With hundreds of thousands of app developers out there, it is difficult to achieve app success. Competition is high, the market is busy and your app can easily be lost. In order to bring out the potential in your app, you need to be answering the following questions:
How do you make sure that your app is being ranked high enough in the app market to be organically discovered?
How do you ensure that your app is receiving enough downloads to be of monetary value to your app business?
How do you make sure that your app is being downloaded by your target audience so it will have a good usage ratio?
Each of the questions above needs to be addressed in your marketing model — this will help you bring out the potential in your app and will ensure that your app does not get lost in the chaos of the app market.
Many app developers worry that the marketing costs will be too high, rendering their apps unprofitable. In addition to this problem, there are fears that because the app market is changing so rapidly, the marketing tactics required to achieve optimum results are also changing too frequently for them to be able to put a strategic long-term plan into place.
Below is a list of some of the top marketing strategies that will not devour your company’s entire profit line and have also proven to stand strong against the changing mobile market.
1. Social Media
Regardless of size, every organization should have a social media strategy in place. Social media can benefit your app business in many ways — it not only increases brand awareness, but also captures the personal side of your brand that will draw in the right audience for your app.
Additionally, social media is a powerful communication tool for both the app developer and the app user. Being able to clearly communicate with your users is vital for keeping your reviews within the app stores positive. If a customer can only complain via your app review process, you are setting yourself up for failure. However, keep in mind that no matter how perfect your app, someone will always find fault.
2. Ad Networks
Have you already considered using an affiliate ad company for your app to help you raise revenue? Well, these same companies can also work for you and promote your app through other apps and banners.
The click-through rate for advertising apps through ad networks is around 1%. Although this may not sound high, this number can boost your ratings in the Apple store and push up your organic rankings.
It is important to source an ad company that will publish your app ad with your target audience, and it may take you some time playing with various ad networks before you decide which one(s) best suit your needs.
3. Organic Marketing
The way in which organic rankings work within the Apple App Store and Google Play differ from one another, and it is important to understand those differences to ensure that you are getting the optimum exposure within each of the app marketplaces.
Apple’s App Store rankings can be improved by ad-driven links, as discussed above. Google Play rankings are based upon app usage — the higher your usage ratio per download, the higher Google Play will rank your app. With this in mind, you can focus your Android app marketing plan around push notifications, as discussed in the next point.
4. Maintaining Loyal Users
One of the oldest tricks in the marketing book is to reward your loyal users with additional benefits — after all, everyone likes to feel special!
Through your app, you can send push notifications to your users offering them various benefits. Depending on your app business, the benefits can range from additional lives in a game to a certain discount on a product or service.
The options available are endless and do not have to cost you anything. Every company, mobile or not, needs to ensure that their audience members are kept feeling special.
5. Building An App Empire
Who else can market your company better than you? The most common and free way of self-marketing is through your own app empire. You can introduce users to the different apps that exist within your app network through internal banners, push notifications and links set within each of your apps. By allowing your existing users to click through and try your other apps, you are increasing your app downloads and usage per app.
Summing It Up
Each of the options that I have mentioned today can be put together to build a thorough marketing strategy for your mobile app that does not require large financial outlays. As with all marketing strategies, you will find that each tactic requires a continuous time investment and active monitoring for maximum benefits.
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