Have you ever developed a mobile app just to see it fail and not attain any users? Maybe you’re in the early stages of development and just have a really cool idea for an application.
Or maybe you have already completed your application, or even have had an application on the market.
Regardless of where you are in the app development process, you must think of how to promote your app. It is very unlikely that your app will be successful if you do not take the time to develop an app promotion strategy.
Marketing is a crucial piece of ensuring your mobile app is a success. Having a strategic marketing plan for your mobile app is the best way to make sure your audience is aware of your application, to uniquely position your app in your market, and to incentivize people to actually download, install, and use your app.
In this article, we’ll break down how to advertise your app the right way. Follow these tips and your application will be successful in the marketplace!
Table of Contents
Schedule a Release Date
The first step to marketing your mobile app is to determine your release date. This is because once you know your release date, you can strategize all other app promotion efforts around this date.
In order to market your app well, you need to plan ahead. You will want to generate awareness of your new app long before the release date, so that you can have a successful launch.
Conduct Market Research
A basic part of how to promote your app is having a solid understanding of your target audience and competition. The best way to acquire this understanding is through the market research process.
Since you most likely built the app after you completed market and competitor research, you likely already have a good understanding of your target market.
However, it is important to ensure that you have a thorough grasp of your audience and competition before developing your marketing plan.
Understand Your Audience
One of your focal points throughout your research process should be identifying “where” your target audience is hanging out online.
This will show what marketing techniques will work best for your specific audience.
For example, if your audience does not spend much time on a certain social media platform, there is no need to post on that platform to promote your application. Determining these characteristics ahead of time will save you time and effort down the road on your app promotion.
When creating a marketing plan, utilize personas based upon research. Outline pain points that your target audience experiences. Navigating around these pain points will speak volumes to your audience and will make your marketing efforts much more successful in the long run.
Conduct a Competitive Analysis
During your research, you should also spend some time gathering knowledge on your competition. Make a list of all your competitors and analyze how they position themselves as a brand, as well as how they position their product.
Consider the verbiage they use to market themselves. If specific verbiage works well for your competition, you may incorporate similar verbiage into your own marketing strategy.
In addition, take notice of where your competition is the most active online, whether that is on social media platforms, their website, or paid media.
Again, if a specific strategy appears to work well for others in your industry, it may be worth considering implementing a similar one.
Develop a Message and Brand Position
In order to create your specific message, you need to ask yourself what makes your mobile app unique. Once you have determined your Unique Value Proposition (UVP), capitalize on that throughout your branding strategy. Your UVP is what sets your application apart from the competition, so do not hesitate to emphasize it throughout your app promotion marketing campaign.
If your mobile app has the potential to appeal to more than one target audience, you need to strategize for each of those audiences when developing your message and brand position.
Develop messaging that is mapped out to speak to each of your target audiences, so that you appeal in a unique way that is specific to each one.
Gather PR Materials and Begin the Outreach Process
Once you have determined your marketing strategy, it is time to start gathering PR materials. You need to have pitch templates and a press kit ready, so that you are prepared to outreach when the opportunity arises.
One of the best ways to make your mobile app known to a wide audience is to outreach to journalists and bloggers.
Give them the opportunity to look at and test your app before launching. This way, these journalists and bloggers can give their audience the inside scoop on your application and generate buzz for your product long before the launch date.
Another important step in how to promote an app is to determine the list of websites you will submit your PR materials to once you launch the app. You want to have this list decided ahead of time, so that you can send out those materials soon after launch.
Generate a Media List
Once you have planned out your PR materials and outreach plan, it is time to develop a media list.
You should reach out to influencers, publications, bloggers, and others to secure backlinks. Developing backlinks will help you to get your message out there and to increase your visibility on search engines.
Create a Website or Landing Page
If you are planning on launching a mobile app, you should know that mobile websites are the number one source of app installs. This means that having a website can make a big difference in the number of installs that you receive. It can also help to get some early SEO while creating hype for your mobile app.
However, you may not want to create a website yet, and that is perfectly okay. At the very least, you should have a landing page.
Create a pre-launch landing page that includes a video trailer, to entice users to download your new app.
App Store Optimization
App Store Optimization, or ASO, includes the processes surrounding improving the ranking of mobile applications directly within the app stores.
By utilizing various optimization techniques, you can acquire a higher ranking for your application in the app stores, which will allow it to be visible to a greater audience.
Write Your App Name and Description (With ASO in Mind)
When thinking of how to advertise your app, make sure you create something that hooks users. You want to create a name that is catchy, creative, or unique, while also being easy for people to remember.
The name of your mobile app is definitely pretty important, so don’t hesitate to spend some extra time on this step.
Once you have a name picked out, it’s time to write your description. Make sure you outline the features and benefits of your app clearly, so that users who are browsing the app store can get a good understanding of your app’s capabilities fairly quickly
Also, add some screenshots and videos on how to use the app for people to glance over.
One of the most important steps to writing your name and description is keyword research. However, this step is often overlooked.
Don’t forget to conduct keyword research while writing, so that you can optimize your title and description and get your app exposed to a wider audience.
When preparing to place your application on the app store, ensure that you choose the right category for your app. Preferably, choose a niche category, which will give your application a higher chance of ranking in the app store. Also, make sure that your app is localized, meaning that it has the right location for its language.
Content Marketing is Critical
Content marketing is incredibly important to marketing your mobile app. Write a launch post, which you can post on your mobile’s app’s website blog and share on your social media profiles.
Additionally, you can post the launch post on other blogging sites, such as Medium, or even LinkedIn if it’s relevant to businesses.
When writing content, create posts that highlight the app’s features by showcasing screenshots and videos. You want to use your content strategically to convince people to download your app.
To go along with that, creating a blog is one of the best things you can do for your business and new application. Quality blog content is a great content marketing strategy for app promotion to capture traffic from search engines and introduce people naturally to your mobile app product.
Strategize on Social Media
To use social media wisely to promote your mobile app, set up pages for the application on each social media platform. Try to use the platforms that are most popular with your target demographics.
Once you have determined the platforms you will be using and have your accounts set up, start developing a strategy for your actual content.
Create a social media posting schedule as part of your content marketing efforts. Then, prepare your social media content ahead of time so that you are ready on your posting days.
As you brainstorm ideas for content, strive for content that is creative and utilizes multiple types of media, from videos to infographics.
Also, create a unique hashtag that you can use on your posts across all platforms. Make this hashtag branded and industry related.
The Takeaway
There are a ton of mobile app ideas and applications already on the market; however, if you market your app correctly, you can make it stand out among the competition.
When marketing your mobile app, it all comes down to execution. Make an amazing product that addresses your target audience’s pain points, and then take advantage of those qualities in your marketing campaigns.
Make sure you market your amazing product effectively so that it resonates with your target audience.
Follow these steps, and you’re well on your way to having a successful mobile app!
