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Mobile app marketing includes every interaction between the user and the app, from the first time they learn about it to the point where they become loyal users.
Effectively marketing a mobile application involves:
- Defining your target audience.
- Learning to reach them and how to communicate with the users.
- Analyzing their behavior in-app to continuously improve it.
The goal of any mobile app marketing campaign is to attract users who will not only engage with the app again but also become loyal supporters.
This guide will show you how to market a mobile application. It will also explain the three stages of a marketing strategy for mobile apps and what metrics to use to ensure long-term success.
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What is a Go-to-Market Strategy?
A go-to-market (GTM), or marketing strategy, is a detailed plan that outlines the steps to launch a product in a new marketplace.
This strategy will help you to achieve success by answering these questions:
- Which product do you sell, and how does it solve a unique problem?
- What problems does your ideal client have?
- Where are you going to sell your product? What are the markets you would like to target, and how do demand and competition in these markets look?
- How will you reach out to your potential customers and create demand for your products?
The launch of a new product requires a significant investment. No matter how innovative your product is, its success will be determined by the way it's marketed and sold.
A GTM strategy will help you avoid costly mistakes, such as launching your product in the wrong market or to an audience that is already saturated.
When is a Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy Required?
You need a marketing strategy when you launch a new product or service. This includes:
- Introducing New Products into an Existing Market: such as when a well-known clothes firm introduces beauty products
- Expanding a local supermarket into another state.
- A New Product is Tested in a Different Market: for example, a startup tech company launching its first app.
Even established companies require a go-to-market strategy when launching a new product or entering a new marketplace.
This is because market forces and competition can change quickly. If you had success in the past with a similar launch, it might not be as effective now.
Go-To-Market Strategy Vs A Marketing Plan
A go-to-market strategy is used to launch a product or expand into a new marketplace.
A marketing plan, on the other hand, outlines how you will execute your marketing strategy. A marketing plan, unlike a launch-specific approach, is more of a long-term strategy to achieve your marketing goals.
It's like an annual roadmap or a digital marketing strategy that covers the whole year. Your GTM strategy is based on your long-term plan but tailored for a specific launch.
Example of a Marketing Plan: Sephora's marketing plan uses its loyalty program to offer discounts and gifts for customers who spend certain amounts.
This is not a plan for a specific product launch. It's more of a long-term strategy to build customer loyalty.
Example of a Go-to-Market Plan: Microsoft implemented a go-to-market strategy when it launched its third-generation Surface tablet.
The strategy was tailored to the launch of the Surface tablet and addressed a specific market problem: existing tablets did not have the full functionality of a computer.
Organize your Go-to-Market strategy with a Project Management Platform
GTM strategies are complex, regardless of whether you're exploring new markets or launching a product.
You can visualize all of your tasks, their owners and dependencies in one place with the right project management software. You can also see updates in real time as your team collaborates and executes the go-to-market strategy.
The Awareness or Pre-Launch stage
This stage occurs before the launch of a product. This stage is designed to build brand awareness and increase product visibility.
How will your target audience discover your mobile application? It is essential to have a clear understanding of the brand positioning and messaging before you begin with the awareness phase.
Know a brand based on its purpose and values than by the features of individual products.
By defining a brand positioning, users can connect to your product at a deeper level. Here is a list of steps and strategies you can follow in the awareness phase of your marketing plan.
Find a Release Date
Apple's review process is stricter than Google's, which may cause your release to be delayed or even encounter a problem you did not anticipate.
You will have ample time to prepare your product for its hard launch, and you can anticipate and plan for any contingencies.
Do Market Research to Understand Your Customers
Market research is one of the most common mistakes made before a launch. You need to know the major players in your app category before you start any development.
No matter how well-planned your marketing campaign is, if you don't have a solution to a problem that users are experiencing or if there's already a successful app for the same issue on the market, your product won't succeed. App Annie offers a wealth of information about the app market.
Research and identify the blogs, groups and forums that your target audience frequents, along with any social media influencers who they follow.
These channels can help you acquire and reach users.
Create User Personas
During the awareness phase, a core objective is to identify your target users, their values, and the pain points they are experiencing.
This will help you design a product that addresses these problems. Each user persona has its unique journey. There may be several user groups that use a mobile application.
A user persona can be a fictionalized version of your ideal customer. User personas cover everything from a user's background to their mobile preferences and interests.
The user personas address the main goals and challenges that the users face. Detailed user personas provide the basis for designing user journeys and allow you to customize your mobile product according to your user's needs and preferences.
Your target user must be able to relate to everything from your branding, in-app content, functionality, features, platforms, and monetization strategies.
You can answer important questions about your target audience by creating user personas.This will assist you in creating your marketing plan. You can use the following example:
- What is the main pain point that this audience experiences collectively?
- What mobile operating systems does this audience use? What mobile operating system does this audience use?
- What type of content engages this audience online?
- What voice, tone and content style resonates with this audience best?
- Is there any pattern of visual branding that emerges in this audience's online activities?
- Are these users following any well-known influencers on social media in the product's vertical?
- What are the best platforms to use for paid advertising?
- Do these users pay for apps?
Personas can help you to coordinate your design, marketing, and business decisions.
This will attract the right audience for your product. You won't have the ability to create a product that meets their needs if you don't do proper research on your audience.
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Conduct a Competitive Analysis
Your app will face competition. List your top five competitors. Include their price, current monetization model and app store ranking.
Also, include any notable reviews and pros and cons of the user experience. You can even create a matrix of competitors to see how your app compares. Be sure that your app does not repeat poorly designed features or UX components that have been negatively reviewed by users.
Consider what makes your app different from your competitors. Consider these important factors when developing your app marketing strategy.
Create a Website or Landing Page
The number one way to install apps is through mobile websites. It is now standard to create a landing page for your product or at least a teaser.
You can reuse the video content you create for your website by posting it on social media platforms, app stores or paid advertisements. A pre-launch site is a great tool to create buzz around your app and to start building your domain authority.
Collect emails when setting up your website so that you can update your followers and inform them when your app launches and when there are new features and updates.
You can also showcase 5-star ratings on your website. Make sure that the reviews are genuine; otherwise, you risk making your brand seem unreliable.
Outreach Initiatives
Outreach initiatives are often overlooked when marketing a mobile product. Contacting influencers, publications, and bloggers is a great way to get backlinks as well as honest reviews.
List contacts who are interested in reviewing and writing about your app. Your pitch should be concise and include a link to a press kit or landing site. If they want to write about your app, you'll give them all the information they require.
Promote on Social
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are all social media platforms that you can use to expand your online presence and directly contact your target audience.
Focus on the platforms most popular among people of a certain age group if your app is aimed at them. Consider the following.
- Does it seem obvious that you have an application from your first look at your social profile page?
- Does the app's purpose seem obvious?
- Can I download the file?
Post updates about your company and any features that can get people excited about the launch.
Use a hashtag in your posts. Share not only promotional content but also entertaining and engaging material related to your application to create a community.
Create A Content Marketing Strategy
Write a blog several months before launching. You'll be a leader in your niche when it comes time to launch.
Write a simple launch post and highlight the app's features. Include screenshots and videos. Content marketing can have several benefits for your app.
- Content marketing can drive traffic, conversions and brand awareness.
- Expertise in your niche will help you build a brand for your app.
- Content that builds trust with users
- Use blog content for email marketing or social media to engage contacts
Create a Launch Strategy
After you have defined the basics of your market strategy, it is time to think about how to bring the app to market.
Consider whether you want to start with the minimum viable products (MVP). This will allow you to test key concepts and determine if you can improve your product. While this approach may reduce launch costs, it will take more time.
You can also use an older product. You have two options for the launch: a soft or hard launch.
The term "soft launch" describes introducing the product to a small group of people. This is the procedure before a full product launch. It enhances your development and assists in locating potential problems.
This is getting ready for a challenging launch. The soft launch may come first or come later. Every iOS app development company chooses to have hard launches because they are risky and expensive.
Read More: 7 Tips For Effective Mobile App Development
The Acquisition Stage
The possibilities are endless with a user acquisition plan. It's important to use different methods, be creative, and constantly refine your strategies.
As many downloads as you can in the first seven days after launch is your goal. The faster your app is downloaded, the higher it's ranking in App Store search results. As users download your app, you must track the origin of those downloads.
You can then focus on the most profitable channels and improve the rest. Here is a list that you can use to get users.
Paid Strategy
Start advertising your app on social media platforms such as LinkedIn. These are very effective in acquiring users.
You should also consider Instagram and Twitter depending on your target audience. Although the reach may not be as great, it is still effective, particularly for millennials. LinkedIn's advertising platform allows businesses to target audiences based on their interests, geography, and more.
You should keep in mind that social ads are aimed at a smaller audience. Your ads must convey the main purpose of your product within a few seconds.
Google Search Ads may be an option if you are providing a solution your users have been searching for.
App Store Optimization (ASO)
App Store Optimization is the process of optimizing your App Store to appear higher in search results and increase conversion rates.
More than 65% of all apps are found by searching directly in the App Store. If your app ranks highly for a keyword in a search, it will continue ranking for many months.
The higher you rank, the more your app is visible to potential users. The increased visibility will lead to more app downloads, and ultimately, editors will notice your app.
The title and keywords are important factors in app store optimization. Great titles can entice users to download your app and learn more. For best results, include a keyword in your title.
These keywords should be strategically placed in your listing to ensure that you appear when users are searching for these words.
Include features and benefits that the user can expect from the app. Include screenshots and videos to add value. Many people would like to use your application but can't find it because it isn't in their native language.
Localize your app to change this.
Apple's Editorial Team Will Feature Your App In The App Store If You Pitch Them
Marketers can use the App Store as another tool in their marketing strategy. Apps that are featured have a higher chance of increasing their visibility and downloading, which can lead to lower costs, more engaged users and increased revenue.
Professional App Store curators review a new app or game every day. Apple receives thousands of pitches for mobile apps.
If done well, this tactic is useful. Create a persuasive pitch that highlights what your app can do and why it is unique. Apps are featured in the App Store in different ways.
The Retention Stage
Many people spend a lot of time and effort on acquisition marketing. But if the app isn't being used, it won't generate business.
Next, you should develop a business strategy for retention marketing in order to turn your new users into loyal customers. Here are some strategies to help increase customer retention.
Establish Two-Way Communication
Your app's experience will be more successful if it is tailored to the user's preferences and needs.
Users will retain between 61 and 74 per cent of their loyalty to brands that use in-app messaging to communicate. These are important messages that you should receive, even if they don't need immediate action.
They can be warnings regarding app problems, payment failures or version upgrades. Remember that not all messages will be relevant for every user. By segmenting your audience, you can ensure that the information they get is relevant to them.
Push Notifications
Statistics show that push notifications can increase user retention. The improvement ranges from 56% up to 180%.
Users who opt-in to receive push notifications engage with their apps 88% more than those who don't. The higher the retention rate, then the better your app's ranking. It can be very effective to give users an incentive to use your app.
Mobile-specific rewards and coupons will encourage conversions.
Steps For Continued Success
You Can Ask Users for Feedback
It is an indication that people have a strong connection to your product if they use it constantly.
Allow them to share their opinion by allowing a popup to ask for a review. However, do not sacrifice the user experience. Consider when and how to ask for reviews. Make sure that it is in line with the user's experience.
The better chance of a positive review is the more strategically you place the popup.
Consider a Burst Campaign
The "burst" campaign is one of the top techniques mobile app marketers use to get their apps higher in the app store rankings.
A burst campaign involves buying paid media for a short time period - typically between 24 and 48 hours, depending on your budget.
It is important to increase your ranking by getting as many paid installations as possible.
The goal is to increase the number of organic installs, which should come when your app ranks high enough for it to be found. You should get more organic downloads with a successful burst marketing campaign. However, continuing paid advertising will keep downloads steady.
Keep the momentum going.
Referral Bonus
Offer your users a reward or benefit for promoting your app on the internet. This will encourage them to share your message.
Dropbox's 3900% growth is a great example of the power of referrals. In 2008, the company only had 1,00,000 users registered. Within 15 months, this number grew to 4,000,000 users.
Set Goals And Track Key Metrics
You can only know if your strategy is successful if you set goals and monitor the growth in your app ratings over time.
You'll also need to track the number of analytical elements throughout the acquisition and engagement stages, conversion, and retention phases of the user journey. It helps in gauging business goals in real time.
You'll want to track the following metrics: churn, DAUs (daily active users), session duration, time spent in the app, session interval and cost per purchase.
Click here for more information on these metrics. You can use these metrics to find out what worked and what didn't. You'll see your app downloads soar if you focus your resources and efforts on the most effective tactics, it will enhance business performance.
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Conclusion
Not overselling is an important part of any marketing strategy. The most effective way to market any mobile application is through word of mouth.
You cannot over promise or falsely advertise. Your messaging must be consistent, or you will end up with frustrated users and a high uninstall rate. Diversifying your marketing strategies is crucial when it comes to establishing a comprehensive app marketing strategy.
Video is a powerful medium for some people, while images and text are more appealing to others.
Make sure that app reviewers can easily access diversified content. It is important to remember that your strategy will need to be iterated and optimized continuously.
When deciding how to market your app, it is important to identify KPIs. You can identify bottlenecks by tracking the correct metrics at every stage of the user's journey. Focus on real-time metrics and use them to optimize the performance of your app.
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