Strategies for Promoting Applications Before and After Their Release: A Comprehensive Guide
App development, here's a down-and-dirty, no-holds-barred guide to marketing your app. As a new entrepreneur, you might be overwhelmed with questions about how to market your app, how to acquire users, and how to stand out from the crowd. So, we're going to break it down for you, no sugarcoating.
Why Market an App Pre-Launch?
The market is flooded with apps, with over 4 million available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store combined. The demand for mobile apps is growing, and by 2020, global app revenue is expected to reach $188 billion. The competition is fierce, and if you want your share of that revenue, you need to start building relationships with potential users, fostering brand awareness, trust, and value.
Many business owners believe that this process begins post-launch. However, there is much that can be done during the app development process to lay the groundwork for a successful marketing campaign. Let's take a look at some marketing strategies and tactics you can employ during the app development phase.
Pre-Launch Mobile App Marketing Research
Mobile app marketing is a delicate balance of science and creativity. You must carefully research your market or industry, observing your competitors, understanding their strengths and weaknesses, and learning what resonates with your target audience. Spreadsheets are indispensable for this task, allowing you to track patterns in ideal customer demographics, pricing strategies, and effective marketing tactics.
Set a Launch Date
Setting a launch date will give you urgency and direction as you develop your app. It also ensures that your launch happens at the perfect time, taking into account factors such as events, periods of high user activity, or times when it's best not to launch.
Research and Understand Your Users
Your app doesn't exist without users. It's crucial to place them at the forefront of your marketing research. To optimize the effectiveness of your creative content and marketing spend, you need to know the following details about your customers: age, location, interests and hobbies, online presence, devices used, income, and any other relevant behaviors or preferences.
Conduct Competitor Marketing Research
To understand the competitive landscape, it's essential to research and observe your competitors. This will provide valuable insights into the market, helping you to identify trends, opportunities, and potential customers. A spreadsheet is your best friend for this task, allowing you to record data such as where they advertise, who they target, their creative messaging, customer feedback, and more.
Pre-Launch Mobile App Marketing Strategies
Now that your research is complete, let's move on to pre-launch marketing tactics:
- Communicate your Aha Moment: This is the unique quality of your app that sparkles in the minds of your potential customers. Whether it's a time-saving feature, an engaging game, or a novel concept, this is what will convince users to say, "I gotta have this app!"
- Create a Pitch Deck and Press Release: Armed with your customer and competitor research, you can pull all that info together to create a slick, concise, and engaging pitch deck. This deck should outline your vision, value proposition, launch date, and a clear call to action, such as pre-ordering your app or scheduling a demo.
- Reach the right people: Collect contacts of industry leaders, businesses, journalists, and online influencers. Deliver your pitch deck to them in a manner that suits their preferences - email, phone call, social media, or in-person.
- Create a Pre-Launch Landing Page or Website: This web-page will serve as a meeting place for potential users who have clicked a call-to-action within your marketing collateral. The goal of the page is to secure further engagement, usually by gathering contact details.
- Pre-Order Downloads: Not only can you secure app downloads before your official launch date, but you can also gauge interest levels by tracking pre-orders. To do this, direct users to your landing page or app store to pre-order your app.
- Early Adopter Promo-codes and Discounts: Encourage users to sign up early by offering them exclusive deals, such as discounts, freebies, or special access.
- Pre-Launch Content Marketing: Publish valuable, targeted content to from your blog, social media, or YouTube channel, aimed at drawing potential customers to your app. Remember, content should not feel like a sales pitch.
- Collect Early User Reviews or Testimonials: Offer exclusive sneak peeks to industry influencers, business partners, and app reviewers in exchange for reviews, feedback, or testimonials.
Post-Launch Mobile App Marketing Strategies
It's time to move on to post-launch marketing tactics once your app is in the App Store:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
SEO and SEM are essential parts of digital marketing strategy.
SEO aims to optimize your website's content to achieve a high search ranking position on search engines. Master SEO by focusing on authority, relevance, user experience, and site health. SEO takes time to achieve results, but the results are long-lasting.
SEM allows for paid advertisements to appear at the top of organic search results for keywords you select. Google AdWords is one example of a SEM service.
SEM is faster than SEO, but the cost can be high depending on the level of competition for specific keywords.
App Store Optimization (ASO) and Advertisement
ASO and advertisement help to increase the visibility of your app in app stores. Boost your app's ranking by optimizing keywords, creating an attractive icon and screenshots, gathering positive reviews, and using metadata. Paid ASO can help your app appear at the top of search results for specific keywords.
Post-Launch Content Marketing
Continue publishing valuable content aimed at drawing potential customers to your app. Content marketing serves two purposes: attracting organic traffic and fostering a relationship between your potential customers and your app.
Social Media Marketing
Take advantage of social media platforms to target specific demographics with advertisements. Platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter provide robust analytic tools, allowing you to precisely target your marketing messages.
Influencer Marketing
Partner with social media influencers to promote your app to their followers. Influencer marketing can be effective for reaching a large, engaged audience.
Events
Don't forget about traditional marketing methods! Host a launch party or media day to introduce your app to journalists, influencers, and industry leaders.
Create a Viral Loop
Motivate users to share your app with their friends and family, creating a cycle of organic user growth. Examples of viral loops might include offering additional storage space in exchange for referrals, or giving away a free ride to anyone who invites their friends to join via social media.
Mobile App Awards
Enter your app in app awards and competitions to gain industry recognition, exposure, and credibility.
Tracking Marketing Metrics and Results
To ensure the success of your marketing campaigns, track key metrics such as click-through rate, user demographics, number of downloads, device information, and cost per download. Analyzing these metrics will help you understand which strategies are working and where there's room for improvement.
In a Nutshell
To stand out in the crowded app market, you need a winning combination of creativity and analytics. Conduct thorough research to understand your audience and competitors, and implement strategic marketing tactics to pre-launch and launch your app. Continue engaging with users post-launch through content marketing, social media, events, and influencer partnerships. Stay focused on tracking your marketing results to optimize your strategies and ensure long-term success.
- The fierce competition in the app market requires entrepreneurs to start building relationships with potential users and fostering brand awareness, trust, and value pre-launch.
- During the app development phase, it's essential to research your competitors, understand their strengths and weaknesses, and learn what resonates with your target audience for app marketing.
- To optimize the effectiveness of your creative content and marketing spend, gather details about your customers such as age, location, interests, online presence, devices used, income, and other relevant behaviors or preferences.
- In the lifestyle, technology, education-and-self-development, and sports sectors, app development can contribute to personal growth, productivity, learning, entertainment, and physical fitness by providing innovative tools and services.
