7 Ways To Get Exposure And Valuable Feedback
How our app got featured on App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone Store and more.
In a startup, the founders usually wear many hats. I myself started as a Backend Developer, now I’m into Business Development and Public Relations.
During the last couple of years we have launched our game Dengen Chronicles on several platforms, and everytime we got featured.
We started with an HTML5 browser game and we got featured on the Chrome Web Store and the Mozilla Firefox Marketplace. Then we created a porting for PCs and we got featured on the Windows 8 Store, the Microsoft newsletter and the Intel homepage. When we published the mobile version we got featured on the Apple App Store, the Windows Phone Store and on Google Play.
How we got that?
First of all, we strongly committed to making our game take off. Determination and awareness are essential, not only to start a new growth process, but also to gain important achievements!
Besides, you need experience.
These 7 points come from my personal experience and are highly effective.
1. Be patient
The PR world is a rather demanding and complex arena, and the best achievements usually take time and hard work. Just don’t give up, stay focused and bear in mind that planning is key to success.
2. Plan everything
And I don’t merely mean “pick the right day to send out your press release”. The fact is, you probably have one chance. So, you have to pick the right blogs, find the right emails (that is, always search for editors’ emails) sort the important information about your product, and so on. If you don’t impress the first time, you’ll likely get no answer. And that might even jeopardize your future attempts.
3. Keep the human touch
Please, stay human. This might sound a bit trivial, but trust me, it is actually quite a key point. Don’t just copy/paste names into your email message, try to get to know the person, and build a natural relationship: join the conversation on social networks and be kind. So when you want to inform him/her about some news, chances are, you will get a kind response.
4. Make friends with Google
If I tell you “well, this is a great app” and you’re just, Ok let’s check on Google, and don’t find anything at all, what do you think? Exactly. WTF?! So, before getting in touch with bloggers and influencers, you definitely have to spend time making friends with Google: write on a corporate or personal blog and don’t be afraid to share your passion and knowledge. Guest posts will help you expand your network and boost brand awareness.
5. Think out of the box
You did a huge work in your niche and your product ultimately fits perfectly in that niche. Anyway, you’ll be surprised to know that your product could be able to reach other niches. Explore your product thoroughly and you’ll find unique features, smart processes or cutting-edge technologies. Hence, you’ll easily go beyond your niche and find someone interested in talking about your product’s uniqueness.
6. Ride the long tail
If you are a startup or a small studio, you need a bottom-up communication strategy. Put aside TechCrunch or TheNextWeb for a while and focus on small blogs and niche communities. You will gradually raise the bar later on.
7. Leverage the power of the cloud
You have this perfect press release and you’d like to include it in your email message. You might decide to attach a pdf file, but I really suggest you to share it: Dropbox in particular provides you with links for extremely fast sharing. You upload a file or create a folder, get the link and paste it in your email. Easy as pie. Your email will be super light and your press release will perform at its best.
8. Bonus
Please, please, please, don’t spam. It’s just as simple as that.
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