How to Market Your Mobile App Effectively

With over 4 million cumulative app downloads in the world’s leading app stores, businesses know that a well-thought-out marketing strategy is the only way to differentiate themselves in today’s app market. Focusing on mobile app development to build strong functioning apps is a critical success factor. Your efforts are worth nothing if your users don’t know your product exists.

Mobile app marketing includes all interactions, from when users learn about your product to becoming loyal. Effective mobile app marketing is about defining your audience, learning how to reach and communicate with them, and analyzing in-app behavior to improve as users continuously move through the acquisition funnel. 

That’s it. 

Ultimately, any mobile app marketing strategy aims to attract users who drive repeat engagement and become staunch advocates for your product. This step-by-step guide to mobile app marketing describes the three phases of your mobile app marketing strategy and the metrics you’ll measure to evaluate long-term success.

How to Market Your Mobile App for Great Sales?

Mobile apps are becoming influential every day. As more and more people use smartphones and tablets, the possibilities for mobile app marketing are thriving. Due to the accelerating speed of mobile app development and adoption, the mobile app marketing arena is growing fiercely competitive. The marketing strategy you pursue determines the success of your app.

If you plan to develop a mobile app, you should first decide on your marketing strategy. Every successful mobile app available today has followed the best marketing strategies and continues to think about mobile app marketing after launch. 

In other words, there are other jobs besides developing apps. If you need to improve the response from your mobile application, you should focus on a better mobile application marketing strategy.

Why Is App Promotion a Must for Your Business?

Statistics show that half of the world’s web traffic comes from mobile apps. More interestingly, according to the Ericsson Mobility Report, mobile traffic will grow another 25% by the end of 2025. This growing popularity of mobile apps is why mobile app marketing is so important. The competition among businesses has increased exponentially to provide the best service via mobile applications and build a loyal customer base.

Millions of apps are available in various categories, such as business, productivity, shopping, scheduling, etc. Mobile apps are essential for business owners and enterprises for multiple reasons. 

• Business owners can rapidly deploy software that helps their businesses run efficiently.
• More cost-effective than other forms of software
• Expand your company’s reach
• Provide marketing solutions on the go.
• Can improve your company’s productivity
• Enable employees to perform business functions away from the office
• Offers a variety of business services, including accounting, inventory management, sales, and more

Most companies and app developers start marketing their apps in the early stages of development. This gives companies insight into what potential users want in their developing apps. It also helps create hype that leaves your audience waiting. Most companies allow users to pre-register for apps and games they are developing.

Different Stages of Mobile App Promotion

Mobile app marketing guides users through each stage of the marketing funnel, from the moment they first hear about your app until they become loyal users. The user may move back and forth between locations. So the whole process is also known as the mobile engagement loop. Mobile app marketing involves a lot: determining your target audience, defining how to reach and contact them, analyzing their behavior on your app to improve the experience, etc. List Have you considered downloading one of the first three or four results? Rarely, I bet. Apps appearing higher in app store search results are a result of the success of mobile app marketing.

At first glance, a mobile app marketing funnel might look a bit like a traditional digital marketing funnel. However, the strategies involved in the former are very different. The main stages of mobile app marketing are

1. Awareness
2. Acquisition
3. Retention

The Awareness Or Pre-Launch Stage

The awareness stage of any mobile app marketing strategy occurs before the product is launched. This phase helps build brand awareness and product awareness. How will your target audience find your mobile app? It’s essential to fully understand your brand’s message and positioning before starting the awareness stage. Brands speak to their customers through value and purpose rather than individual product features. Defining your brand positioning allows users to connect with your product on a deeper level. Here are steps and plans to be followed during the awareness stage of your marketing plan.

Make Sure the Launch Date of the App

Most of the time, it just happens rather than dictating a release date. However, avoid this and set a specific date. Launching on the same day as Apple’s new product or other major headliners on the tech calendar can drown out your launch in the noise.

Pre-planning your launch increases your chances of getting your marketing in place and press attention. This is especially true if you attract a few influencers to review your app before launch. Once you’re confident that your app is in the perfect state for public release, you should build expectations and set a launch date.

Conduct Deep Market Research to Understand Your Customers

The target audience is a crucial starting point for any business considering its app marketing strategy. For example, it’s easy to make assumptions based on what you read in the media or your personal opinion.

There’s no better way to find out information about your target audience than by asking them directly, which can be done by asking participants to join a focus-her group or through simple surveys and data collection.

Some companies go a step further and launch private betas or prototypes of their apps to get immediate feedback and assess what their target audience wants before they go to market. An excellent way to engage target groups early on is to create user profiles for each type of user. Create a real or fictional character for each type of target user, give them a name, occupation, and age, and think about what they want from your app.

Here, we recommend researching mobile preferences and behaviors by user type.

Define User Personas

A user persona is a pseudo-person that represents your ideal customer. They are created considering prospective users’ general interests, backgrounds, demographics, mobile preferences, and other specific identifiers.

It is a guide that helps mobile app developers through their mobile app marketing journey and helps them understand:

• Target group issues and problems 
• the operating system of her choice,
• the content they handle,
• the voice tone they refer to
• eye-catching visual patterns,
• her favorite influencer,

The paid advertising platform they use most often. User personas can help you portray your target audience and identify potential issues you’ll address later in your app. User personas also help you create a more customized experience that fits your users’ expectations and needs.

Conduct A Competitive Analysis

By researching competitors and discovering what they already offer, businesses can see how competitors perform in the mobile space and learn from their successes and failures.

Downloading and playing with apps or looking at app reviews are great ways to understand the main strengths and weaknesses of the apps already on offer. This kind of feedback helps companies improve their Essential for figuring out what their USP will be.

A standard SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis can be beneficial when considering your app’s competitors and their performance. When I think about an app’s strengths, I usually think about its USP. What sets us apart from our competitors, and why did you choose us over similar apps? For example, weaknesses may include a lack of availability on a particular platform, a lack of go-to-market marketing plans, or scalability issues, which often depend on the initial budget and available time. I have.

Knowing what already exists in terms of threats and opportunities is also an essential part of the analysis. 

Future opportunities may include

• International expansion.
• App updates that allow companies to improve their UX significantly.
• Even new revenue models.

Threats include competitors updating their apps to adopt their USP and new players (competitors, devices, operating systems) entering the market.

 Companies may need to consider the app’s revenue model when analyzing competitors. For example, options may include app fees, in-app purchases, and mobile advertising.

Regardless of your decision, it would help if you considered this early on to ensure your revenue model is suitable for your app. For example, when it comes to downloading paid applications, there are certain user expectations, and advertising must be carefully researched and considered to keep customers from leaving.

Create a Website or Landing Page for your Mobile App

Entering the market with a pre-release website can help you advertise and spread brand awareness of your product before it goes live. It can be an excellent tool for collecting email addresses and informing potential users of your app’s progress. (Overdoing this would take your steps back)

 Landing pages and teaser videos can help with early marketing if you still need to get a full-fledged website ready. The content can be used in app stores and social media and paid to advertise afterward.

Connect with influencers, publications, bloggers

One of the most overlooked aspects of marketing new mobile products is outreach initiatives that reach out to influencers, publications, and bloggers to secure backlinks and provide honest reviews. Build a list of contacts related to your industry or niche who may be interested in writing about or evaluating your app. Keep your presentation short with a link to your press kit or landing page. That way, they’ll have all the information they need if they’re interested in writing about your app.

Another essential dimension to the pre-launch planning is ensuring your mobile app’s content, like promotional videos or tutorials, is accessible in multiple formats. By leveraging a quality video to text service, you can transcribe these videos accurately and swiftly, making it easier for potential users to engage with your app’s features through text summaries or subtitled videos. This strategy not only improves accessibility but also enriches your SEO efforts, driving more organic traffic towards your app.

Build a Social Identity by promoting on Social Media Platforms

Believe it or not, social media plays a massive role in promoting your products. Gone are the days when marketing was limited to newspapers and billboards. To successfully market your product, you must harness the power of social media to raise awareness and attract potential customers. Mobile app marketing usually starts when the app is still in development, which is very helpful as it provides insight and ensures that potential users are still looking forward to the app.

Create a Strong Content Marketing Strategy

A well-executed content marketing strategy can be an essential channel for user acquisition. The best content strategies will help you build a community around your app and grow a loyal following before you even start.

The basis of this strategy should still be these buyer personas. What does your target group want to see and where? Many apps use their websites for blogging. This is a great way to generate search traffic and drive more signups to your email marketing. You can also consider other channels for press coverage. Another common strategy is to find a site with a well-developed audience aligned with your goals. Grab attention for your custom app by writing engaging guest posts that add value to these sites.

The Acquisition Stage

This phase focuses on attracting users to your app and generating installs through various marketing strategies. The Acquisition phase is an ongoing process requiring regular improvement and follow-up. It’s essential to see the number of downloads skyrocket. Especially his first week after release is crucial. This will hike up your application’s ranking.

Paid App-Promotion Campaign

Once your application gets launched in the market, place targeted paid advertisements on various social media sites and other platforms. Focus on what your audience cares most about. While creating your ad, Have clarity in the message you want to deliver. You only have a few seconds to grab the user’s attention.

App Store Optimization (ASO)

 (ASO) is about improving your app’s visibility and user engagement in the app stores, increasing your app’s conversion rate and the number of downloads. The most popular app stores are the App Store for iOS apps and the Google Play Store for Android. Nearly two-thirds of app store users download an app after searching. It’s essential to include relevant keywords in your app title and description. You want to attract and persuade them to agree with what you offer. App Store Optimization (ASO) is similar to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), but the goal is to get your links in front of people actively searching for apps like yours. As with SEO, the exact algorithm is a mystery, but optimizing your keywords will help you rank higher in search results.

Using ASO at the beginning of your marketing efforts is a no-brainer. We will also see what is working and what needs to be changed or adjusted to increase downloads—optimize the description. But you’ll find that ASO does more than move your app higher in app store searches. These benefits are:

• Drive traffic to your website.
• Improve your online presence.
• Increased brand awareness;
• savings in acquisition costs;

A Good ASO Strategy Depends on Many Factors.

Keywords Research – Identify Prominent Search Queries

Choose the right keywords, and your users will find you among millions of apps. Note that keywords are not fixed. They may and should be updated over time based on competitor research, cultural differences and preferences, performance results, and other factors. Choose the right keywords through competitor research and user reviews (track your word choice; potential users are more likely to refer to this than your wording), and ensure that your keywords are ranked and downloaded. 

App store category to choose

App stores can be ranked in two ways: by category and overall. You can freely choose the class to which the app belongs. Selection should be based not only on relevance but also on the level of competition, i.e., where it is likely to rank higher. Please choose the best category for your app and consider how your competitors classify their apps. If your current category is too competitive to break through, you can recategorize your app after some time. 

Right Mobile App Title and Icon

The app title and icon are your first impressions to potential users. Could you keep it simple, memorable, and unique? Make sure your title contains your keywords as well. 

Screenshots and Explanation Videos

Add screenshots demonstrating your app’s value, best features, and benefits. Also, add a short and simple video with text to your slideshow. Slideshow presentations are a great starting point for ASO. Our client created a slideshow about their app and shared it across various online channels to increase brand awareness and app downloads. 

Perform Voice Search Optimization

Consumers worldwide widely use virtual assistants such as Google, Siri, Alexa, and Cortana. It’s much easier and faster to ask your mobile device to search than to type. Therefore, you should also work on optimizing voice search results. Focus on product-related conversational keywords because users are more casual about speaking than typing. 

Pitch to Apple’s Editorial Team to Feature in the App Store

Getting featured at different app stores will help you gain more users’ trust. And Apple store is a trusted platform. Please succeed in pitching the apple editors and manage to rank in a good position.  

Apple editors make decisions based on many factors. While there’s no specific formula or checklist for app publishers and developers to follow, we’ve put together some considerations for editors to consider when choosing their next app.

• User interface usability and quality
• unique user experience
• App efficiency and functionality
• uniqueness and originality
• How Your App Solves User Problems
• Product pages include compelling screenshots, app previews, and descriptions
• When the app side is visually conspicuous
• Variety of marketing assets
• Are your apps using Apple’s latest software and hardware versions? E.g., Apple Watch, 3D Touch

 If your app is selected for presentation on the App Store, fill out the form as soon as possible and provide an eye-catching graphic for your featured banner. Allows Apple to showcase your app on the features page easily. Keep an eye on how many downloads you have now and how many you got after the feature. Do everything you can so that you can focus on retaining the users you acquired through this feature.

The Retention Stage

As difficult as it is to attract users, more is needed. Keep them interested in your app and turn them into loyal customers. You can ensure positive engagement right from the start by running retention campaigns alongside acquisition campaigns.

Establish Two-Way Communication

Use in-app messaging to build more interactive and trusting relationships with your users. For example, you can send alerts about app issues or payment failures, share product updates, provide help, or notify users about upgrades. The key is segmenting your audience and sending relevant messages. This allows us to offer more value.

Push Notifications

Send push notifications to inform users about special bonuses, content access, coupons, promotions, and other attractive offers. This is a great way to increase engagement.

Remarketing / Retargeting Campaigns

In the opinion of 90% of app marketers, retargeting is the best strategy mobile marketers can employ to earn back the other 98% of visitors, as only 2% of new users are predicted to convert on their first contact. It should come as no surprise that app retargeting advertising is valued highly, considering that they are ten times more efficient than desktop retargeting ads and have the added benefit of having a CTR over 40% greater than simple mobile retargeting.

Mobile app retargeting has established itself as a reliable method of promoting in-app engagement while boosting app retention rates and the lifetime value of customers.

In-App Messaging

Similar to push notifications, in-app messaging can be an excellent approach to maintaining user interest. Within a couple of months, retention rates for mobile apps that employ in-app messaging to interact with users rose by 40% to 60%. But don’t overdo it, as it makes customers frustrated receiving the same offers repeatedly through push notifications and in-app messing.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a tool that mobile strategists use to foster brand loyalty, drive engagement, and enhance retention rates as time passes. You may encourage users to return to your app by establishing a mailing list of important subscribers and giving preferential discounts, offers, and other incentives. Irrespective of the budget and size of the organization, this is a successful tactic.

Steps For Continued Success

Ask Users For Feedback

If people use your app all the time, it shows they have a connection with the product. Give the user a chance to express their opinion with a popup invitation to leave a review, but remember that this tactic should maintain the user’s experience. Consider when and how you ask for reviews and ensure they align well with the user experience so they can handle the situation. The more strategically placed the popup, the more likely it is to have a positive result

Consider a Burst Campaign

“Burst campaigns” are one of the most common techniques used by mobile app marketers looking to increase their app store rankings. The idea of a burst campaign is to give your app “bursts” of exposure by actively buying paid media exposure for short periods, typically 24 to 72 hours, depending on your budget.

The goal is to get as many paid installs as possible and increase your ranking. All want to increase the amount of quality organic installs. This should continue when the app finally ranks high enough to be discovered. A successful Burst campaign can attract more organic downloads, but continued paid advertising ensures consistent downloads. You have to keep the momentum going.

Offer A Referral Bonus

Offering bonuses and perks when users promote your app online is a surefire way to spread your app.

Set Goals and Track Key Metrics

The only way to know if your marketing strategy is working is to set goals and track your app store rating lift over time. And with so many analytics to follow during the user journey’s acquisition, engagement, conversion, and retention stages, measurement should be an ongoing process.

Key metrics we track include:

• Churn rate.
• Daily active users (DAU).
• Session duration.
• Time spent in-app, session interval.
• Cost per acquisition.

Click here for more information on these metrics. These metrics should be used to determine what worked and what didn’t. Focus your efforts and resources on high-value tactics, and your app downloads will surely skyrocket.

Don’t Over Promise

An essential part of your marketing strategy is not to oversell. Word of mouth is the most effective strategy in mobile app marketing. In other words, you cannot make false claims or make excessive promises. You need to make sure your messages are consistent. Failure to do so will inevitably lead to frustrated users, and high uninstall rates.

Diversifying your marketing strategy is key to establishing a broad app marketing strategy. Some people connect with videos, others with images or text. Create diverse content and make it accessible to app reviewers anytime. Remember that strategy should be iteratively dynamic, and continuous optimization is the key to finding the perfect balance between different approaches.

Defining your KPIs is one of the essential tasks when marketing your app. Tracking the right metrics at each user journey stage can help identify potential bottlenecks preventing users from moving from the first stage to the last. It’s essential to focus on real-time data and use it to analyze and optimize your app’s performance.

Conclusion

Mobile applications have fundamentally changed the way companies work. By 2020, approximately 3.5 billion people worldwide will own smartphones. Today, mobile apps represent the most efficient, direct, and customizable way to provide information about your products and keep your customers loyal to a particular brand.

Mobile apps are rapidly making their share in the market, but you need to understand only development will not make any difference or make you a leader. To get recognized, you must follow the mobile app marketing strategy in the three stages. First, you must search for your potential users with solid market research. This all needs to do before launch. Secondly, execute the launch, and use different methods of connecting more users; here, you need to develop your reputation. The third and most important thing is to retain your users by meeting their expectations. 

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