INTRODUCTION
Mobile app marketing, or promotion, refers to the process of optimizing an app with the aim to make it more useful, user-friendly, and search-engine friendly so that it gets better rankings and more downloads in the App Store and produces more ROI to the app owner.
Promotion is a key component of a successful app launch; it doesn’t have to cost you a fortune.
204 billion mobile apps were downloaded in 2019 and the app market is constantly growing. The competition for the user’s attention is fierce – if you want to stand out from the crowd not only will you have to build an outstanding product, but also come up with an effective app promotion strategy.
Promoting your app for free takes a certain degree of skill and persistence, but once you reach that threshold, the gates will fly open and steady traffic will begin to utilize your app and explode your downloads.
Here is a list of creative ways to promote your app for free:
1. FIND INFLUENCERS & DO GUEST POST BLOGGING
Spend some time looking online for industry experts who have blogs, see if they would be interested in sharing your app on their blog. Offer to make a guest post on all the reasons their followers could benefit from downloading the app. If you have a free version, allow them to offer this to their followers with zero risk. This technique could have thousands flooding your app in a short period of time.
2. CREATE A LANDING PAGE
A good idea for mobile app marketing is to build a landing page. It will give you a chance to better communicate the benefits associated with your app, address any questions that your target users might have, and include testimonials that will boost your credibility. Creating a landing page will also make your app discoverable by search engines – this can constitute a great source of leads.
3. ASK CUSTOMERS FOR REVIEWS
Ask your users to leave you a review on Google Play or on the App Store. Positive reviews drive purchasing decisions and have a direct impact on the app stores algorithms – they enhance your credibility and position in search results. You can also consider other review sites like G2Crowd, Capterra, or Serchen – remember to respond to each review.
4. CREATE A UNIQUE EMAIL SIGNATURE
Like commenting on blogs, the aim is boosting awareness. According to a study by Exact Target, 91% of people check their email daily. Think about the number that will see your app name. So, make it habit to add your app name in your signature.
5. CREATE A BLOG FOR YOUR APP
A blog can do wonders for the promotion of your app. If your official business blog already has a good user base, consider adding regular blog posts about your new app to inform more users about it and create a buzz in the industry.
One of the easiest ways to get some buzz about your app is to simply write about it. There are hundreds of article directories online that accept original submissions, all you have to do is write a compelling article. If you are not very good at writing articles, there are dozens of writer websites online where you could pay someone to write the content for you. Websites like Text broker and I Writer have professional writers on standby around the clock that will create unique and high-quality content in hours for you so that you can blast the article submission sites with your message.
6. CREATE UNIQUE CONTENT
Create content related to your mobile app. You can publish it on your blog. If you don’t have one, you can turn to Medium. Creating content is a great way to bring more traffic to your website as well as build brand awareness and credibility.
7. OPTIMIZING YOUR APP DESCRIPTION
Whether you plan to include your mobile application in the Google Play Store, Apple App Store, Huawei App Store, Amazon App Store or anywhere else, it’s essential that the description:
- Includes relevant keywords
- Meets the user’s search intent
- Delivers usage and quality metrics
Your messaging needs to be clear, concise and beautifully optimized to give your app marketing efforts the best chance of success.
8. OFFER A PROMOTIONAL PRICE
Another mobile app marketing idea is to offer a promotional price. Don’t forget that users don’t have enough ideas about your app! So, you need to offer a competitive advantage to make your app reasonable. You can add several coupon codes or promotions for in-app purchases or download as well as you can add a free version of your app to attract more downloads.
9. OPTIMIZE YOUR KEYWORDS
Millions of people visit the App Store and Google Play every day in search of apps and games. Keyword optimization puts your app in front of more of those people and increases your chances of getting downloads very quickly.
The optimization process involves identifying what your ideal users are searching for the most, and then using those keywords where most applicable to “tell” Apple and Google to list your app when those keywords are searched.
10. CREATE A REFERRAL PROGRAM
You can make sure more of your users are telling their friends about your app by setting up a referral program.
A referral program works by offering users an incentive for getting their friends to download and use the app. It can be free service, swag, or even a discount to the friend. And can apply for specific actions such as subscribing to a certain tier or performing actions in the app.
The important part of having a referral program is to make sure your existing users know about it, preferably right in the app.
11. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Promote your app on social media. Select channels that your audience is the most active on. Share any updates about your app among other useful content for your target audience.
Social media is pretty much a must for app promotion. There are two ways to connect with your audience via social: paid and organic. Below is a quick breakdown of both:
- ORGANIC – Organic promotion on social media comes in the simple form of having a presence; e.g. a Facebook page, and Twitter and Instagram profiles. Create accounts and start following people within your target audience and industry. Don’t spam people by being overly promotional. Instead, try to connect with your audience in a meaningful way by posting about the things they care about and joining in on the conversation. For example, Grub Hub’s Instagram account is full of vibrant, mouth-watering culinary photos their foodie audience devours.
- PAID – According to a 2016 report by Kenshoo, mobile app ad click-through rates (CTRs) went up 32% YoY, while the inverse happened to CPC (cost per click), which decreased by 33%. Putting a bit of money behind your app promotion will boost your discoverability and get more people flocking to your app. Because of their broad audiences and ability to segment, Facebook and Instagram are very effective advertisement platforms for mobile apps. And since Facebook owns Instagram, they make it incredibly easy to places app install ads on both.
12. MAKE IT EASY TO SHARE CONTENT FROM YOUR APP
If your app offers any type of information that can be shared make it super easy to do it and brand it. Users love sharing, and when they do, they’ll be spreading the word about your app and drawing more attention to your app.
It’s an insanely easy technique that’s well worth the investment.
We know this firsthand. Our App Store Analytics app shows download trends. Users who want to share their performance can do so with a single tap, and every share generates a handful of “what app is this?” Which lead to downloads.
13. JOIN GROUPS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
There are many groups on LinkedIn and Facebook where you can share content and, as a result, promote your app for free. Bear in mind that frequently it’s not allowed to share promotional content within groups, so stick with educational content. Save your sales/marketing messaging for your LinkedIn or Facebook company page.
14. OPTIMIZE APP SCREENSHOTS
App screenshots are added to give users an idea of how the app works and what features it has.
15. ENCOURAGE FEEDBACK AND BUILD A COMMUNITY
Encourage someone who has bought your app to leave you feedback. One of the ways you can climb the ranks in the App Store is to simply have more feedback than others in your niche. Another way that you can get free feedback, is to simply offer review copies of your app to anyone interested in checking it out. If there is a premium on the app and you tell someone you will give them a free review copy in exchange for them leaving the appropriate feedback, you could start climbing the organic searches in the App Store quickly.
16. GET SPONSORED
Find people or companies that can benefit from associating with your app. Get them to sponsor your app and get free publicity and promotion. This is a very easy task if you apply yourself.
For example, nowadays many games and apps are now doing paid advertising.
You might see some ads in games and apps when you are using them.
17. PROMOTE VIA APP INTRODUCTION VIDEO
Videos are nowadays getting a lot popular and for good reasons. By creating a basic 30-second introduction/demo video of your app and publishing it via your official YouTube channel.
You can tell people what your app is, how it works and why they should download and use it; in an interactive and appealing manner. This is the necessary step towards the app promotion.
There are many reasons and the importance of why your app should have an explainer video.
The interesting fact!
Around 42% of people download the mobile app if they are satisfied with the concept of the app by watching an explainer video.
18. APPLY FOR AWARDS
Attending in-app awards is a great way to recruit new users. You can obtain plenty of downloads, reviews and links. Success depends on your app idea. There are lots of app awards sites:
- Appy Awards
- Best App Ever Awards
- AppCircus competition
- Apple Design Awards
- Appsters Awards
- Ericsson Application Awards
- The Webby Awards
- Best Mobile App Awards
- OZApp
Awards are given to apps that are the best among all submission, so only submit yours if you objectively believe it deserves the award. Check previous winners first and see if your app can take them head-on. If not, take the time to improve it until it is and only then submit it.
Here are a few award contests for you to check out:
- MUX Awards
- Best Mobile App Awards
- The Webby Awards
- International Mobile Gaming Awards
- Media Excellence Awards
- Independent Game Festival Awards
- Global Mobile Awards
19. SPEAK AT EVENTS RELATED TO YOUR APP
This one’s not for everyone, so consider it a bonus. If you’re okay with public speaking you can use that to your advantage by speaking at events that are related to your app. By speaking you’ll both put your app in front of new potential users and also establish yourself as an authority; which will make it even easier to get downloads in the long term.
There are lots of events you can speak at. From small meetups to conferences and even online webinars. You can find the type that’s most comfortable for you.
20. TALK TO JOURNALISTS
Being mentioned in a popular blog, magazine, or newspaper is a great way to get in front of big audiences, and there are two ways you can achieve that for your app.
The first, and what most developers think of when they hear “press” is to pitch your app to journalists so they can cover it.
Journalists are mainly interested in covering new things, so this is a great thing to do when you launch your app or when you release a major update.
CONCLUSION
As you can see, the sky is the limit in terms of app promotion. Treat it like any traditional product launch and spend time putting together a solid app user acquisition strategy. Remember that the quality of app users you attract to your app is more important than the quantity.
Above all, always listen to your current users. They can provide tremendous insight not only in their user experience, but their onboarding path as well. Some might share a similar story, and you might just find the most lucrative marketing channel within your current user base.
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