It has been a mouth-watering week as Encore’s Restaurant Week here in Wilmington comes to a close. This week is hosted each fall by Encore Magazine and allows restaurants that participate to offer great deals for eight days in order to promote and advertise themselves. This year Encore went above and beyond to make this an easy and appealing opportunity for customers by creating a free EncoreGo! app which lists each of the restaurants, their location and the deal they offer. The app also shows users opportunities like local happenings, staff’s favorite places, drink specials, music and nightlife. With all of Wilmington made accessible with the touch of a finger, why would anyone not want this app?
The use of apps is becoming a more popular form of communication between company and consumers. Each app sits atop a large amount of underlying data and it is up to the business to put the right content in. Apps are highly focused to serve one highly targeted need at a time, which prevents brand confusion and keeps readers focused on the content offered. From the IMC perspective, there is the idea that now that consumers have a voice in companies, phones have become an essential tool to facilitate the conversation. Smart phones create ways for readers to enjoy looking at their screen and it is important to make sure the company’s app is easy to look at and navigate. It is not just about making your content fit on a smaller screen, but customizing the app to offer appealing visuals, information, and interaction so that readers stay engaged. The more enjoyable your app experience is, the longer users will look at it, tell others about it, and continue using it.
A second and essential reason consumers are relying on apps is the delivery of information. Instead of having to flip through various WebPages, apps have the ability to give readers all the information they might need in a condensed version. This helps them to find anything they might have otherwise missed. Most people would rather download a free app associated with a brand they are interested in than dig around multiple sites to find the information or product they desire. This demonstrates why apps are constantly feeding dynamic and fresh content to users to keep them satisfied.
Apps are changing the customer experience to offer stand-alone content that users can only access through Smartphones and tablets. This creates a specific target audience that brands can reach out to on a more individual level than larger social media or websites. Like EncoreGo! an app is aimed at giving readers the right amount of information that they need, keeping it interesting and making sure there is variety and change each time they return to the app. Now that Restaurant Week has ended the app has already modified to advertise new events, locations and deals. This kind of consistency keeps consumers coming back and encourages them to rely on the app to find what they want trouble-free and efficiently.
Savanna Mitchell, Brandon Hawkins, Danielle Salas, Bobby Huckabee, Tony Mangili
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