How to get your app the love it deserves
Apps don’t become successful overnight. They become successful through thoughtful marketing over a long period of time. And they become successful because someone proved there was an engaged market.
Gauging interest and marketing should start around the same time. You just want to make sure your idea isn’t a dud before you sink too much time and money into marketing.
You have to be ruthless with yourself because there are millions of apps out there. Probably thousands that are similar to yours. What makes yours stand out? Why should someone download yours over someone else’s?
Marketing is your answer to these questions. You have to answer them in a way that will remove as much doubt as possible from your target customer.
Make a website or landing page
Setting up a website or landing page will help you mark “hype building” off your list. Get a website or landing page built before you reach out to people in your target market.
Even if you find that your idea doesn’t have enough interest, it’s worth the small investment. If it’s a hit, you can point them to your site and give them the option to sign up for updates and share with others.
Gathering email addresses is important to building a community.
Spill the beans
Put something more than “We’re in stealth mode” or “Coming Soon” on your site. How can anyone get stoked when they don’t know what your product is?
At this point, you’re getting email addresses from your site, so share your journey with your peeps and whoever else lands on your page. You may not have many details in the beginning. That’s okay. Tell everyone how your app can solve their problems, and share more as the project moves along.
Make a trailer for your app
If you’re creative, you don’t have to spend much on a trailer, and it’s another thing to add to your site and social media. A while back Tiny Wings 2 put together a teaser that was hand drawn. Alice, for the iPad, just showed someone messing around with the app to music in the background.
Reach out to influencers
You can do this at various stages of development. For example, you could do a sneak peek as the app is being built to create a little buzz. Once the app is done, you can write a detailed post as a guest blogger.
Reach out to tech blogs that can review your app. Think of communities that resonate with your app, too (e.g. sports, fitness, food, etc.). When you contact them, make a presentation. Sell it. Send an infographic, app trailer, a quick video, or whatever interesting thing you can come up with to convince them to showcase your app.
Get involved in your community
Your app was created to solve a problem, so get out there and tell people how your app can make their lives easier. If your app is a recipe sharing and organization platform, reach out to foodies of all tastes. Show diabetics how easy it is to find recipes tailored to them and how your app can organize their recipes better than any system out there. Do the same for those who are Paleo, moms who want quick, healthy dinners, etc.
Get people excited about using your app by showing them clever ways to use it.
WrAPPing up :)
Obviously, there are a lot of other ways to market your app than what’s listed above. Make sure you do these and more. Set up systems to automate when you can (like email campaigns and social media posts) so you can spend your time on more creative marketing efforts.
Pssst! Looking for someone to build your app? The crew at Broadway Lab hook you up.
