Hot App Marketing Tips: 10 Simple Steps to Success

If you want your app to appear in the TOP of the AppStore and Google Play, you need to ensure the maximum number of downloads in the first few days after release. To achieve this goal, promotion must begin at the early stages of app development.

Is it possible to do it yourself without involving outside experts? Sure! Get your hands on our app marketing tips and find out how to organise the promotion of your app to make people love it.

App Marketing: General Concepts

Here are the main factors which influence the popularity of an app on Google Play or the App Store:

• Attractive and comprehensive description, unique favicon, good first impression;
• The number of installations;
• The dynamics of installations (for the last 72-96 hours for iOS and 48-72 hours for Android), as well as the dynamics of deletions;
• App rating and reviews;
• The number of application launches and user activity.

How to Influence App Popularity Factors?

By following these 10 steps, you can easily make your application popular and monetise it.

1. Develop App Website to Interest the Audience

First of all, you need to ensure a stable presence of your product on the market.

To do: 

• Create a promo site or landing page for your mobile application to pique the user’s interest.
• Send personalised offers to participate in the pre-launch testing.
• Post a countdown timer on the site to ensure the release is anticipated and attract the attention of the target audience.
• Reward your audience by offering discounts, coupons or even free apps. This will encourage them to be engaged. Remember to highlight this offer so viewers can learn more about it.

2. Keep SEO Optimisation in Mind

Creating a website about the app is not enough – it also needs to be well-balanced and search engine-optimised. If your site reaches the top of search results, a far larger number of people will show an interest in it.

Here you will find a detailed guide on how to build organic links to your website and drive it on the top of SERPs.

Add Different Languages

Advertising in multiple languages, not just in English, will help you attract a variety of international audiences. Of course, before actually implementing this strategy, you must accurately plan the language to be included. Ideally, your app itself should support these languages.

3  ASO: Optimise your App for Google Play and AppStore

Statistics say that 9 out of 10 mobile devices are controlled by Android and iOS operating systems.

Most likely, your app is adapted for one of these platforms and you will have to work with the App Store or Google Play.

When creating an app page in one of these stores, try to make it as attractive as possible for potential users. In the title, in addition to the name of the application itself, specify the key phrase by which users will be able to find your program in the search. Work on a detailed description (it would be a good idea to also contain several key phrases). Add screenshots to demonstrate the basic functions and attract the user’s attention. Fill in all the provided fields and include detailed information in the description – this increases your value for the SE.

4. Don’t Neglect Social Network Marketing

Nowadays, every brand needs to be represented on social networks. App marketing is also not complete without this piece. Create pages on the most popular social networks and regularly add information about your product. Publish functional descriptions, reviews and promo videos. Tell the audience a little about your team and share photos of the workflow. Hold interesting contests to attract the attention of subscribers. Chat with people and answer their questions.

• Periodically post announcements of materials published on the site, and vice versa – add the buttons of the most popular social networks to your site so users can learn more about your app from the source they prefer.

Quora, Reddit and Niche Networks

Play with ads or contribute to niche social networks like Quora or Reddit. You can also use the Google Display Network to serve ads to specific sites that support Google ads. If done well, this can be very powerful.

For example, if you have a financial services app, you can advertise on The FT or Forbes – this will not only direct closely-related traffic, but also associates your product with a reliable resource.

5. Try Contextual Advertising

Use contextual advertising systems (in particular, Google AdWords) to promote your app.

You can also make use of social network advertising. A reasonable solution would be to arrange the placement of banners on thematic sites popular among your target audience. You can also find several thematic blogs and agree on the publication of paid reviews.

6. Create a Promo Video

Visual content is much better perceived than text. Therefore, app marketing often includes the creation of a promotional video. The video should certainly be of high quality, so in this situation it is better to use the services of professionals. Explain the main functions of your application and demonstrate their work clearly. This is sure to interest the target audience.

Place a promo video on the app page in Google Play / the App Store, on social networks and on the website.

7. Keep a Blog

By keeping an official blog for your app, you “kill two birds with one stone”. Firstly, you attract the attention of users by publishing news about the application and interesting articles. Secondly, placing articles with keywords, you increase the position of the site in search results.

8. Collect Customer Reviews

According to statistics, 92% of people read reviews online before purchasing a product / service. At the same time, 88% of people trust the opinion of other buyers. Therefore, feedback on your app should always be in sight.

• Create special topics or posts in social networks under which people can express their opinions.
• Place a separate block with reviews on the site.
• Follow the content of reviews and be sure to help dissatisfied users solve problems.

Remember that the level of user satisfaction is directly dependent on how effective the marketing of your product will be.

Use Promo Codes

One resource that is still rarely used is the sharing of promo codes for approved applications which are not yet live. This means that you can invite others to view the final version of the app in the Store without it being available to others. This strategy allows press contacts to test the app if they wish to review it before the official launch.

9. Begin with Soft Launch

Test the main sources of traffic.

You can choose a test audience that is as close as possible to your target. For example, developers from the United States are conducting a soft launch in Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

Determining the right strategy here is especially important. After analysing the results (CPI, quality of traffic, % CR, etc.), you will be able to identify bottlenecks in the product and adjust strategy and tactics accordingly.

After successful flagging and addressing the errors, you can proceed to Hard launch – the launch of all traffic sources.

Prepare the Support System

Make sure you continue to collect common questions from users in the beta and pre-release periods. Doing this can fill an FAQ or a knowledge base and provide new users with some helpful hints. The added benefit of close contact with users is that the support centre can help to expose the problems that users have, allowing you to focus on app improvements.

10. Use Non-Standard Media Channels

Incent Installs

Incent installs is a format that has already proven its effectiveness. Special platforms of motivated traffic allow for the bringing of the mobile app to the TOP or for the simple purchase of the installation via the CPI model.

Mobile apps are installed by real users with unique devices that receive a reward for the action performed (installation, registration, etc.).

Advertising Networks with CPM / CPC Traffic Purchase.

Such ad networks as Media.net, AdPushup, AdBlade and others specialise in quality mobile media companies. They promote sites with transparent traffic, both from well-known publishers and from little-known app developers, who have suddenly became popular and rated, offering customers a full range of tools for mobile app marketing.

Another type of partner network is CPI / CPA networks. Promoting an application with a pay-per-install (CPI) or per action (CPA) application allows you to attract large volumes of targeted traffic worldwide.

Summing up: Top 10 App Marketing Tips to Climb to the Top of the App Market

Now it’s time to think about your own app marketing strategy. Here is our list of quick tips to help you organise your efforts:

1. Build a promo website. This is a must-have for any new app as it is the best way to represent it to future users, spark their interest and gain loyal customers through special offers.
2. Pay special attention to search engine optimisation. Let your users find you and don’t forget about localisation.
3. Make your app remarkable in stores. Remember that you are entering a highly competitive market and ASO is an inseparable part of your success.
4. Use the power of social networks. This media resource has become one of the most powerful trend-setters today and a good marketing platform as well.  
5. Plan the budget for contextual advertising. A well-planned contextual advertising campaign will pay off quickly and your efforts will be rewarded.
6. Promo video – add creativity to your marketing campaign. In the YouTube era you can’t manage without a good video representing your product.
7. Start blogging. Show your expertise, tell users something special about your products or services, share thoughts and see how your brand recognition is growing.
8. Listen to your users. Feedback is something that will help your app improve. Try to use all available sources to collect reviews.
9. Don’t try to boil the ocean – begin with a soft launch. Test the waters, choose the right audience or even market and ramp up your potential step by step.  
10. Never be satisfied with what has already been achieved. Try non-standard methods and media channels, combine different approaches and find your own recipe for success.

Here you will find more tips for successful marketing efforts:

1. How to market B2C apps;
2. How to add efficiency to marketing efforts with Google Analytics;
3. How to plan app monetisation.

By following these tips, you will provide your mobile application with the backing of a base of active, loyal users. At the same time, don’t forget that the most important component is still the application itself, its quality and charm. So if you need an app that will have all the power necessary to win the market, our team is always at your service.

Diana Maller

March 12, 2019