WATCH: App, Mobile Site or Responsive Design?

You want to create the best experience possible for your mobile consumers, but what's the right way forward?

A mobile app might be the solution. After all, we do love apps. Although, sometimes we love downloading them and then not using them ever again. No less a digital personage than Marc Andreessen thinks apps are no match for the mobile web. "In the long run the mobile web is going to dominate native apps, and for the same reason that on the desktop the web dominates apps. When the web works for something, it works way better in a whole lot of ways than a downloadable app." And people seem to want to shop and research with the mobile web as opposed to apps.

So maybe you've decided to forego the app and concentrate on optimizing your site for mobile. You could create a mobile-only site, sort of a stripped down version of your actual site. Or you could incorporate responsive web design, so that however your consumers are connecting to you, they'll have the same experience.

In reality, each option has pros and cons depending on the type of content you're producing. A media site might want to use responsive design, like The National Journal just did. When Famous Footwear wanted to offer instant access to rewards and savings, they went with an app.

Find out more about options for meeting the needs of your mobile consumer in the latest episode of The Content Brief from Freshwire below.

If you missed last week's episode on the ways luxury brands are embracing social media, here you go.