Marketing and marketing management are constantly reinventing themselves: In the past 20 years alone, the strategies used for this have only undergone enormous changes and adjustments through the Internet and finally through social networks and Web 2.0. Finally, the digital revolution with the serial use of applications presented a new challenge, which ultimately required its own special marketing strategy, app marketing.
The Challenges of Modern App Marketing
App marketing describes all forms of marketing with which the marketer markets a single app. Their marketing is becoming increasingly important for their success: At the beginning of 2018, there were over 3.5 million apps to choose from in the Google Play Store alone. Added to this is the fact that the number of downloads continues to grow, and in 2017, over 175 billion app downloads occurred worldwide.
The enormous numbers and growth rates show the difficulties in successfully placing apps: the competition is confusing and increases exponentially over the years. The basis for success is, therefore, no longer just to develop a good and innovative app but also to market it well. Otherwise, it is simply lost in the app mass.
4 Tips to Improve Your App Growth Rate
In order to position your app efficiently and differentiate it from other products, good marketing is essential. We'll show you the four most important things to consider to increase your app's growth rate.
1. App Store Optimization
The numbers from the Google Play Store and other app stores show an important point that should be considered when developing the app: App Store Optimization (ASO). ASO works similarly to the already established Search Engine Optimization and transfers the principle to the search results for apps in the respective stores. Factors are relevant here, such as the name of the app and its description, which make it easy and quick to find. The description of the app, in particular, can not only be used here to present the app as precisely as possible. It can also provide the right keywords to be found by the relevant users. In addition to these direct factors, the ASO also takes into account indicators such as the average rating of the app or its number of downloads over time.
2. Multi-Channel Marketing
Another similarity to previous professional marketing lies in the marketing via the highest possible number of different channels. Multi-channel marketing not only uses the internal capabilities of the stores via ASO but also accesses the full potential of all relevant distribution channels. This includes marketing via social media, websites and landing pages, email marketing, blogs, and guest posts, influencers, or paid ads. This clearly shows the overlap with classic web marketing strategies, but this has a number of advantages. The different strategies of the individual platforms can be adopted here, such as the establishment of an efficient social presence.
3. Going Viral
The best development that an app can take is when it goes viral. However, the processes that lead to it are too complex and unpredictable to be guaranteed. Nevertheless, there are some prerequisites that lay the foundation for the development of viral development. For the launch of the app, the app can be offered free of charge for a short time after a marketing campaign upstream, premium content unlocked, or bonuses issued to early users. Subsequently, regular updates or event promotions and their appropriate publication keep the attention high. The social presence and good networking of the app with social networks play a special role here.
4. Reviews & Referrals
The social interaction options within the app are closely linked to the distribution via social media through review and rate options. Good user ratings are not only one of the most relevant selection criteria for apps, but they also expand the popularity of the app, similar to the effect of mouth-to-mouth marketing. These effects, in turn, support the likelihood that the app will go viral. Other possible uses of customer interaction are expanding marketing to referral marketing, i.e., referral marketing. This can be achieved by implementing options that allow users to recommend the app.
The Right App Marketing Strategy for Success
App marketing is playing an increasingly important role in the course of the digitalization of society and the exponentially increasing use of mobile devices: projections assume that sales of over $200 billion will be generated via apps by the 2020s at the latest. The increasing relevance of app marketing is still connected with the fact that the market for apps is already highly competitive, even to the extent that it tends to be more confusing. The efficient placement of a newly developed app is becoming increasingly difficult. With the tips presented here, you can manage to stand out from the crowd despite the enormous competition, effectively increase the growth rate, and ultimately secure long-term success.
Author Bio: Melissa Swindler
Melissa Swindler is Content Writer who writes for Hyperlink InfoSystem, a mobile app development company in New York, USA and India that holds the best team of skilled and expert app developers. She is a versatile tech writer and loves exploring latest technology trends, entrepreneur and startup column. She also writes for top app development companies. The author photo is a free stock image.
