Developing iPad Apps For Sales And Marketing

Make An iPad App From A Presentation To Promote Your Business Advertising and Marketing Ideas

how-to-make-an-ipad-app-from-a-presentation

The iPad lends itself to presenting rich information in a dynamic fashion about your product or service to potential customers. You can drive, or hand the iPad over to a customer and let them drive. In addition to presenting your product(s) in the most favorable way, you are also sending signals of being savvy, technologically advanced and “with the times.”

The problem is that sales and marketing apps can be costly to develop. Pricing for custom apps can run over $100,000, depending on the complexities of the app. Fortunately, even if you’re not a programmer and you want to create ipad apps for business, alternatives exist for when you just want to take a presentation (e.g., PowerPoint or Keynote) and create an ipad app-like experience. Using this approach can save you lots of money and still provide some of the advantages of an app.

When This Approach Is Too Limiting, Create An iPad App With Custom Programming

When you do need a custom app, original budget estimates can quickly be overrun—usually stemming from one or more of the following sources: 1) not really knowing at the project outset exactly what you want the app to do, 2) using developers rather than designers to create the look and feel, which often results in re-work when the result is not in alignment with your brand, and 3) working with developers who claim to have “lots of experience” in programming iPad apps and then proceed to learn on your nickel. We’ve seen all of these. And they WILL lead to apps that are unnecessarily expensive and don’t hit the mark. Following these three steps will reduce the chance of time and budget overruns while improving the outcome:

  1. Clearly define the scope of the project and the goal of the iPad app before engaging in development through proper information architecture and user experience design.
  2. Start with content development. Use your marketing agency to create a look & feel and messaging that is consistent with your brand.
  3. Use a reputable and experienced developer. This step is often easier said than done. Although Apple’s App Store has over a half million apps, the development of mobile applications is still in its infancy—the App Store launched in mid-2008. Suggestions for finding a reputable developer include referrals from business associates, searching the internet for established developers with experience in your industry and asking developers for references you can contact. Alternately you can allow your marketing agency to design the app and manage the development process using trusted partners.

Custom apps are not cheap, but with the proper approach, you can cut down the risk of paying even more than you otherwise would have to.

Become A New Media Marketer

Download our free video tutorial about how to create an ipad app from a presentation.