In 2020, there were apps that added 50 million new users! One can only expect to see a higher number when this year comes to a close.

As one can see, there are plenty of opportunities for aspiring app developers who want to share their great new ideas with consumers. But with so many new apps and a market dominated by Big Tech, there’s one major challenge!

As a new developer, how do you go about app marketing? How do you ensure your apps stick out amongst the competition?

Here’s our marketing guide for all kinds of apps:

1. Using Social Media for App Marketing

Of course, social media is the easiest way to jump into marketing your app and is even great when for brainstorming app ideas. If you have a registered company, make a social media account for your company and promote your apps with this account.

If you only have one app then create a dedicated social media profile solely for promoting this app. Your social media usernames should ideally be the same name as your app.

Make sure your bio provides a brief explanation of what the app does. Add a link to your landing page or a direct link to the app store where users can download it. If your app is available in multiple stores, then it’s best to link directly to your landing page.

As social media websites are among the most visited sites on the internet, you want to focus on posting as often as possible.

Share demonstrations of how people can use your app via your social media profiles. You can also use these social media profiles to share reviews and testimonials.

By the way, if you’re still in the brainstorming phase, check out the detailed guide on how to make an app

Next, let’s look at how to create a landing page to promote your app.

2. Creating a Landing Page

The next step is to create a landing page in which you’ll share details about your app.

You can look at the landing page of any of your favorite apps to get design ideas. Your landing page gives you the opportunity to share more details about your app and what it offers.

As with social media marketing, you can use landing pages to showcase reviews and testimonials. You can share longer testimonials as well as video testimonials which can grab your audience’s attention much faster.

On your landing page, you’ll also have to share links where your visitors can download the app on their app store of choice. 

One thing that you must remember is to keep your landing page as simple as possible. Don’t use your landing page to become a foundation for a larger website. Your landing page should provide 100% of the content needed to showcase your app.

3. Improve Your App’s Search Engine Rankings

One of the best ways to bring awareness to your app is through search engines. Let’s say you built an app where one can send electronic payments.

When an internet user types “best electronic payment app” on Google or any other search engine, you want your app to pop up on the first page. To do this, you have to improve your Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

There are several strategies to help boost the SEO rankings for your app, landing page and social media profiles.

The first one is through written content:

Writing SEO Content

To promote your app, you’ll want to create a lot of written content. This can include the copy on your landing page, social media captions and posts, and blog posts.

All of these written works should be SEO-friendly. This means that they should use the SEO keywords in your niche. You’ll have to use a keyword research tool to find the appropriate keywords in this niche. Use these keywords in your written content.

You’ll have to update these keywords every other month so that you stay on top of your SEO rankings.

You also want to write as much content as you can. The more blog posts, social media posts, press releases, etc., that you have, the greater the likelihood of having high rankings on search engine results pages.

As your app grows in popularity, you want to hire professional content writers to create SEO-friendly content for promoting your app.

Business Listing

One of the fastest ways to get your app’s landing page on top of search engine results pages is to create a business listing.

You can use a service such as Google My Business which creates a business listing for your app. This information will then show up when someone searches for your app’s niche.

Remember, you’ll need to have a registered company first before you can proceed with this route. Once you add your business listing, it’ll show up in search engine results.

Continuing with the previous example, if a user searches for “best electronic payment app” your company’s business listing will show up. This listing will show your company’s name as well as the landing page’s website. It’ll also show the logo which should show your app’s logo.

Once you secure search engine rankings you’ve mastered one of the biggest challenges of app marketing. The next step is to manage reputation.

4. Manage Reputation

This is often overlooked by most marketers and they often think about reputation management when it’s too late.

But the sad fact is, the business world is fierce, and just as you were passionate about developing your new app, so are countless others who are vying for the top spot.

Once again, let’s return to the example of an app used for making electronic payments. Suppose you have to choose between downloading Zelle or Venmo. 

Let’s say you read a negative review about Venmo — both the app and the company. This will immediately draw you into downloading Zelle. 

You might face this same competition with your app. Your app and company might get negative reviews. Some of it might be based on genuine customer concerns while others might be done out of malice to bring your app down. This is a sad reality and unethical but it’s something you’ll likely have to face.

The way around this is to manage your brand’s online reputation and this is a crucial aspect of app marketing. This ensures that your app doesn’t die before it gets the chance to attain popularity.

There are two important steps to take:

Positive Reviews and Testimonials

We’ve alluded to the importance of reviews and testimonials earlier and this is the best way to build a great reputation for your app.

If you find satisfied users, you want to urge them to write positive reviews and testimonials for your app. Share these on your landing pages, review websites, in your social media posts, etc.

But what happens if you have overwhelmingly negative reviews? There are two approaches to this.

If the criticism is genuine, it’s best to apologize and thank the reviewer for expressing their concern. Let’s suppose they complain about the slowness of the app.

You want to improve the app’s speed and then reply to their review and let them know that you’ve improved the speed. You want to give the impression that you care about putting your users first.

If the criticism is false and written solely to put your app down then you want to complain to the review website. If the review contains false information that might even be libelous, don’t hesitate to report it as spam.

Write and Distribute Press Releases

The other method for ensuring reputation management is to write and distribute press releases for your app.

A press release gives you the opportunity to highlight your app’s achievements and uniqueness. This can convince others to download your app and lets you paint a more favorable picture of your app.

If your app has received consistent negative reviews, then you might need to use a press release to respond.

5. Hire Influencers

The final step is to hire influencers to promote your app on their social media platforms. 

Give them access to your app and pay them to create content that advertises your app. This is akin to a celebrity promoting a product or service in a television commercial.

Influencers are one of the fastest ways to draw attention to your app. You might have to wait for your app to gain a bit of popularity before you can reach out to influencers. Make sure that these influencers have a great reputation that won’t tarnish your app!

Start App Marketing

Now you know the rules of app marketing for new developers eager to make their name.

Your first step is to always use social media to promote your app and brand. This is one of the fastest ways to build an audience and get downloads.

Create a landing page to get downloads and share more details about your app. Use SEO strategies to rank in search engines. You’ll also have to consider reputation management to protect your app’s good image. You can also hire influencers to promote your app as it becomes more popular.

You can find more marketing tips on our website.