App Marketing Tips

App marketing tips

Creating a  App is easy with the right developer, but creating an app that gets noticed and downloaded is another challenge .We would like to share some app marketing tips to help you get your app noticed.

Here are our app marketing tips

Firstly, you need to understand what you are up against when you release your app to a global audience.

There are over 700,000+ on the iTunes store, 120,000 + on the Windows Phone Market place and 500,000+ in the Android Market Place.

Getting  noticed amongst the hundreds of other apps being released on the same day as your’s is hard going, let alone trying to fight your way to be seem amongst the thousands of apps already on the app stores.

Not all of these apps will be direct competition, thankfully,  but there will be so many apps in your category that you will need to stand out and get noticed. Needle in a haystack springs to mind.

Marketing is so important

People will discover you app because

either they are  told about it or they find it by searching the many apps in the stores.

So you need to ensure that you are giving your app the best possible chance of discovery.

It is worth noting that app marketing should not be seen as an afterthought, it is just as important as the app development, and it should be happening from the beginning of the project, not left until the app is released.

 If you haven’t been marketing the app before it was released, you’ve already lost out on a big marketing opportunity ,use Twitter, Facebook , Google plus, LinkedIn groups to help market your apps and build up hype.

 Engage with your users, build up a following on Social Media.

Allow people to sign up to receive your blogs or updates on your app.

Ideally, you should engage the services of a professional app marketing business as they know what they’re doing, and they have spent a great deal of time and effort building up contacts that can make a huge difference to the visibility of your app and getting reviews.

For a lot of developers affording for someone to do your marketing is not an option, so let’s share some tips to help you all get started with your marketing adventure.

The occasional message on Facebook, twitter, Google + is not enough, it won’t produce the results that you want.

Plan and review

Don’t leave it until the last minute to think about your plan of action, the last thing you want is panic marketing, you will exhaust yourself and end up not being very productive. Think about  how  you are going to get your message out to the masses.

Research your audience so you know exactly who you are targeting , research your competitors, check out your competitors apps, why is your app better? What have you got that they don’t? What is your selling point? Get creative, have some brain storming sessions with your team.

Have some sort of strategy in place, this does not have to be complicated, jot down some notes, targets, what you are hoping to achieve?  how long are you giving yourself to achieve these results?

This can all be reviewed at any point but it is important to have a plan and some goals  to get you started.

Lots of emails no replies

You’ve seen from the figures above that there are huge number of apps on the app store, hundreds of new apps released every day, and you can be sure that a significant number of the developers / publishers are trying to get their app noticed. When you request a review from one of the many app review / blogging sites, you may not get a response. Persistence is the key.

You need to understand that lack of attention  is not because your app isn’t good enough, it is most likley because you were one of a few thousand people making the same request and it did not catch the reviewers eye.

Keep Going

Don’t let this phase you, just keep plugging away. Try be different, think creatively in order to catch the attention of reviewers. Look for  groups on the internet ,join forums, interact and talk to potential users and bloggers, keep social and get your brand and app out there.

You can improve your chances of success by targeting review sites that have an interest in your app’s target market and avoiding those that don’t.

You’ve produced a fantastic app that the world needs to know about, so tell them about it. Don’t wait to be asked or you’ll still be waiting whilst your competitors are reaping the rewards.

If there is an opportunity to talk about your app, take it. if your app gets good reviews and starts to climb in the rankings, shout about it.

Fear and shyness has no place in app marketing, your app is brilliant, people want brilliant apps, so tell them how brilliant your app is, and why it’s so brilliant.

 Know your audience.

You’ve created the app and put it on the app store, you know the categories of people who are most likely to use your app. What you need to do now is target these potential users. It is too easy to say “My app is fantastic, everyone could use it.” Blanket marketing just dilutes everything and you get nowhere fast. Trust me, I’ve tried

You should pick 2-3 sectors of people that are ideal users of your app and target them.

Find sites relating to your potential users , actively join in their forums or even ask them to look at your app. An example would be, if your app targets accountants, approach them and ask if they would be happy to give their opinion.

It takes time and effort to build your exposure

Be the expert.

With so many apps on the app store, there is always going to be copycat apps. A developer /owner  with an understanding of a specific problem has produced an app to provide a solution, and when this app becomes successful, other developers, who may not have the same level of understanding of the problem, produce similar apps and essentially copy the functionality.

The best way to differentiate yourself from the copycats is to be known as the expert. Engage with users and potential users on as many platforms as you can, write blog posts about the problem and solutions, talk with people on social media .

Update your app on a regular basis.

Regular updates to the app store keeps your app in the limelight and gives it more exposure in “what’s hot” on Apple. Users like to see updates, it shows you are serious and improving your app. It also gives you more to shout about “new and improved” “updated functionality”

Give away your promo codes.

With each version of your app that you release, you have 50 promo codes to give away. Give them away wisely, the more people using and talking about your app the more chance you have of getting reviews and spreading the word.

Reducing the price of your app temporarily, or even offereing it free for a fixed period, this can produce fantastic results, if it is done properly.

You need to build up the hype before you reduce the price so that you have as many people as possible waiting for the price drop.

Ask for reviews.

Reviews have an impact on whether people will buy your app, so you shouldn’t wait for people to leave reviews,  ask for them.

You can add an app rater  so users are prompted to leave reviews

ask anyone that contacts you via email or social media  to leave a review.

Even if a user has got in touch about a problem with the app, if they see that you are engaging with them and dealing with the issues, they are likely to leave a positive review.

Hope this help you all a little towards getting more publicity for your app, now get out there and promote your fantastic app