Traditional app marketing doesn’t work anymore.

Few years back if you build a good mobile app acquiring users was easy. Just getting featured in Apple or Google was enough… Or with little effort on social networks and groups most apps used to see early users. But with millions of apps in major app stores these days, product differentiation and discoverability has become a huge problem.

Today, if you search any common word in App Store you will see hundreds if not thousands of apps competing for users attention. Most of the basic keywords are already occupied with many old apps. For any new app to reach the top place it is highly impossible with the same old app marketing methods.

Facebook and twitter ads are turning out to be expensive options for most developers. Startups and developers are good at building new apps but most of these apps turns out to zombie apps in app stores. But though there is tough competition mobile apps are the best options to get users and build companies. So how can you increase the chances of your apps success. Here are some out of the box ideas which you can try.

1. Know your keywords before you build an app:

Everything starts with an idea. So when your app is in the idea stage you should know what is your app name going to be and what are the keywords you will be targeting. For example if you are building a weather app for North America then search related keywords in AppStore to see the metrics like how many similar apps are there, what kind of ratings and how many reviews they have. This will help you in knowing the reality and plan better. Choose your app name based on the keywords you are going to target. To choose the right keywords you can use App Annie or Sensor Tower.

2. Build a great app
Nothing new… users love great apps more than crappy apps. Focus on the design & user experience. If you can not build a great app then other tips are useless.

3. Get good reviews
Before you go to endusers your app should have good number of reviews with ratings. Your app might be good but if users don’t see good ratings and reviews they are not going to install your app and try. There is one new platform called Favorr which connects app developers and startups to review and rate each other’s apps. Number of reviews your app can receive depends on number of apps you or your team can review.

4. Use Social Networks
Use your influence on social networks to spread the word about your app. Create a video which can explain how your app can benefit them. You can also offer incentives to use your app.

5. SEO
App Store search works similar to web search. Better description with the use of right keywords results in higher ranking. So give extra care while writing description. See your competitor apps what they are saying and then write the description.