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How To Market Your App And What To Avoid

Bobby Gill | May 25, 2021

Nielsen research says that the average smartphone user spends some 30 hours per month on mobile apps. That number increased in 2020 and will continue to rise as we rethink the role of technology in our world. The world is increasingly mobile and everything from our social media to our professional lives is filled with practical plug-ins that promise to make life more fun, more functional, and more streamlined than ever before.

 

The mobile revolution keeps on growing. How is your business taking advantage of the trend?

 

Mobile apps offer a customizable platform that businesses can tweak and touch-up day in and day out. It’s not easy to develop a great app, but it can be even trickier finding ways to market your new app. A few missteps can put a major wrench in the works. When it comes to mistakes you can avoid when marketing an app, here are a few things you should have in mind. 

How To Market Your App And What To Avoid

  1. Failing to Have a Marketing Plan

 

You wouldn’t build a house without a blueprint, and you should approach the construction of a mobile app marketing campaign with the same level of detail and thought. When you approach the brainstorming step of making your marketing plan, be sure to think about these crucial questions:

 

  • What is your target demographic? 
  • How will you reach those people? 
  • What kind of content will you give them? 
  • What problem (for your users – not you) is your app solving? 
  • Why should anyone download the app when your website is already there? 

 

The answers to those questions will form the framework of your marketing game plan. Start here and you’re already on your way to a better idea of how to present the app to your audience.

 

  1. Confusing Your App with Your Desktop Products

 

Many business owners approach app creation like some version of ‘Honey I Shrunk Our Website.” Mobile isn’t just a bite-sized version of whatever else you’re already doing, it’s a beast – and a brand-building tool – all its own. Mobile’s small screen forces you to boil all your many channels and content elements down to something simple and streamlined. More and more often, mobile users prefer to use apps over traditional desktop products for three reasons:

 

  1. They’re more convenient
  2. They’re streamlined and efficient
  3. They’re fun to use, even if they’re being used for professional or organizational purposes

 

Developing a mobile app can be an opportunity for you to identify and focus on your most important and unique ideas, an exercise that could go on to influence your entire marketing strategy and better your business as a whole. Think overly broad and overdesign the app and you’re just muddying the waters – and probably confusing subscribers in the process.

 

Not sure if you need a mobile website, mobile app, or both? Check out this article to see how each channel differs and overlaps.

 

  1. Designing for Just One Platform – or Using One Design for All Platforms

 

Mobile app usage grew by a whopping 40 percent in 2020 even after years and years of continued growth. More importantly, consumers are spending more money in-app than ever before. Last year saw a whopping 35 billion app downloads and a quarter of a trillion dollars in app spending each quarter. 

 

Businesses are understandably eager to piggyback on the app trend, but cutting corners with design is never the answer. Some people want to design an app just for the Apple store, aka iOS operating systems, simply because iPhones and iPads are so popular, but that ignores a huge number of consumers who are accessing apps through phones running Windows- or Android-based OS. 

 

Even worse is designing one app and assuming it’ll suit the needs of whatever platform you throw it up on. Big mistake. Apple might laugh you right out of the store or, disaster of all disasters, your product will make it through to customers where they’ll be greeted with a clunky app that never does what it says it’s supposed to do.

 

Moral: One size does not fit all, so design smart.

 

  1. Not Asking the Consumer What They Need

 

Part of the appeal of mobile apps is that it gives you a pipeline straight to the consumer. Basically, you can deliver whatever you want, exactly how you want it, without any middleman to distort your message or insert their own two cents. With this power, though, comes some responsibility to your subscribers. 

 

Ask them what kind of content they’d most like to see, when they’d like to see it, and in what form – push notifications, blogs, SMS messages – they’d like their app updates delivered. Once you know,listen. Asking for feedback and then ignoring it may well be the cardinal sin of marketing. When a user willingly gives their feedback, it’s a huge loss to let the information go unused. Even if it’s negative feedback that’s tough to hear, listen and act. Addressing the things people don’t like won’t just solve their issues with your app, but it simultaneously enhances the experience for all. 

 

All of this may seem like a lot of work, but trust us – mobile isn’t a gamble, and neither is the effort it takes to learn proper marketing. Check out these top mobile marketing tips to learn the ropes and make a concentrated effort to avoid the errors above – you just might experience a boost in conversion that’s far from accidental.

 

If you need help marketing your pre-existing or new app, checkout Blue Label Lab’s App Marketing & PR Offering here.

 

Bobby Gill
Co-Founder & Chief Architect at BlueLabel | + posts

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