10 Mobile App Marketing Strategies

Stages of Mobile App Marketing

Before we get into the different app marketing tactics you can use to reach your target audience, let's first look at the stages of mobile app marketing. Each stage of the process helps determine where you should focus your time and energy on promoting your product.

Stage 1: Awareness

When you first launch your app and start to gain traction, it's essential to spread the word about what you are building and why people should care. This is where you want to spend most of your time – after all, if nobody knows about your app, how will they download it?

Stage 2: Acquisition

Once you acquire a loyal user base, your focus should shift to improving conversion and retention rates. After all, a user who downloads your mobile app is great – but you want them to stick around.

Stage 3: Retention

Finally, once you have a group of loyal users, you should focus your efforts on finding ways to keep them. This means ensuring customers are delighted with your product, like continuously updating your mobile app with new features and content.

To create an effective marketing strategy for each stage, you must do more than tell people about your app. Thus, it would be best if you came up with a mix of external marketing strategies and in-app marketing efforts.

So with that in mind, let's dive into ten tactics you can use to promote your mobile app.

Awareness Stage

Optimizing Your App Store Listings and Website

App store optimization is one of the most critical steps for app marketers. By following best practices, you can get your mobile app to rank higher in search results, so it's easier for users to discover your product.

Key things you should focus on include using keywords and descriptions that are specific and relevant, adding screenshots and videos that showcase what makes your mobile app unique and creating a solid app icon.

Creating Engaging Content

No matter what industry you're in, there's always content that your target audience will find interesting. As an app marketer, it's your job to create and share this content on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. 

A few ideas for posts include:

• How-to guides
• Infographics
• Thought leadership articles
• Videos and webinars about the latest trends in your industry

Leveraging Social Media Platforms

Social media can be an extremely effective tool for reaching and engaging your target audience. Some best practices to keep in mind include the following:

• Creating a profile that matches your brand image and voice.
• Posting consistent, high-quality content on a daily or weekly basis.
• Engaging with users by responding to comments, sharing their posts, and asking them questions.

Promoting your mobile app by linking to it in your profile bio and sharing screenshots and updates about the latest features and improvements.

 

Acquisition Stage

Launching Paid Ads Campaigns

One of the most popular ways for mobile app marketers to quickly gain traction and generate significant downloads is through paid acquisition.

This typically involves using paid ads on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google Adwords, or LinkedIn. Some important things to keep in mind when running a campaign are:

• Creating an ad that catches people's attention and encourages them to take action (e.g., download your app).
• Spending enough time optimizing your ad group, targeting people likely to be interested in your product, and setting a realistic budget based on the results you're hoping to achieve.
• Tracking conversions through Google Analytics or another analytics platform so you can see how many people clicked on your ad and how many downloaded the app.

Encouraging Users to Invite Their Friends

Another key strategy for acquiring new users is encouraging them to spread the word about your mobile app. You can do this in several ways, including:

• Offering your customers an incentive (e.g., a special offer, discount, or bonus) if they invite their friends to download the app and complete a particular action (e.g., make a purchase or complete a level).
• Creating a referral program that rewards existing users for referring their friends.
• Incorporating social sharing functionalities into your mobile app (e.g., the ability to post to Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter) so users can easily share content from your mobile app with their network.
• Offer rewards or incentives to customers who leave reviews, rate the app on a platform like Google Play, or send feedback via email. This can help you gain valuable insights into what people like/dislike about your product while improving your SEO and increasing downloads.

Running In-app Advertising via Mobile Ad Networks

In-app advertising is another way to get more people to download and engage with your mobile app. Some popular ad networks you can use include:

• Google AdMob
• Vungle
• Flurry
• InMobi
• Chartboost
   

When running a campaign, keep in mind the following:

• It's vital to pick an audience for your product and test different ad variations to see what works best in CTR, CPI, and conversion rates.
• You'll also need to set a daily budget for your campaign, so you don't spend more than you're comfortable with.
• As with any paid ad campaign, you'll need to monitor the results and make changes as required. For example, if an ad isn't getting enough clicks or conversions, consider changing the copy, design, targeting criteria, or timing of when the ad is shown to improve results.

Offering App Discounts, Deals, and Coupons

It's essential to be strategic about your discounts, deals, and coupons to achieve optimal results. For example, target existing customers with a special promotion or offer exclusive deals and promotions to new users only.

Additionally, it's essential to continually test and tweak your strategy to see what works best. This can help you gain more significant insights into your users, improve engagement and retention rates, and ultimately increase downloads over time.​

Retention Stage

Personalizing the User Experience

Once you've acquired new users, one of the key strategies for achieving sustained success is personalizing their experience through A/B testing. You can do this by:

• Identifying which elements of your mobile app are most important to users and testing different options to see what drives the best engagement and results. For example, you might A/B different test layouts, designs, fonts, or copies to optimize the user experience.
• Experiment with different monetization strategies to determine the most effective for your target audience (e.g., in-app advertisements, in-app purchases, paid upgrades).
• Using customer feedback and data to A/B test different options for improving your apps, such as features, content, and design elements.

Surveying Users for Feedback

Another key strategy for improving long-term retention is surveying your users for feedback. For example, send a short email survey to your app's active users or host a feedback form on your website.

Updating Your App Often

An essential strategy for improving retention and long-term success is regularly updating your mobile app with new features, content, and optimization. This can help keep your users engaged and ensure they get the most out of your app.

Some effective ways to update your app are:

• Adding new features and functionality based on user feedback or trends in your industry.
• Updating existing content to ensure that it stays relevant to your users.
• Optimizing features and design elements to improve the user experience and drive greater engagement.

Related: Why You Should Always Update Your Mobile App

Happy Marketing!

So there you have it – 10 app marketing strategies you can use to reach and engage more users! Take some time to figure out which tactics will work best for your product, then put them into practice.

Featured Articles:

• Tips on How To Land The Right Mobile App Development Team For You
• Geofencing in Mobile Apps