So you are done with creating your business app. It is attractive, loaded with useful features and working fine on every device. However, there is a challenge in waiting for you. You now have a herculean task of promoting your app and make people download it.
For the last few years, mobile apps have gained enormous significance thanks to the smartphone revolution. The impact of this revolution is such that mobile apps have become an essential part of our lives. Be it online shopping, ordering food, paying bills, reading books or for that matter conducting a business; apps are indispensable tools today.
This exponential surge in the number of apps has toughened the competition of taking them to the masses like never before. It is of paramount importance for businesses to market and promotes their apps. This has led to the development of creative strategies on the part of app publishers with a sole purpose of making their apps known and downloaded.
So if the challenge of promoting your app is staring right at your face, there is no need to be discouraged. All that you need is put a little effort and implement certain innovative strategies that we are about to unfold for you. Rest assured these marketing strategies will benefit you immensely and you will see the results for yourself.
Here we describe them one by one:
- Focus on KPIs needed for app marketing
App marketing is relatively a newer practice that elicits completely new range of concerns for marketers. It calls for improved tactics having app specific nuances in order to reach to the masses. What you need to do here is focus on the key performance indicators (KPIs) that are specific to app marketing. These are: app store rankings, loyal user acquisition, cost per download and app store optimization. After clearly establishing your goals, you need to further distinguish them as primary and secondary ones. Make these goals in close alignment with your business’s objectives. Once you do that, your app marketing goals also get coincided with the goals of other marketing strategies. Focusing on these KPIs will give you a unique edge to market your app.
- Optimize your app store listing
App store optimization (ASO) is not a promotional activity, but it is very important nonetheless. Much like SEO, ASO helps you tweak your app store listing with an aim to rank higher in search results. It is increasingly becoming highly relevant strategy because top-sellers charts are extremely competitive today. Whether you like it or not, it is not an easy job to dethrone bigger and widely recognized apps. Earning a spot on the top-sellers list therefore needs efforts and carefully calibrated strategies. The good news is there is no need to give up on the organic acquisition. Moreover, it makes search results even more important as an organic acquisition channel. So how will you optimize your app store listing? It’s pretty simple. Just include relevant keywords in your app description, title and change logs; create attractive app icon, screenshots and app preview; and use micro-interactions (i.e., small pieces of functionality) in your app.
- Reward your app downloads
Even if your app is being recognized by people but making them download and use it, is different story altogether. Give them good enough reasons for downloading it by highlighting its benefits and what else your app offers to them. People really like it when they get incentives for a download. You should be categorical in explaining how your app will improve the shopping experience of your customers or how addictive and competitive your gaming app is. Offer them rewards and discounts for shopping through your app; give them in-app coupons that can be redeemed in stores for getting discounts. Users are not always on their smartphones, they can also access the internet via desktops or laptops. Now, if they come across your app and want to download it, how will you encourage them to do so? Here you can help them text themselves a link to your app using LinkTexting, a text-to-download service for your users to text themselves a download link for your mobile app and help in converting your desktop traffic to App downloads.
- Get free publicity
Introduce your app as some kind of a product that solves a specific need. Since the app has been designed for a reason, so just tell that story by using PR. Remember that your story should create suspense and intrigue and deliver it with an engaging human aspect rather than asking journalists to just write about it. In order to do that reach out to the press with an objective of finding a publication that has a huge readership of your target audience. Result, such an exposure can trigger a significant download boost. However, getting featured in this manner is not a walk in the park. In addition to that, offer an exclusive interview to journalists and tell them the story behind why you decided to create this app.
- Engage with online communities
It is an effective strategy of engaging with online communities. You can do it by joining certain online forums and groups that are likely to be interested in your app. If for an instance you have created a gaming app, then join a community of online gamers. Likewise, if your app is all about video editing, join the community of videos and movie lovers. Make sure to introduce yourself to the community gently, you can’t just start talking and bragging about yourself straightaway. Once you are properly welcomed, you can gradually start talking about your app, its features and don’t forget to ask their views.
- Optimize your social media channels
The power and popularity of social media is growing with each passing day. It is a highly effective platform for generating user engagement and driving downloads. It is not a place for a sales pitch – it is a platform engaging with your audience. You can invite people on getting into conversations on Twitter and Facebook and also share your content they care about. Update all of your social media channels with banners that promote your new app. You can also create call-to-actions (CTAs) tabs that encourage people to download your app. For maximizing the results, there is a consistent need to produce and create a steady social media promotion policy. You can take help of social media ad agency like Voy Media to mange your social media accounts and generate leads.
- Request referrals
Last but not the least; don’t underestimate the power of word-of-mouth marketing or in other words – referral marketing. It is one of the most effective ways of getting new users into your app. Because of the natural human tendency we need certain degree of social proof based on the views of our friends and family. When users love your app very much, they just go to tell the whole world. Therefore, by virtue of this recommendation, you are socially proved.
Wrapping Up
There are millions of apps on the market and making them visible and familiar is certainly a difficult feat to achieve, but rewarding nevertheless. If you want your app to be downloaded as much as possible, you need to think out of the box and utilize creative strategies. The above mentioned tips are an attempt toward this direction.
