Aggressive App Marketing is Key to Success

Mobile App Developers Must Invest in Marketing

Mobile marketing generated revenue as high as $8.9 billion in 2012, increasing from $5.3 billion in 2011. Records also show that there are close to 100,000 apps in the App Store that are regularly downloaded and used by adults.

These records prove that mobile app marketing is a big factor in today’s mobile app business. Mobile app marketing is crucial in the market, given that there are many mobile apps belonging to the same genre that just differ in name, but are developed for the same purpose and in the same form.

The only question is which app will stand out from all those on the list?

Why You Need to Market Your Apps

• Mobile users should be able to discover your app. No one will care that you have created a good mobile app if you don’t let people know. Your app should be discoverable and listed on top downloaded and newly released app charts so that people will get curious about it. If they get curious about it, they will have the urge to download it and try it. If they are satisfied with the performance, they will share it with others and others will download it too.

• Mobile users should stick to your app. If they have already downloaded your app, your next target is for them not to delete it. How will you do that? You have to let them know you are doing some improvements on your app or you’re fixing the bugs, etc. They have to be aware of the updates you’re making and you can only do it if your marketing is effective. In this way, you can sustain interest in your app just by telling them you have more in store for them.

• Mobile users should continuously be interested on your app for you to make revenues. You don’t create app just to have it created, right? You want to generate revenue from your app. You can do it by hooking mobile users with the trial version of your app then eventually encouraging them to buy the full version. You do it by coming up with a good press kit that tells them what they can expect when they get the full version. If you have a good press kit, complete with a good description and good feedback, then it’s a sure shot they’ll be willing to pay for the full version of your app.

Effective Mobile App Marketing Strategies

Much has been said about different app marketing strategies but here are some little secrets you would can try:

1. Maximize social networking sites. There are some mobile app developers who don’t realize that social networking sites are a large area for mobile app ads. Facebook ads have grown by 500%. This is because Facebook is also seen to be a good avenue for app advertisements because there are millions of Facebook users all around the globe who visit the site and stay on it for hours every day. Therefore, there are more chances for your app to be seen by prospective downloaders.  There is a minimal amount that you have to pay for Facebook mobile app advertisements. However, this cost is nothing for the promotion that you will get for your app. Other blog sites also offer tie ups on mobile app advertisements in exchange for an annual subscription. You can consider all of these if you want faster and more effective publicity for your app.

2. Monitor your app’s download activity. Many app developers tend to forget this part. They think their job is done when they already got mobile users to download their apps. However, monitoring the download activity will give you an idea about which platform or blog site your app gets more downloads from. Identifying the traffic source will give you an idea about which app marketing avenue is the most effective, and where you should be investing more money. This will also show you which campaigns or advertisements give you most revenue. There are firms that monitor traffic sources. 

3. There is such a thing as ASO.  Search engine optimization (SEO) is known in the online world but not everyone knows about App Store Optimization (ASO). It works the same way SEO works. Articles written with keywords related to your app will generate more results in search engines, which will then redirect mobile users to your actual site. There are ASO firms which charge an annual subscription fee but do the entire job, from creating articles with keywords related to your apps to putting them in search engine indexes.

These are just some of the most convenient and simplest ways to popularize your app and make it known to all downloaders from across the globe. However, these are also the most disregarded app marketing strategies. Others are not willing to put out part of their budget for app marketing.

What they don’t realize is the more they invest on app marketing, the higher the chances for their app to stay stable in the market. The more trained their marketing strategist is, the more effective their marketing techniques will be.

Remember that you are selling your product. You have to be very strong and aggressive when it comes to selling it to your target market. You have to take advantage of your target market’s interest and activities so you can find loyal customers for your app.

Prepare Your Marketing Plan in Advance

It will be hard at first, especially if you are just a beginner in the industry. In case you don’t have the budget yet, you can take small steps and do self-promotion through your own social networking site.

You can also create hype by traditional methods such as word of mouth. However, if you really are up to the challenge and want to stay long in the business, prepare to invest in advertisements.