Vishal BhatiaWith millions of apps out there, marketing your app is key to success. To get more downloads and keep users loyal, you’ll need strategies like app store optimization, social media, and re-engagement.
When launching a new app, the right steps can make a big difference. This guide will show you proven strategies, from understanding your audience to using data to improve your marketing, so your app stands out.
Understanding Your Audience
Before promoting your app, stop and think it through, do some research on who your target avatar is. Think about things like their age and what they like. For example, if your app is for young people who like fitness, Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok are good places to share it.
Creating a perfect user avatar, or simply put, a detailed profile of your ideal user, helps make sure your messaging is spot-on. Think about things like their hobbies, goals, and what motivates them.
This avatar will guide your marketing decisions, from content to promotion channels.
Once you know who your audience is, the next step is making sure they can find your app in the crowded app store. Let’s dive into app store optimization.
App Store Optimization (ASO)
Start by finding the right keywords your target audience might search for, and include them in your app’s title and description. Then, write a clear description that shows why your app is great.
Use quality screenshots and videos to show off your app’s features. Positive reviews and ratings can also help build trust and encourage more downloads.
ASO makes your app easier to find, but visibility alone won’t get people using it. Social media is a great way to reach more people and get them excited about your app. Let’s see how social media can help promote your app.
There are ample high quality videos on this process on YouTube.
Marketing
Why marketing? Because a large organic launch rarely happens in the real world. Most apps that exist are never found, much less used.
Content marketing helps your app offer value. Publishing blog posts, articles, and guides related to your app can attract users searching for information and show how your app can help.
For example, if your app is about productivity, write posts about time management, productivity tips, or success stories from users who’ve achieved their goals using your app.
SEO helps your content rank higher in search, making it easier for people to find your app. But there is a lot to this segment of marketing. Again, for any of the marketing processes mentioned, there are great tutorial videos on YouTube, and they cost nothing but time to learn.
Blogging with just a little SEO knowledge helps your content rank better in search engines, and it’s a great long term strategy. It helps capture search interest, but building connections with influencers and partners is just as important.
Next, let’s look at influencer and partnership marketing, where you can create sales overnight.
Influencer Marketing
Just being seen in the app store isn’t enough to get users. Social media can help you reach more people and get them excited about your app in a short amount of time. A great way to do this is through influencer marketing.
Influencers have followers who trust them. If you find the right influencer—someone who likes what your app is about—they can help you reach people who care.
For example, if I were selling watches, I would work with influencers who love watches and have followers who do too. These followers aren’t just an audience; they’re a group of people (a “tribe”) that trusts the influencer’s recommendations and already have a thing for watches.
If I sold mens watches, I would find male influencers who have a rabid crowd of men that are also deeply into watches, and if it were watches geared towards females, find female influencers that have a solid following of others that are deeply into watches. Your best influencers are the ones whose following are singular in focus, like designer watches, high end watches, etc.
These influencers never have large followings. 5 thousand to 50 thousand followers at most. You also need to check their engagement rates. This is key to success on launches using influencers.
With influencer marketing and social media, you can build excitement and get more people to download your app.
Bonus Marketing Ideas
Google Ads, the App Store, and Facebook are awesome places to market your app, especially for companies utilizing mobile app development for Atlanta businesses, because of how their targeting works. More control is available now than ever before when it comes to how to reach your audience.
Choosing a budget is the most important thing to begin with, because if it’s too high, you’re wasting money. If the budget you’ve chosen is too low, you won’t get the reach you need to be effective. Small budgets are good for testing, and bigger budgets help you reach more people. You can also pick who sees your ads, like people who like similar apps or search for certain things.
Track your ad campaigns regularly. Metrics like click-through rates (CTR), cost per download, and user acquisition costs show what’s working and what needs adjusting.
Try different ad types like video, carousel, or banner ads to see what your audience likes most.
Once ads bring in new users, you have to keep their attention. Next, we’ll look at ways to maintain their interest and lower user churn.
Getting people interested in your app can be as simple as a press release or as complicated as working with tech journalists at major publications. A good press release can grab attention and help you reach the right audience. Partnering with tech journalists adds credibility and expands your reach.
Pitch your app to tech blogs, app review sites, and YouTube channels. These platforms are trusted by users looking for new apps, and getting featured can greatly increase your app’s visibility.
Launch events, virtual demos, or webinars can showcase the potential of your app, especially when developed with professional mobile app creation services, to get people excited and encourage downloads.
Retention and Re-engagement Strategies
Attracting new users to your app is only the beginning, though. Keeping them engaged is the hard part. Retention strategies have diminished churn (when users abandon your app) and fostered enduring loyalty, which has been far more economical than perpetually acquiring new users.
You’ve likely encountered them before, but push notifications are a good way to keep users engaged. They can remind users about app features, encourage them to return, or announce updates. Be careful to not annoy them; too many can annoy users and cause them to turn off notifications or uninstall the app. Timing is also important; you’ll usually get better results sending a push in the morning than late at night.
In-app messages are another useful tool. They can offer special deals or show new features without being too pushy, improving the user experience and encouraging more app use.
Tracking and Analyzing Performance
Promoting your app is an ongoing task that needs regular checks and updates. Tracking key metrics can help more than most think, and you can see what’s working, what’s not, and where to gain insight to next steps.
Start by tracking downloads, active users, and retention rates. Tools like Google Analytics, Firebase, and Mixpanel help you see what people do on your app. This is very useful information. It can help you figure out what to improve, remove, revamp, etc.
Numbers like cost-per-acquisition (CPA) and cost-per-install (CPI) show how good your ads are. Retention rates and length of sessions tell you if people stick around. If they leave fast, your app or how you welcome them might need to be worked on to improve their user experience.
Use this info to make your app better. If social media gets more downloads than ads, spend more time on that. If users leave quickly, make their first experience more fun.
Keep checking the data, it gives you the ability to improve overall.
