Imagine for a second you’re on a date. It’s the first one, and you’re nervous. You meet in a coffee shop and the conversation begins. Well, sort of.  You see, every time you ask your date a question, you get a rather generic response, or no response at all. Chalk it up to shyness.  So, you try again a few days later, and the same thing happens, more generic substance-less answers. Needless to say, the conversation is boring, and this relationship isn’t going very far.

So what happened to send this potential match off the rails?

The communication – or lack thereof – is the disconnect.  It should come as no surprise to anyone just how crucial dialogue is to make any relationship work. There has to be active involvement, declarative statements and expressed opinions to keep people interested and make the relationship worth anything.

Now, in the above example, take out coffee shop dating and replace the situation with your C-level executive demanding, “What our company needs is an app!  And, we need it yesterday!!“  With app development, the analogy remains the same.

At Bottle Rocket, we see it all the time.  Company ABC hears about mobile apps and the fact that consumers are migrating away from the desktop experience to the one in their hand.  The CEO exclaims, “We must get involved. This is the key to making our business successful!“  So, the big-wigs source an employee who is computer savvy, and set about… um…. well, we’re not sure what they set about doing exactly.  However, here’s what we would do:

1.  App Mission Statement:  Understand your true gift as a company, what you offer that is truly extraordinary to customers and determine what about your business is uniquely achievable only on mobile.

2.  Know Your Audience:  Take the time to create a persona based experience map.  This map through which your particular customer personas will walk will drive the user experience diagrams which will drive toward the app that is ultimately produced.

3.  Re-Imagine Your Content:  You can’t just take your web site, your company newsletter, your email campaign, or your advertising and slap it into an app.  Well, you can, but few will download it, much less use it on a continuous basis (the primary purpose of an app, by the way).  No, mobile devices desire and demand unique experiences formulated specifically for the device itself be it iPhone, iPad or Android device.

Before getting involved in mobile app creation, it’s important that you ask yourself the following:

• Do we have clearly defined business and customer engagement goals in place?  And if not, then hold it right there.  How will you know if you are showing success?  How will you track if your audience is responding well to your efforts, ignoring you – or worse, mocking you – because of something your app does (or doesn’t do)?  You won’t, which is why it would behoove you to take a step back and set real achievable goals before starting anything.

• What resources do we have?  Do we have the resources to handle technology and support?  Do we have the funds to hire someone who has experience building premium, brand experience apps or invest in the appropriate people and technologies?  If your app nails it for your company, if you develop real connected relationships through the experience delivered on the mobile device, you will also develop some serious and committed brand ambassadors for your company and products.  Make sure you have the proper resources in place, so you don’t short-change your customers.

• How committed are we?  Right now, who isn’t excited about mobile apps?  You look around, and the big brands are doing it – what’s not to love?  Well, maybe the level of commitment that you will be required to adhere to. Trust that as your community grows, so will the time that is needed to provide top level engagement. So stay committed to your goals and stay committed to your resources. If you are starting a social media training program for your company, that’s absolutely terrific. But make sure it doesn’t fade away. Make sure training is ongoing and make sure you demonstrate to your company your true commitment. They will feed off your excitement and in turn show dedication. And that excitement and dedication will reflect on your social media community.

Focus on these things and you will have a solid starting point for your company’s mobile app development strategy.  Start at the bottom with your business goal, create a good foundation, and start building. The rest will come after, but without a solid foundation, cracks are sure to appear.

And who knows, you might even end up being a better “date” because of it.

What about you?  Have you recently re-evaluated a mobile app strategy that had gone a little stale?  What steps did your company take to freshen it up and make it more engaging for your customers?  Or, if you’re beginning to consider the possibilities on mobile, what are your thoughts on staff time allotment?  How will you track your project’s level of success?  As always, we love to hear your comments here on the blog and feel free to leave us some feedback.

1.  Who is in charge?

Creating and executing on a mobile strategy will take resources from many internal departments – technology, design, sales, and content – and perhaps external partners.   As with any business initiative, to be successful you need one individual anointed as the product champion to have the oversight of your mobile strategy and drive its success.  This person must have executive support and the ability to pull the collective resources together to drive everyone in the same direction.

2.  What are your BUSINESS goals?

Here at Bottle Rocket, the most common thing we hear from potential clients is, “We gotta have an app… like, yesterday.”  And our response is always the same:  What is your goal?  What is the business purpose for your app?  You can’t just take your web site and turn it into an app.  No one cares.

Is the goal to expand your reach and engage an audience through multiple channels, or is there a revenue target?  A clearly articulated business strategy utilizing mobile tactics will make sure you are all moving in the same direction. Creating apps can have a large upfront expense, and be a resource drain to keep updated.  However, if you have sound business reasons behind your development it will be easier to measure your success.

3.  What do your customers want?

Mobile is all about getting value “right now.” What is it that your customers are seeking at that very moment?  What is the information they want, that you can serve up with the immediacy they expect on a mobile device?  Don’t underestimate the importance of the user’s experience.  A user’s experience with your brand on mobile is increasingly becoming one of the most important brand experiences.  Don’t undercut the user.  They’ll notice for sure.

4.  Will tablets follow smartphones to the mass market?

As Gen Y and the ones behind them grow up, will desktops and laptops go the way of the mainframe?  No one really knows where the tablet market is likely to take us and as a result, a lot of people are trying to guess.  One thing is for sure.  The tablet is a major part of the relentless movement of devices that fit into our lives more seamlessly.  Earlier this year, NPD Group threw out one of the biggest numbers yet… an estimate of more than 242 million tablets by 2015.  Do we think it’s possible?  Absolutely.  Do we know for sure that it will happen in 2015?  Not quite.  But, we’re already seen the iPad replace the laptop of the connected C-suite executive on the go.  That’s why as soon as we’ve finalized an iPhone/Android device app for our clients, the iPad experience is the next app we deliver.  Part of the fun right now is trying to determine exactly where this tsunami of new technology will take us.

5.  How can the company make money with the app?

At first glance, the reaction is an obvious, “Well, charge for the app.”  However, deeper thought reveals more strategic and longer term options.  For example, there are creative ways to “pull” your audience into your brand experience by using iTunes in-app purchase and offering exclusive, premium content inside the app.  And, there are of course, many advertising options.  There are plenty of mobile ad networks out there, but chances are high that you will generate nominal revenues at the cost annoying your users.  However, if your app has a strong local, geo-located brand presence, local ads rock.  Users love these and local businesses will easily pay for the exposure.

Obviously, five is not the total number of questions to ask in the entire mobile industry landscape, and we’ve just touched the surface on these topics.  As 2011 continues to unfold, Apple releases its next iPhone, Android unleashes updated developer guidelines, and all the device makers rush to create the next big consumer hit in time for Christmas, we’ll enjoy revisiting and updating the next set of questions to ponder.