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For many businesses, developing a mobile app can be a fantastic method of providing more value to their customer base, allowing your enterprise to get a leg up on its competitors. That being said, business mobile apps can be a costly digital asset, as you can see from this cost guide. Your app development project could set your business back upwards of $200,000, depending on the scope of the project.
For this reason, it’s imperative that modern businesses outline exactly how their mobile app can generate revenue or at least indirectly facilitate a swift ROI. For instance, although the Ikea Place app doesn’t generate revenue itself, it provides app users the ability to place Ikea furniture in their own home using augmented reality technology. This can then prompt app users to purchase the furniture items that they used in their virtual interior design pursuits.
Once you’ve determined how your app can be profitable, the next step is to make sure that you have the users required to generate that profit. This will undoubtedly mean marketing your app. Granted, marketing a mobile app is easier said than done, unless you’re a multinational company like Ikea that already has a large enough platform to release their own press statements.
But what do you do if you’re looking to market your own app from the ground up? And more importantly, what shouldn’t you do? We’ll be answering these questions today.
Do: factor in marketing costs to your project budget
It should be acknowledged that effective digital marketing requires a fairly substantial preliminary investment. The digital sphere is a rather competitive space, to say the very least, and as such, the attention of your target audience is becoming an increasingly priceless commodity. If you’re on a set budget for your app development project, then there’s every chance you may not have the level of investment required to effectively promote your app through social media and other digital channels where you may snare the attention of your target audience.
This is why it’s advised that you factor estimated marketing costs into your overall development budget. Doing so will help you ensure that you have the necessary resources to promote your app once it’s released.
Don’t: underestimate costs
On this same note, factoring in estimated marketing costs should always involve rounding up rather than rounding down. You want to pad your development project budget with extra funding wherever possible, just to make absolutely sure that you will have adequate funds for developing an effective marketing campaign once your app is ready for launch.
It’s also important to keep in mind that there are likely to be unexpected costs over the course of your app development project. App concepts don’t always smoothly translate from ideation to implementation, and sometimes the inefficacy of an idea may not even be registered until you get into your app beta testing phase, which is one of the final stages of development. If you ever do need to go back to the drawing board, to so speak, you’ll want to make sure that you have the budget to do so, whilst still retaining as much funding for your marketing as you can.
Do: invest in digital ads for social media
As we said, you can’t really put a price on attention nowadays, and this rings especially true for digital platforms like social media. That’s why many businesses invest in digital ads to market their mobile app directly to their target consumer. When you run ads on Facebook and Instagram, you have the unique opportunity to make sure that your ads are most visible to distinct user demographics.
Google and Meta ads also allow you to play with the audience parameters, meaning that you can potentially engage with user demographics that may overlap with your target audience. For example, consumers who are interested in video games will likely also record interests in technology, TV and home audio systems, and even home office furniture and appliances. If you have a select target audience that you’d like to market your app to, considering what markets are adjacent to your desired consumer base can help you find new opportunities, both for marketing and perhaps even for improving on your app down the line, by engaging with consumer demands.
Don’t: copy-paste your digital ad copy across multiple channels
If you are planning on running digital ads across multiple channels, however, it’s imperative that you amend your ad copy so that it’s platform-specific. Having static ad copy across multiple platforms can run the risk of making your target audience fatigued by seeing your ad everywhere they go.
Facebook and Instagram also come with their own unique affordances as digital platforms. In other words, you can interact with your target demographic quite differently between these two social media platforms. For example, Facebook ads are great for inspiring users to click through to your website, whereas Instagram ads sandwiched between Stories can be a great way of boosting brand awareness and promoting your app visually. Your Instagram ad could also be a swipe-by-swipe overview of your app’s immaculate UI, prompting viewers to want to experience its usability for themselves.
These subtle opportunities for personalising your ad content should not be wasted. You’ll find that by considering the different affordances of digital platforms in your ad development and producing strategic ad messages, you’ll be able to spend a lot less on your digital advertising and yield stronger engagement results to boot.
Do: seek media opportunities with blogs and reviewers
There are just as many free and low-cost opportunities to promote your app online as there are paid opportunities. And truth be told, you need a good mix of both of these to create a truly dynamic (and cost-effective) marketing strategy.
So what are the easiest ways to get people talking about your app online? Partnering with business blogs who may be interested in reviewing your app could be a great way of starting the digital conversation, and generate some high-authority reviews. Reaching out to blogs and industry reviewers can also just be as easy as preparing a single-page press release that outlines all the most important information about your mobile app, including your intended release date, as well as a brief description of the app’s design and purpose.
Don’t: falsify app reviews
Yes, reviews can be highly beneficial for inspiring more consumers to download and use your app. But false reviews can be just as damaging as negative reviews. How so?
Falsifying your app reviews can actually be considered on-par with false advertising, especially if your falsified reviews speak to elements of your app or even your app’s user experience that simply isn’t there. If your falsified reviews promises a clean UX with no glitches as soon as your app’s released, for instance, then this could heighten user expectations, ultimately resulting in disappointment and perhaps even the risk of disgruntled app users writing authentic negative reviews.
With that, you can avoid the risk of accruing negative reviews by making sure that your mobile app is free of any bugs or glitches upon release. Regular app updates can also help keep your user experience as smooth as possible over the foreseeable future.
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Granted, this is not an exhaustive list of all the do’s and don’ts you should be aware of when marketing your mobile app. These are, however, some of the most quintessential elements to keep in mind when your release date finally arrives and it’s time to share your months of hard work with the wider world.
By following these methods, you can ensure that your app’s release not only goes smoothly, but is also met with plenty of anticipation and positive engagement, allowing you to yield a stronger return on your investment in its development.
