Or at least people could if they could find it.
Developing and launching your mobile app is important, but mobile app marketing is an equally important piece of the puzzle and will ultimately give your launch the best chance at success.
But what is mobile app marketing? What are the various stages that make up the mobile app marketing process?
This article will answer these questions and show you a roadmap for mobile app success.
What is mobile app marketing?
Mobile app marketing is the process of acquiring and engaging users of your mobile app. It consists of three key components:
Acquisition: Reaching new users and pushing them to convert
Activation: Increasing the engagement levels of your users
Retention: Keeping users engaged throughout your app’s lifecycle.
People often think of mobile app marketing as a simple process. They think that apps are created solely for advertising purposes or that in-app ads are only part of this marketing process. Some companies even develop mobile apps to make life easier for their employees. Hims & Hers is known for selling a wide range of drugs including Viagra armenia mobile phone numbers database Sildenafil, Lexapro generic and antidepressants , and also runs marketing campaigns for these products.
mobile app example Hims
Source: ForHims
Hims & Hers Clubroom mobile app is all about employee convenience. They designed it as part of their marketing, as a company, and as a desirable workplace. After all, companies need to attract customers and talented people to join the team.
By following the mobile app marketing process , you can target your audience , engage with them on the platforms they frequently use, and retain these customers in the future .
What are the stages of mobile app marketing?
Research and Preparation
Mobile app marketing starts with research and preparation before your app even hits the market. During this pre-launch period, you will decide on the launch date and create awareness about your product and brand.
Before you launch an app, you should spend some time doing keyword research to learn how you can best reach your target audience . Your market research will help you know who your target audience is, what they need, how they search, and what platforms they frequently use.
You will also conduct a competitor analysis and create your app’s relevant website and landing pages for maximum impact. Make the most of social media platforms when creating awareness and engage relevant influencers who can introduce your app to their followers.
In addition to your competitor analysis, you need to examine the market as a whole. Is it oversaturated? Is there a place for you there? What are the current price points and plans offered? Once you know these answers, you can effectively put together the framework of your offering to ensure you are competitive from the start.
The awareness phase is also when you’ll start creating your targeted content marketing plan that speaks to your audience’s preferences. This requires an audience analysis.
You need to collect a lot of data about your target audience. This will help you target your SEO content strategy and marketing efforts towards them. You will need to consider a lot of information, such as:
Age
Gender
Geographical location
Preferred platforms
Purchasing habits
Income
Pain points
Likes & Dislikes
And much more
When it comes time to create content for this audience, make sure your blogs are informative and not just promotional.
Of course, content marketing is more than just text-based content.
You’ll also need striking visuals. Make sure you create eye-catching designs that will grab your audience’s attention. Using professional design templates and including images of your app is a great way to give your audience an idea of what to expect.
Finally, make sure you conduct extensive pre-release testing before launching your app. This means making sure all functionality works, load times are good, the UI is intuitive, and your design elements are engaging. Do some research up front and have members of your target audience beta-test your app and then monitor their responses. Make adjustments accordingly before launch.
Acquisition
In the acquisition phase, your goal is to increase visibility and reach new users, so you focus primarily on getting users to download your app. But this isn’t a one-time process. It’s an ongoing effort that you can improve over time based on the results you see.
The main challenges you will face at this stage are numerous competitors, crowded app markets, and gaps in your marketing plan.
But with simple planning and follow-up, you can overcome these challenges.
At this stage, you should focus on the app store first. App store optimization (ASO) increases your visibility on Google, just like SEO does for a website. There are a few things to remember as you begin your ASO plan.
These
Your app store category
Related keywords
Your app title and icon
Screenshots and videos from the app
Voice search optimization
App Store Optimization.png
Source: Gloify
Of course, app stores make it harder to get noticed organically, so you may need to give your acquisition efforts a paid boost. That’s where Google Play paid ads and Apple Search Network Ads (ASA) come in. You can target these ads specifically to your audience and get an immediate boost while you wait for your optimization efforts to bear fruit.
While it is very important to advertise your mobile app on the app store, you also need to focus on other digital channels. Casting a wide net will ensure that your app gets maximum visibility. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram have a large user base. Running paid promotions and ads can go a long way towards gaining users.
For example, if you have a mobile health app, drive new downloads by creating a website with informative blog articles on meaningful topics like what a CRNA salary is or what a travel nurse does. Encourage people to review your app and mention it in blogs.
You should also consider a strong focus on video advertising. According to Ericsson, 79% of all online mobile traffic will come from video content by 2027. With social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and gaining popularity, you can’t ignore video as a mobile app acquisition strategy.
In addition to social media marketing, you can also run a targeted Google Ads campaign that highlights your app via Google's popular search network.
By monitoring you can see the progress of your acquisition strategy:
App store interactions
App downloads
Social media participation
Advertising deals
Ad conversions
Activation
The activation phase occurs after the user downloads your app. Now you need to engage users and show them the value of your service.
The activation phase can be hampered by poor UI, bugs and glitches, and a lack of insight into what your users are doing and what’s driving them away. You need to know why (and how many) users are only opening the app once or ignoring it after opening it for the first time.
There are a number of ways to overcome these challenges. For starters, consider working with a Mobile Measurement Partner platform. These services can collect and organize your app analytics data and present it in an easy-to-digest format. Once you have all the information, you can analyze trends and make improvements through updates.
