How to Create an Actionable Mobile App Marketing Plan

Did you know that Apple rejected almost a million apps in 2020? Even if your app makes it onto the App Store, you need a strong app marketing plan to promote it and get downloads.

Some of the best apps can go unnoticed because they don’t have a promotion plan.

Keep reading to learn how to create a marketing plan to help your app reach the top of the charts.

The first step to creating an app marketing plan is to do some market research. Researching the market will help validate your app idea before you have to spend time and money promoting it.

You can also use market research to see what your potential users like or don’t like in an app. Knowing your ideal user may also help you determine where to focus more of your marketing efforts to get the best return on investment (ROI).

After researching the market, you might learn a lot about your ideal user. For example, perhaps you thought that they would want to follow you on Instagram, but maybe they’re more active on Facebook.

When researching the market, take notes on your findings regarding where to market your app and what customers want. The information can help you later on when creating your app marketing plan. 

As you research the market in general, take a look at your biggest competition. Look at their app page on the App Store and Google Play, and consider how the marketers promote that app elsewhere.

When searching for the app pages, read through some of the customer reviews. Figure out if there are any trends, such as poor user experience or unresponsive customer service.

Use that information to determine what sets you apart from similar apps. Maybe you offer prompt customer service, or you allow customers to pay a one-time fee to eliminate ads.

Another critical part of mobile app marketing is to have a launch date. Even if your app is still in the design phase, you can create a marketing plan to build interest now.

Once you do release the app, you’ll have an audience who already wants to download the program. When choosing a launch date, consider what’s practically based on the current development stage.

In some cases, your app may be ready to launch within a month, so you can get users quickly. However, don’t wait until your app is almost ready to launch to start promoting it.

Use the pre-launch stage to generate excitement. If it will be a while before the app launches, you can take plenty of time to market it and educate people on the upcoming software.

When creating a marketing plan for a mobile app, outline some goals. A good way to set app marketing goals is to create SMART goals.

You can make your goals specific and measurable by including a number of downloads. Relevant means that your goals shouldn’t be about the success of another product.

And setting timed goals gives you a deadline for when you want to reach the goal. Setting an achievable goal can be difficult, so consider what goals you’ve reached already for inspiration.

Some app marketing strategies can be more expensive than others, so create a budget just for the app. The budget should have some money ready for ads or hiring someone to help with marketing.

Figure out how much you can afford to spend on app marketing either in total or per month. Knowing your budget will help you choose which marketing strategies to focus on.

Even if you plan to use organic marketing and do it without a marketing assistant, you need a budget. That way, you can determine how much time you can afford to spend on marketing each month.

As you get downloads and make money from the app, you can adjust your marketing budget. You may choose to hire more people to help, or you can spend more on ads.

If you want to create the best app marketing plan for your app, you should consider hiring people. You can find people who can help with certain aspects of marketing, such as social media or email.

Hiring experts will save you time so that you can work on other aspects of the app. And the experts will know more about their individual specialities, which can make your marketing efforts more successful.

You don’t need a huge marketing team, so don’t let that stop you from hiring someone. Even having one marketing assistant can take some of the work off your plate when you want to market your app.

It can be tempting to try as many app marketing strategies as you can find. However, you should focus on a few marketing channels that will get you results, such as downloads or other metrics.

Before you create a new social media profile or start some other marketing method, consider how it will help. Make sure your ideal users are on the platform so that you won’t waste time on it.

Review the results from your market research to determine your potential for success. While an app for teenagers may have success marketing on TikTok, that’s not necessarily the case for an app geared to professionals.

If you want to test different platforms in the future, create profiles there now to reserve your username. Then, you can keep competitors and other people from pretending to be you.

One of the best app marketing ideas for most apps is to have a website. The site doesn’t need a ton of pages or a complex layout, but it should act as a hub for your app.

You can use the website to build intrigue before you launch the app. When the app is live, add a download button to help people find the right app without having to search for it.

Write website copy for the web page to help promote the app. You can include a call to action in the copy to get people to download the app or sign up for emails on app updates.

Your website doesn’t have to be one simple page; adding a blog to it can be a great way to market your app. If your market and competitor research showed that a blog is useful, you should use one.

Start adding blog posts as soon as you can so that you can educate potential users. Your blog can also help you take advantage of search engine optimisation (SEO) to get more traffic.

Use blog posts to talk about the app in general or specific features and benefits it will offer. Then, add a link to download or get updates to the end of each post to capture readers as leads or users.

You don’t need to publish a blog post every day or week. However, you should stick to a consistent schedule to help fans know when to expect new posts and updates on the status of your app.

Just like you should before starting a blog, you should look at your market research before joining social media. It can be a fantastic way for some apps to reach users.

However, not every social network will allow for successful app marketing. Make sure you choose a platform that your ideal customers use and where you can promote your app regularly.

When joining a new social network, consider what type of content you can post to help develop a posting schedule and strategy. You may need to experiment to find what works, so give the platform time to generate results.

When you’re ready to set up your app in the App Store or Google Play, utilise app search optimisation (ASO). You can write your app title and description to target certain keywords.

If you’re releasing a project management app, you can optimise the text for that topic, business, or productivity. On the other hand, a music tuning app might want to focus on keywords related to music and musicians.

You can find potential keywords to use by looking at your competitors. See how they write their description and if any keywords stand out that you can include in your app listing.

Also, think like a potential user to figure out what search terms they may use. Then, you can add those terms to your description, and your app can climb the search ranks and reach the top.

KPI stands for key performance indicator, and knowing your KPIs is vital for your marketing plan for a mobile app. Without KPIs, you won’t know what numbers and metrics to track to determine your app’s success.

Example KPIs to track include:

Consider the numbers you want to focus on in your app marketing plan. For example, a lot of downloads may look like your app is doing well, but that doesn’t mean everyone is using the app.

The conversion rate and number of active users may be more important for you to know. That way, you can update your app to encourage more people to use it frequently.

After you figure out your KPIs and start marketing your mobile app, you should review your analytics at least monthly. If you have a website, look at how many views it got and the source of those views.

Look at the number of downloads and active users and consider how those numbers compare. Consider how many people view each of your posts on social media and how many people click on links to your site or the app listing.

Then, figure out the source of those clicks and views. Maybe you get a lot of clicks to your website from social media, or perhaps SEO is the more successful strategy.

Make a record of these things so that you can compare them from month to month. Your numbers can give you an objective look at how your app marketing plan is doing.

If you find that one marketing method, such as SEO, is most effective, adjust your marketing plan accordingly. Spend the next month optimising your website for relevant keywords to get more traffic.

And if marketing on Instagram isn’t getting you anywhere, take a break from the platform. You can still keep your profile, but don’t spend as much time taking photos or writing captions.

Whether you hire someone to do your marketing or not, you need to spend your time and money wisely. If you learn that none of your marketing methods are successful, consider trying something new.

Either do more market research or review the research you’ve done to see where you can promote the app. Maybe that means joining a new social network or focusing more on your email list.

If this isn’t your first mobile app or business, you may have ideas of how to market your current venture. However, what worked for a previous app or business might not work now.

For one, your current app might have a different target audience than an app you released in the past. You also have to consider that social media networks change their algorithms.

Even if your current app has the same users as your first business, social media marketing strategies need to change. That way, you can reach the audience now.

Whether you’re about to launch your app or are still in the planning stage, you need an app marketing plan. Without one, you’ll have to struggle to get downloads and make money.

Fortunately, you don’t need to be an expert in marketing to create a solid strategy. From market research to review your analytics, take time each week to create and update your marketing so it’s as successful as possible.

Do you need help creating a website for your mobile app? View our services and book a free consultation today.