Getting an app idea off the ground and into digital form can be difficult. But with over 230 billion app downloads in 2021, advertising your app idea and sharing it with your target audience is the other half of the battle.
Publishing your app doesn’t mean your audience will see it. It won’t magically download itself onto a user’s phone (unless it was U2 on an iPhone in 2014!). So how do you let your user base know you’ve got a product for them?
The age-old phrase “you have to spend money to make money” is relevant in this space. Advertising is always easier with a marketing manager, but the bare minimum with any app or service is a marketing budget. The more budget you have to work with, the easier this will be.
We’ve compiled some key marketing places to consider advertising your app and its benefits for you and your customers.
Early Adopters Club
Give your first users premium features, discounts, or perks to keep them engaged. People early to your app will already have an appetite for your product or service, as they’ll have sought it out. So, an offer of elevated status or other kinds of perks will go a long way in gaining and retaining new users.
If there is value in your app, they’ll want to stick around and share it with their friends and family. Let the early adopters help with feedback and testing other features, and you’ll have a dedicated fan base!
Social Media Advertising
There are two kinds of advertising possible with social media platforms, and both require some work and investment on your part. If you’re able to, employ a social media manager to come up with a strategy.
Organic
Build up a following on social media platforms before the app is launched. Teasing the features of your app to your potential audience can grow your initial user base before you’ve even published the app! It may take some time to grow your following, but consistency is vital.
Paid
Look into paid advertising channels to promote your application on social media apps and target your posts at specific demographics for your audience. For example, if your app is a period tracker, you could target teens aged 20-30, creating images or graphics designed to appeal to them.
Throughout your marketing strategy, keep researching trending hashtags and creating relevant content. Use it to show your current and potential audience the best of your app and how it can benefit them, and you’ll see the returns. Plus, it gives them an easy place to provide feedback to your team and help you improve your app’s customer experience.
Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat content should feature bright images and infographics, with eye-catching captions to support them. Whereas Facebook, LinkedIn and other sites with a little more content will need eye-catching, click-worthy and shareable content.
Influencers
Using influencers to promote your app and its benefits gives you incredible social media reach without playing the slow game of gaining followers or an audience. Influencers can provide your app with a ready-built and engaged audience; even more, their endorsement carries an authority of quality.
You can use real-world incentives similar to the early adopter’s club to encourage new users with affiliate codes and marketing. And with codes and links referring new customers, you can track where your users are coming from and which marketing works best.
Find influencers using Canadian PR agencies, twitter or direct messaging influencers in your relevant field to see if they’re interested in advertising. This kind of advertising will require paying or complimentary products, and you shouldn’t ask for their services for free.
Word of Mouth
Humans tend to want to share things we love with our friends and family. Tried a new restaurant that blew you away, you’ll recommend it to anyone that’ll listen!
In short, make your app so good that your customers won’t shut up about it! Nothing advertises a product better than it being good.
Pairing this with a referral reward or badge can incentivize your audience to share within the app. If you have five users, and they share with five of their friends, you’ve increased your numbers by fivefold without spending a penny.
App Store Optimization
Much like your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is designed to get your results to the first page of Google, App Store Optimization (ASO) is designed to get your app to the top of the app store search results.
Make your app more attractive and downloadable in the app store with catchy keyword descriptions, good reviews, and attractive example images.
Keywords will bring customers to your app’s door by researching what your target audience will search for and targeting those topics.
When considering this method, companies based in Canada should use Canadian app developers as they’ll have the best insight into the country’s app store.
App Store Ads
Finally, like Google and social media, the app store now has paid advertising slots when users are searching. Define your ideal demographic and advertise your services directly to your ideal audience when searching keywords relating to your app.
Your app is there to provide a service or solve a problem for your audience. Let the app store advertisement do the work for you and put your app under the nose of your new customers.
Combination
Combining the methods described above is possible, and creating a plan to use each of these strategies could work better than just one method.
For example, you could start by driving initial downloads using social media and the app store advertisements, building up your download and reviews. Take the users from this and encourage them to share within their network, rewarding them for doing so and providing them with early adopter’s benefits. Now work on these people giving your reviews to improve your ASO, constantly enhancing your description copy to improve ranking. Use your new social media following to continue to grow organically, and expand your user base with influencer marketing.
