To design your overall plan, you must first understand the various ways you might sell your app. As a consequence, you’ll have a better idea of how these tactics might be used to create a successful app marketing plan. This holds true for all app marketers, regardless of their app’s vertical, budget, or target market. This post will go through the nine most important mobile app marketing methods you should be aware of, as well as how you can use them to achieve your most ambitious goals.
Research into the market
Before we get into what you can do, it’s important to grasp the advantages of market research. The Software Store receives around 1,000 app submissions per day, according to the International Business Times. For all verticals, competition is tough, and knowing your competitors is essential when designing your entire strategy.
Market research will assist you in gaining a better grasp of how to employ the app marketing strategies discussed in this tutorial. To enable a journey of discovery through significant market research, you must be able to answer the following questions early in the development process:
- Who is your app’s intended audience?
- Why should people care about your product?
- How are your competitors currently reaching out to the same demographic?
This data should also help you figure out when the best time is to launch your app.
User personas are a clever method to create a mobile marketing strategy for your specific target audiences. Each persona represents a subset of people that are expected to follow a specific path. As an app marketer, it’s your obligation to meet their needs and streamline the process. Demographics, mobile preferences, and other unique identifiers relevant to your app vertical are segmented to create a user profile. Having a thorough grasp of this will be critical to the success of your app, as it will guide you further down the road and ensure that you make research-based decisions.
How to sell an app: 9 must-have app marketing tactics
1. The landing page and blog for your app
A landing page is an important part of your mobile marketing strategy since it allows visitors to discover more about your app on both the mobile web and the desktop. This is a cost-effective approach of attracting new users using (Search Engine Optimization) SEO services. It’s critical to include a visual representation of what customers can expect if they install your app on the landing page. With a clear call to action, your landing page should include links to your app in the App Store and Google Play Store. Other requirements, such as gameplay trailers for mobile games, will be dictated by your app vertical. Displaying user evaluations and including images of your app’s user experience, on the other hand, is essential.
You should also keep your website’s blog up to date. Another approach to use SEO to find new consumers and reach your target demographic is through social media. Your blog should be shared strategically across your social media channels, with analytics used to determine the type of content that will benefit your entire plan the best.
Dating app Bumble’s The Buzz, mobile game Clash of Clans, and MyFitnessPal are all examples of entertaining blogs from mobile apps. For the best results, you can also plan guest posts and contribute to other sites.
2. Optimizing the App Store
The process of increasing your app’s exposure in the App Store and Google Play Store is known as App Store Optimization (ASO). Even if your marketing sends a high number of potential users to the App Store, your app must be well-presented to complete the install. ASO can also bring in organic users for free.
ASO, like SEO, necessitates the identification and use of keywords that will help your software rank well in the App Store. In addition, screenshots of your app and a video of in-app use are required. You can also utilise secondary app categories to provide users more options for finding your app. You should also localise your app tale entry if at all possible. For a thorough guide to ASO, see our handbook dedicated to helping you rank high on the App Store.
3. Use of social media for marketing
You can’t afford to ignore social media activity as an app marketer. In 2020, users will spend an hour and 22 minutes every day on social media. It’s a good idea to post on your social media platforms on a frequent basis and to use them for more than just product promotion. For example, social media marketing services is a terrific method to develop a community and receive feedback from consumers who may otherwise be hesitant to approach you through your app or website.
Blog posts, competitions, discussion threads, and user-generated content can all be used as social media content. This may vary based on the app vertical – you can figure out how through market research – but the right channels can be especially important for social apps like fitness and gaming. You can also incorporate social media into your app so that users can quickly post stuff from it on their social media accounts.
4. The use of influencers
Authenticity is vital to 90% of shoppers when deciding whether or not to support a brand. The use of influencers to reach new people and promote your business is known as influencer marketing. This app marketing method has taken the industry by storm in recent years, with influencer marketing expenses increasing by 65 percent this year.
Influencers can be employed in a variety of ways to help you reach your marketing objectives. You can either provide an influencer “freebies” to share with their audience or pay for product placement. A paid ad has the advantage of giving you greater creative control, whereas merely presenting your products to the right influencer is a cost-effective method to reach an audience.
Fashion apps, for example, will have their own ways of working with influencers. Influencers, for example, can use your app to create lookbooks, which can then be shared across their social media networks and highlighted in your app. This is a wonderful method to show consumers how to use your app and offer them a cause to install it based on their interest in a particular influencer.
5. User acquisition efforts for a fee
Sponsored user acquisition is the process of acquiring new users for your app through the use of paid advertisements. For the best results, you’ll need to set up campaigns and tweak your ad spend over time with this method. It’s critical to understand the types of users you want to attract and the in-app behaviours you want them to take.
You’ll need to observe data and discover trends in client behaviour while reviewing the performance of your campaigns and changing your spend for better outcomes in the future. By recording how many people did each activity, your attribution provider will assist you in measuring these results. The best-performing channels will be highlighted in reports. If you have multiple apps, you can cross-promote them to act as both a publisher and an advertisement.
6. Define your key performance indicators (KPIs) (Key Performance Indicators)
KPIs should be used to measure the success of your app marketing plan. KPIs are used to evaluate the performance of your app by taking into account the campaign and in-app activity that is most important to your objectives. Measuring performance with these KPIs will provide you a clear picture of where your app is succeeding and where it needs to improve.
The number of Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Active Users (DAU, WAU, MAU), Cost per Acquisition (CPA), Cost per Install (CPI), and Cost per Mille are all important KPIs to keep aware of (CPM). Click-Through Rate (CTR), Conversion Rate, Retention Rate, and Churn should all be taken into account. Read our Back to Basics ebook to learn more about KPIs and how to track them.
7. Retention campaigns are number seven.
The percentage of users that are still active after a particular amount of time is known as your retention rate. The average retention rates for Day 1 (26%), Day 7 (11%), Day 21 (7%), and Day 30 (6%), according to our research, but retention rates vary greatly based on the app sector. The same analysis revealed why retargeting efforts are often launched in the first week after an app is installed.
To increase LTV (lifetime value) and ROAS, app marketers should focus on retention. The goal is to figure out where people tend to churn and keep them before they do. You’ll receive greater engagement and income from people who already have your app installed if you keep them for longer.
Retention rates might also reveal areas where your app could be better. If you have an unusually low retention percentage on Day 1, for example, there could be a problem with signing in or other issues with your onboarding process.
8. Email marketing.
Creating a mailing list is a terrific approach to keep people updated and deliver promotional offers on a regular basis. This app marketing technique might assist you in increasing app retention and revenue. Email marketing is the key driver of customer retention for small to midsize enterprises, according to cloud marketing software company Emarsys: 81 percent rely on emails for user acquisition and 80 percent use email marketing for retention.
Email marketing has the advantage of being an opt-in marketing medium. This implies that your marketing content will only be seen to individuals who have expressed an interest. Email marketing is also a terrific opportunity to provide exclusive perks to your most devoted customers.
For email marketing efforts, your CTA (call to action) is crucial: according to hardware website Toast, a single call to action increased clicks by 371 percent. For the best outcomes, it’s also critical to personalise emails. Personalized CTAs outperform generic CTAs by 202 percent, according to Hubspot. Read our guide on email marketing for mobile apps for more best practises.
9. Plan out your app’s media strategy.
Getting in touch with the press at the right time is a great approach to raise awareness of your app and earn free exposure. Leigh Isaacson and Casey Isaacson, co-founders of Dig, spoke at Mobile Spree on how app marketers may capitalise on media attention.
Dig CEO Leigh Isaacson, who formerly worked as an investigative reporter, argues that local news sources “have a lot of relationships” and that “your storey can quickly take off.” It’s also vital to avoid pitching reporters on your business instead of focusing on how your mobile app is noteworthy.
We have a tutorial for all you need to know about UA management when joining a new startup if you want to learn more about app marketing strategy. You might also be curious about why you need an attribution provider.
