
“HOW TO” AND “HOW NOT TO” MARKET YOUR MOBILE APP
Shopping while sitting on your couch, socialising with friends and people across the globe, booking hotels and flights, consulting with your dentist, watching the latest episode of your favourite show that you missed last night, reading news on the go – what is it that you cannot do with a mobile device (with an internet connection)?
With over four million apps available for download on world’s leading mobile app stores, like Google Play and App Store, and of course, the constantly rising number of Smartphone users, mobile apps are a rapidly growing and transforming market – without any significant signs of going down in the foreseeable future. This indicates how powerful of a tool mobile apps are for marketers when it comes to connecting with your audience.
While building an intriguing, robust mobile app that does everything it should – connecting you with your mobile-savvy audience, providing them the information they are looking for and more – can ensure digital growth and success for marketers, that mobile app would be worthless if people don’t know it exists in the first place.
This brings us to common mistakes marketers make while building and marketing their mobile app.
- Treating their mobile app as just a smaller version of the brands’ website, enabling the same navigation and functionality in the app as used in the website.
- Building and launching the app without a strategic plan for marketing it.
- Skipping ASO (app store optimisation) – not optimising your mobile app for app marketplaces.
- Forgetting about target users and their needs while building your app.
- Not having a landing page and website for your app.
- Skipping social media marketing and paid promotions
There are many other mistakes that marketers and developers can make at any stage of app development and marketing. Knowing and avoiding these mistakes will help you increases your app’s chances of success. But that’s obviously not the only thing you need to do in order for your app to attract users that will not only make for repeat engagement but will also become loyal advocates for your brand or product.
Having said that, listed below are some effective ways to market mobile apps which can be combined to build a robust marketing strategy that drives long-term success for your app.
PRE-LAUNCH MOBILE APP MARKETING
1. Engage and Understand Your Potential Customers
No matter how strategic and effective your marketing methods are, if your app doesn’t address a user pain-point or need, they are not going to want or use it. Identify and research social media platforms, forums, blogs or websites your target audience regularly visits, to get a better understanding of their needs and interests.
2. Create A Website or Landing Page
A majority of app installs come from mobile websites. You can create a visually appealing, crisp landing page or a teaser video for your product to convert interested users into excited prospects. Moreover, to build some awareness around your upcoming app, you can set up a pre-launch website and benefit from early search engine optimisation. This way, users will have a sneak peek into your app instead of just hearing and reading about it while marketers can grow an email list of interested mobile users and keep them updated about the app launch and other related news.
3. Start a Blog in Advance
Blogging is one of the most effective ways to drive traffic and increase user engagement on your website. Consider starting a blog weeks or months before your app is planned to launch and keep users updated by regularly posting. Your pre-launch posts do not have to be too comprehensive, you can simply write about your upcoming app and its features and let people see how the app will look like or work via screenshots and teasers. Not only will this make your audience feel valued and included in the process, but it will also allow you to interact with your audience and create a sense of trust around your app in advance.
POST-LAUNCH MOBILE APP MARKETING
4. Optimise for Mobile App Stores
App store optimisation (ASO) is essential to improving your mobile app’s visibility in popular play stores like Google Play and Apple App Store and give it better chances at conversions. These mobile app marketplaces have algorithms in place to prioritise certain apps in search results based on different ranking factors like tags, screenshots, ratings, app title, download, etc.
Effective app store optimization involves using well-researched, structured keywords in app title and throughout listing to make the app show up when users search for those keywords. Besides, including videos highlighting the features and benefits of the app and screenshots of the app itself will provide added value to users, generating more interest around the app.
5. Social Media Marketing and Paid Advertising
With around 4 billion people actively using social media globally, marketers that do not post or advertise on the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are already losing a lot of their potential customers to their competitors. It is a good idea to actively post on your social media channels and engage people while creating awareness around your app. On the other hand, if you choose to drive traffic through social media ads, note that most social media platforms allow you to target your audience specifically by demographics and interests.
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Wrapping Up,
The market for mobile app is huge and great marketing is critical to encourage people to choose your app out of hundreds and thousands of similar options out there. Regardless of what methods you implement for your mobile app marketing, it is important to define your goals beforehand and track varied key metrics through all the stages including engagement, acquisition, conversion and retention of the users. That’s the only way to know if your marketing strategy is working and ensure success for your app in the long-term.
At Web Circle, we have a team of mobile app developers the help you not only build a robust app for your business, but also track the right key metrics at each stage of user journey to identify possible bottlenecks and improve the app for a better user experience. With the expertise to use advanced analysis tools, we make sure you are leveraging real-time data and comprehensive insights to analyse and optimise your app’s performance.
If you are looking to connect with the best Mobile app development company in Australia, get in touch with us at Web Circle today!