How to Market Your Mobile App

After doing some research in your industry, you discover that you need more than just a mobile website for your business. You are going to have to really grab the attention of the smartphone generation and get them to use your mobile app. The question is: once you create your app, how do you spread the word about it? Here are some great ways to market your mobile app:

Make It Useful

No matter how well you market your mobile app, if it’s not something people need, they aren’t going to be interested. Your mobile app doesn’t have to be just an extension of your website or another version of your online store that would be of interest to only your current customers. You can get creative and come up with something that will attract the general public and put your brand name in front of them.

One great example of a branded, useful mobile app is the Charmin Sit or Squat app. This app is useful for anyone who travels and is looking for the nearest clean public restroom.

Another example of useful and branded is the Purina Petcentric app that helps you find pet friendly places when you travel. As an added bonus, you also can watch fun pet videos, look at cute pet photos, and read the latest pet news stories.

Big brands are not the only ones that can get into creative mobile development. In this example, Phoenix Children’s Hospital created the Car Seat Helper app to assist parents in finding the right car seat to keep their child safe while traveling.

So, first and foremost, make sure your app is something useful for your target customer base. Then you will see great results from both your marketing and your mobile app.

QR Codes

When you’re targeting the smartphone generation with a mobile app, QR codes are the best way to advertise. You can add them to your website, business card, brochures, mailings (email and snail mail), receipts, or storefront window.

In the above example, Valpak has a page dedicated to their mobile coupons app. This page explains exactly what you get when you download their app and shows you what it will look like. They also include their QR code on the envelope of their regular coupon mailers.

Mobile Advertising

If you’re considering PPC advertising for your mobile app, be sure to put your ads on mobile devices. Google offers mobile ads to target users while they are searching on their mobile devices…

And when they are on websites that display Google advertisements…

Social Advertising

Personally, I’m a fan of social advertising. It allows you to target people specifically by demographics and interests. So, if you know the most likely users of your mobile app, you can make sure they are the only ones who can see and click on your ads. With Facebook ads, you can get pretty specific.

Having a smaller audience with specific interests related to your mobile app will lead to lower advertising costs and higher returns (in the form of downloads for your app).

Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is a great way to build an audience.

When it comes to marketing your mobile app, you can post on a variety of blogs. You can post on blogs related to the niche your target audience would be most interested in reading. And you also can post on technology blogs about mobile devices. The key is to aim for blogs whose audiences would be most likely to download your app.

While guest posts shouldn’t be promotional, you can gear the topics in a way that, by the end of the post, the readers are ready to check out your mobile app. Plan ahead for those clicks by making your author bio as enticing as possible and by linking to your app’s page on your website, iTunes, or Google Play. Also use call to action wording such as “Download our mobile app today.”

Mobile App Marketing Agencies

Need assistance marketing your mobile app? There are agencies devoted to mobile app marketing, including the following:

Appspire.me – specializes in getting your app the most quality users possible. Many of its clients went from a few downloads per day to hundreds.

Appency – is the global leader in mobile application marketing. It provides a full range of marketing services, from branding and consultation services to managing your launch and long term success with PR, social marketing, paid media management, and more.

Appular – has unrivaled Marketing, PR, Media Buying, Consulting and Social Media services and solutions that are constructed exclusively to give your projects the absolute best chance for long term success.

These are just a few of many. You can Google mobile app marketing agency to find even more.

Additional Tips

Want to know even more about mobile app marketing? Then watch this video:

Your Mobile App Marketing Experience

What has been your experience with mobile app marketing? Please share additional tips in the comments!

About the Author: Kristi Hines is a freelance writer, professional blogger, and social media enthusiast. Her blog Kikolani focuses on blog marketing for personal, professional, and business bloggers.