10+ Mobile App Marketing Tips That’ll Help Increase App Downloads

In 2013, analysts expected mobile phone apps to generate $25 billion by the year’s end. And they had a good reason for coming to this conclusion.

Vendors were set to ship 919 million smartphones that year, and Apple and Google had more than 700,000 apps in their app stores at the time.

But five years have passed since then, and, some of these numbers have no doubt risen. The mobile app industry has become much more competitive.

This is why you have to develop an effective mobile app marketing campaign today. If you don’t, your app won’t stand a chance.

Fortunately, you can take actionable steps to increase the buzz surrounding your app. And we’re about to give you thirteen mobile app marketing tips that will help you do just that, so keep reading.

So you’ve developed a lovely app, and you’re confident in its ability to capture people’s attention. In order to capture people’s attention, though, you must first make sure that they can locate the app in the app store.

You can do so by optimising your app.

The first steps entail including the right keywords in your app’s title and description. But the process is more complicated than that. For this reason, we recommend that you seek professional help if you’re confused about what to do next.

That said, having a competent app developer take a look at things is never a bad idea.

Some of you are probably thinking that we’re out of our minds right now. Why, after all, would anyone create an entire website for a mobile app?

Here’s why:

Mobile app stores have gotten crowded. There were over 700,000 mobile apps on the market in 2013. So there are probably hundreds of thousands more available today.

Of course, this makes those app stores insanely competitive.

In any case, you’ll have to optimise your website accordingly. Just keep in mind that the criteria for optimising a website are different from the criteria for optimising a mobile phone. So make sure that your website design and page copy meet those criteria.

When you decided to create a mobile phone app, you probably didn’t think you’d be spending any time writing guest posts. If, however, you want to earn mentions and backlinks to your app’s site, you have little choice in the matter.

Luckily, the same rules that always apply to guest posting apply here as well:

That’s pretty much it. Now get started on vetting those sites.

Here’s a fun fact:

Thirty per cent of buyers are more likely to buy a product if it has been endorsed online by a non-celebrity. And that number jumps to 70 per cent if you only poll millennials.

Given those numbers, you can’t afford not to reach out to influencers. They have a considerable amount of sway over consumers today.

But not every influencer will be good for your mobile app marketing campaign. You should stay away from influencers with tons of followers.

If Instagram is your platform of choice, for example, try going for influencers who have about 10,000 to 25,000 followers. They tend to have higher engagement rates than their peers.

Spying on your competitors is necessary before you unveil your new mobile app. You need to know what’s considered competitive these days.

And one way of spying on these competitors is by simply looking at the reviews their apps have received.

These reviews reveal what those apps have done correctly and tell you what they’ve done poorly. Once you have that data, you can take it and build an app that’s similar to your competitors’ apps.

But better at the same time.

If you’ve ever used a mobile app, you’ve probably seen one of those message boxes that suddenly pop up and ask you to review the app. Perhaps the message annoyed you.

But did it make you stop using the app forever? We’re sure it didn’t.

In fact, you might have eventually gotten around to reviewing that app. Those constant reminders do, after all, make it hard for you to forget to leave a review.

The point is that the app’s developer encouraged that review. And that’s the kind of strategy you have to implement to encourage your users to review your app.

Those of us who have friends who play way too many Facebook games know the horror of finding ten-game requests waiting for you whenever you log in. Though those requests might annoy you, app developers love them.

They’ve effectively encouraged app users to do their dirty work for them. Each time a user shares a link to the app or sends a game request, the app receives a free promotion.

Even if you don’t download the app in the end, you’re now aware of the app. You might now mention it to a friend or eventually, download it once your curiosity gets the better of you.

Okay. So maybe people don’t want to use your mobile app as frequently as you’d hoped.

But that’s okay. That’s what contests are made for.

There are many varieties of app-related contests for you to choose from. You can, for example, host a giveaway in which you reward a user just for downloading your app.

Or you can host an in-app contest that encourages people to use your app for longer. You could give the winner some in-game currency or an in-game boost of some sort.

How, though, are you going to get people to realise that those contests exist? Word of mouth, after all, will only earn your app so much publicity.

How about investing in some Facebook ads?

You can’t ever go wrong with Facebook’s advertising program. Its targeting options are impressive, so you shouldn’t have a problem reaching your preferred audience.

Not only that, but a large percentage of Facebook’s users access the site via a mobile device. This means that they’re already using a device that’s compatible with your app.

Many people have suggested that Twitter is either dead or dying. They take one look at the numbers, see that it doesn’t have as many users as Facebook, and immediately make this assumption.

And they’re wrong. Twitter isn’t dead. It has hundreds of millions of active monthly users.

It also has something that will help you market your mobile app:

An option to promote your tweets.

Like Facebook’s ad platform, this option allows you to pay for reach. Keep in mind, however, that Twitter’s targeting isn’t as in-depth as Facebook’s. The hashtags you use in your Tweets are the brunt of your targeting options.

Twitter isn’t the only platform some critics like to cast doubt on. Some take shots at the image-sharing platform Pinterest. Others laugh at Reddit’s advertising platform.

The joke, however, is lost on us. Especially since well-targeted Reddit ads are much cheaper than Facebook ads.

Despite such low costs, Reddit offers thousands of niche communities. Further still, its users spend over 16 minutes a day in these niche communities. This number is impressive when you consider the fact that Facebook users only spend about 10 minutes on the platform each day.

These numbers suggest that marketing your mobile app on Reddit isn’t a bad idea.

Just be careful about which communities you advertise your app in. Advertising your app in tons of niches can be tempting, but it could yield poor results. In order to get the best results, stick to subreddits that are closely related to your niche.

We’ve talked about the most popular ad platforms out there so far. We don’t, however, want you to think that those are your only options.

There are hundreds of mobile-specific ad networks out there today.

Choosing one of these networks might be a smart move if your budget isn’t huge. Some of these networks are much cheaper than giant networks such as Facebook’s ad platform. Furthermore, they’re less competitive than some other services.

Let’s get real:

Many app developers spend a lot of time hoping that their apps will go viral. But the truth is that most apps won’t go viral. Virality isn’t something you can orchestrate whenever you’d like to.

You can, though, design your app in a way that encourages virality. And we’re not just talking about encouraging halfhearted social shares. We’re thinking more along the lines of getting people to actively refer their friends.

If that sounds confusing, think about those popular apps which pay users for referring friends. Many of these apps embody virality because they easily exploit users’ desire to make free money.

Of course, we’re not saying that you have to give away free money. There are other ways to go viral.

Regardless of which mobile app promotion strategies you rely on, consistency is vital. Your app likely isn’t going to be an overnight sensation. If you stick with it, though, you might just see your app rise to the top.

And if things don’t go as planned? You can always contact us to book a free consultation. We’d love to talk about mobile app marketing strategies with you.