You are a business leader and understand the value of a lifetime customer. Whether you have a subscription business or function on one-time sales, continuing to reinforce your value is a must. The best way to build value while minimizing cost to you? Technology. Software. Plain and simple. Great customer service is a glorious thing, but when you can add tangible products with obvious functionality, your clients won’t question why they stick with you. Be the hip company that reminds your clients that you are the cutting edge company - and those stinkin Bieber-loving kids have nothing on you. Here are a few ways you can ensure your customers understand that they are making the right decision by working with you.   Give ‘em an Exceptional Website It’s pretty obvious that you can’t screw up a client’s website and you need to do an adequate job - but I’m not talking about adequate. Make sure your client’s website is boss. Sharp, neat, and so thoughtfully organized it’s easy to find information. Don’t forget to include responsive and mobile friendly design, rich with features and compatible with the latest technology and social media platforms. You don’t want to provide a single website where users are second guessing navigation. Think of a sharp website like a sharp suit. It’s your first impression of someone you want to do business with, and if every piece of your client’s appearance is well put together - you have proven you are one attractive firm people want to do business with.   Mobile Apps Mobile apps, mobile apps, and oh, did I mention? Mobile apps. You have the burden of proof that you are an innovative company to work with, are consistently on top of your game, and know what technology is most utilized in today’s market. A short 5 years ago mobile apps weren’t nearly the rage that they are today. However Internet users and business professionals alike are increasingly using their phones to get their jobs done, and need your help to do so. While responsive design is a step in the right direction, providing a downloadable app - for both iOS and Android - reminds your clients that you are the knowledgeable company to trust and do business with.   Google Glass App Google glass and other wearables are a crazy new bit of technology. And by crazy I mean mind-bogglingly innovative and something you need to understand and offer to your clients. It can be intimidating and a little weird, but HEY. Remember that you must be the cutting edge company and who isn’t afraid to embrace the newest technology. Building an app compatible with your savviest clients proves that you are not only interested in new technology, you embrace it and are championing ways to use it to their benefit.   Lightning Speed Development No one wants to wait – ever. When was the last time you actually sat through a commercial when watching TV? Probably the Super Bowl, and probably won’t again until the next one. Using the same logic, your clients don’t want to wait around on a slow development team to complete specifications. The more time passes, the less you proof you have your act together, and the less your clients will enjoy working with you. Pick up the pace and exceed expectations.   Demonstrate Technical Expertise The reason your clients hire you is because they don’t necessarily know what they are doing. While you may not be in charge of writing code or designing websites, it is important to surround yourself with the best professionals who do. By doing so your clients will know that you take them and their time seriously, and don’t bother dealing with amateurs. You know you are the best out there. But adding value for your clients starts with working with the right companies with proven experience. We can help.  

Barefoot Solutions is excited to announce the launch of a new iOS weight loss app called It’s A Cinch. It’s A Cinch was created by Jessica Talbi, a woman with a passion for fitness and health. Jessica has been an avid user of calorie counting apps, but as her fitness level began to change, she noticed her apps were not evolving with her. Based on her first-hand experience of that problem, Jessica created It's A Cinch to provide a more accurate way to teach users how to successfully count calories. Most importantly, Jessica aims to enable users to make healthy decisions by providing custom meals that fit individuals' specific calorie and dietary needs. Though the development  behind the app was rather complex, the app itself is very user friendly and easy to navigate. Not to mention, It’s A Cinch helps you with every aspect of losing weight from eating well to exercise and calorie counting. The app even adapts to your individual food preferences and weight loss goals. It's A Cinch is able to do all of this because it's a database-drive app, connected flawlessly to calorie, exercise, and food databases like FatSecret, which contains over 3,000,000 foods. The app allows you to then enter your meals and snacks, which the app converts into the amount of calories you've consumed. Add your physical activities for the day, and It's A Cinch provides your net calorie consumption for the day. The app includes a weight tracker, which shows if you're getting off track or really starting to make some progress. The app even allows you to store daily pictures, so you can see your before and after pictures and results in real time. This feature was important to include, as your weight on the scale says less about your health than the way you look in the mirror and the way your clothes fit. It's A Cinch always keeps your connected, allowing you to share your struggles and successes with other users through various social media platforms. This iOS app  even connects you to recipes, food suggestions, and healthy tips to keep you motivated and to make reaching your goals as simple as possible.          

Recently, we unveiled the Newbie’s Guide to Building an App. We received a healthy response from many of you with the natural next question - what’s next? So here we are with part 2 of the guide. To recap, in part 1 we told you that the first steps were: 1) Know what problem your iOS or Android app solves for 2) Write down your mobile app idea as detailed as possible 3) Hire a mobile app developer At this point in the process, you aren’t on your own because the developer you’ve chosen will help you along the rest of the way. However, it’s important to know what the standard process is to make sure you’re on the right track. Here’s what will happen next: 4) Conceptualization and Feature Set You’ve written out your idea and pitched it to your developer, who you’ve hired and are ready to get cracking with. Now it’s time to take your concepts and mold them into a tangible product.  The first step of that is to decide on a feature set with your team - what is it that your app will actually do? You’ll create a set of features, flesh them out and have them well detailed and written out. You will likely go back and forth with members of your team deciding on what the best functionality is to maximize your app’s potential, yet minimize unnecessary development effort. It’s all about deciding what you NEED vs what you WANT. Once you all agree on the app’s direction and features, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and start building. 5) Working with your Developer The actual building of the app is easily the longest leg of the process. Each experience with different developers will go quite differently. However, there are some mandatory conventions to bear in mind. Be clear about what you want - If you give your developers your idea, chances are they will have a general direction of where to go. Yet in order for you to get the product you really want, don’t be shy about providing your honest feedback. Listen to your developers recommendations - You are an expert about your business and about your concept, but when it comes to the building of your app, you developer is the expert. Keep an open mind and listen to their suggestions. They won’t make recommendations for any reason, but to make the app successful. Their skin is in the game too and they want your app to blow the competition out of the water. It only adds to their resume and makes them look great too. 6) Testing/UAT Next up - you have a version of your app! Your developer will give you a testing site to play around on. You’ll understand the functionality and see the idea in real life. Now it’s up to you - do you like it? This is what’s called User Acceptance Testing, or UAT. Take your time and don’t be afraid to speak up if you don’t like something - if you don’t like it chances are your users won’t either. Take your time and get it right to ensure that once you launch your app, people will like it and use it. 7) Launch & Marketing Once you’ve gone back and forth with your developers, now is the time to launch! And in order to have a successful launch...you’ll need to get your marketing strategy off the ground. We went into detail on this in The Best Mobile App Marketing Techniques, but to sum it up, here are the keys to getting started: Leverage word-of-mouth - Tell everyone you know about your app. You have no idea the compound power of word-of-mouth marketing. First you tell your parents about the app, who tell their neighbors, who tell their friends, cousins and social networks. While Facebook, Twitter and the like are excellent mediums by which to share your product, telling another human in person gets that one on one attention on your app to help spread the word to people who trust you. Bug the Bloggers - The blogosphere is one of the main sources people get their information these days. Therefore, give the bloggers something to blog about - your app. Bloggers love to have new and exciting topics to discuss, and your new mobile app should be one of them. Learn ASO - The Apple store is an online marketplace of awesome….and mayhem. Getting noticed on the Apple store, as well as Google Play, can be one of the trickiest parts of getting your app off the ground. Your developer may have some expertise in this, which is a great place to start the learning process. Building a mobile app from conception to completion can take around 18 weeks to complete. Once you do you’ll have a shiny new app that you can be proud of - at least we hope so. Need help getting started? We can point you in the right direction.