When it comes to mobile app development, your marketing strategy needs to start before your app even goes live on the app store. Similar to any successful product, understanding exactly who your customers are and where they can be found is one of the most important aspects of app marketing. Here are a few steps you should consider before you launch your app:
1. Know Your App
Start off by looking up a list of successful and popular apps and try to figure out exactly how they are affected by their name, design, icon, and other such aspects. Try to gain as much information on this subject as possible.
● Collect a list of successful apps.
● Checkout how they are profiting by the Name, Design and icon of the app.
2. Select Important Keywords:
Keywords play an important role in successful app marketing. The term keyword can mean a lot of things in the app world, but generally speaking, a keyword is a representation of a term used by customers, which they will use to recognize what your app does. For example, the most important keyword for a game based on chess would be “chess”. Similarly, the most crucial keyword for a dictionary app would be “dictionary.” Of course, these are just simple and common examples, but for some apps, the keywords might be a little less obvious.
3. Choose A Good Name
A good name for your app is highly important. The perfect name can make miracles overnight. Your app needs to be named in a unique as well as memorable manner. However, keep in mind that this name needs be termed with the most important keywords as a part of that name. The perfect name matters a lot in app store searches. Another thing to keep in mind is to make sure you are not infringing on someone else’s copy righted name. In such cases, there is a high chance your app may be rejected or removed from the app store.
● Memorable
● Include Most important keywords
● Don’t infringe on trademarks
4. Find Your Competitors
Once you have decided what keywords to use, you can move on to carrying out some research on your competitors. Ask yourself some questions; which apps have the highest ranks when searched using your keyword? What features do those apps contain? Do they target any additional keywords? These and other questions will help you figure out how to refine your app.
Irrespective of how unique you think your app idea may be, given the number of apps on the app store, chances are strong that there will be several apps similar to yours. Keep track of all your initial competitors without filtering any out. Carry out research on these potential competitors and scale it down to the top 4 or 5 heavy contenders based on similarity to your app and the competitor’s success.
5. Choose the Right Category
Choosing the right category for your app is yet another important aspect to successful app deployment. Landing on the app store’s Top Chart helps drive an immense number of downloads, which makes choosing the right category imperative for the app’s success.
Before choosing a category, it is important to weigh the pros and cons of every category. Categories like Lifestyle apps are easier to climb as opposed to categories like Social media apps, simply because the Social media category attracts more downloads and users. Climbing the Social category is no easy task due to the intense competition; however if you do manage to do so, you will drive a serious number of downloads. Therefore, sit down and calculate the risks of every category and its pros and cons before you decide on which category is best suited to drive the highest number of downloads for your app.
● Estimate the numbers of downloads you will need to rank.
● Calculate Your Strength: The More competitive a category, the more downloads you will get.
6. Create an Amazing App Icon
An app’s icon is the very first thing that a user will notice about your app and good business sense dictates that the first thing that a user notices should leave a lasting impression. Design your icon is a manner that conveys your apps purpose in a clear and concise manner. Additionally, your icon should also leave a positive impression on a viewer as that is how the user will recognize your brand. Refrain from going with a stock or boring icon as this will only serve to lower your downloads. It is a well know fact that viewers are more likely to respond positively to icons that stand out and have their own unique touch.
● Your Icon Matters a lot!
● Make it amazing and eye-catching.
● Deliver style and purpose.
7. Take Great Screen Shots
Screenshots! Good screenshots drive a high number of downloads. Convincing your visitor to check out the details of your app is not enough to land a download. You need to offer them more and entice them into hitting that download button. Screenshots are a good way to achieve this goal. Make sure that your screenshots are not only memorable and informative, but also peak the visitor’s interest.
Apart from exciting the visitors, your screenshots should also give them a clear idea of what your app is all about. Given the hustle bustle of today, not every visitor is going to go through the trouble of reading your entire app description. Make sure your screenshots provide this information to the visitor in a visual form.
8. Make An Attractive App Demo Video
● Explain what the app does.
● Make them memorable informative and exciting.
● Convince users to download/buy the app.
9. Build a great landing page
Do not underestimate the power of the web in terms of what it can do for your mobile app. The web is a great way to increase your potential customer base. If someone was to write an article or blog about your app, chances are, they will provide links to either your app page on the app store or your website. Unfortunately, the app detail page on the app store is limited and non interactive. Creating a web page that provides this functionality is a great way to gain conversions.
Your web page could even include a web version of your app that lets users get an interactive feel for your app by engaging with it on the web. This is a great way to show the users exactly what they stand to gain by downloading your app.
● Write Good Title and Description.
● Optimize the Web Page.
● Include Screenshots and App demo Video.
● Ask users to put the email ID so when app went live you can send them emails.
And now you’re ready to launch your app on the app store and watch it climb the popularity charts. To find out more about the marketing steps you can take after the launch of your app, find our blog on post-launch strategy for mobile app marketing.
By: [googleplusauthor]
Manish Jain is the co-founder and Managing Director at Konstant Infosolutions. He is responsible for the overall operations of the company and has played a major role in bringing Konstant up from its humble beginnings and, with his immense energy and drive, transforming it into a globally trusted name in IT solutions.
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