Marketing Strategy and Digital Marketing
Table of Contents
If you think you’ve developed the world’s next big app, then congratulations, you’ve finished step one. Now, your app must contend with roughly 2.5 million apps worldwide. At this point, the worst thing you can do is ignore the market strategy process.
Mobile app development is the very definition of competitive. Without a marketing strategy, you are unlikely to get into this multi-billion-dollar industry. Unfortunately, most developers make the mistake of focusing on app creation.
If people don’t see why they should download the app, then it doesn’t matter how good it is. No one downloads a new app on a whim. The industry is vicious and requires developers to prepare ahead or face failure.
Luckily, you stumbled across this article. Strike the first blow by reading on market strategy development steps for your app. You know you have the next big thing, now it’s time to tell the world.
Define Your Product
The most important part of the marketing strategy is the app product. If you can’t explain what you made, then expect your customers to know no better. Defining the app needs a clear idea of what the app is for and why it’s there.
Getting that clear idea is easier by asking the following questions:
- What is the app?
- Why was it made?
- How does it add value?
- When is its release?
These questions are integral to app development and app creation.
Following the questions accomplishes two main things. It ensures that the app has a value that people can grasp. Furthermore, it sets the tone for the rest of your marketing strategy.
Marketing from now on revolves around the answers to these questions. Highlighting the usefulness of the app is what marketing is at its core. Once you figure out why this is the next big thing, everything else will follow.
The result is an app that is clear in its intentions and goals. This translates into an easier time marketing to people, and an easier time for your marketing team as well.
Plan a Revenue Stream
Unless you’re a philanthropist, you’re making an app to earn money. This leads us to the second most important part of mobile app marketing: price. Setting up the right price directs how people perceive your app and what steps you can take.
A revenue stream funds your marketing strategy. Furthermore, marketing is about establishing how much value a customer gets for a price.
The most frequent app payment methods are:
- Advertisements
- Paid downloads
- In-app purchases
Either of these three choices affects how people receive your app in marketing.
Indicating the presence of advertisements are best done for free download apps. While this means that you are far more likely to grow your customer base, watch out! The advertisements present in your app must not takeover or distract from the app itself.
Consider an ad structure using ads related to your app, or those remaining passive in the background. While interstitial ads that take up your customer’s screen pay more, these may cause problems. These often prevent engrossment in your app and may lead to customer dissatisfaction.
Or you can opt to market your app as a paid-for app. While this might slow down your download rate, you will get more consistent revenue. Ensure growth this way by marketing why your app is worth it.
Finally, in-app purchases allow for the unlocking of features in your app. While this might put off users, fair and rewarding in-app purchases are a great way to earn.
Know Your Target Market
Now that you know what to market and what it will cost you, consider who you will market to. Since you’ve established your apps’ value, think about who wants that value. Find an audience willing to pay for that value and start there.
That audience is your potential customer base and revenue source. They are probably the most important people outside your development team. Once you know who they are, you take the next step to make it big in the app world.
This is the point where market data becomes extremely important. Knowing your target market’s habits, trends, and actions dictate how you market your app. Figure out your market’s age group, behaviour, and environment to optimize your marketing.
Ask your app team questions such as demographics, spending patterns, and app usage. If you don’t know where to start, consider getting that data from researchers.
These insights tell you things such as which site you should market your app on, and what time they stay online. Knowing these makes your marketing more targeted and more effective.
Get the App Viral
Going viral on an app is a sure way to spread the word about your app. You can do this by establishing a feature that users are likely to share. Virality in this sense refers to how your users are likely to attract other users.
Depending on what app you’ve created, going viral depends on several things. Generally, virality requires user interaction and a drive to go viral. Essentially, viral apps need a share function and an addictive feature.
This virality explains why social media sites that produce content are so popular. Sites such as YouTube or Tiktok rely on video sharing and views. Racking up views makes the content addictive, while the share function pushes others to hop on.
The formula is simple if your app has good value, which highlights the necessity of step one. Even if you don’t think your app has the capacity to go viral, keep the idea in mind. The internet is huge regarding trends and your app has a chance of hitting that viral jackpot.
Reinforce virality through app features banking on sociability. Include app invite bonuses, shareable content, and incentives for users to get others hooked. The beauty of incorporating this into your strategy is how your users do your work for you.
Build Social Media Engagement
As a potential business, your app development team has a responsibility. You need to connect with your customers through a platform. Today, social media is that platform for businesses everywhere.
Social media is a giant in the business world today for its ability to connect people. Keeping active on different platforms ensures that you can engage online. This allows you to contact your customers and receive feedback.
Even better, engaging with customers on social media allows an avenue for free business marketing. Social media algorithms push people to posts and accounts with greater engagement. This encourages you to keep people updated as this attracts more people.
Attracting people online is a good way to use social media as your content is editable. That is, you can tailor-fit your posts and advertising to hit a certain range and age group. Posts in this instance can use language, and meme culture for younger audiences.
This curating uses the algorithm to place the post with similar content. This means that you are more likely to hit your intended audience and gain engagement. This engagement creates a loop that attracts people, further marketing your app.
This is particularly effective when it comes to virality. Now, people can share your updates, marketing ads, and other news. Getting a team to manage your app’s social media is an investment you won’t regret.
Create a Brand Image
A brand image is how users and people perceive your app. The image is an idea built up and curated to express the app and its goals. This includes the app’s marketing strategy as the two ideas are directly tied in.
To take advantage of this process, it helps to foresee what you want the app to represent. Big apps and programs often aim to be the primary app in a certain niche or sector. Recently, Zoom as a brand represents video calls and comes to mind on online meetings.
Your brand represents your app and should stay consistent with the idea. Consider hiring brand managers to tell you about how your app should seem. Afterwards, fit your app with details to boost that brand idea.
If you’re looking to present your app as stylish and fashionable, advertise it alongside fashion shows and events. The bottom line is that the idea must keep consistent with whatever your app design is. This strengthens the app and its marketability.
Optimize Your Presence
With trillions of searches a year, incorporating search engine optimization into your mobile app strategy is a good idea. People often turn to search engines such as Google to find fixes to certain problems. If your app addresses that problem, popping up first in search results works wonders.
This digital marketing is rather straightforward in its application. It begins with hiring blog writers to write about the app and highlighting good reviews. This increases the presence of the app online and ranks it higher in a search engine’s results.
The more engagement a post about your article gets, the more its presence grows. Eventually, the app rises to the point where people use it frequently. This prompts them to write reviews which further boosts the app’s ranking.
Collaborate and Grow
Starting as a new app opens your marketing to certain strategies. As digital commerce and influence are in high demand, partnering up is a great marketing option. The availability of people willing to help advertise an app for money is in no short supply.
There are several parties interested in collaborating with an app. This includes influencers who are people on social media with a large following of people. Other parties include content creators and other app creators.
Partnering up with these influencers often includes a deal that benefits both parties. If the influencer advertises your app you can penetrate a market consisting of their followers. This is possible through exchanging capital and other products.
Content creators who are also looking to gain revenue from apps can advertise on their content platform. YouTube is ripe with YouTubers’ advertising apps. For the best effect, collaborate with people with content and ideas like your app.
Another alternative is to use current advertisement methods to advertise your app. App creators often use advertisements to generate profit. Using that allows you to advertise directly into that app’s user base.
While this is an effective method of marketing, it isn’t without cons. Apps with the same purpose as yours are unlikely to ever advertise rival apps. Apps with many users also demand more payment to advertise yours.
In either method, collaboration allows for some of the best marketing. Consult with your team and figure out if the risk is worth it.
Watch the Competition
If your app is revolutionary, you shouldn’t have much competition, to begin with. For most apps, that isn’t the case. The presence of competition indicates a need for careful observation and strategy.
To beat your competitor’s marketing strategy, it helps to observe their strategy. In this case, you have two outcomes to consider. The first is to match their strategy step by step to put you in direct competition.
This works if you and your competitors have the same level of capital. The deciding factor in this instance is the quality of your app. That means that those who are confident with their app win in this high-risk gambit.
The second option is to put yourself in indirect competition. This method involves taking the opportunities your competition has neglected to cover a broader area. Newer apps may find this more effective as people are more open to the app in this instance.
Start Your App’s Marketing Strategy Today!
Your new app deserves the best marketing to realize its potential. Make sure it reaches your audience without any issue with the guide above. Use it to grow its visibility today!
Are you looking for a service who will help you with your mobile app? Contact us to find the best ways to improve your marketing strategy and grow your business. Your app has the potential to reach millions, so take that chance.