Mobile App Marketing Guide

Whenever planning to launch a new app in the market, chances are that a few dozen apps already exist providing similar services. Therefore, a meticulous marketing strategy is important to ensure you can carve out a market for your intended app. The marketing process begins even before the first line of code is written and continues even after you hit the targeted number of downloads. Here is a brief marketing guide for a mobile app.

Pre-Development Activities

The business intending to create a mobile app must have a clear picture of how they intend to position themselves in the market. The first step involves carrying out proper market research to understand the variables involved and the players already there. Your app must address a specific pain point for customers. It must give something different or offer a better solution than what is already in the market.

One way to find customer pain points is to read comments on forums, blogs, and pages where your target market visits regularly. Identify the chief complaints about the existing apps. It could be the user interfaces, cost, speed, or even reliability. You should then build your app to address these problems.

Market research will also help you build a user persona that will inform your marketing activities during the building and after the launch. What’s the content they identify with? What tone is best to interact with them? Which pricing model will appeal to them? Can they make in-app purchases?

Pre-Launch Activities

Once the development work nears completion, the business should begin creating awareness about the app. A standard practice is to have a website from where users can find useful information. A teaser video explaining how the app will look like and the launch date should be on the pre-launch website. Adding more content on the website, such as blog posts will help build the domain authority of the site.

Some apps opt for a soft or beta launch where a select number of users are invited to test the app. These include journalists and influencers in the niche. These early testers can then publish sincere reviews on their own platforms, which then creates further publicity for the app. Once the business sets a release date, it should be publicized on social media, the pre-launch website, and mainstream media.

Mobile App Store Optimization

Publishing an app in major stores is a delicate process that must be handled carefully. Some stores, such as the App Store, review all apps thoroughly before publishing them. The app should have a proper description that includes the important keywords. There should also be screenshots to enable users to see what the UI looks like before download. The app should also be titled and categorized correctly. The App Store Optimization process helps users find the app easily in a crowded market.

Mobile App Marketing After Launch

Once the app has launched, the business must continue putting out content on its blog and social media. The download links should be widely available. The business must decide whether to pursue a paid marketing strategy. If so, they should use the channels informed by the target users’ persona. The business should also establish two-way communication channels with users to collect feedback on user experiences. Push notifications are a great way to continue nudging users to interact with the app. They increase user retention by up to 180%.