With the increasing number of mobile applications offering different services, it’s almost inevitable to get lost among the endless number of various apps in app stores. The drastically high number of applications serving similar purposes or not serving any meaning at all is an even more crucial problem for app developers, which shows the next big challenge for app owners of the digitalised world; differentiating yourself from the competition and describing your uniqueness. And that’s exactly where mobile app marketing comes into play and transforms applications that were just icons in the app store into helpful everyday companions for users.
Benefits and Importance of App Marketing
As we stated before, app stores are full of apps that are doing nearly the same thing; dodging the risk of being one of the ‘dead’ inactive apps is the primal purpose behind all marketing practices of mobile applications. The oversaturated nature of app stores regularly limits app developers’ abilities to showcase their apps’ full potential; so, that’s what you’ll want to avoid with your marketing campaigns as an app owner. As you can see below, the increase in the number of apps in Apple’s App Store is relentless; in a day, more than 1000 apps are being placed among the pile of nearly indistinguishable applications.
Source: Statista
Of course, recognition and ‘not being forgotten’ are not the only reasons you will need to take specific measures for the marketing of your app; you’ll also need to try and increase your application’s profits. Whether it’s a commerce app trying to profit by selling your products, or a game or application that offers paid services, marketing is essential to increase your profits in both instances. Considering the app market will only grow from now on, a thought-out and well-planned marketing strategy is what you need to take a slice from the pie that keeps growing year by year. According to projections below, consumer spending on mobile apps will be nearly threefold by the year 2025.
Source: Statista
How to Market An App?
The process of app marketing starts with identifying your end purposes. In an effective marketing plan, increasing the number of your app downloads is not the first goal. Even though making more and more people check out your app may seem enough, that’s barely the first step of a comprehensive marketing strategy. This step is not insignificant, of course; it bears great importance for creating a positive first impression on your users, and it poses the challenge of convincing people that your app is the solution to their problem. In this step, you can use social media, online advertisements, the app store itself, and so on to reach your target market and start attracting people to download your app.
After people start downloading your app, your next goal is simple; making them engage with your app and turning downloads into profits. In this phase, your focus should be on ways you can get people to use your app as intended, like creating an account, making a purchase, sharing their email address, and so on. This way, you can make people benefit from your app to the fullest and eventually help them become regular users.
With a user base that downloaded your app and started using it to their liking, the next step in your app marketing strategy is to focus on user retention. In other words, people may have downloaded and used your app, but without a reason for them to come back again and become regular users, your app can grow only a certain amount.
Apply These Mobile App Marketing Strategies for Exceptional Growth
Know your user personas
Before starting any kind of app marketing campaign, or even app development process, assess the current state of the market and define your target audience. Be specific, thorough, and precise. Identify your user types and use those personas to design your marketing plan. They can be instrumental in deciding which channels you should focus on while attracting the customers in the first stages of your marketing plan since social media usage, thoughts about mobile apps, and general mobile screen time seriously vary depending on age.
Don’t stick to just one channel
After creating user personas, you will probably understand which channel would provide more returns for your app. But by insisting on using only that particular way to promote your app, you may miss out on some attractable customers. Use social media accounts regardless, work with influencers if needed, and publish attractive yet explicit ads on social media. And while doing all these, don’t forget the efficiency of mobile website CTA’s. Directing people from your website to your app’s download page is practical and cheaper since publishing social media ads is not as costly.
Focus on ASO
According to Apple, people decide to download an app after they search for that given app.3 So, it’s clear that you should try to increase your app’s visibility in the store, but how? Short for App Store Organization, the ASO process ensures that your app is evident in the related keyword searches, just like SEO. The right choice of keywords in the app title, clear screenshot pictures of the app, an in-app video, and various categories to help your app appear under different category pages. These minor but effective changes in your app’s store info are one of the best ways to help your app reach its target audience.
Engage with your audience
To keep your users related with your app and get them to return after a while, push notifications are the best way to remind them what your app is about and what they are missing out on. According to data provided by Kahuna, users receiving push notifications have 180% more retention than users who are not receiving notifications.4 This drastic increase means one thing; push notifications work, and when used sensibly, they can significantly increase your retention and engagement rates.
Don’t underestimate the importance of feedbacks
Nearly every app we download asks for user feedback after using it for a while. This may get irritating at some point, but they are not making a mistake either. Users providing feedback have become rare nowadays; the average number of ratings per app decreased to 100s from 5000 in just six years.5 So, don’t be too pushy, but there is no harm in asking for occasional feedback since they are the best sources of credible and valuable insights about your product. Especially, your regular users will be highly constructive in identifying the shortcomings of your app and building upon them.
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With the no-code app builder Mowico, it’s now as easy as it’s ever been to create your own e-commerce app and design it as you like. Mowico is compatible with more than 35 e-commerce platforms so you won’t have to worry about any compatibility issues. Mowico helps you turn your e-commerce website into an e-commerce application in just several hours. No-code app building solutions of Mowico also assist you during your app marketing process with its various features and easy-to-use interface that lets you design your app with just a drag and drop process. You can add push notifications and loyalty points to increase your in-app engagement or encourage your customers to create an account by displaying price information only to registered users. To learn more about Mowico and its countless useful features, get in touch with us and start your free trial!
