It’s hard to ignore how everything is going mobile these days.

It can indeed be foreseen that the future lies in mobile. Businesses and enterprises have been quick to cash in on its importance and now it’s considered the most prominent channel to engage with customers.

The only thing holding back most small businesses is a lack of investment. Usually, mobile apps cost around $10,000 and it can be quite a chore for most to bear costs of marketing and promotional campaigns.

According to principles of marketing, at least 30% of total cost has to be spent on marketing campaigns in order to boost the likelihood of success.

Keeping this in perspective, below are some tips that can boost your app-promotion campaigns, without spending that 30%.

1. Develop a Landing Page

Before launching your mobile app, it is critical you have some web presence. Build a typical landing page that presents your app details in a promising manner. Incorporate a timer that informs users when it’s going to be available and integrate social media channels. It is also good practice to request email addresses of your visitors.

2. Associate it With Your Identity

Creating a landing page is merely the initial step. You need to generate targeted traffic. The best approach is to feature your app and the landing page on your main website and divert your audiences from there. This creates the desired initial boom and awareness.

3. Go Social

According to Hubspot, 92% marketers in 2014 claimed social media as being the most important promotional channel for businesses and around 80% acknowledged that it increased traffic to their websites.

Social Media also helps in increasing your brand recognition and builds authoritative command. For a fact, folks much prefer interacting and giving feedback on social media rather than say, emails.

4. Create an app teaser

A high quality teaser can create that spark between you and your audiences as they eagerly anticipate the launch of your app. The teaser should be linked to your landing page to further reel in interested users looking to explore your app.

Do not forget to upload your video to leading video promotional sites including YouTube, DailyMotion and Vimeo.

For more helpful tips on video marketing, refer to this post.

5. App Store Optimization

App Store Optimization (ASO) is a crucial channel that you simply cannot afford to overlook. It functions slightly differently from conventional SEO. Both major players Google Play and Apple’s App store rank apps in search results, based on multiple factors – application title (which should spell out its purpose), well-written ‘keyword optimized’ description, high quality screenshots, keywords, ratings, number of downloads, video and now Google +1s.

Always take into account these factors before publishing your apps.

To determine competitive or “in” keywords, you can visit www.searchman.com.

6. Submit Your App to Editors

There are various sites that launch monthly and weekly editions of app listings. Approach them and let them in on your app idea. They will typically ask for:

Name of app

App description

App URLs

Screen shots

Promo codes (if paid)

App icon

Some sites only prefer paid listings so make sure to ask for their respective success rates before sealing the deal.

Here are some free review sites for Android apps.

7. Utilize the Power of Content Marketing

Execute your very own sting operation to find relevant tech bloggers who love writing on app-related stuff. One of the best tools for this is Followerwonk.

Hire a skilled writer who possesses sound knowledge of current technological trends. Reach out to relevant sites and bloggers, and start contributing content related to your app.

8. Email Marketing is Not Old School

As you’re well aware by now, approaching big publications will quadruple traffic and boost the online presence of your app. Don’t leave email marketing out of the loop; even though somewhat outdated, it can be very effective under the right circumstances.

Reach out to journalists, users who visit your landing page, bloggers, entrepreneurs, customers, employees, friends and even your family, to spread the word. Don’t leave any stone unturned.

9. Build Relationships

Relationship building always does wonders. Do some sleuthing and find out about apps developed by small firms; form a relationship with them. Cross promoting each other’s apps can diversify your presence to targeted users.

These pointers are no doubt going to prove uber useful to businesses that are trying to establish their mark on a limited marketing budget.

Is there any aspect I overlooked? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.