A Step-By-Step Guide on "How to Market an App"

"A golden thumb rule on How to market an app is embedding the right marketing strategies."

There are over 4.3 million applications that are already available on the play stores.

And once you are ready with the successful application testing, marketing the mobile app becomes one of the essential factors to be focused on.

An effective marketing strategy not only after the launch of the app but even before its launch is required.

But how to proceed with it?

How can you do it?

Here is all you need to know about it.

Let us dive into the comprehensive guide on "how to market an app" to take your application to the next level.

How to market an app? 

1. Websites

Obviously, growing the audience requires an online presence that works irrespective of geographical regions.

And do you know why you need an online presence for your applications? Well, it is because it provides legitimacy. People invest carefully, and to assure the promise and a sense of reliability, your application requires to be prominently featured across the website. It must have a presence throughout rather than just shown as a small logo on the footer.

2. Social media platforms 

“Social media has got the real buzz.”

And indeed, the number of people using social media is increasing significantly, and businesses have no idea about it. And since the number of users is increasing drastically, social media platforms are a must for promotion purposes. However, social media allows the promotions in two ways 

              · One organic

              · Another is the paid promotion. 

Organic promotions are the ones that come in the simplest form of showcasing an online presence like Instagram profiles or Facebook pages. While talking about the paid ones, PPC and other ways are practical to implement a successful marketing strategy. Put in some money behind the app promotions that will ultimately boost the discoverability of the apps.

3.Public Relations

Well, real public relations actually help. Like influencers, media, a press release, guest blogging, and many other ways can also help get attention.

4. App store optimization.

App store optimization is considered the SEO of the mobile applications world. Mobile applications need to have discoverability. And an effect of App store optimization helps get the audience's attention. But before that, for an influence effective ASO requires paying attention to the following: 

             · Is your mobile app name unique, and will it be easy for your audience to locate it?

             · Are the SEO-friendly relevant keywords properly embedded without creating keyword stuffing?

             · Does the description of the application appropriately articulate the value of the application?

             · Does your application have positive ratings?

             · Does your application have a video tutorial or screenshots outlining the highlights of the application?

5. Search Ads

Search Ads are the type of paid advertisements within the application store.

In short, whenever a user searches for the applications using a specific term, your applications appear to be the first ones in the search results.

6. Influencer Promotions

These days you often hear people being social media influencers.

Earlier, people were investing in celebrity endorsements, but the social media influencer category is currently working well. In this, the social media users with higher followers do the paid promotions of other businesses that convince the influencer's users to try the application, leading to a higher conversion rate. And the same goes for celebrity endorsements. In both ways, the application can be promoted.

7. Word of mouth

“There is nothing that can be better than word of mouth.”

People suggest using your app and getting the benefits they are already acquiring. And when it comes to digital modes of word of mouth, reviews speak a lot about the application. People share their experience with the application within the reviews. So make sure the application is free of glitches, making their experience of using the application seamlessly.

How much to market an app launch?

While launching the app, it is always good to think big. Indeed, the app launch requires grand launching, so you must consider every aspect well to get the desired leads or outcomes. However, the cost of launching an application may vary based on several factors, including the chosen ways of marketing an application. This may include whether you choose notification, push notifications, a screen pop-up while using other applications, or even the physical event.

How much does it cost to market an app?

Marketing an application is implementing the marketing strategies to the existing application. This may include various marketing strategies that may cost differently based on the type of strategies, complete personalization for a specific business, and many more. According to the research by Business of Apps, here are some cost estimates that may help you decide!  

Marketing cost category

App market research – $5k…$15k

App beta testing – up to $5k

ASO tool – $25..$1,500 / month

App marketing agency pricing – up to $25k / app

App PR outreach – $100…$300 / hour

Influencer Marketing – $10…$18k / month

Average Cost Per Install (CPI) – $1.75 / install

Cost Per Action (CPA): Register – $3.5 / install

CPA: In-app purchase – $87 / install

CPA: Purchase – $75 / install

CPA: Subscribe – $37 / install

How to launch your app in an international market? 

Launching an application on an international market level requires a specific strategy to be followed. Thus include:

1. Research the target market

The application stores are accessible in ample countries around the world. Launching the application in all these locations simultaneously is almost impossible. And that is why it is essential to perform the proper research to check on what is in demand in an international market and prioritize the most promising factors. Also, perform research on the number of downloads and the total amount spent in each country.

2. Understand the different cultures 

While discussing the various countries and launching the app big, ensure to get acquainted with their culture and customs. One of the finest ways to gain their trust is by getting to know them. So, you must understand their thinking pattern, how the country works, their beliefs, anything that makes them annoyed, and many more.

3. Localize the application to fit in

Since you are now familiar with the different cultures of the targeted countries, you need to localize the application according to their region requirements. This is essential to resonate with the new customer base, and ultimately all these will contribute to the application search rankings.

4. Test the localized version

Once you have prepared your app according to the country's local audience and optimized the application to handle various applications, you still may find that the localization process does not always work smoothly. So, you must test the application before launching the same.

5. Set up support

What happens if you have made changes to the app as per the international market and any of the locations encounter the same issues? Well, in this case, a support team with talented linguists can provide a reliable solution.

6. Think about payments 

With the app launch, there is always a pro version that requires payment processes to be done right. For instance, the platform PayPal permits accept payment in 200 countries, but the services are only supported in 25 currencies. So this needs to be carefully considered.

7. Launch and promote the application

Whenever you plan to launch the application in any new market, it will always be helpful to manage and plan everything according to the requirements at early startup. The app promotion must be done at the market of different countries and local application stores.

Several countries use popular app stores, while many stick to local app distribution platforms. So to make the app globally acclaimed, you must choose to get it distributed on the local platforms. And to enhance the reach, you can also choose the dedicated social media platforms for each language and can also choose to run the ads online.

Also, getting in touch with the local influencers can optimize the search. 

Final Takeaway! 

So you have successfully developed the application and tested the same. But launching and promoting the applications require specific marketing strategies crafted specifically to the business types is essential to get the real outcome. 

And if you are the one who is developing the subscription based applications, it is essential to gather the entire data set and act accordingly and on time. With no shortcuts, choose to build up the in-app subscription analytics platform right way with Appflow.ai, and the outcome will undoubtedly be rewarding. 

All you gotta do is simply install the SDK and get a comprehensive subscription analysis, suggestions on how to react depending upon the application performance, remote configuration and A/B testings; all at one stop solution only!