J.D. Merryweather, co-owner and marketing director for Oklahoma City-based COOP Ale Works, is betting that people want to know where to drink his brew.
With more than 35 locations in Oklahoma carrying the COOP Ale Works brands on tap, the fledgling brewery already has a fan base. So much, in fact, that Merryweather is betting that beer fans will download an iPhone application that not only describes his beer selections, but shows them exactly where the closest COOP brand is from their present location.
“Basically, this app pings your location and coordinates where the closest establishment is that carries COOP Ale,” Merryweather says. “The app has all the locations that we have on our database and shows you the closest one to your location at that moment.”
Having already used social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace to promote the brewery, he and his partners took it a step beyond by working with Apple to develop an iPhone app.
It’s another way small businesses are becoming more Web and technologically savvy in promoting their business and product.
And it’s working. When the COOP Ale Works app became available June 11, it had been downloaded 375 times in just a day and a half. One month later, it had been downloaded 660 times.
PHONING IT IN
Jake Behrens of Oklahoma City is one of only a handful of designers certified through Apple to create apps for the iPhone. He paid his $99 to become a designer and not only creates programming in his day job, but creates apps on a freelance basis for those with an eye on the future.
“I think, in all honesty, a lot of people are looking at apps in wonderment,” Behrens says. “They have no idea that it’s feasible for them or that people locally are actually doing this.”
In fact, with the popularity of the iPhone, Behrens says he is surprised more local businesses haven’t started creating their own apps, like the one he designed for COOP Ale Works.
“People can look at the app I created for COOP and say, ‘Wow, that could be my business’ or ‘Wow, that’s really feasible and affordable.’ From the B2B standpoint, it’s helping businesses,” he says. “Having your business listed on another business’ app is going to drive more people to your business.”
In Oklahoma City, larger businesses and corporations also have ventured into iPhone apps, while others are considering what it can do for their business.
“Where I see a great opportunity for Oklahoma City small businesses is to not focus on the revenue potential of iPhone apps, but focus on the community building that applications can create with their target audience when marketed correctly,” says Heather Myers Lytle, president of HVM Solutions Inc.
“I think about the local gym that creates a calorie counter for their members, or an allergy clinic with an application on mold counts. These are applications that can be marketed to their existing customers as an added value, creating a community around their business, and be used to attract new customers who want to be a part of that community.”
Global spending for mobile search advertising in 2009 is expected to top more than $760 million, according to a study at eMarketer, up nearly 20% from last year. That same study suggests spending will reach $2.4 billion by 2012.
DRINKING IN NEW TECHNOLOGY
When Apple created the iPhone, it did more than just offer a touch-screen mobile device. It created a system that allows Apple, and now other companies, to deliver software applications to those with the phone.
The Apple’s iPhone operating system allows developers to create and charge for content such as games, utilities and more. The company now offers more than 50,000 applications for the iPhone and iPod touch through its iTunes store, and in April, it announced iPhone users had downloaded 1 billion applications, according to Forbes magazine.
COOP Ale Works is basing that popularity on the hope that more customers, those who drink and those who buy, will catch on.
“No one else has done anything like this in relation to a brewery,” Merryweather says. “From a social media and community building standpoint, this further reinforces our social media network to promote the brewery.”
With an application, however, he says an investment of approximately $3,000 is only worth it if the customers find it useful.
“First, (the app) has got to be functional. Second, it’s got to be fun, and third, it has to drive the market,” he says. “We use this as added value to anyone who carries our product, because the app also drives traffic to them. People think it’s awesome.”
For small businesses in Oklahoma, the iPhone app is emerging as a valuable sales tool, as well. For the small brewery, which opened in Oklahoma City in March, brand awareness is vital, and every new bit of social media is being downed with the hopes of spreading the word.
“It brings awareness to the specific locations that carry our product, and two, it brings awareness to people on the establishments that they may not have known existed,” Merryweather says. “It’s a brand-new frontier, and we’re on the edge of that frontier.”