Do You Need an App for Your Organization?
Fewer apps are being developed today. The high-water mark was 2016. In 2008, only 500 or so apps were developed.
Today there are 2.5 million on Google Play (Android), 2 million in the Apple Store, 700,000 in the Windows Store and 500,000 in the Amazon Appstore. That is a lot of apps. So what is the No. 1 app? It’s not a game. It’s Facebook, followed by WhatsApp, Facebook messenger, WeChat and Instagram.
Although there is a lot of focus on developing apps, the real focus should be on how to disseminate the app. Businesses and organizations are using apps for all kinds of specialty uses, such as board member information, trade-show material distribution and special events (such as fundraising or bidding apps for charity auctions).
Take the trade-show distribution app. No longer do you need to cart around boxes of brochures and sales sheets. Just have participants download the app, and they have all the specs. The best part is you can easily update all the spec sheets over time by just updating the app.
Again, the problem is not creating the app. That has been simplified over time. The hard part is getting people to download and use the app. That takes sales ability and planning. The technology is the easy part.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.
