How To Use Mobile Devices To Grow Your Business

There are dramatic shifts taking place in how people buy goods online. For example, more and more people have mobile devices with them 24 hours per day. And you are probably one of them.

But can you think of a time that you ever entered a credit card onto one of those tiny little screens of your mobile phone to complete a purchase?

I personally haven’t ever entered my credit card on such a small screen. But I have purchased items on my iPhone through Amazon and eBay where I have “one-click” shopping turned on, and can use a stored credit card on file. And I am not alone.

Millions of other people make purchases from their mobile devices every day using these convenient mobile purchasing options, while ignoring those sites without such convenient options.

The writing is on the wall. Any business that wants to survive in the next five years needs to be finding ways to make its products and/or services available for purchase from a mobile device.

And any business that wants to survive and also thrive should also take advantage of these incredible opportunities that have been created because of mobile devices.

Let’s look at four examples of how to use mobile devices to grow your business and increase sales.

Strategy #1 – Convert Your Content Into Mobile-Friendly Formats

You first need to consider the habits of your customers and the type of mobile devices they may use before you determine what type of changes to make to your site. You will most likely need your web site to be viewable on a mobile device in a user-friendly way.

You should try accessing your web site and content from various types of mobile devices and see how it looks. You can then have your web programmers make adjustments so that your web site looks better on both mobile devices and also on regular computers with full screens.

There are programming options available where you can create a mobile specific version of your site that is only displayed when a mobile device is viewing the site. The user can often turn off the mobile view if they select an option to see the full site version.

In addition to making adjustments to your web site, you should also consider adjusting the content or products that you sell to make them mobile friendly as well. For example, if you sell training products, consider offering MP3 audio files or video formats that are supported on mobile devices.

Strategy #2 – List Your Products on Amazon and eBay

Another great strategy is to list your products for sale on Amazon and eBay so you can take advantage of their convenient payment options for mobile devices. You want to make it as easy as possible for consumers to purchase from your company on their mobile device.

Get creative here and think of other giant marketplaces where your ideal customer may be hanging out, and then build a presence in those places. Amazon and eBay aren’t the only marketplaces.

Strategy #3 – Consider Offering an iPhone App

You should also consider offering an iPhone app to either increase loyalty of existing customers, or to attract new people who would be ideal customers. For example, you could create an iPhone app that makes it easier for your existing customers to obtain coupons or specials from you. Or you could create an iPhone app that shares great information that then makes people aware about your company and what you offer.

There are a number of free and inexpensive iPhone app builders available that allow you to create a simple app for your business.

Don’t spend a ton of time and money building an app that no one wants. You should  talk to existing customers and find out what they would find useful. And talk to potential customers and find out what they would find useful.  Then consider doing a prototype using an inexpensive app builder so you can test the potential first.

But you should definitely give iPhone apps some serious consideration. They can be a great way to build credibility and increase the number of people who you reach.

Strategy #4 – Put Yourself Out There – Everywhere

There are so many incredible opportunities out there online to give your business massive exposure. You can piggyback off of the powerhouses that already get millions of visitors ever day.  You just need to invest a little effort to get your company listed in those various places.

Most of the online powerhouses today allow you to list your company and/or your products for no charge until a sale is made. Yet those same powerhouses are the ones that get millions of buyers every day looking for what you sell.

You would be crazy not to take advantage of those golden opportunities – if you are serious about increasing your sales. And you will also position yourself to take advantage of mobile device sales at the very same time!

Imagine what it would do for your business if you just advertised your business in 5-10 of these places? You would position yourself to take advantage of the mobile device sales being generated every day on these powerhouse sites that make it easy for people to make purchases from any type of device.

Indianapolis Real Estate Lawyer, Jynell D. Berkshire, is the founding partner of Berkshire Law LLC, a real estate and business law firm in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ms. Berkshire is a seasoned real estate and business lawyer and serial entrepreneur who owns companies in energy and renewable energy consulting, information publishing, international trade, and real estate.