Don’t think you have accomplished your task once your mobile app is ready for market…
In fact, it has only just begun.
Marketing plays a crucial role in gaining exposure and downloads for your app. It’s your promotional blueprint.
Substantial data is stacked against you when it comes to attracting and retaining users for your app. For example, have a look at the following points:
- The average user has 36 apps installed on their smartphone.
- The Android store has 8 million apps, and the Apple store has 2 million apps available.
- Users spend their time on an average of nine apps on a daily basis.
- In 2015, people spent 85% of their time on only five apps.
This shows that the competition for your newly launched app is tough. Hence, you need to make sure that you take all the right steps for bringing it into the limelight.
Let’s walk you through some of the effective marketing strategies that you need to follow in the first three months of your app’s launch.
Metrics you need to focus on
Mobile app retention and app engagement are two metrics that you need to concentrate on the most as part of an effective marketing plan. Throughout your strategy, you should keep an eye on both of these factors.
High app engagement and retention rates are the ingredients for good growth of your app. On the flip side, poor scores in both of these sectors is a recipe for failure. Each of these is defined as:
- App engagement: Engagement denotes the active users on your app. Localytics highlights that highly engaged users should have at least ten plus sessions in a month.
- App retention: This is a benchmark of the number of users who return to using the app within the first three months of their first session. Localytics points out that a retained user is one who must return to the app at least once within 30 days.
It is essential to bare in mind that both these metrics are highly subjective and their values depend on the industry and niche your app belongs to.
Effective marketing tactics to use for your app
Every marketing plan stands on pillars that drive it to its goal. In this regard, the marketing plan for a newly launched app revolves around the following tactics:
1. Building an online presence
Building an online presence for your new mobile application is essential for attracting the right audience. Approximately 81% of Americans use social media, so you need to start by making social network profiles for your app.
Create informative content with a touch of humor to attract your target audience’s attention. Such content can be in the form of photos, videos, as well as blogs.
This brings us to setting up a blog for your business.
Setting up your blog is a matter of only a few minutes as every business website has a section dedicated to blogs. Numerous ventures employ a business blog to reach, engage, and retain their audience. Blogs also provide shareable content for your social media channels.
You can take inspiration from Kayak, a travel app with an active blog. For maximum benefit, run paid ads across all social media networks.
2. Encouraging positive reviews
A golden rule of thumb is to ensure that your app is entirely free from bugs and errors. It is crucial to follow this to maximize your chances of getting positive reviews. 84% of folks trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations.
This confirms that you can significantly benefit from reviews on your app. Good reviews can help you boost credibility, engagement, and user loyalty for your mobile app. Create review pop-ups or request for reviews by making special offers or updates via in-app notifications.
3. Providing excellent customer service
Excellent customer service is the key to happy customers who spread a positive word concerning your app. It also slashes the risks of getting negative reviews. In fact, 86% of the customers agree to pay more if they get a stellar customer experience. The graphic below shows further importance of good customer service:
Twitter and Facebook are two inexpensive channels to provide excellent service to your target audience. Nearly 70% of customers have used social media for customer service. Additionally, install a feedback button to make it easy for users to voice their concerns.
4. Promoting with search ads
Advertisements can increase your application’s exposure as well as downloads. A study confirms that 27% of individuals find their apps via search engines. The blog that you set up in the early stages of your marketing campaign can boost your search engine visibility.
However, you can also spiral your app’s exposure by employing search ads. Google confirms that 50% of app downloads are the work of search ads. Here is a quick look at the type of ads that you can run for your app:
5. Submitting your app for reviews
There are two approaches that you can pursue in this regard. Firstly, submit your app for review to potential sites that have a broad audience. This will create awareness concerning your app’s release. It will also improve the app’s store ranking as you will get backlinks that will be anchored to your application in the app store.
Secondly, get in touch with influencers to promote your app. Research indicates that 70% of millennials are impacted by the suggestions made by their influencer peers.
The Ideal Mobile App Marketing Plan
An excellent strategic online marketing plan is based on the tactics discussed above. You need to start pursuing these from day one of your marketing strategy. Your overall plan should resemble this marketing campaign for a new app:
Let’s now break down the main stages of the marketing plan:
Stage 1: Pre-launch phase
In the pre-launch phase, you need to make sure that you name your app strategically, optimize the app as per the app store’s analytics, and conduct market research. To this end, you have to take the following steps:
- Subtly insert the keyword of the category to which your app belongs. For instance, the app name, musical.ly, sends a clear message that it falls into the music niche.
- Follow all the important steps to boost your app’s store optimization. This will help boost your app’s ranking and visibility in the app store. Important pointers that affect the app store optimization (ASO) are:
Title: Make it readable, recognizable, and focused. Slip in the keyword naturally.
Description: Succinctly explain the problems that your app solves. A pro tip is to market the experience, not the app itself. Your keyword-filled description should deliver the idea.
Icon: Design a clear and memorable icon for your app. The icon leaves the initial impression on your user. It can boost conversion by 35%.
Screenshots: These should be clear and should show the app in action. These should also capture the app’s unique features
- Lastly, learn about your target audience and what appeals to them. Scrutinize your competitors as well. This will help you devise content that entices your target audience more effectively.
Stage 2: Launch phase first steps
In this initial stage, your focus should be on getting your app into the spotlight. Divide the activities of this phase into five distinct tasks:
- Purchase paid installs that you will need to take your app store ranking higher.
- Submit your app to potential sites for reviews.
- Run paid campaigns across social media networks.
- Start building your online presence and curate the needed content for your social profiles.
- Distribute press releases to the chosen media platforms.
Stage 3: Maintaining interest
In this stage, you need to hold your users’ interest to enhance the app retention and engagement rates. You can take the following steps for this stage:
- Reach out to influencers to attract more users.
- Employ push notifications to encourage users to keep using the app.
- Keep updating your app. This way, you will tackle any bugs or errors, which will boost the app’s performance. This factor is vital for retaining users.
- Make offers to boost downloads further and retain users. For instance, offer a paid in-app service for free for a short time. If your app is paid, then make it free for a limited duration. This case study showed that making a paid app available for free increased downloads by 14,500.
Stage 4: Measuring vital KPIs
This is not exactly the last stage. Instead, measuring key performance indicators should be conducted throughout the marketing plan from start to finish. Keep tabs on the following pointers:
Wrap up
Summing up, the marketing plan for your app needs to focus on the metrics of user engagement and retention. To achieve these, you need to start by building your online presence and planning paid ad campaigns for your mobile application. Provide stellar customer service and promote your app via influencer marketing. Aim to get positive reviews and solve any user concerns immediately.
Guest author: Mehul Rajput is a CEO and co-founder of Mindinventory which specializes in Android and iOS app development and provide web and mobile app solutions from startup to enterprise level company. He is an avid blogger and writes on mobile technologies, app marketing, app development, startup and business.