Any responsible developer who wants his authoring program to become popular and in demand should know how to promote the application. In many ways, the success of the release is determined by how many people decide to download the new product to their portable device, and you can expand the audience if you promote the program as efficiently and responsibly as possible. Any developer wants his creation to take first place in the Google app store, the App Store. It is noted that the applications that appear on the first paragraphs in the search ranking are more often installed by users than any other.
Where does it all begin
When developing a strategy for promoting a mobile application, you must first think about a prototype. Already at this stage, it is important to remember the marketing features. From the very beginning, the project should be complemented by marketing functions, thanks to which the final product will become commercially effective and profitable for its owner.
For any application, one of the most important steps is the release itself. Before you can start it, you will have to determine what the target audience is. This will help evaluate the initial popularity of the development in the first days after the release. In order for this period to give the best results, it is reasonable to prepare in advance for the promotion of the product, optimize it and choose the platforms through which the system will advance. For large applications, it is also recommended to organize a presentation through the media. As a rule, this is drawn up in the form of a press release. Another important aspect is the marketing campaign.
Attention to detail
The success of the development and promotion of the application largely depends on how the product will be presented to a wide audience. Publication day is the moment when the basic block of work to promote the project begins. The task of the developer is to achieve the highest positions in the list of issuance for targeted requests. To do this, you need to quickly ensure an influx of positive reviews, along with taking measures to increase the downloadability of the product.
In order to manage the promotion of the application on the Internet at minimal cost, you need to select the icon that is suitable for a particular project. The task of the developer is to capture spectacular screenshots and create a successful product presentation. It is necessary to use keywords, otherwise users will never see even the most useful application. The next stage is the formation of analytical codes, the formulation of the goals of the advertising campaign and the connection of thematic functional rooms. The developer’s task is to identify a remarketing audience. After that, they begin to interact with reporters. The task of the project owner is to think over the marketing promotion so that the media as much as possible and more positively write about the new product. The more effective this is, the more downloads will be in the very first days after the program is released.
Advertising: must be thorough
In order for the promotion of android applications to succeed, you will have to launch an advertising campaign. Its foundation, requiring basic financial investments, becomes the basic advertising channel, but do not forget about remarketing. An ordinary person sees advertisements in a portable mobile device through which he goes to pages on the Web. Advertising is shown to him by numerous sites, search engines, social networks and other already installed applications. As experts say, advertisements are mainly seen by a potential user of a new product, to some extent interested in the new product. True, this will only happen if the advertiser responsibly determines the parameters of the target audience to demonstrate information about their development.
Starting a primary company, resorting to the help of application promotion services, do not relax. The primary results must be carefully analyzed in order to get ahead of how well the promotion tools were chosen. Initially, advertising a project is usually a test mode. After a short period of collecting information, the data is summarized in a single table and determines which optimal rates should be used, what is the target audience and by what criteria it can be determined most effectively. In addition, according to the results of preliminary testing, it becomes clear which advertising messages give the maximum feedback. Marketing experts point out that in recent years, more and more potential buyers, as well as people looking for useful information, use portable devices. Mobile traffic is becoming one of the most important channels for getting users, at the same time - the commercial benefit of the product. In recent years, a separate area of mobile advertising has appeared in marketing. These are campaigns that are developed specifically to promote projects and products for portable devices.
Relevance of the issue
Creating and promoting applications these days is a promising and profitable area of information technology. Experts believe that portable devices that allow access to the Internet are becoming one of the main communication channels. The presence of mobile resources for any enterprise is an important aspect of the workflow, and creating your own application becomes a competitive advantage for any company that wants to expand its clientele. Applications, as well as any other product, resource, should be advertised, since it is almost impossible to achieve an impressive number of downloads in a natural way. In addition, it is extremely difficult to get numerous active users without promoting your development. Especially important role of advertising at the initial stage of work.
The development and promotion of mobile applications is the area of specialization for companies that “ate a dog” on the nuances of mobile traffic. The primary task of work is the technical audit of the project, then - the development of a promotion strategy. It is necessary to identify what difficulties exist, in which aspects it is necessary to optimize the program, how to adjust the architecture of the project, simplify the interface and make the application as a whole more efficient and easier. As part of the promotion, it is necessary to create a technical building for programmers, in which to register all the shortcomings of the finished product, and to determine methods for monitoring the correction of errors. Having finished the development of a really high-quality product, you need to select the appropriate promotion channels. There are several publicly available paid and free analytical, advertising systems. It is necessary to choose a specific one, focusing on the features of the project.
Targets and goals
Mobile application promotion cases are created in such a way that the product is in the top lines of delivery for key queries. At the same time, the task of marketing specialists is to increase the number of project downloads by resorting to various channels. Achieved indicators need to be fixed and stabilized. The task of promotion is to increase internal conversion. To succeed, you need to submit an internal ranking system in the Apple and Google app stores. Of course, specific algorithms of the enterprise are not disclosed, but it was possible to identify several factors that determine the success of the promotion. The higher the project will be in the list of applications, the more often it is installed, the higher the user ratings. The system monitors the number of comments on the project, takes into account how often users launch a particular application and how large the number of deletions from devices is. In addition, the dynamics of changes in the number of downloads is taken into account.
Modern methods of promoting the application is the use of effective tools developed specifically for the designated purpose. You must first optimize the application in accordance with the above requirements, then publish the data about it in the media and launch an advertising campaign through the context. It is necessary to organize the promotion of the project through social networks and enter into an affiliate program with other applications so that their users see a message about the new product.
Advertising: Costs Worth It
One way to promote applications is through paid downloads. This method is not clear to everyone, while others doubt the fact that it will give decent results. The approach is called motivated traffic. His idea is that the application developer pays the users who install his product. This continues until the development is among the top offers of the search engine for a given request, until it is approved at this place. At the same time, the distributor can pay people who comment positively on the project and give it good marks. It also allows you to increase the popularity of the development and improve search results. When it is possible to securely gain a foothold in the top positions, it is possible to refuse motivated traffic, since the user will come by themselves, more than paid ones, and the traffic itself will become better.
Do I need an advertisement?
It seems different that the promotion of Android applications, the promotion of products for the Apple app store is a waste of time and money. However, real studies show that about 80% of all products presented in the list of applications for "apples" in general are never installed by real users on portable devices. But successful developers annually receive more and more serious profits. The predominant percentage, of course, accounts for a variety of games. Experts believe that this market will actively develop for more than one year. A well-selling program is the true dream of a modern developer. The fact that it is feasible was demonstrated by several projects several years ago - millions of users installed them all over the world, and clones of those games are still in demand today, although the original projects have already been deleted.
No matter how bright dreams and hopes are, the promotion of Android applications and products through Apple Store is not given to everyone. Any author justifiably fears that it is his product that will be among those 80% of losers - and this prospect is frankly scary. Nobody wants to waste time, money, time. To minimize the risk of failure, you need to always remember this ratio of 20-80%. Only by realizing all the dangers and making efforts to avoid them, you can be among the 20% lucky. However, you should not rely on luck: it all depends on the calculation, promotion, strategy, planning and responsibility for the implementation of the plan. It is customary to talk about aggressive promotion, passive and moderate programs. The choice in favor of a specific one is made, focusing on the features of the project.
Passive plan
This is such an application promotion strategy that is relevant if the product is intended for a rather small audience, for everyone and everyone is obviously uninteresting and not designed for such users. For example, many banks are developing applications for access to your personal account. It is logical that they are relevant exclusively to customers of this financial structure. The conditions for using electronic wallets are similar. The task of the application developer is to create a balanced and reliable product in order to form a long-term and stable relationship with each client. The best option for the development of the situation is the formation of a closed fan community.
When developing application promotion cases, you need to remember that internal activity becomes primary. Users should turn to accounts as often as possible, and the developer’s task is to maintain an activity monitoring system and analyze how the product works. In the case of passive promotion, special networks become the most successful option for disseminating project information. Do not neglect contextual advertising. Both motivated attitudes and PR are inefficient and not suitable for current purposes. The duration of an advertising promotion rarely exceeds a month. The cost of the program will be small, while the price per user becomes higher in comparison with other options.
Moderate approach
This application promotion strategy is one of the most actively used by developers today. As a rule, it is applied in case of a specialized project. Often this approach is resorted to by those who work on ticket sales projects, promote mobile games or communicate via portable devices. For the application to be successful, you need to achieve a high position in the application store of a specific operating system. You need to remember about strong competition in the market. If the ratings are low, the product will never attract the attention of the target audience, it simply will not be seen. For the promotion to be effective, you must first analyze what the target audience is and form its core by calculating the average level of income per participant. The task of the promotion staff is organic traffic.
When developing application promotion cases, you need to remember the channels that are effective in the passive case - all of them will be useful for a moderate strategy. You will also have to resort to motivated traffic, that is, pay users for installing the application. Relatively little use of the PR tools of the program. Typically, information about a new product is published in large communities, and reviews on its work are published in thematic groups. The duration of the promotion program reaches three weeks. The cost per user is average.
Aggressive approach
Such a promotion of applications in practice is quite common, because it provides the most pronounced result in a short time period. Typically, large enterprises, as well as companies involved in publishing various programs, resort to an aggressive system. In some cases, the system is effective and beneficial to the media. The main idea of the approach is the most effective use of all possible channels for delivering information about the new product to a potential audience. It is necessary to inform the widest sections of the population about the new product - then there are guaranteed to be those who will not disregard the project.
A feature of this application promotion is large-scale organic traffic. The project will have a low cost per context user. The duration of an aggressive marketing campaign is up to two weeks.
What do we have?
When determining which system the application promotion in a particular case will be optimal, it is necessary to remember the budget constraints. According to statistics, in our country, on average, developers of games for portable devices plan to invest no more than $ 1.7 per user in the promotion of Android programs, for Apple smartphones the upper limit is 10 cents higher, and for tablets of the same company it reaches three dollars.
The growth of internal activity will require a certain amount, calculated as an indicator, depending on the type of platform for which the project is developed, and the optimal number of users. Usually this is not more than seven thousand dollars. If it was decided to resort to a moderate strategy, you should prepare for the widow's big expenses. If you want to bring the product to the top, leading lines of the rating as soon as possible, you will have to invest more than 15 thousand US dollars in the advertising campaign. The indicated price is for one month.
Is it possible to save?
The numbers mentioned above can provoke a panic attack in some. Indeed, not every developer of a potentially promising application has not only fifteen, but even seven thousand dollars. Such investments in application promotion are more common for large enterprises with good budgets. What can indie game developers and small app developers count on? Is it really the only option for them - to be among those very 80% whose products no one ever installs on their equipment?
In fact, everything is not so hopeless.There are several ways to save on project promotion. The classic version involves the collaboration of developers and the company promoting the application. If there is no money to pay for her services, you can try contacting private specialists. The freelance sphere has been developing quite actively in recent years. If you responsibly select an artist or group that will work on the application, you can reduce the budget by several times without losing quality.