Mobile App Marketing: Understanding the Full Cycle
Reading Time: 4 minutes Every business is encouraged to have a mobile app. People now carry their smartphones everywhere, which means the best way for your business to remain in their minds is to have your app on their phones. This is where mobile app marketing comes in. But what is mobile app marketing, and what does it entail? We explore this topic further below.
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What Is Mobile App Marketing?
Before we look at how to go about successful mobile app marketing, it is important to understand what it is. Every mobile app has a lifecycle – this cycle starts when users first hear about your app up to when they become loyal users of that app. Mobile app marketing gives you the tools and methods to make your app successful and informs the practices you use to interact with your users throughout this cycle.
To ensure your mobile app marketing efforts are successful, you need to know who your target audience is, where to find them, what to say to them, how to say it, and what they want from you.
One way of thinking about how users will interact with your app is to think about what is known in the marketing world as “funnels”. Funnels are simply the different stages users are on when using your app. These stages include acquisition, activation, and retention.
You, Will, Need an App First
Before you start implementing mobile app marketing, you need to have an app made. For this, you can hire an app development company. Appetiser is one such Australian-based mobile development company that builds apps to help your business satisfy its users’ needs. They are spread across 4 continents and because they are an award-winning business, you can be confident they will build the best app you can get for your business.
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Mobile App Acquisition
This is the first stage in getting users to use your app. It entails getting people to know about and use your app. From a marketing standpoint, you need to convince people that your app can solve a problem they have. That may be reaching your business or finding answers to questions they have.
There are several acquisition channels your business can use. One of these channels is the social channel. This entails reaching out to as many people as possible using channels such as paid advertising or word of mouth. Another way to go about mobile app acquisition is to use real-world incentives. Such incentives can include a giveaway or some other valuable reward for installing and using your app. If your app provides good value, people are less likely to remove your app after they have gotten the reward they came for. And this is where retention comes in, but we will look at that shortly.
Other ways to get users on your app include advertising on search engines when users search for specific terms, cross-app promotions with other successful apps, and app store listing.
Mobile App User Activation
Once you have acquired your users, you need them to use your app. The best way to do this is to have an effective messaging strategy. Most mobile app developers add push notifications that are sent when a user installs your app. The best thing about push notifications is that the app does not have to be open for the user to see it. They can also be customized to reflect your brand and even include actions for your users to take.
If you do not want to use push notifications, you can also use in-app messages which are sent when the user is using the app. Lastly, you can have a message center where users can see past notifications.
In addition to messaging, you also need activation strategies. These can include a welcome message as soon as the app is installed, a tour of the app that shows the user where all key features are and how to use them, as well as getting the user to register using their email or phone number. This ensures you can market to these users in the future.
Mobile App Retention
Once you have the users on your app and they are activated, retaining them is the long-term aim. How many of your users and customers you retain is the best way to gauge whether your mobile marketing efforts are working.
Some of the strategies to use at this stage include discounts or coupons, feature-addition messages, personalization using user data and a recommendation engine, special content that fits in with your business or niche, and updates on family and friends who have joined.
Communicating with Your Users
Every message you send to your users should have some value because people hate spam. Examine the purpose of your message, what actions you want your users to take, and if they will care. Getting all these things right will make your communication much more effective.
Mobile apps are one of the best ways to ensure users are always connected to your business. Mobile app marketing, although relatively new, is the best way to get users on your app, get them to use it, and to keep them using it for the long term.
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