App Marketing Strategies That Work

Let’s know what basic and effective communication actions you have to carry out so that a user knows that you have an app and assesses whether they are interested, download it, and use it.

In today’s article, I will show different mobile app marketing strategies. They are examples of those that have worked best until mid-2021 for entrepreneurs, resellers, designers, and agencies working with Appbuff and ASOChef.

Also, I analyze and applied all these strategies for more than 100+ apps marketing in the last 6 years for small to large apps.

You can also apply them.

Video about Mobile App Marketing Strategies

If you prefer, you can start directly with the following video, where Mike Sims explains everything about Mobile App Marketing strategies.

 

Mobile App Marketing: To reach a Market that has no Roof

As of January 2020, there are 5.19 billion mobile phone users in the world and 95% use it daily.

In the USA, more than 92% of users connect to the internet through their mobile. And 43.1% believe that they do not need a different device to connect.

What do you do it too?

That is why Google implemented the Mobile-First Index in 2018.

I am going to summarize it: Google changed its algorithm to index in the first positions of the search results from those derived from a better mobile experience, not from the computer version.

And if that doesn’t seem revealing to you, look: 91% of the time that users spend with their mobile in their hand is dedicated to applications.

So to capture your attention, local businesses and businesses know that they already need a solution:

  • Professional
  • Affordable
  • Profitable

To show and interact at any time and place with them.

But what is mobile app marketing?

Mobile application marketing or mobile app marketing is the way in which the app user is involved throughout their entire experience with the application:

  • Discovering it
  • Downloading it
  • Completing the onboarding and registration process
  • Using it

What you should know about creating apps before designing a mobile app marketing campaign.

1. The need to be solved with the app

The decision to create an app stems from the need to grow the business through other means and to also solve the needs of positioning, visibility and web usability. And for your design, you have to think about what needs of potential customers you can and should satisfy. What are customers going to look for in it? Without a well-defined purpose, justifying the cost of its creation is difficult.

2. Have the distribution channels previously validated

The distribution consists of the process of getting the app to the customer. Through channels such as markets, with direct links in a post, in an email, on social networks, etc.

How to choose the right channels? Not all marketing channels are the same. For example, On Facebook, you find a different type of audience than on LinkedIn.

And same happens with Twitter, Instagram, etc.

Each network has different audiences and different ways of communicating with them. And not all of them are ideal for communicating for the same thing.

To assess which one interests you:

  • Analyze the needs of that target customer.
  • Know what the channel is like.
  • Identify alternatives to the chosen main channel.
  • Evaluate if any of the alternatives better meet your objectives.

Mobile app marketing strategies before launching the application

It is common to focus all efforts on the creation of the app and leave it to the last thinking and implementing everything that its launch means.

Something a marketer would call your attention to.

You should also have set aside a promotion item in your budget. And if so, these professionals recommend that it be in an amount similar to what you dedicate to its creation.

But do not be scared, this does not mean that all the actions that I tell you below have a cost, no.

There are free actions with which you can complete an effective marketing plan.

1. Create a landing page for your application.

It is not required but encourages downloading. It helps to have a better presence on the internet and to reach more people.

From it you can explain to users what your app consists of, how it makes their life easier, attract their interest and inform them of the news. And it is central to the ASO (App Store Optimization) strategy, the “synonym” of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in the mobile application realm.

2. Implement a solid SEO strategy.

Regardless of the ASO strategy for your app – something that we will see next – since you are going to use a landing page to reach consumers and increase their downloads, you must also develop a solid on-page SEO strategy for that page.

Finally, remind you that SEO efforts must begin at least 90 days before to start seeing results. Google needs at least that long to crawl your page and its content and start indexing it.

3. Designs an ASO strategy to optimize its presence in the markets.

More than 63% of mobile application installations come from searches in the main mobile application markets: Google Play and App Store.

And to position, yourself in them is what the ASO exists for. The process of optimizing an app in order to get it to appear in the first search results when a user searches the app stores.

As with SEO, which can influence factors within the page itself and outside of it, On page and Off page in ASO there are On-metadata and Off-metadata factors. One and the other differ by the place on which they are acted upon, in or outside the application, respectively.

In the ASO On-metadata it is vital that you have well worked:

  • The name of your app
  • The App listing description
  • Keywords (IOS only)
  • The name of the developer
  • The App icon
  • The screenshots or screenshots of the tab

4. Write a blog.

Creating a blog where you can develop the content of value for the user, in this case in relation to your mobile app, is important within your content marketing strategy and also within a good mobile app marketing strategy.

Before launching the application, it is advisable to upload content in which you show, for example, the process of creating your app, reveal its characteristics, functionalities, attend to suggestions from potential customers or show how you will facilitate the experience.

Also, think that the content of your blog can also be distributed via email to your customer base.

And once you have launched your application you can keep it online with all its content and incorporate much more new.

5. Create a profile on Facebook and Instagram.

Join a group that can benefit from the benefits your app offers.

It is one of the most valuable mobile app marketing strategies to implement. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.

In the different networks, you not only find massive audiences, but you can easily segment them according to the profile of your target audience and its relevance.

It is advisable to be active and initiate and participate in the conversations and to achieve the best results. But you have to do it at least a month in advance and continue later.

You will also position yourself as an authority on the topics you propose and in remembrance of the brand, be it personal or professional.

The main idea is to become a valuable member of the community. How?

  • Contribute to current issues in your industry.
  • Always provide value to members.
  • Plan ahead, especially when it comes to content, type, and style.
  • Take advantage of the content generated by other users so that your followers are part of the promotion of your mobile application.
  • Offer incentives to those who share your posts, visit your website or landing page, etc.
  • Reach out to influencers, industry leaders, and brand advocates in groups.
  • Have lively and direct conversations.

6. Facilitates sharing and/or recommending the application.

More than 40% of the downloads of a mobile application are produced by a recommendation. Word of mouth has always been proven to be the best marketing tool we have.

How can you encourage users to invite their family members to download the app? Make it very easy to share it: incorporate this functionality into your design or integrate it with services that facilitate sending it via text messages: WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, etc.

Another way to get referrals is to ask for reviews from users you already have.

  • Incorporate clear calls to action (CTAs) into your posts.
  • Offer value-based incentives.
  • Make sure your app is easy to use.
  • Use personalized links in your email and social media campaigns.

7. Include the application in your emails.

Do you have a list of email addresses, clients, potential clients? Email marketing is one of the actions with the lowest cost that you can carry out. If you have the addresses, you only need a powerful email platform. With this and a good copywriter …

But always make sure that they want to receive your emails and that they authorize you to do so.

As you send newsletters, communications, bulletins, etc., include your apps in them so that your customers are aware and can download them.

8. Think of alternative app stores.

The Google Play and App Store markets, the two most popular app stores are highly competitive markets and in which it is not easy to obtain sufficient visibility.

That is why you should not neglect the option of publishing your applications in alternative stores where it is easier to stand out: Slide Me, Aurora Store, Aptoide, UptoDown, Apk Mirror, XDA Labs, etc., as alternatives for Google Play and Tutuapp as an almost unique option for the App Store.

9. Post questions and answers and FAQs on social platforms.

On Quora and Reddit, your marketing strategy can also work.

You only need to find the threads of the conversations in which your app and the value it provides can be interesting for users, as well as in which communities your development can answer their specific problems.

Mobile app marketing actions to take after launching your app

You have already launched your application and it is gaining strength, thanks to the marketing tips for mobile applications that you have followed.

Now it’s about harnessing that momentum to scale quickly.

We will see how?

10. Guest-posting on featured blogs.

A guest-post or guest post is a practice that consists of writing in a blog that is not yours as a guest author, but with a related topic, and that serves to promote or give visibility to your app.

Participating as a guest author in blogs of relevant authorities related to your sector or getting them to write to yours as guests in the months after launch will provide great visibility to your mobile application and reinforce your authority.

11. Invest in paid advertising on social networks.

If you have a budget, investing in Facebook Ads, Google Ads or Twitter is a good option to achieve a minimum initial number of downloads on which to implement new marketing actions.

12. Use automatic notifications to interact with users.

Automatic push notifications allow you to communicate with a user through a new update, post, an event even when they are not actively using the application.

As you can read in this article on my blog, sending push messages generates 50% more opens than emails through email marketing, and with good user segmentation the user retention rate increases by up to 93%.

13. Collect positive reviews and respond to all the ones you receive.

I have already told you about the influence that the opinions of others have on us. So the number and tone of user reviews you get about your app can substantially improve your mobile app marketing campaign. Hence, it is vital to manage them properly, in a timely manner.

14. Offer free trials, contests.

You can contribute to its dissemination by requesting free trials, conducting contests in different forums, channels and social networks to encourage its download, use and leave reviews.

15. Use QR codes.

As you know, QR codes are a powerful technology to promote your mobile application downloads. Generating and disseminating it is very effective to reinforce the dissemination and download of the app.

  • They are free: both when generating them and reading them. Anyone with a mobile can use them.
  • QR codes include a large amount of information, facilitating communication in a dynamic way and according to new forms of communication.
  • You can be easily modified, and information can be removed or added at any time into QR code.
  • Ease of measurement: the results they offer are immediately one hundred percent measurable. Something that allows you to optimize the campaign you are running at any time to obtain the best results.

In summary.

Remember. It is useless to create and design the best application if later you cannot get anyone to know it and download it for them.

If you still don’t have enough resources, implementing some of the mobile app marketing actions that you have seen can help you a lot using only your own means.

At Appbuff and ASOChef, we offer you years of knowledge and experience in the most effective mobile application marketing strategies to launch and consolidate your app in the market, optimizing and maximizing your results.

Contact me for developing and promoting your next App idea.