Businesses are well aware that digital, and more specifically mobile, are powerful weapons in their marketing Arsenal, but there remains questions over its longevity.

You’d struggle now to find many people who believe the internet is simply a ‘fad’, but like all new technology, in the early days it was a common opinion. Even the radio and the TV had their share of naysayers.

We’ve already come along way…

The numbers regarding mobile apps and the general use of mobiles worldwide suggest that they’re not just a short-term marketing measure, but a business mainstay. This year U.S. adults will spend almost half of their overall media time — 43.6% — digitally. 19.4% of that will be spent on mobile, compared with 19.2% on laptops and PCs, according to a study by eMarketer. And that’s not taking into account how employees and businesses are using mobile in the workplace.

So, clearly it’s important to start developing a long-term mobile strategy, get on top of app development and start investing in mobile. If you’re still struggling to be convinced, or convince the board, here are some more facts and figures which might help your case…

An audience of billions…

In little over four years time there will be 4.4billion app users worldwide, that’s according to an article by Soulati Media. It’s important to consider the wider aspect of mobile app development for your business too; whilst it may be primarily viewed as a marketing tool, as Soulati point out, you can integrate business objectives such as consumer engagement, customer service and sales into apps.

Brands lead the way…

As is the case with most trends big brands and the US tend to lead the way. So, it’s interesting to note that more than 10% of transactions at Starbucks in the US are made with a phone. Chief Digital Officer Adam Brotman attributes business success to technology improvements: “Our internal measures tell us that these various digital initiatives have added demonstrable impact to our U.S. business in the third quarter, with the promise of even greater growth in the months and years to come.”

User preference…

There’s now quite a bit of research suggesting users actually prefer apps to the mobile web. With benefits like mobile-only functionality (camera, GPRS etc), better accessibility and often much more user-friendly design, it’s easy to see why.

The next step for businesses is planning, take a look at my blog post on Creating a Mobile App Strategy for more info.

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