Research

App marketing

How will I market my app? Currently there are over 4.3 million apps in the App Store and over 2.9 million in the Google Play store. These numbers are pretty staggering and are only increasing daily. So below I will explore the different ways I could think about marketing my app:

Website: The first thing you can do to help market your mobile app is to have an online presence, like a website. One of the most important reasons for this is legitimacy, people want to know your app is the real deal and that you’re truly invested in it as a business. You should include information about the app, the background, key features and make sure there are lots of links where people can go and download it.

Social Media: Social media is a must for marketing your app. There are two ways to connect with your audience via social media, paid and organic.

• Paid: Putting some money behind your app will get you a lot more attention around your app. Facebook and Instagram are very effective advertisement platforms for mobile apps and since Facebook owns Instagram it’s very easy to install ads on both platforms.

• Organic: Organic promotion on social media comes from simply having a presence for example: Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok and Twitter profiles. Create accounts and start following people within your target audience and industry. Don’t spam your audience by being overly promotional all the time, instead try to connect with your audience in a more meaningful way by joining in the conversations.

Influencers / Celebrity Endorsements: Following on from using social media to market your mobile app is using influencer endorsements. An influencer is someone who has the power to affect the purchasing decisions of others because of their audience or following. You can reach out to influencers and pay them to promote your mobile app to their audience. If this is the route you decide to go down you must make sure the influencer aligns with your app’s target audience, otherwise you could risk their audience seeing it as blatant promotion or you could have an influx of users that quickly disappear.

Traditional Advertising: Treat your app like a traditional product launch. You could look into putting together an advertisement that could be played on TV or when you are streaming content online, like Youtube. You could also print out flyers and hand them out in places where you would find your target audience, or you could print posters and get shops with similar audiences to display them for you.

Public Relations: Following on from influencer and traditional advertising; there is no such thing as bad press. Media and influencer mentions go a long way in terms of creating a buzz and credibility. Here are some ways you could go about doing this: press release, host a launch party (invite local media and influencers) and interviews with local media and online websites.

App Store Optimisation: App store optimisation is imperative for discoverability in the mobile app world. If you ant solid optimisation then you should consider the folowing:

• Your app name: is it unique, is it easy for your audience to find?

• Keywords: include relevant keywords but make it sound natural - don’t over do it.

• Description: does your description clearly articulate app’s value, frequently updated with update notes.

• Screenshots / video: do you have 4 - 5 feature screenshots or a tutorial video - make it professional.

• Ratings: do you have positive app ratings - make an effort to collect positive reviews to increase credibility.

Search Ads: Search ads were included in Apple’s iOS 10 launch, it is paid advertisement within the app store. You are able to bid for relevant keywords so when a user is searching for apps using a particular term, your app will appear first. The average conversion rate for Apple search ads is 50%, providing the potential impact they can have on your app performance.

Word of Mouth: Finally, there is word of mouth which is still worth a lot. You have to make sure your app is good, users expect a highly personalised app experience. You should think about investing in a mobile marketing platform/software, that gives you the insights necessary to engage and retain your users and predict your risk of churn.