Your app has probably worked hard so that it can meet the needs of the market and you can make a profit from it. Or it can be a critical part of your overall marketing strategy that you need to get good, efficient user data and bring it to more effective market research. The reason you created your app is one thing for sure: you need to use it to be successful.
That means coming up with effective marketing strategies. You can't just rely on word of mouth to promote your app. You need to understand and exploit the mobile market and use the right marketing techniques to get people to want, use and talk about your app. So how do we deploy good tricks?
It all starts with getting a good idea of who your app is for. If you don't know who will benefit the most from using your app, how should those people understand about it? You need to be clear about your audience and target your marketing efforts to them.
Know your demographics. Their age, their lifestyle, their spending habits, their recreational habits, anything else that allows you to understand who you are selling to. Don’t try to net as much as possible and don’t say the app is for everyone. An app that is popular among college students may not appeal to retirees.
You have to look at what your competitors are doing and what has worked, and perhaps more importantly, what has not worked for them. Doing something like imitating your app marketing strategy or being "late to the party" won't hurt. Similarly, if you are planning an app and one of your competitors has already tried to market it in a specific way and failed, how do you feel about bringing the same failure to court?
Knowing your market is not just about getting to know your audience, but also getting to know what your friends and competitors are doing so you can stay relevant and original.
Once your app is available and once in the market you can start your app marketing strategy, but it's best to start early. Depending on how confident you are, you can also start while doing software development, leaving things like investing with potential customers on a video development diary or social media, running a poll, and wanting to see what features are included in the survey.
As the release date approaches, you can start your app marketing efforts with tips, such as trailers and other short video ads that help increase curiosity and awareness. Of course, the goal here is not to give too much, but instead to increase interest and awareness for a more integrated marketing effort later.
Optimizing your pages on the App Store is a serious, zero-sum strategy. More than 50% of people searching for apps on the iOS or Google Play store have done so by browsing through the app or store. So, in the same way, your website needs to be the digital equivalent of your storefront and the same should be done in terms of welcoming customers, your app store page is your product, on the shelf, products to be different from all other competitors.
You need to create an effective store page. Think carefully about the title, tweak to make your description as simple as possible but attractive. Bring attractive, pleasing symbols. Use screenshots showing the app's point of sale and its benefits. Spend as much time on all of these elements as they can make the difference between buying an impulse and moving on to the next app.
Even if you need to make your App Store pages as attractive as possible, don't assume that you have sales just because you have them. Most people, once they hear about an app and even go there to check it out, will want to know what others think about it. Reviews are an important part of this process.
It's not uncommon for consumers to research their purchases, and apps are no exception. If you have created an app that you know will be enjoyed by many people or find it useful, encourage people to say so. It’s important to market your own and advertise the benefits of a product, but people already have expectations from you, the developer, to promote your product.
However, an independent third party, such as a random user review or an informative, professional review on a website that contains information about what your app provides, weighs more than a “biased ad” from a software developer. Reach out to customers and reviewers and line up those positive reviews.
While not as in-depth as reviewing an article or written blog post, social media still has a huge impact on your luck and the popularity of your app. Consciously on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, a mix of targeted ads should always be combined with a more traditional "word of mouth" approach, such as promoting and posting to people who use the app.
Once people start talking about an app, they and their followers will start getting traction. Get enough traction and your app will get more visibility now, especially if it is combined with effective social media usage like hashtags.
Influencers, also referred to as main opinion leaders, are the latest and most accessible version of traditional celebrity recognition. Instead of having to convince a well-known lete thriller or movie star to use and talk about your product for a 0-second commercial or print ad, you get an impressive YouTube, Twitter, Switch or other social media platform to promote your product.
This sponsored ad can be in the form of a blog post, a video on YouTube, a tweet on Twitter, or a photo on Instagram. However, the important thing is that someone with thousands or tens or hundreds of thousands of followers is promoting your app directly on their following ad. The only thing that influences the word of mouth more than the positive referral of someone who knows the customer is something that is well known and appreciated. Contracting with celebrities is often cheaper than getting celebrity endorsement, but it can be more effective when the right target is set.
Once an app is on the market and app marketing continues, it doesn't mean your marketing efforts are over. One of the things you do as the launch progresses is to keep an eye on your KPI or key performance indicators.
Closely monitor how people are using your app, review incoming user feedback, and pay attention to and respond to that feedback. Quickly address any bugs, find and document documents, and make sure you're committed to the app, as it was developed after the launch-post. A useful app will take many steps if the developer engages with users and builds relationships.
At the same time, you should also monitor the analytics that come from your marketing efforts. If you find that some of the strategies are paying off more than the video, try more of the ones that are working and start destroying or adjusting the less effective ones.
Last but not least, never forget the power of good search engine optimization. People will still use hashtags and search engines to find out more about your app. Taking advantage of SEO's powerful methods will ensure that when people are trying to find that information, they can access it quickly. This applies to the App Store as well as general search engines like Google.
You should also apply SEO to your marketing efforts. Good SEO of articles, videos, meta-descriptions, tags and other identifiers will help you find both your app and your marketing more visible and easy.