately efficiently, they were instead dedicated to doing one thing incredibly well.

As they say, “everything old is new again” – and the era of the “Super App” may be upon us. Indeed, Super Apps are single applications that perform a variety of functions, all within the same piece of software. Sound familiar? It should.

Now, that doesn’t mean that you want your mobile app to become bloated. You never want to be looked at as a “Jack of All Trades, Master of None.” But if you can solve multiple problems for your users within a single piece of software, you should take the opportunity to do so as this is what people are looking for more and more.

2023 also looks to be the year when the marriage between mobile apps and voice technology is finally ready for prime time. People have had voice assistants like Siri on their phones for years, but recently more and more industries have started to take advantage of this to create better experiences on behalf of their users.

If you open your bank’s mobile app right now, you can send a payment to someone in a matter of minutes. Or, you could tell your voice assistant to send the payment in seconds and you don’t even have to pick up your phone to do it. You can have a voice assistant make a purchase on Amazon, send a message to your spouse, and more – all without physically interacting with your device. This, too, is a feature set that people are looking for more and more.

In the end, it’s important to acknowledge that the way we think about what a mobile app can be is constantly changing. Once upon a time, they were seen as little more than a minor convenience – a way to check your email or watch a video while on-the-go. Flash forward to today, and Reddit users literally employed the Robinhood app to disrupt just about everything we know about the stock market. That’s no longer a minor convenience – that’s a legitimate way of life.

Therefore, it’s always in your best interest to pay close attention to where things are and how far they’ve come. Once you understand why today’s trends have been able to make such an impact, you’re in a better position to anticipate where things might be going tomorrow, a year from now, and beyond. At that point, you’ll be able to get there before any of your competitors have a chance to do the same – which is a very exciting position to be in.

Geotargeting & Geofence Marketing: How a small company can disrupt a big market

Geotargeting & Geofence Marketing: How a small company can disrupt a big market

If you feel like social media and online marketing is shouting into the void, you’re really not alone. Many small, local businesses are told to invest in online advertising and mobile marketing only to discover that it’s really not effective for them.

Imagine if you advertised your company to every 10,000th person on earth. How many of those people would actually be able to use your products or services? Probably none of them. There are a lot of people on earth and there are a lot of people online.

Geotargeting and geofence marketing focus on hyper-local leads — so you can stop shouting and start earning.

Connect to the Customers Closest to You

It’s the customers that are closest to you that you want to connect with. It’s better to connect with 50 people in your neighborhood than 5,000 people across the world. And it’s cheaper, too. When you connect with customers close to you, you greatly enhance the viability and effectiveness of your advertising campaigns. 

How Does Geotargeting/Geofencing Work?

Geotargeting/geo fencing works by identifying where customers are inside of a broader, third-party advertising network. For instance, Google Ads shows throughout the world but can show your ads only to those who are in your vicinity. Geotargeting is broad; it just means that you’re sending your ads to those who are in your country, state, city, or even zip code.

Geo-fencing is a little different. Geo-fencing specifically defines an area, such as an area that is located in a highly-trafficked region around your business. Once individuals are inside this area, they are targeted. Geo-fencing can be used to deliver ads through PoS systems within your neighborhood, for instance, or to send ads to phones and other devices detected in your region.

The Advantages of Geotargeting

Really, the advantages of geotargeting are clear. You can spend $100 to connect with 5,000 people in the world or $10 to connect with 50 people in your area. It’s cost-effective and far more useful.

But it also enhances public perception of your brand, as you’re no longer trying to reach out to individuals who wouldn’t be interested in your advertising to begin with. Geofence marketing creates more relevant, useful advertising, as well as more profitable strategies.

Implementing a Geotargeting Campaign Strategy

To implement a geotargeting campaign strategy, you (obviously) need to know where your customers are. There are third-party ad platforms like Google and Bing, but their usefulness will actually be vanishing shortly; action is being taken to reduce third-party tracking cookies.

There are two better options: social media marketing and third-party behavioral targeting databases. Social media marketing works because individuals already provide where they live to the social media platform. Even better, they provide information such as whether they’re married, whether they have children, and even where they work and where they went to school.

Third-party databases seek to identify consumers based on their behavior and contextual information without the help of cookies or files stored on the user’s device. These third-party geotargeted databases are likely to grow dramatically once cookies become ineffective for geofence marketing.

Summary

With the right geofence marketing, your company can focus all its efforts on advertising directly to the people who are closest to you. When they look at their phone or check their email in your location, they’ll get information that relates to your business. If they’re halfway across the world, they won’t.

But this type of advertising and mobile marketing really does require that you use the right technology. Social media marketing provides some of this targeting, but mobile marketing is about to get a lot more challenging.

How does your mobile app stand out from the millions in the app stores?

How does your mobile app stand out from the millions in the app stores?

Question: How well does your mobile app stand out from the competition? According to a Statista study, today there are more than 1.8 million apps in the Apple App Store and almost 2.5 million in the Google Play App Store. After the first mobile application appeared in 2008, the information marketplace faced a dramatic shift. How do you make yours stand out by leveraging mobile analytics? The demand for instant access to data forever changed the expectations of the public.

Here at Colure Media, we understand the market movements and growth.  We take pride in being one of the best mobile app development agencies in New York City. Our team excels in helping our clients stand out in the marketplace. We help them drive mobile application downloads with in-app marketing, app store optimization, mobile marketing and search engine marketing. We use these tools, crystal clear ideas and a systematic approach in defining our tradecraft.

What’s unique about Colure’s approach is our ability to develop native applications which are very strong, from a technology point of view. At the same time, we never lose focus while engaging your target audience with your brand identity. UI/UX are crucial components of any app development.  Our focus upon the total user experience, project goals and overall functionality is our signature upon our client’s projects.

Mobile application developments are divided into two different categories: Android apps and iOS apps (which include iPhone apps and iPad applications). We design apps tailored to meet the needs of the enterprise and consumer markets.

The Android services we render include:

  • Designing and developing Android apps (SDK)
  • Java for Android development
  • GPS and Location Services
  • Push notifications
  • SOAP, RESTful, XML Parsing
  • Webkit, HTML5
  • MPEG4 AND H.264 over HTTP/RTSP streaming video
  • Market research
  • Product launches in app stores

Our iOS app developments are secure and scalable. They work comfortably on the ever-upgrading series of Apple mobile devices. These apps are crafted to achieve smooth functionality.

Our iOS development services include:

  • Application UI/UX designing and development
  • Redesigning apps for iOS compatibility
  • Porting for Android and Blackberry apps
  • Wireless networking
  • iPhone SDK XCode IDE
  • Superior quality Graphic Standards and Protocols
  • Objective-C Programming
  • Customized iPhone apps
  • iPhone enterprise software development

The success of our agency is built upon the success and growth of our clients. Contact Colure’s Mobile App Development Team to discuss your next project.

Augmented reality

Augmented reality

Augmented Reality is the melding of the real world with the digital world found on your smartphone. Think “Pokemon Go.”

You have more than likely encountered augmented reality, even if the term is unfamiliar. It is not to be confused with virtual reality, another recent development in the tech world. AR is experienced alongside the real world, while VR simulates its own reality.

Charles Arthur, a contributor to The Guardian, describes AR as taking “a real-life scene, or (better) a video of a scene, and add[ing] some sort of explanatory data to it so that you can better understand what’s going on, or who the people in the scene are, or how to get to where you want to go”.

By blurring the line between what is real and what is not, AR enhances the digital experience.

The most well-known examples of augmented reality in today’s market are Snapchat filters and Pokémon Go. While it is more easily recognizable in entertainment, AR has also been utilized in marketing, educational and retail ventures.

Augmented reality is also starting to play a role in the workplace. It has been adapted for certain hands-on training exercises. An employee’s virtual presence erases the need for direct contact with different environments.

Where direct involvement is risky, the immersive qualities of AR allows for otherwise impossible experiences. For example, NASA has started to use it for scientific research. This enables advances in exploration that humans couldn’t achieve. We can’t send a person to Mars, but technology is taking that giant leap for us.

In the near future, you might not even be able to tell who is seeing the world through an AR wearable. Going through a single day without experiencing augmented reality in some way might even be impossible.

As the technology behind AR continues to evolve, its limits will be pushed even further. Think about how Pong and other early video games now seem so primitive, yet they were what introduced many the members of today’s workforce to computing. Their innovations have increased the capabilities of operating systems hundreds of times over.

These same kinds of giant strides in AR are still to come. The next generation might be taught about the game-changing nature of Pokémon Go just as today’s youth learn about Tetris.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has already labeled augmented reality as the ‘next new thing’. Anyone who is familiar with the tech industry will agree: now that AR has captured Apple’s eye, every competitor will be clamoring to take it to new heights.

Set your mobile marketing strategy on fire

Set your mobile marketing strategy on fire

When you want to set your mobile marketing strategy on fire, you have to understand your audience. You have access to your customers in an instant through the use of SMS mobile marketing. This is a powerful tool, once you learn how to unleash this power your marketing efforts will show significant results. Whether your business is small and just getting started, or you have numerous locations, you can develop a mobile marketing strategy that reaches customers and boosts sales both online and in person.

Your Opt-In Texting Campaign

You need to develop an opt-in campaign that allows you to send marketing text messages to your customer base. Customers sign up, either in store, through a text, or through email. Once they opt-in, you are allowed to send text messages. The messages must contain language that makes it clear how to stop receiving messages to comply with regulations. You can send customers texts about time-limited deals, send links to your blog content, and offer insider information to your business through text messages.

Make Sure Your Website is Ready for Mobile Use

How your website is designed matters. Optimizing your website for use on mobile devices is essential when you are trying to improve your mobile marketing strategy. There’s no point of getting customers to visit your website if it isn’t easy to navigate on a mobile device.

Develop an App for Your Business

Smartphone users love apps when it comes to interacting with a business. For example, opening up a Dunkin Donuts app, the customer can drive up to the window, order a coffee, and then pay just by having the app on their phone scanned. This makes purchases for the consumer easier using their mobile devices. It takes time, effort and money to develop an app for your business, but the payout is worth it.

Allow Shoppers to Pay With Mobile Devices

When you make paying for your goods and services easier on your customers, they aren’t going to go somewhere else to make the same purchase. This means you need to set up a way to accept mobile payments. This is done by finding a payment processor that can accept payments on behalf of your business for a nominal fee. Look around to find the right provider for your specific needs.

Engage on Social Media Platforms

When you want your mobile marketing strategy to work, you have to engage on social media. Facebook, the number one social media platform, offers businesses a variety of tools to engage with potential customers. You will need to build up a base of followers, but also provide relevant content to your followers. Whether you create links to your blog, or you have great deals you want to share, they won’t mean anything if the posts aren’t seen by anyone. To engage your customer base, ask thought-provoking questions, reply to all comments, and be mindful of what you share on a daily basis. Keep changing up your strategies and try different deals to see what works.

Author Biography:  Joel Lee is the SEO marketing specialist at Trumpia, a mobile content delivery service that allows users to customize their coordinated marketing efforts by interconnecting and optimizing all digital platforms.

Geofencing in mobile applications

Geofencing in mobile applications

Allowing a mobile device to recognize environmental elements can truly make an application dynamic. Because consumers live and breathe by their mobile devices, having environment-awareness available in mobile devices keeps users on their toes and engaged in their environment. This concept is called geofencing, also known as context awareness. 

Awareness of their physical environment for mobile applications brings more depth and attractiveness to an application’s user experience or UX. It engages the user by sending individually tailored data to their phone based on their geographical location. This plays a critical role in executing in-app mobile marketing and mobile app retargeting campaigns. 

Context awareness is a property used in mobile devices to identify where the user is using an application and how that might affect what the user is doing,” – Matt Carver at Bigspaceship.

In a context-aware environment, wireless devices such as environmental sensors, radio frequency identification tags, and smartphones send location, presence and other status information across the network. Specialized software captures, stores and analyzes the data, sending it back over the network to provide context to the end device as needed,” – Computer World. Having a mobile device react to its environment and offer advertising suggestions in terms of retail therapy or even a coffee shop facilitates the needs of each user.

Goals of context awareness

The ultimate goal of a context-aware system is for the system to arrive at a representation of the surrounding world that is close to the perception of the user,” – Interaction Design Foundation.

The layering of data allows the use of time of day and GPS coordinates to create a customized, ever-changing source of space and time relevant content for the consumer. They might provide breakfast suggestions in the morning, clothing suggestions relevant to elevation and weather, and locations for cocktails in the evening.

Geofencing is the ability for a mobile device to pinpoint the context of the user’s geographical location. “Context-aware applications look at the who’s, where’s, when’s and what’s (that is, what the user is doing) of entities and use this information to determine why the situation is occurring,” – GA Tech.

Challenges of context awareness

Mobile devices allow consumers to always be connected to the world around them. These connections can have difficulties. Computer World sheds light on challenges involving context awareness. One challenge of context awareness is privacy issues. Because context awareness uses data from the mobile device as well as environmental data, data breaches can occur. Being able to balance the security risks against the rewards is something that will be answered in time.

Geofencing is an interesting feature for mobile devices and applications. This functionality advances the capabilities of the smartphone for the specific user’s advantage. By having a more dynamic experience with your mobile device, it is no wonder that consumers fill every moment of the day looking at their phone. Advertisers and marketers will continue to take advantage of this desire for customized content and hyper focus audience targeting.

How to calculate an advertising budget

How to calculate an advertising budget

Every company must stake its own space in the marketplace to survive. In order to successfully interact with your customers, each business must decide on the best course of communication. This function is facilitated by your company’s marketing budget.

Each business owner is an expert in their given area of practice. Everyone needs customers, yet often, stakeholders haven’t been provided with a game-plan of how to reach those customers through advertising.

We’re providing a roadmap for your future marketing budget. The purpose is to help the business owners focus their resources for the best ROI on their investment. If you begin with a focused process, your odds of success greatly increase.

Dollars and sense

When deciding on a typical marketing budget, there is no definitive answer on the dollar amount a business should spend. How much you plan to allocate depends on a number of variables including the industry you are in, the size of your business, its growth stage, your annual revenue goals, your projected sales, your cost per acquisition, whether you are willing to spend on websites, mobile apps or some other long term project.

It may be helpful to examine some methods of determining marketing budgets and average percentages that companies use in their calculations. You need to determine your marketing budget wisely and not depend on what is left over after your business expenses are covered. We are here to give you some guidelines that you can use to determine your marketing budget.

As a general rule of thumb, Colure Media suggests that the marketing and advertising budget should be on an average 10% of the company’s overall revenue. This budget should be split between brand development costs including the channels you use for marketing and the costs of promoting your business (campaign, events, and advertising etc.). The percentage of revenue calculation should account for possible additional factors such as new product launch, new market entries, and mergers/acquisitions.

Calculate your CPA

For companies who are unsure of their revenue goals or don’t know their exact overall revenue, we suggest calculating their marketing budgets using cost per acquisition (or CPA). Using a CPA, we help companies reverse engineer their budgets by understanding their sales goals. For example, if a company wants to sell 10000 units of something and if they know their CPA, they can calculate their marketing budget by multiplying their sales goals of 10000 by CPA.

It is very important to re-examine your CPA, as this is a number that you want to optimize. Your goal is to make it lower since you want to receive a higher rate of return on every dollar you spend on marketing. Continually look around for new and more effective methods of reaching out to your target market. The use of new and improved technology can help you optimize your cost per acquisition.

If you are seeking out the development of projects like mobile applications, website development, and mobile marketing (or some other long term project), our advice is that you pull that project out of your total budget and calculate its own budget as a separate line item. The reason being is that these long-term (5 to 7 years) marketing tactics require an initial heavy investment and small investments later on. You are better off doing an initial investment of around 8 to 10% on these large projects and then 2% of your annual revenue toward web development for the next 3 years. After that, you need to put money only for updates and maintenance for the next couple for years.

These values are not set in stone

Once you have set your marketing budget, remember that it is not a fixed value. There might be times when you will be throwing in another unplanned event or campaign. The main thing is to know whether your spending is giving you your required ROI.

One of the biggest issues facing new and existing businesses is that they may not know what their marketing and advertising budget should be. Often, businesses don’t understand the process of media planning. Many times budgets are set blindly, with a number just being thrown into the air and hoping that it lands on the success outlined in their business plan (if they have created one).

There are three components to every business:

     1. Unique product/service

     2. Profit

     3. Marketing/Advertising/Sales

At the end of the day, a business with unlimited funds can spend plenty of money and time running test after test, but they may sacrifice market share to competitors (who may have inferior products/services) who are knowledgeable and have navigated these seas time and time again. Blindly throwing money at your advertisements is not the answer. Define your goals. Examine your numbers. Start with a solid plan that can be modified, with purpose, as time passes. We hope that this will help your gain a better perspective on your marketing efforts.

Colure Media is an advertising and marketing company in New York. We have advertising and marketing experts to help set up your goal with a budget, target your audience, and improve leads. If you want to discuss your advertising needs and budget, then contact us Now.

Programmatic media buying

Programmatic media buying

The ability to present the right advertisement, to the right person, at the right moment is priceless. Computers have forever changed the advertising landscape. They have brought together all of the key stakeholders in a place of efficiency and finesse. This is called programmatic media buying (sometimes simply referred to as ‘programmatic’). Its simple beauty is founded in highly complex math. This is the computerized, mathematical purchase and sale of advertising space in real time. Fluid and seamless; it presents seemingly effortless connections between the consumer, publisher, and advertiser.

It is more than just the computerized buying and selling of ad space. It’s an interactive relationship between all of the players in the online advertising world. One definition is “the automated method of buying digital advertising in which supply and demand partners make decisions on a per-impression basis and adhere to business rules as provided by the operators of each platform”. Defining the inter-relationships between the stakeholders can be difficult. A group of industry experts offered their insights to help define the process for the layperson.

Simply stated, this process levels the playing field for companies of all sizes. If two companies have the same amount of funds for advertisements, ‘Bob’s Key Shop’ can have the same market reach as a ‘Target’.

This process provides an established pathway allowing all parties to reach highly focused goals. Companies can focus their advertising budgets on an exact audience. If they need assistance in defining their target audience, they system provides the support and data to bring the parties together. Long gone are the guesses of “how do I get my audience to notice my business?” A focused approach delivers data-based results.

Programmatic has dramatically changed the marketplace for everyone. For clients entering the marketplace for the first time, the system is tremendously beneficial. “Programmatic buys are a good thing for our clients when it comes to paid media campaigns, (meaning SEM, display banners, desktop, and mobile marketing) along with traditional tv campaigns. It allows us to get inventory which normally wouldn’t be available to the client, at an affordable rate. It’s definitely a good thing for paid media campaigns.” – William Belle, Chief Colure Advisor.

The system hasn’t always been embraced by everyone in the marketplace. This response is from a blog posting from just five years ago:

“Sounds like another thing for large companies to spend more on staff figuring it out than they’ll ever make/save on ROI, and another thing for scammy marketing companies to sell contract services to small businesses. In 3 to 5 years, the fad will have passed, some lessons will have been learned and the smart businesses will come and implement changes and software then. My ROI is not a beta test.”

Over $46 billion will go to programmatic advertising in the US this year, according to eMarketer’s latest programmatic forecast—about $10 billion more than last year (2017). That means 82.5% of all US digital display ads will be bought via automated channels in 2018.

Some of the concern is based on who the end consumer may actually be. “There is some skepticism of Programmatics because we don’t truly know if a real human is absorbing the content,” says William Belle, Chief Colure Advisor. The focus and delivery are there, but it’s impossible to gain a definitive assessment of the message consumption. The fact that a human is still the ultimate consumer leaves a variable in the equation. The true level of message absorption can never be accurately measured. Like they say, ‘you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make ’em drink’.

Despite voices of concern, the marketplace performance of programmatic purchasing has been well established. The significant growth in market share has provided the viability that few question.

If you want to discuss entering the marketplace with your business, contact Colure’s project managers to see how programmatic media buying can assist your company.

Push notifications, how they drive engagement in mobile apps

Push notifications, how they drive engagement in mobile apps

An ever-growing mobile audience is challenging the mechanisms needed for marketers to interact with the audience’s fluid movement. Desktop Marketing finds itself struggling to keep up with the quick pace and instantaneous engagement on mobile devices. Despite the statistic that desktop still accounts for 42% of internet time. Web push notifications, also known as browser push notifications, are a new channel of marketing that brings the personalization of the mobile medium to the desktop.

Web push notifications are pop-up messages from a website that, when clicked, send the user to a specific link (for example, a new blog post). They’re not the same thing as web notifications, which are active only on an open web page. Instead, web push acts much like mobile application notifications, which are initiated only when the user gives permission to receive them. After the user gives permission, the company can send push notifications at any time, even if the website isn’t open in the browser.

A clean example of this is when a newspaper can notify its readers about the content of the most recently posted story. This immediate interaction helps to provide additional context to the story at hand.

Unlike the more common medium of email marketing, web push allows websites to engage users without having their contact information. Users are more likely to opt-in to the push notifications because they’re generally less invasive and make it easier to unsubscribe. Research has shown that less than 10% of users who opt-in for web push notifications unsubscribe within a year. This is despite the ease of opting out.

These are not the only benefits to using web push notifications:

  • Web push notifications deliver immediately to users, eliminating the possibility of being sent to a spam folder, like email.
  • Web push notifications have conversion rates 30 times that of email.
  • Push notifications are less content-heavy (generally between 40-120 characters) and better appeal to the shortened attention span of the consumer audience.
  • Web push offers the benefit of mobile app push notifications without investing money in developing an app.

Web push is supported by Safari 7.0.3, Chrome 42, and Mozilla Firefox. The channel continues to grow, pushing email marketing to the wayside and offering companies a more direct and concise avenue of communication with consumers. While there is yet to be much research on the direct success rate of websites using web push notifications, it is expected that it will be close to that of push notifications in mobile apps, which boost engagement by a notable 88%.

Web push notifications allow for a low-profile and noninvasive way to communicate with customers. Its low cost makes it a great investment for small and medium-sized businesses, so we can expect it to be on the uprise within the coming years.

Ad blocking: Who will pay for the Web?

Ad blocking: Who will pay for the Web?

Display advertising has long been the driving financial force behind the Internet. Ads pay for the consumer’s seemingly endless appetite for the content they consume each day. The market forces created by profit margins and the ever increasing power of market leverage are staggering. Together, they have driven advertisers to peruse an ever-evolving set of techniques and technologies to grasp either the user’s attention or information.

A growing opinion amongst users is that internet advertising is out of control. It occupies too much space, data, time, and invades too far into our privacy. Users have now been given the opportunity to block most of the advertisements that fill their screens. A critical problem created by blocking all of those advertisements is that ‘no ads equal no cash flow.’ With this new shift in power, who will pay for the web? How will the current economic model of the internet survive?

At the heart of the issue lies the following dichotomy: while practically everyone wants free access to almost all internet content, they want to yield profits from their own internet endeavors. They don’t want to have to pay, however, they do want a pay-day. No matter how you cut it – there is no free lunch. If you are on the internet, you are paying a price to someone.

With this cost in mind, several questions come to mind. What is a just and equitable compensation for ‘free access’ to content?  At that point of full and just compensation, do the data harvesting and advertising behaviors of the advertisers change accordingly?

There is no question the internet is a capitalistic environment. Publishers should be compensated for their efforts and content. The question then becomes ‘what is a reasonable price for their product?’ Should users be given a price or simply subjected to endless mining of their resources and data simply in exchange for access to content? These questions have established a blurry synergy established between the users and providers. How many advertisements are enough? At which point has the consumer fairly compensated the publisher for the content they have consumed? When has enough data been mined?

In the past few years, a growing debate has given rise to the concerns of excess. It is virtually impossible to access any online platform without being, for the lack of a better description, attacked by advertising or silently data-mined. The scary part of the equation is that while consumers are aware of the advertisements that are flashed endlessly in front of their face, they have no clue as to the nature, amount, or depth of the data about that is silently harvested behind the screen.

Bluntly, this is the price of doing business. If you access the internet, you will pay the piper.

There is a growing backlash over the increasingly invasive nature of net advertising. At the forefront of this battle are two corporate giants – Apple and Google. One corporation has built their business model upon the mining of data, the funds generated through online advertising, and content management. The other has provided the consumer with the ability to limit the access of that reach.

The recent release of Apples’ iOS 9 and OS X operating systems include “content-blocking extensions” (AKA  “ad-blocking software”). If users can now effectively remove advertisements from the ‘free web’ who will pay the bills?

This clash of titans was eloquently described in a recent posting. I’ve posted an excerpt from it here:

The central philosophical dispute over ad-blocking goes something like this: Publishers have no right to force readers to be exposed to certain kinds of ads or allow numerous third parties to collect their information without a prior agreement; readers have no right to read or view content that they don’t pay for in one form or another, be it with money or data. What is not in dispute is that if ad-blocking becomes ubiquitous (and there’s nearly every reason to think that it will be!) it will be devastating for publications who derive much or all of their revenue from advertising—which comprises most of the professional publications on the internet. When Murphy first posted about “an hour with Safari Content Blocker in iOS 9,” he asked, rhetorically, “Do I care more about my privacy, time, device battery life & data usage or do I care more about the content creators of sites I visit to be able to monetise effectively and ultimately keep creating content? Tough question. At the moment, I don’t know.” (With the impending release of Crystal, it seems he’s resolved that tension.) When I spoke with Chris Aljoudi, lead developer on uBlock, an extension that tells users how many third-party scripts are active on a webpage, and asked how sites should sustain themselves if all of their ads are blocked, he replied, “I’m not an expert on whether it’s a business model, I don’t think we need to know as developers of a tool like this.” Even if they don’t have solutions, “users need to be able to control what they are forced to come across,” Aljoudi said, using the example of nytimes.com, a website for which no known mandate of visitation exists.                                                                                                                                                                                                      – Casey Johnson writing for theawl.com

In order to provide “free access” to content, publishers rely upon heavily inserting code scripts that too often invade users space, take control of the window, or harvest an unknown amount about data about the user. Providers do this to pay the bills. A broader question for everyone is ‘how and when can equity be found for all parties at the table?’

At Colure, we are well aware of this consternation and provide a balanced approach to advertising:
The way we differ from our competitors is that we help our clients with a balanced advertising portfolio. Within this picture, display or PPC advertisements would only be a single component of the greater picture. We also recommend SEO, app store optimization, blogging, syndicated or sponsored blogging with influencers. Digital PR is critical; let us not forget our recommendations for social media with content management. At the end of the day, we move forward to find a proper, working balance between the needs of our clients and those of the public.

Communications with your client and their customer base is an ever evolving game of chess. If you would like to discuss your project needs, contact our project managers.

Marketing mobile applications

Marketing mobile applications

How should you approach the marketing of your newly designed mobile application? Competition within the mobile apps market has never been more fierce. Both Google Play and The Apple Store each offer over 1.3 million apps available for download. Each day, the competition grows tighter. The fight for market share grows tougher. At every turn, someone smarter, faster, and possessing a potentially better mouse trap releases a new application.

So how do you compete? How do you possibly fight for elbow room on the worldwide stage? How do you struggle against a competition with seemingly endless resources? The answer is to be smart in the way you prepare for the fight. To paraphrase an ancient (4th or 5th Century) text ‘the best victory is achieved when the war is won before the battle begins.’

Create a Marketing Strategy

  • Establish a solid Pre-Launch Strategy

Before you spend your limited resources on development, you need to know if you have a place in the market. Do your homework with a competitive market analysis. Find out if there is a viable market for your product. If so, use this exercise to define that market. You must know exactly who are your customers, the market, and your competition. Learn these things before you begin your development. If not, you are wasting your resources.

  • Maximize social media

Create an impressive demo video of your product or service. Utilize social media to maximize your message. Craft your message to reach a very specific audience. Be sure that you are marketing your ideas is a way that communicates to your customer base. You can’t just toss out an app and expect people to find it. Create media kits you’ll provide to industry icons who review and promote new applications.

  • Maximize the resources of the app stores

If you plan to release in one of the major application stores, be sure to research how to best make use of their resources. Find out how other competitors have marketed their products and learn from their experiences.

Regardless of your strengths, you must first understand your own weaknesses. No matter how smart, how fast, or how rich you are, there is always someone faster, smarter, better and less expensive than yourself. That’s a reality of life. Position yourself to compete in the marketplace wisely. Learn from the mistakes of others. Grow from the guidance of those who have successfully completed the process. Be sure you understand that while you may feel your plan may be battle-ready, your competition will do everything they can, to destroy your market share.

The failure to plan is planning to fail.

Contact now to Colure Media for establishing a focused plan of attack for your mobile application.

Is Mobile Marketing Worth The Investment?

Is Mobile Marketing Worth The Investment?

91% of smart phone users keep their phone within an arms reach literally 24/7! Mobile internet usage will overtake PC internet usage by the end of 2014! 1 of our 2 mobile searches converts into a purchase! 61% of mobile searches converts into a phone call! Now let’s ask that question again “Is Mobile Marketing Worth the Investment?” (Source: Infographic courtesy of EverythingMobile )

Mobile Marketing

Colure Media is an advertising and Mobile marketing company in New York. We can increase your company’s revenue and brand awareness through Marketing and advertising. If you are interested, then contact us now.