So, the app you’ve been designing and coding for last couple of months is ready and you’ve just submitted it to the app store. ‘Job done’ you think. Unfortunately, it’s just the beginning. There’s a lot more left to do to really get it over the line.
July’s Mobile Monday London entitled “200,000 apps, Where’s mine?” posited that it was pretty easy to launch an app several years ago, when the only big app store was Apple’s, and only a few hundreds of applications were available on it.
Since then, app stores have multiplied and mobile users now find themselves dealing with a wide range of choice making it increasingly hard for developers to get users paying attention to their wares.
This month’s panel was a pretty sterling line-up even by MoMoLo standards:
- Ben Scott-Robinson – Creative Director and We Love Mobile and Chairman of the panel
- Chris Bourke – MD at Mobext
- Dave Burrows – Director of R&D at Interchange Group
- Alyssa Tisne – VP Strategic Partnerships at 7Digital
- Tony Pearce – TeePee Games’s CEO
- Eli Camilleri – Asssociate at Vision Mobile
- Mike Kirkup – Head of developers relationships at BlackBerry
From the off, the panel were quick to remind us that the success of an app depends foremost of its quality (user interface, usefulness, experience) and not necessarily on its marketing budget after all: the better app is, the more you get recommended.
Chris from Mobext highlighted the importance of the Beta Testing phase: developers shouldn’t focus on getting the app tried by their friends, colleagues and family, but a wider and more impartial audience.
Vision Mobile’s Developer Economics 2010 report showed that only 40% of developers use peer reviewing.
Targeting
Even if developers research and target their audience before developing; they should also think about who their marketing target is. As highlighted by Eli, sometimes an app user is not necessarily the app purchaser.
Identifying user profiles is key to leading effective marketing strategies.
Some documents such as AdMob reports, Opera Mini’s State of Mobile Web or Millennial Media’s S.M.A.R.T report are regularly updated, useful tools for sourcing data and demographics.
Driving awareness around your app
Tony made came up with an interesting point: there are more than 250,000 apps (including 35,000 games) on the biggest social network in the world: Facebook, and no one can name more than 3. Except Mafia Wars and Farmville, how many others can you mention? The Facebook app world is the “Wild West”, so why should mobile apps be any different? So how can you get seen and heard in such an environment?
Being ranked in Apple’s TOP 25 applications represents lots of work and luck says Mike, and developers should target a specific niche instead of trying to target everyone.
Great – but how do you target a niche? Well, old methods are still the most effective: get in touch with influencers in the community you’re targeting, ensure you have a presence on forums etc etc…
Chris says that the best way to get known remains word of mouth: make some noise around your app and cause some trouble, people will download it, try it and recommend to their friends.
Sponsorship model
7 Digital’s Alyssa put forward the idea of implementing a partnership and sponsorship model in order to reach a specific target, taking the example of 7 Digital’s partnership with Shazam and Last.fm to get in order to get in touch with communities of music lovers.
Integrated communications
Another trick is not to forget traditional media as well as offline marketing. Eli mentioned the Royal Society of Arts iPhone app example: the app was pushed at the entrance by ticket sellers.
As Helen highlights on her blog, speaking opportunities during conferences and industry related events are the best way to get some visibility from early adopters.
Social application stores
Online app stores such as Androlib and Appolicious are the social version of mobile app stores, enabling app users to share apps with their friends and get in touch with people using the same profile as them. Those websites can also be a tool for developers to identify trends and benchmark their work. Get your app in there and follow the reviews, get in touch with your users and take into account their remarks.
It’s obvious, but don’t forget to get in touch with app review blogs, and if the criticisms are negative, do not hesitate to respond and to justify yourself.
As the panel said, it’s really hard to cover this hot topic in one hour but below you’ll find some links about application marketing:
- Summary of the event on the Mobile Monday London’s blog: Round-up: 200,000 apps, where’s mine?
- How To Market Your Mobile Application from the always good Smashing Magazine
- Have a look to this bright slide-share presentation shared by Ouriel Ohayon
No Mobile Monday event for August, but the ON team will attend the Over The Air event on the 10th and 11th of September and the September Demo Night.
In the meantime, get in touch on Twitter, Facebook or by mail!
