App stores are crowded. With 2.8 Million apps in Play Store and 2.2 million apps in Apple's app store, it is a real challenge to get your app noticed. As a startup, it is really difficult to make your app stand out in the app markets and this is where app marketing comes into practice. You can make the most brilliant app of the century but you will need marketing to get noticed. An average smartphone user has 26 apps on his smartphone but he only uses 5-8 apps on daily basis. With such high competition and low user attention it is crucial to think out of the box.
Know the right way to market mobile apps:
9 Tips for Using App Marketing to Stand-out in App Markets:
Where most of your competitors are fighting traditionally here are the 9 things that you can do to make your mark by doing app marketing the right way:
A start-up in the app market is like a small fish in the ocean. Though most of the ideas are already overcrowded it does not mean that you cannot find a profitable niche. You just need to know where to look. If you want to get noticed then you need to make the most from a small market than to have a little from a huge market. One way to choose a profitable niche in your market is to be highly specific. If you are creating an app for careers then instead of creating an app on all careers try to focus on one career and give really good insights about it.
This is probably the first mistake make most of the ideators make. In the initial stage, start-ups usually try to impress everyone and lose focus on their real users. If you are a making a game for teenagers than trying to attract senior citizens is a big NO. Try to focus on your target market from day 1. This way you will get the reviews which you will need to further improve your app. Driving a mixed traffic may also lower your ratings because no app can possibly impress everyone.
Your entry route is your way to enter the market. It can be as broad as selecting the platform and OS to as specific as selecting the right marketing channels. While it is always a good idea to get featured in blog posts, sites, sub_reddits, etc. you should also try to get featured in magazines and books your target audience might be reading. This way you will get decent publicity without tackling the already flooded market.
Making a sleek UI is no joke. It will take a lot of work to understand what’s going to work with your users. Your UI/UX should be in accordance with the tastes and preferences of your users. A great way to crush competition is to bring a UI that nobody thought of. Take the game Limbo, for example, it was its monochrome design and undoubted performance that made it so popular.
While finalizing your UI make a prior list of all the sensors you are gonna use to improve user experience as well. Why focus on just auto-rotate when you can incorporate proximity sensors, light sensors, tilting, shaking and a lot more.
5. International Marketing
Once your app is live on app store then it will reach a mass audience. An app is not limited to one nation and you get great revenues from nations all across the world. As overwhelming as it sounds target the entire world with one strategy is obviously not gonna work. You need to have separate marketing strategies for some markets. Take Japan, for example, it is a common practice in Japan to advertise apps on TV. Also in highly app driven markets like Brazil, it will be profitable to use app-based advertising.
Your cost to target International market will vary depending upon the nations so plan well. Try to first focus on markets close to your initial audience. Like for U.S. based users, it would be easy to target Canada and Latin America.
Know the best strategies to market your mobile apps:
Umbrella distribution is a unique distribution model where you can bifurcate your app into smaller niche apps and distribute it in respective niches. This is done by using the same brand name with prefix/suffix of the niche. Once you have established your user base you can prompt the user to download your all in one app or you can just control it as it is.
The reason why this strategy works exceptionally well is because it is easy to target small uncrowded sections of your market than to go all out at once. You don’t need to have a separate code or UI for each app. Use the same base code and tweak it a little as per your app. The SOLO app used this strategy to bifurcate its coding app into separate modules for each language and then coming up with an all in one app later.
It is an obvious thought to decide between apple and android app store. But why not think about amazon app store or SlideME. You can also focus on type specific app stores like Humble Bundle for games.
This way you get a good exposure, minify competition and generate audience from varied sources. The question while choosing multiple platforms should be “Why not?” instead of “Why to?”.
Just Like SEO for websites there is SEO for mobile apps. You need to get the right keywords in your app description and name. While a name like Magixo is great but some thing like Paint is still a better option if you are not specific. Incorporating the key keyword in your name is always a good strategy. Along with this, you can bring the names of famous apps in your app description. Like for a mail synchronization app, it is a good strategy to include a name like Gmail, YahooMail etc.
Also, work on your app icon. Having an icon that clearly communicates your value to the user can result in huge bursts of traffic. Many games are using their main character as a logo while educational apps are focusing on having a decent logo which signifies authority.
Using review platforms like Slashdot & Reddit can give a good boost to your Beta releases. Not to forget Kickstarter which is a crowdfunding platform is also a good place to get decent reviews. These test releases help you craft the best piece for your final user.
By using these 9 ways you can successfully launch your app and get it noticed. App marketing involves everything from doing market research to using analytics to track success. By using multiple ways to bring traction to your app you can mitigate your risks of failures and make your app a success.
Making an app and getting success from it is a tedious task. While most people struggle to get themselves in the spotlight, we at NewGenApps ease things out for you. If you are looking for someone to bring your idea to life then please contact us.