Many small business owners wonder if a mobile app is really necessary, or if app companies like us are just part of some big global conspiracy to bring pointless mobile apps to the world. As usual, we’re here to offer information and share the reasons that some small businesses (and business leaders) consider a mobile app to be a necessity.

To switch things up a bit, here are a few of our opinions in their shortest, sweetest forms:

Will your business collapse if you don’t have a mobile app out by the end of the day?
No.

Could your business benefit from having an app?
Probably.

Would the benefits be worth the cost?
It’s highly likely.

Will your business be giving ground to the competition if you never release a mobile app at any point?
Definitely.

Okay. So you know where we stand. No surprises there. Lets get into things in more detail.

The current marketing channels

For many small businesses, their marketing plan looks like this:

• Send out mailers locally; purchase ads in local circulars
• Participate in social media, and do a few email campaign
• Rely on Google searches, word-of-mouth, and foot traffic to do the rest

Between these things, many small businesses make a living. But many also wish they could increase sales! And for some, it’s a matter of life and death. After all, as a small business, there isn’t a lot of room to take losses and keep on chugging. (Only those in charge of big companies get to throw away millions and still score huge bonuses each year.) For smaller businesses, its sink or swim, and every little bit counts.

That’s where apps come in.

Are Small Business Apps Necessary?

As we said, failure to create an app won’t destroy your business. Apps aren’t at that point yet. But websites provide a good analogy.

For a lot of businesses, a website was once an exotic item to have. The phone book was all anyone needed, and no one really wanted the hassle of a website. But as they became easier to create with ready-made site building programs, everyone got one. Now, no sane business owner would start a business without a website. They’re too valuable a tool for connecting with customers.

With easy app builders like ours now out, apps are headed in the same direction.

Mobile activity is poised to overtake desktop/laptop activity in the very near future, so mobile is at something of a tipping point. If all consumers will be on mobile most of the time, small business owners generally want to be there with them. And the more time that passes, the more likely it becomes that your competition will hop on the app bandwagon. But even with all this pressure, we don’t think this is the main reason that small businesses need to turn their attention to apps. Our reason is simple:

Apps have an amazing cost/benefit ratio!

The Mobile App Advantage

With Bizness Apps, in about 15 minutes, you can create an app for your business – and for a low monthly subscription fee, you’re all set. From there, the sky’s the limit. You can book sales with it, setup customer loyalty programs, promote special offers, gain social referrals, and much more. You don’t have to do any programming or know anything technical – it’s all built-in. For many businesses, the monthly fee is easily covered by the extra revenue generated by the app.

That is, apps pay for themselves.

When you boil it all down, that’s really all that matters to us – apps provide a new way to connect with customers and boost revenue. For us, that’s reason enough.

So, is an app a necessity? No. Not yet. But something doesn’t have to be a necessity in order to help your business. It just has to make sense.