1. App Store Optimization
App Store Optimization (ASO) requires many of the same factors that go into great SEO tactics. Things like keywords, titles, and descriptions all play a role in app store listings, so leveraging the right tool to understand these variables can really set your app up for top-tier rankings.
Optimizing keyword tags in the app store or Google Play can really benefit the way your app is found. The keyword field allows you to associate your app with certain terms. The key here is not to repeat or use too many variations of the same word that could present themselves as spam. A good tip is to perform an SEO type test to find out the best keyword tags to use. You should ask yourself questions like “What words describe my app?” and “What words are my competitors using?” Once you have an idea of which words work best for you, be sure to get creative in your choices. Being unique could possibly help you drive traffic that your competitors aren’t getting.
Titles are also an important aspect to consider. Much like a title page for SEO purposes, the app name serves as a relevant signal from which the app store algorithms can extract search results. Many companies include keywords in their main title to help push their app to the top of the search results within its category. A common mistake is not to include the actual name of the application in the title. The overall goal is to have a strong presence as a brand, therefore people need to know your name and not just what your app does.
When you’ve got all of the above figured out, now it’s time to write your app description. This shouldn’t be a painful task. The key here is to keep it short and sweet. You should keep in mind that when someone reads this, they won’t spend a lot of time looking at the description on their phone. Leave enough white space to make it pleasing to the eyes of readers and less cumbersome. Bullets or asterisks are commonly used to list the benefits that your app provides to the end user. Sentences should be broken up with a mix of long and short sentences (5 words or less) to keep the reader engaged. If you want to learn more, we have previously written extensively about the importance of good keywords in the app store.
2. Social media integration
The integration of social networks in an application has gained popularity among many application developers. Giving users the ability to invite others, share games, and view leaderboards is a popular and useful aspect of increasing virality. Essentially, it’s free marketing for your app. When a user shares their recent high score or her fitness goal on their social media pages, they’re spreading the word about the app to her friends. This increases the number of views and in turn increases awareness of your app. All of which happens without you lifting a finger. Another side effect of this is that it implements a kind of competitive atmosphere between friends to beat other people’s high score or have a longer career track.
3. Press kit
Having a press kit available is a proactive step to help speed up your marketing efforts later on. Once you’ve established a microsite for your app, you might get a couple of reviews, but to really market your newly developed app, you need to be able to provide quality material that other people can use. If people want to write about you, they may not always have time to communicate with you and receive useful materials for their use.
Materials that should be included in your press kit include a high-quality icon of your app along with screenshots of the app in use. This will help bloggers or journalists who want to write about your app to have high-quality official images that they can use in their articles or blogs.
Another essential part of your press kit should be all your relevant press releases. This helps people learn about the “history” of your mobile app and keeps them aware of upcoming updates or other company news. By doing this, you will also build a relationship with your audience because they will have a better understanding of you and your mobile app.
If you really want to go further, you can add a company profile page. This can detail the history of your company and its staff. Links to your social accounts are also beneficial so that people can learn more about you and read what other people are saying.
4. Disclosure in forums and discussion forums
Identifying where your desired audience or key demographic congregates online is an important marketing aspect to identify. There are many mobile app and tech blogs full of people reading and keeping up with mobile app news. This is especially useful if your app is designed for a specific group. For example, if your app is designed to help runners track their daily runs, it may be beneficial to post relevant topics about your app on discussion forums or fitness blogs.
When reaching out to these forums, the key is not to spam the blog with your business. Many blogs and discussion forums prohibit users from posting promotional material in their comment sections. Posting beneficial information and answering any questions is a good way to start. Once you’ve created a report as a thought leader, you can link the information back to your site or publish an article about your product.
5. Application profiles
When it comes to marketing a new app, building awareness is an important aspect of increasing downloads. Creating app profiles on sites like Appolicious and the like is beneficial. With these profiles, you can add a description of your app along with a link to the app store or Google Play that allows the user to download it. This is a simple and easy way to increase awareness of your desired target audience.
6. Scope of influence
In addition to going to forums and other relevant blogs, reaching out to industry thought leaders or influencers for reviews is another way to market your app. Having reviews of your app is good, having reviews written by a respected thought leader in the industry and published on a reputable site is even better. Many of the popular influencers in an industry have millions of engaged followers who read their material every day. So, having a review written on your app by an influencer in the mobile app industry will give you a higher amount of awareness and possibly downloads (as long as you get a positive review).
You can do this by identifying them (you already know who they are) and contacting them for a possible review. You can provide a promo code or a demo to access your app for free. This is where the press kit would come into play. In your application, you can attach your press release with all the relevant information that we talked about above, therefore, accommodating them with all the information and resources that they may need.
7. Social networks
It’s no secret that social media is a popular medium and can be used as an effective marketing tool. Creating pages designed specifically for your app on all social media channels is highly recommended to really engage your target audience and watch your discussions. With a plethora of potential outlets including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube to name a few, you have access to a large population and the ability to find which ones work best for you. Keep in mind that these pages should complement your company’s general social accounts. Just like the app store, make sure your business name is on these social pages to increase overall brand awareness.
Managing these accounts is another aspect of social media. Making sure you spend time and effort monitoring your different pages is crucial to really benefit from social media. Think of it as a window into the thoughts and concerns of your consumers. The better you monitor all comments and questions, the better you can learn to improve your product, which in turn will increase brand loyalty.
8. Teaser Campaign
Whether building excitement about a potential release date or providing incentive with a promotional campaign, a teaser campaign is a great way to excite and engage your audience. This can be done as simple as producing a short trailer along with a “Coming Soon” animation on your microsite. If you have the resources, you can also run a promotional contest or giveaway. To manage this, you can even collect email addresses to keep people informed about updates. The more people you drive to your site and social media accounts, the higher the engagement and therefore build a community of followers.
9. Set up Google alerts
Setting up Google Alerts can be beneficial for tracking what people are saying about your product. This is better than visiting each individual site separately to see if there is a new review of your app. These alerts can also help you research the app industry or competition. Instead of doing extensive research on different sites to check on your competitors, you can simply set up an alert to let you know when any news relevant to your search query breaks out. All of this information is easily emailed to you with the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your queries.
10. Application discounts
Finally, people like to get things for free or at a discount. Providing discounts on specific days related to your app is a great way to engage and excite your followers. The key is to be creative. For example, if you have a mobile game based on zombies, a good time to offer a promotional offer would be in October, around the time of Halloween.
There you go. A comprehensive list of the top 10 ways to market your app. Of course, there are hundreds of potential ways to market your mobile app, however this is a solid start. Stay tuned for more updates on how to get the most out of your mobile marketing efforts.
