# Using Iphone Apps for Marketing? Thoughts



## ReThink Clothing (Jan 15, 2008)

I was wondering people thoughts on using iphone apps to promote their company? I just released one in conjunction with my brothers app company and wanted to see what peoples thoughts are. I also will be checking back in to let you guys know how things have worked for me and such. Here is the app link, it is free , so I hope this doesn't go over as just promotion since I think its a solid example of new media marketing. iTunes Store app link


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## Airfoof (Jul 12, 2008)

i think its a great idea! the app store is a huge opportunity and I think there is a lot of great ideas that could be executed with great results.


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## withindustries (Aug 2, 2007)

i think its awesome if you can get the app made... you have a unique idea but how do you get ppl to know of it and download it? should that effort be put into promoting the clothing instead of the app?


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## AeresClothing (Sep 3, 2009)

I'm always brainstorming on clever ways to market my brand. I thought about an iPhone app but decided it wouldn't be worth it. Developing an app is no easy task. But the difficult part is coming up with an App that would promote your brand, but not just be totally useless. The only idea I thought of would be an App that pulls in pictures of cool shirts from a database with information about the cost, brand, link to purchase, etc. And you could hit a button to load a new shirt. Making it random but coded so that it pulls shirts from your brand frequently. Another problem with App development is that it's kind of hard to put the word out about it. If your App has a ton of downloads then it's easy to find but if not, it's buried amongst the other 90 jillion Apps out there and completely impossible to find.

I was going to get into iPhone development a while back. Bought a few books and started teaching myself Objective C. I was going to purchase a Mac Mini since those are the cheapest Macs available but decided against it since I'm on a tight budget. I really wish there was a way to develop iPhone apps on Windows =/


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## ReThink Clothing (Jan 15, 2008)

withindustries said:


> i think its awesome if you can get the app made... you have a unique idea but how do you get ppl to know of it and download it? should that effort be put into promoting the clothing instead of the app?


Its downloads have been going pretty well. I am promoting it through my twitter, facebook and all the usual channels. This is also promoting my clothing through another channel. Give my customers and friends something unique and try it out. Its been weird tracking results, but my views through the iphone as analytics says are going well ,so something is working.


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## ReThink Clothing (Jan 15, 2008)

Just thought I might give everyone an update. The app is doing really well and is been a great source of promotion. I am getting around 5-10 downloads a day with no ongoing promotion.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

I've been wanting to do an iphone app for a while now. A fun game that would also help to promote my t-shirt line.

What kind of costs did you have for developing your iphone app?

Are people able to buy your t-shirts from the app? That's one thing that I thought would be nice (in app purchasing), although I a link to your website (as long as it's decently mobile friendly) would work too.


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## ReThink Clothing (Jan 15, 2008)

Rodney said:


> I've been wanting to do an iphone app for a while now. A fun game that would also help to promote my t-shirt line.
> 
> What kind of costs did you have for developing your iphone app?
> 
> Are people able to buy your t-shirts from the app? That's one thing that I thought would be nice (in app purchasing), although I a link to your website (as long as it's decently mobile friendly) would work too.


The app really doesn't do a lot of straight advertising, but does have an about page with our link which is readily clickable to the store website. This was really an experiment to see what kind of traffic I could get.I don't think you can purchase non app products int he application through an external vendor.

I do plan on including an update which has my shirts pre loaded with clickable links to my store.

Since my brother develops Iphone apps and I did all the graphic work it didn't cost me but some pizza and beer. If you want to contact him or see some of the work he has done check out www.blueshiftsoftware.net


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## tskid (May 28, 2008)

Its a great idea, especially with Flash CS5 well on its way. Flash CS5 will let you make iPhone applications right in flash and export them to run natively on the iPhone. You would obviously have to purchase the developers kit as well.

I am ok with flash but once CS5 comes out I will definitely start trying my luck with actionscript.


I would say actionscript is easier than learning C, so its worth a shot. I mean your brother is probably nasty at coding anyway. But for the rest of us it may be an easier option.


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## Q. (Nov 30, 2007)

I would love to have an iPhone app - finding someone to build it would be a trick


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## MiNGLED (Aug 22, 2007)

It's possible to make an App where you could purchase a T-shirt straight from your iPhone but the App has to be a paid for App (one of Apple's T&Cs regarding this). The problem is making people pay for the App in the first place. Having said that, some of the existing paid for Apps are pretty bizarre to me and they still sell.

Someone will come up with an App which hits the sweet spot of being fun/useful while at the same time doing a great job of promoting/selling your T-shirts, and whoever does will get rich quite quick. It won't be me, I can't programme to save my life.


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## Q. (Nov 30, 2007)

MiNGLED said:


> It's possible to make an App where you could purchase a T-shirt straight from your iPhone but the App has to be a paid for App (one of Apple's T&Cs regarding this). The problem is making people pay for the App in the first place. Having said that, some of the existing paid for Apps are pretty bizarre to me and they still sell.
> 
> Someone will come up with an App which hits the sweet spot of being fun/useful while at the same time doing a great job of promoting/selling your T-shirts, and whoever does will get rich quite quick. It won't be me, I can't programme to save my life.


Can you choose to charge 99 cents for the app? That seems like a sort of throwaway, impulsive buy amount - people might pull the trigger on it


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## MiNGLED (Aug 22, 2007)

I think that $0.99 or £0.59 is the smallest amount you can charge for an App, which is quite small though of course Apple takes 30% of every sale. It's just making that App which people will want, like the infamous Fart App, which has sold thousands.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> App where you could purchase a T-shirt straight from your iPhone but the App has to be a paid for App (one of Apple's T&Cs regarding this).


So only paid apps have the ability to make purchases from within the app. How does the billing work for that. Still through apple/itunes? Is it a more streamlined process where the customer doesn't have to reenter payment information?



> The problem is making people pay for the App in the first place. Having said that, some of the existing paid for Apps are pretty bizarre to me and they still sell.


I think a .99 cent fun game app might sell OK. If you also offered a discount on "in app" purchases, it might also entice people to buy the game. Like if the game cost .99 then give in app purchases $2 off their orders.


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## 2STRONG (Oct 17, 2007)

ReThink Clothing said:


> The app really doesn't do a lot of straight advertising, but does have an about page with our link which is readily clickable to the store website. This was really an experiment to see what kind of traffic I could get.I don't think you can purchase non app products int he application through an external vendor.
> 
> I do plan on including an update which has my shirts pre loaded with clickable links to my store.
> 
> Since my brother develops Iphone apps and I did all the graphic work it didn't cost me but some pizza and beer. If you want to contact him or see some of the work he has done check out www.blueshiftsoftware.net


 
i went to his site. but there is no way to leave a comment. i would like to talk to him about creating a app. am i missing the bitton on the site or aomething.


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## ReThink Clothing (Jan 15, 2008)

Just thought I would toss one more update. The downloads keep coming, now how much actual impact I am seeing in sales, who knows? I am just happy I keep getting people to get it. I am really hoping that an update I have planned will prompt more people to buy the shirts!


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## Pwear (Mar 7, 2008)

2STRONG said:


> i went to his site. but there is no way to leave a comment. i would like to talk to him about creating a app. am i missing the bitton on the site or aomething.


contact page:
Blueshift Software - Contact


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## FreshKoast (Jan 11, 2010)

sorry to burst your bubble, but its not going to work. Hardcore cellphone users (like internet users) have a trained thier eyes to not notice advertisements..


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

FreshKoast said:


> sorry to burst your bubble, but its not going to work. Hardcore cellphone users (like internet users) have a trained thier eyes to not notice advertisements..


I don't think that's true. There are several iphone app developers making a steady stream of income from ads placed in their free iphone apps.

There are also ways of cross promoting a product line or business from within a related iphone app.


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## ReThink Clothing (Jan 15, 2008)

Another update. Even now I am still getting a steady stream of users downloading the app. How much they actually use it/notice my company is behind it is another story.


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## alois71x (Nov 29, 2010)

Sounds difficult.


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## ReThink Clothing (Jan 15, 2008)

Yeah pretty darn difficult. Luckily for me I have an awesome Brother who does iPhone apps and luckily for you guys I can share my thoughts on them with you.


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## aggieeight (May 20, 2009)

I found this app (its free to download), it shows six views, you can click on each view and it will give you a bigger picture. It appears to work really well. It just in chinese, so i cant tell you guys the name of it. But go to the apps store and type in clothing. The logo is beige, burgundy and white with 2011 on it. I think this is the ticket as far as phone marketing goes. Let me know what you guys think..


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## Greatwhitetees (Jun 27, 2011)

Sounds like a great idea!


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## EnMartian (Feb 14, 2008)

I would love to see some stats on this. It would be really interesting to see how many people who download the app turn into buyers. Mobile marketing and marketing via apps is relatively new, so this could be a good case study.


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