Figure 1 A lot of work has to be done before an app is ready to download
Mobile apps have become a necessity in the modern business world. Even if your product, service, or even industry, is not exactly tech-related, a mobile app is expected by customers these days and can be a very effective way of growing and keeping a customer base.
Developing a mobile app marketing strategy is crucial to the future success of the app and your business. There are four main stages to mobile app marketing strategy and we are going to take a look at the first one here – awareness. Once you have attracted people to your mobile app, you can then move on to the next stage.
All mobile apps – from your grocery delivery app to the BetUS app for its sportsbook – need some kind of marketing behind them. By taking in this information, you will be able to adapt it for your business sector and start using a mobile app in a positive way.
Do Your Research
You may think you have come up with the best idea ever for a mobile app. But you need to be able to confidently know that for sure. There are millions of apps out there already and there needs to be a reason why people will download yours instead of the other options.
Mobile apps are supposed to solve problems in a simple way. So you need to make sure that your proposed app will solve an issue in a way that hasn’t been done before. This is one area that you should spend a lot of time on, as you do not to be months into development and suddenly realize that your app is not needed.
Build User Personas
All that research should leave you with a pretty good idea of what your typical potential customer is like. By building a user persona you will be able to road-test your mobile app to ensure that is something that they will need. This user persona can then be used throughout the app-developing process.
You will probably find that you will need to build multiple user personas to get a fully-rounded view of your app’s capabilities and strengths. Once you have identified what your potential customer base is looking for and how an app can help with that, you can design and develop with a plan in mind.
Create an Engaging Website Landing Page
You will now have used your market research to create a user persona or personas and will have a good idea of how the finished app will look. Now you need to think about your strategy for getting people to actually download and use it. This is where a well-crafted website landing page comes in.
It is important to point out that at this stage this website does not need to be overelaborate. It is really only a “coming soon” advert for the app. You should make it visually clear, with images or videos, to show potential customers what they can expect. This landing page will be the first impression for most people, so make sure it does the job well.
Use Social Media
If the general public uses apps for an increasingly wide range of activities, then their social media use is off the charts. People spend hours on their devices, on a number of different social media platforms, so it is imperative that you reach your potential customers that way.
You can start creating a buzz on social media before the app is developed and then keep that going throughout the process. First, identify the social media platforms that are more appropriate for your app and then interact with the users there. You should be able to use the market research and user personas here to good effect.
Work With Influencers
Part of your market research should have been discovering the influencers in your industry or business sector. Now you can contact them and offer to work with them to move on to the next stage. Customers want authenticity and influencers are seen as an important part of that.
The size of your budget may decide what kind of influencers you use at this point. But it is possible to do this part of the process well without spending too much money. Choosing the right kind of influencer here is very important, as they will be able to offer the authenticity that is needed without coming across as too manufactured.
Figure 2 Influencers have become a big part of marketing strategy
Content Marketing
Before you can work on making your app the one people go to, you will need to create more news around the download. This is where a precise content marketing strategy is needed most. Many of the points we have already gone through will involve some kind of content marketing, to ensure that your message is getting out there.
Blog posts – on your own startup web design and guesting on others – are crucial to building the awareness that you need for your mobile app. This can then be marketed through social media, using images as well as words, to let the world know about your amazing mobile app.
Once you have completed this stage of mobile app marketing you will be able to move on to actually getting users. You will then need to adapt your marketing strategy to be successful – and also make a plan of how to keep your customers happy. Marketing your app is just as important, if not more so, than the design and development stages – so starting off on the right footing is vital.
