Hours of design.
Hours of development.
Hours of testing and refining your app.
You’ve spent a very long time creating the perfect app for your business, but despite your careful planning and your beautiful design, your app simply isn’t resonating with your audience the way you think it should. Could it be less a case of design and more a case of being lost in the crowd?
There are hundreds of apps out there, and unless yours stands out from the crowd in some way, you’re going to feel the silence that comes from being just one in a sea of many.
Of course, you’re not resigned to this fate. After doing so much work and investing so many resources, your app is probably just what your customers need – they simply may not realize it yet. Your job is to make them aware of what you’re offering and to sell it to them (even if it’s free) for the many clever purposes it was designed to do. You’ve got to reach customers and let them see the amazing app you’ve created.
This is the essence of marketing, and even if you’ve tried a few things, here are a few more ideas that might just make the difference for your app when it launches.
Table of Contents
1. Tell Customers Your App is Coming
Let customers know that your app is coming. Make announcements on your website. Include a blurb in your newsletters. Announce it through a video or two. Laying the groundwork for your real launch will help spread the word and build a bit of anticipation.
2. Let Influencers Hype You Up
Influencers in your industry can provide a big push for your new app. Ask influencers at every level to check out your app and offer some reviews. Make the app free for the influencers, of course, and request honest feedback. Customers will appreciate your appeal for honesty and hopefully you will see a big jump in usage.
3. Tie Your App to Your Website
You should have a prominent banner on your website advertising and promoting your own app. The app and website should be paired together, and every time someone clicks on your website, they should be reminded that there is an app available and that they should be using it for convenience’s sake.
4. Have Your App Featured in Your Own Blog
If you have a blog associated with your website or company, you should have a post entirely dedicated to how your app works and some of the special features that might not be readily apparently. You should also have a banner or mention of your app permanently on your blog so that it is always there as a reminder.
5. Have You App Featured in Someone Else’s Blog
If it’s good to have your app featured on your blog, it’s even better to have it mentioned on someone else’s. You don’t have to ask every blogger in your industry to review your app, but do ask a few others to take a look and include a small review. These don’t have to be major influencers in your industry – it could be part of an industry round-up or a small mention, but every bit helps!
6. Include the App in Your Emails
If you are sending out regular emails to customers, mention your app in every one of them. Put a small line at the bottom of the email or a small blurb off to the side reminding customers that you have an app that they can benefit from using. If they see a reminder often enough, they might remember to download the app and give it a try.
7. Showcase the App via Video
Video is huge. If you haven’t already started video marketing for your company, this might be a great time to start. Make a video reviewing what your company is about and then make a follow-up detailing the options and features that are available through the app you’ve created. Walk customers through and show them what they are missing by not having your app on their mobile device.
8. Use Multiple App Stores
If your app is only available in the Google Play store or the Apple store, you may be missing out on some market share. Consider putting your app in other, less prominent app stores like the Amazon App Store and Opera Mobile store. Be available everywhere for all potential customers.
9. Apply for Recognition and Award
If you haven’t already, apply for some of the industry awards for the sake of recognition. Many award companies are not going to come knocking on your door. You must find the different types of recognition that is out there and fill out the applications and go through the necessary steps to be recognized and hopefully pick up an award or two along the way.
10. Use SEO for App Promotion
It’s common sense to promote your app through mobile technology. But you should also be promoting your app through traditional search engines. SEO can help customers find your website, but it can also help them find the link to download your app and information about your app. Use traditional and effective SEO techniques so that download pages and app description pages rank highly in search engines.
11. Use Social Media Connections
Social media has a wealth of possibilities when it comes to marketing, and this is true for apps as well. Use your social media accounts to show short videos or offer write-ups and infographics about your app. Let followers know it’s out there and what it can do. Be present to answer questions and respond to feedback that may come from your social media promotions.
12. Create a Powerful App Icon
It may seem like a small thing, but your app should also include a powerful image. Every app should be immediately recognizable by the app icon, and your app shouldn’t be an exception to that. Brainstorm ideas about a simple design and contrasting colors so that your app stands out in the crowd on the app store and later stands out on the phone or mobile device of your customers.
13. Sell with Screenshots
No matter which app store you’re using, take some excellent screenshots to really showcase what your app is about. If you get people interested enough to take a closer look at your app and what it is offering, you need to seal the deal by making it look absolutely irresistible with the images and functions you choose to feature.
So much goes into developing a great app. The research, the design, the development and the maintenance are all sunk costs. You want every piece of your business to be successful, but with so much potential in the mobile marketplace, your app must make the cut. Fortunately, a successful launch doesn’t have to be beyond your reach.
Moss Clement
Hi Oleg,
The tips in your article are great. I love the concept of announcing your product to your audience. In fact, a pre-launch announcement is a great way to get people to know about your app. An amazing landing page with a powerful call-to-action is also amazing.
Thanks for sharing.
Oleg Kaluger
Hey Moss,
thank you for the comment,
always great to hear positive feedback!
Yes, a prelaunch announcement helps a lot in building a buzz and expectation around the app launch, that way you have an interested audience even before the app is live,
thanks,
– Oleg
Donna Merrill
Hi Oleg,
This is the perfect marketing strategy! It all starts with the prelaunch, then getting the word out on our own website as well as others. Social media does play an important role. The best thing to do is video marketing. When doing so, people immediately build that trust issue we all need. They are able to see us and understand how we handle ourselves.
-Donna
Oleg Kaluger
Hey Donna,
Thank you so much for the comment,
Totally agree with you about video marketing – youtubers are the best influencers today, they have a huge subscriber base on their channel and on top of that, most of them are active on their social profiles with big followings where they promote their videos.
thanks,
– Oleg
Ryan Biddulph
Gotta let your customers know the app is on the way Oleg. Smart tips! Big fan of pre-releases, or simply teasing folks to let ’em know products or services are on the way. Why not drip tease your release, to simply whet your follower’s appetites? Keen insights here dude.
Ryan
Oleg Kaluger
Hey Ryan,
Good to see you here and thank you for the comment,
Yeah, pre-releases are fun, that way you get your audience excited before any launch,
Excellent term – did you just coined it or it’s a known phrase? – “drip tease” – sounds great!
thanks,
– Oleg
Bhawna
Really nice post.
Is it a good idea to get the app made for you Blog?
Oleg Kaluger
Hey Bhawna,
Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,
Yeah, it is a great idea, an app will keep your readers much closer to you and they will check out your posts frequently,
thanks,
– Oleg
Ashish Kumar
It is a very good idea to let the customer know about the app. Sometimes a video (Animated video ) can be really helpful.
Social media can also be helpful to create a buzz.
Oleg Kaluger
Hey Ashish,
Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,
An animated video is a great idea, we have used such videos to promote services, apps, website demos and pretty much everything to great success!
Social media, especially “crowd speaking” helps a lot in creating a buzz,
thanks,
– Oleg
Orphicpixel
When one of my client launched their app, during the development period, they are already in the marketing sessions. Putting up landing page for their app, and putting up social media accounts
Oleg Kaluger
Hey Orphic Pixel,
Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,
Yes, that is how it should be – the time that takes for the app to develop is a great time to get the landing pages up and social media accounts ready!
There is no point waiting and wasting time, crowd speaking, catching leads and other marketing methods can be deployed while the app is still in the development position,
thanks,
– Oleg
Noman Sarwar
Epic mobile app marketing tactics shared by you. ASO (app store optimization) is something vital as well when marketing a newly developed mobile app to boost the number of installs or downloads for it. Creatively designed app landing page can also work great to get desired outcomes.
Oleg Kaluger
Hey Noman,
Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,
Good to know you found the tips helpful,
Yeah, the app store optimization is a very important step, especially as the number of competitors for the apps are growing heavily,
thanks,
– Oleg
Lisa P. Sicard
HI Oleg, I’d love to have an app but I’m not sure of what I could have created to coinside with my services. It’s been on my to do list 🙂
I love your ideas for promoting it and announcing it beforehand and using screenshots. That’s something I need to do more with upcoming posts as well.
Thanks for the inspiring post here!
Oleg Kaluger
Hey Lisa,
Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,
As a blogger, you can configure your blog with your App – that way your readers can quickly check out your posts! Along with that, it can be used to notify your readers about your services.
Yeah, you can tweet and share about your upcoming posts – this is actually a great idea and unique too!
thanks,
– Oleg
Julia Ann
Hi Oleg Kaluger,
This one is really a nice post with cool ideas, Normally peoples don’t mention about their Apps, So sharing about App with customers is really nice idea.
kankana saha
Hi, pretty engaging article..but i’m always lil apprehensive before applying for app dev for my site. first it’s pretty expensive. next, being myself completely unaware of the coding style for an app, i’d never would be able to take control of its design, interface performativity and minute details. But your ideas are pretty influential.. Thank you.
Umer Idrisi
Too much information available here, I think we should blog about the app launch and its features – it will add more value to our app.
Cheers!
Oleg Kaluger
Hey Umer,
Welcome to Temok and thank you for the comment,
We have covered app launch in detail in a previous post, please do check it out,
thanks,
– Oleg
Raghav Pratap Singh
What a amazing article Oleg, very helpful for all new and old app developer
App marketing is such as hard task these days and it will consume a lot of time, after reading this I am amazed
Thanks a lot and keep it up !!
Oleg Kaluger
Hey Raghav,
Welcomme to Temok and thank you for the comment,
Agreed totally with you, the app marketplace is getting very competitive and it requires new tips and growth hacks to keep yourself on top of the competition,
Glad you liked the article,
thanks,
– Oleg
Amit Shee
This is really nice you shared . It is a very good idea to let the customer know about the app. Sometimes a video can be really helpful. This one is really a nice post with cool ideas, Normally peoples don’t mention about their Apps, So sharing about App with customers is really nice idea.
Social media can also be helpful to create a buzz.