With mobile applications projected to generate over $935 billion per year by 2023, it’s clear the humble app has become a viable way to do business. This makes sense, considering in 2021 alone, 92 percent of mobile time was spent using an app of some form. For the businesses looking to capitalize on this, or simply add a little value to their current offering by developing an app, many quickly realize that creating the app itself is only half the work. As with any business endeavor, it’s doomed to fail unless the desired users actually know about it.
The success of an app depends on how well it’s promoted before, during, and after launch. Strategies to do this effectively, however, are few and far between. To help businesses struggling to get app downloads, I’ve put together a guide of personally tried-and-tested strategies for app promotion. Read on to learn more.
Tell Everyone
Telling people is the easiest way to promote a new app, but it’s not quite as simple as walking down the street and telling everyone along the way. Although this is a method that can work (albeit, while making people a little uncomfortable), the first step in telling everyone about your new app is to identify the touchpoints your business already has. Most have a website, social media, and email database as a standard – but how can a business use these to promote their app?
Making an announcement on a company website is the simplest way to let people know about your app. Vitally, this announcement should be positioned at the top of a homepage, so it’s the first thing new and returning users will see when they click on to your page. A popup or banner can be added to other pages to capture those who may have clicked on via a search engine. Similar messaging and graphics can be repurposed into promotional emails, which are distributed to the businesses email database – the key here, however, is to keep the email brief, explain what the app does, and include an easy download link.
Social media is another avenue for promoting a new app. Utilizing the same graphics and copy made for the website announcement can be repurposed into social media posts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. These posts can be ‘boosted’ with paid advertising to extend reach and capture more potential users. Each of these announcements should start at least three to four weeks before the app launches to build enough hype and awareness.
Incentivize Reviews and Usage
As with any product or service, reviews can make or break the success of a new app. In fact, 82 percent of customers will use reviews as a guide while making decisions about products or services. Additionally, and unique to apps, they can forge credibility within app store interfaces and rise to the top of search results. As such, a key way to promote an app is to incentivize reviews through discount offerings or similar. Essentially, the idea here is: the more reviews an app has, the more likely it is to be seen by a wider audience.
Similarly, incentivizing app usage can make a big difference when promoting an app. Through creating a referral code, existing users can be rewarded when their family or friends sign up. Additionally, download and sign-up offers – 70 percent discount for the first 50 downloads, for example – can be effective promotional tools that draw more and more customers.
We All Know About SEObut What About ASO?
ASO, or App Store Optimization is the process of maximizing app visibility and conversions in the app store itself. This process involves keyword research and strategization, store rankings, ratings and reviews, appealing aesthetic palettes and more. Through focusing on these elements, developers can ensure their app not only has great chances of being featured on the home page, but can improve app search results tremendously. It also results in a much more visually cohesive homepage that is as discoverable as possible – ideally making it the perfect tool to capture a wide audience.
App promotion is not necessarily a simple feat, but it is possible. Through finding the right combination of ideas and strategies based on the tools and touchpoints you already have at your fingertips, a business or development team can effectively promote their app and ideally, capture the maximum number of users possible from launch.
References:
By 2023, mobile apps are predicted to generate over $935 billion https://www.statista.com/forecasts/1262892/mobile-app-revenue-worldwide-by-segment
In 2021, 92% of mobile time was spent using mobile apps
https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2021-global-overview-report
82% use reviews when making decisions
https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/
Author: Baskar Agneeswaran
Baskar Agneeswaran is the CEO of Vajro. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Vajro is a mobile app
platform exquisitely crafted for Android and iOS apps that brands can use to build native Android and iOS apps in just sixty minutes without writing a single line of code.
