How to properly advertise a mobile application. Application promotion

Mobile Marketing Consultant Yegor Karpov wrote a column for the site about the most effective tools to use to promote mobile applications in the CIS countries.

The purpose of this article is to give you an understanding of how to build a marketing plan for your application: how to allocate a budget, what tools to use. The content of the article overlaps with mine video on this topic, but I'll go into more detail here:

how to work with Russian media;
how to work with ad networks;
how to increase CTR in Russia and the CIS;
what are the features of promotion in these markets;
how to make a promotion plan and allocate a budget.

Where to begin

When preparing this article, I wanted to somehow stand out from other “watery” articles about mobile marketing and talk about special promotion tools in Russia and the CIS countries: porn traffic, pop-under and other little-known channels. But then my sanity returned.

How to determine which channels to use for promotion? First of all, think about where our audience sits, where they spend most of their time. Look at the first screen of your smartphone. No, seriously, take your smartphone right now and look at the first screen. It is in these applications that you spend 95% of the time when you use your smartphone. It is in these applications that you can be found and sell you a new application.

On which platforms is the mobile audience of Russia and the CIS:

1. Sits in social networks(VKontakte, Facebook, Odnoklassniki, Twitter). We spend most of our smartphone time on social media. The mobile audience of social networks outperforms the web already in the ratio of 70% to 30%. Here are the statistics for September 2015 - now the numbers are even more interesting.

2. Watching videos on YouTube. The percentage of mobile audience can be seen in the diagram.

3. Reads websites. Most of it is the media.

4. Scrolls through Instagram.

5. Plays games.

You don’t need to invent anything - you need to look for a mobile audience on these sites.

mass media

Everyone who follows my materials knows that I am not indifferent to the media. They can give a huge amount of coverage with minimal budget - of course, provided that you do everything right. I have a video on how to work with the media, in the near future I will write a separate article about this tool. I’ll tell you very briefly about working with this channel:

1. Make a list of publications in which you plan to promote. Think about what your audience is reading. Do not repeat the mistake of most startups and do not concentrate exclusively on digital publications - look wider. Do you have a female audience? The choice is obvious - women's magazines.

I would really like to show you an example of a media promotion sign, but I can't for ethical reasons: I communicate very well with most editors and don't want to show their contact details. So the structure is:

link to the media;
editor's name;
his contacts (the more the better);
editor's preferences and interests;
what message should the article have in order to please the editor.

2. Write directly to the editor. No "Dear Editorial" - make the letter as individual as possible. Consider the interests of the particular editor you are writing to and the interests of their audience.

3. Complete the table after announcements. Record how the editor reacted, how long they took to reply, what effect the post had, and so on. You will find this very useful in the future.

Mobile Marketing Consultant Yegor Karpov wrote a column for the site about the most effective tools to use to promote mobile applications in the CIS countries.

how to work with Russian media;
how to work with ad networks;
how to increase CTR in Russia and the CIS;
what are the features of promotion in these markets;
how to make a promotion plan and allocate a budget.

Where to begin

On which platforms is the mobile audience of Russia and the CIS:

2. Watching videos on YouTube. The percentage of mobile audience can be seen in the diagram.

3. Reads websites. Most of it is the media.

4. Scrolls through Instagram.

5. Plays games.

You don’t need to invent anything - you need to look for a mobile audience on these sites.

mass media

link to the media;
editor's name;
his contacts (the more the better);
editor's preferences and interests;
what message should the article have in order to please the editor.

3. Complete the table after announcements. Record how the editor reacted, how long they took to reply, what effect the post had, and so on. You will find this very useful in the future.

Launching mobile applications is one of the most popular and at the same time complex areas of Internet business.

It would seem that there is nothing easier than to become a millionaire overnight by launching an ingenious mobile service. However, few can boast of truly successful projects. 11 Internet Business Expert Opinions on How to Promote Your Business mobile app.

Slava Baransky, editor-in-chief of the Lifehacker blog, ex-marketing manager for mobile applications Yandex Ukraine

Today, the best marketing tool for apps is the natural appeal of both the app itself and everything that is built around it - a promo site, an author's blog, a video explainer, etc. Only such applications get on the phones of browsers, and only they have a chance to scatter on blogs and acquire reviews on social networks. As a browser, I can say that I receive up to a hundred emails a day from app creators alone. First, half of those who write dull boring letters in the style of press releases fall off, then those whose application is flawed and tasteless, then those whose idea does not seem interesting to me. So only two or three applications receive a review from us. And they are amazing and beautiful. Only for such applications they read us and come to us again.

The main rule is a quality product, and everything else is cheap tricks that are written about on blogs and forums and it makes no sense to talk about them. Yes, there are free days, price drops, cross-selling in other applications, free versions with a transition to paid applications. But they work only in a quality product made with love by experienced people. The rest lives for a couple of days, if not hours, then falling into oblivion of the App Store or Google Play.

I. Tips based on examples from previous work experience (real facts - suitable for use in promoting most applications, but there are exceptions):

1. A good free version is critical to push users towards paid ones.

2. With a conditional price of $1.5 - 70-90% of users try first free version, in the case when the price is, say, $ 0.75 - 40-60% of users immediately purchase a paid one.

3. The market is very sensitive to price changes: if you lower the cost of the application by half, then sales can triple, provided that other factors remain unchanged.

5. The desired weight of the application is up to 10Mb - this indicator is important, as it opens up access to a larger number of consumers by using network access also via 3G, and not just Wi-Fi points. Practice shows a doubling of the number of downloads with a decrease in weight, for example, from 20Mb or more to 10Mb or less.

6. Application rating algorithm on the App Store: only the weighted average of the number of downloads over the past 4 days is taken into account, with a bias towards the previous day, therefore it is better to advertise as often as possible (preferably daily), albeit in small amounts, in order to maintain a positive trend in the ranking. If we conduct marketing campaigns once every few weeks, we will get single rating rises and wasted money, as well as a low level of downloads of our application and the absence of any forecast of promotion in the market.

1. The design of the application icon is the first thing the consumer sees - it should stand out and be well recognizable. It is advisable to study the icons of the most popular applications on the App Store before creating your own. Application screenshots - no words, should stand out among the huge number of other applications.

2. Learn what tricks work for top applications - associate the visual presentation with the unique differences of the application. Tell a story with your screenshots (up to 5 images via the App Store). The first image is the most important. The consumer first looks at the picture, and then at the description!

3. A reflection of the popularity of the application is its rating on the App Store (preferably 4-5 stars out of 5) and user reviews (both positive and negative; try to implement all sensible suggestions through updates; the best comments must be conveyed to the consumer community) - therefore it is important integrate the functionality of feedback and rating requests into the application (binding social networks− Facebook, Twitter, developer blogs). To get a rating from users, you can use the Appirator - a small piece of code that is integrated into the application.

4. Optimization of the title and description: 11-14 characters including spaces will be displayed through the App Store. The first two lines of description are critical.

5. Getting PR: meet journalists, provide them with all the information they need to write a review about your application. It is convenient to use the Media Kit format: application icon and screenshots; photo of users using it; developer company logo; answers to the most important questions and a press release.

III. SEO (Search engine optimization) tips on the App Store (will not provide the highest ranking, but all app developers should know them):

1. An easier way to promote a product, get instant results, no advertising costs, can bring a decent income, good for niche applications.

2. Refusal of articles and prefixes in the title ("a", "the", "and") - they are ignored in the App Store search.

3. You can combine the publisher's name and the application's name, but a mix of keywords and the publisher's name will not return a search result.

4. Determine what combinations of phrases people usually ask for search - for inspiration, use the thesaurus and Google adword keyword tool and other services where you can get the information you need.

5. Check the name of the application for the presence of key phrases for searching in the relevant services. The more popular the query, the less likely your product will be in the top 10 results. To achieve the desired result, you can use the AppCode.es service.

Evgeny Plokhoy, CEO of CapableBits, WannaBiz mentor

Achievements: Image Transfer (a service that allows you to exchange photos between iPad, iPhone, iPod) - more than 1 million downloads, top 1 in 24 countries. Vitrum Browser (browser for iPad with download manager and page saving) - more than 20 author's articles in the best IT editions of Runet.

Different apps with different themes, different monetization models, and different target audiences are promoted in completely different ways, so, first of all, you should figure out which category your app falls into. For example, promoting almost all social games like Smurfs, DragonVillage or Clash of Clans is simple math. They invest millions of dollars in advertising budgets in cost-effective advertising platforms, i.e. User acquisition costs less on average than the average user brings in, so these games are usually easy to find in the Top Grossing category. Adding virality to games, social interaction of players and traffic from our own, already promoted products, allows you to increase the delta between the cost of attracting a user and the profit from it, and, accordingly, the profit.

Other examples are applications that occupy a certain niche, filling the vacuum in the AppStore, for example, Clear - to do list with unusual UX and design, which was written about by all the press, as the application was unique in its kind.

Translate has filled the vacuum of apps that work like Siri but offer different functionality. The press writes about such applications with pleasure and does it for free, they are easy to hook with novelty. You can also agree on promotion with price aggregators and App advice services, such as, for example, AppAdvice, AppTurbo, FreeAppADay, etc. They will be able to provide a high number of downloads and a sales tail, and if your application has high engagement or virality, then this might be a great choice. Applications for a narrow category of people should be promoted in thematic communities, forums and advertising on target resources, usually such applications have significantly fewer downloads, but they are noticeably more expensive.

There is no single answer to the question "How to promote mobile applications". The issue of promotion needs to be approached individually, but there is a general set of recommendations for everyone, however, even perfectly done homework does not guarantee you an instant take-off, be prepared for the fact that the application does not take off immediately after the release.

Oleg Dats, CEO and founder of EventInArea - a geo-location service for finding events

Achievements: for the last 1.5 months about 1000 installations. Of these, 90% are active.

When promoting our mobile application, 2 channels worked for us:

1) Placement of publications on thematic sites. When the review on Gagadget came out, many other resources immediately reposted it on their sites. We have compiled a list of sites that were offered the news, a link to Google Drive with already prepared material and screenshots. About a third of them responded. We did not make paid publications.

2) SEO for Google Play (getting into search results). It is very important when you publish your application to add keywords and product description (Description field). For example, we have an application for searching for local events, which means that the following words will suit us: poster, events, etc. Be sure to manually translate into ru, en. If this is not done manually, Google will automatically translate, and this is not always of high quality.

Buying installations: this is too expensive and inefficient for free applications. This can be used if you need to quickly increase downloads in order to validate your business idea.

P.s do not forget to pay attention to the icon and screenshots on the download page, low conversion at this stage will nullify all your promotion efforts.

Vladimir Wasov, CEO and co-founder of Gutenbergz digital publishing house

Achievements: sold 26,000 applications. Interactive book Sherlock Holmes for iPad hit the TOP 10 books in 25 countries. In China, Russia, Ukraine, Greece and other countries, our first book took first place. in the USA, India, Germany entered the top ten most popular books.

1. You can't promote a bad app well. Promotion starts with your product. It must be at least very high quality.

2. You don't need to have hundreds of published releases on unknown sites. Focus on a few with a serious name and a stable audience. Work out personal connections with editors and journalists, this will be very useful to you in the future.

3. Don't be greedy, offer your product for free for a short time. It's worth it.

4. Pay close attention to feedback. Respond to personal requests and negative reviews. Show that you are interested in your product benefiting people. People will appreciate it, and you will appreciate the increase in sales.

5. Well, don't make games. There are many other great ideas and ways to entertain a person in the world.

Pavel Bashmakov, CEO of Stanfy, one of the most prominent players in the Ukrainian mobile app development market

My position is “ASO and Localization Manager”. Recently celebrated the year, gave everyone a pizza, went broke a little, but everyone seemed to be happy. 🙂

Did you do ASO before you?

In Russia - yes, we worked with Aviasales on optimization. But with other products (Jetradar, Hotellook) - not really.

How do you spend your time outside of work?

In winter I ride a board, in the summer I also ride a board, except for this, e-sports - after all, this is now an official discipline in Russia, you need to be in trend. 🙂

Tell me, how is your working day?

We have a lot of projects going on in parallel, two platforms, so I do a little bit of everything. Sometimes we have meetings, skype calls and other smart things.

And now about applications. How much revenue does Google Play and the App Store bring in? How does the complexity of promotion in these stores correlate?

If we talk about markets in general, the number of downloads on Google Play is higher than on the App Store, simply because Android OS has a lot more users.

But we are more interested in profit, and here the App Store is the undisputed leader and will probably remain so forever. The solvency of iOS users is unsurprisingly much higher than Android users.

And promoting your app on the App Store is somewhat easier than on Google Play, because its algorithm is more understandable for a beginner and does not require SEO experience. Therefore, for the most part I will talk about the App Store.

What are the ways to promote new applications and where does ASO fit in? Why is an organic user so cool?

The method is the mass, the usual CPC advertising in social networks, posts on websites, custom articles, whatever. But all this costs money, which an indie developer most likely does not have. Therefore, ASO is basically the only way to get your first installs. Yes, it is possible that at the beginning there will be very, very few of them, but gradually, day after day, week after week, with the adjustment of metadata, it will be possible to receive your own amount of traffic. And, unlike ads and campaigns, this traffic will be constant. Let there be 200 downloads per day, and not 5000, as from advertising, but these 200 will be daily, and 5000 downloads today, and 0 tomorrow. In addition, ASO allows you to attract an organic user who found the application himself and downloaded it himself (we we trust ourselves). Therefore, it turns out to be a kind of win-win: the user is happy that he found what he wanted, and we are happy that we got +1 to downloads.

Does the output to the general TOP or top categories in travel work?

Works wherever it goes. But useless. When was the last time you looked at the top categories? In the top business category, for example? I only look at the tops of games. The same is with travel, taxi drivers hang in the top ten, and hardly anyone will scroll further. And considering the number of downloads it takes to get to some visible place, and the budget, you can become bankrupt pretty quickly.

What should be the icon, description and screenshots of applications?

The icon should be bright, noticeable and simple. The user should immediately understand what your application is about. No text or small details. But it’s worth a little study of competitors so that it doesn’t turn out that there will be 10 applications with an airplane icon on the issuance of an air request. If you have something else, it will probably hook the user.

In the description, the first few lines are important, which are visible before cropping under “Read more…”, you need to write something there that can interest the user. Otherwise, you can not spend a lot of time on the description, no one reads it anyway.
The screenshots are the same: simple, without details, a couple of CTA calls, emphasis on special features and large contrasting text. Screens are your banners. Make it so that the user understands in 2 seconds how your application differs from 20 others that he will see in the results on request.

Where to collect keywords for the semantic core and query output?

First of all, from the head. Type in about 100 options, put them in adwords, look at google and app store sadgests, read reviews of competitors' apps, their names and then choose those that have a chance of being in the top 10 for this query. I have databases for each language - from 300 to 700 queries. And there are almost 30 languages. I suffer. 🙁

Why are fake reviews good or bad?

They can get your account banned. Manipulations with reviews, ratings, positions are prohibited. But who cares? If the application is new: reviews are poured on it to get stars so that potential users can see that the application is being used. But fake reviews are pretty easy to spot (they're all the same for the most part), and if your app isn't great, you'll still get 1's. Therefore, it is better to focus on development and testing, and the feedback will come by itself.

Do motivated installs work?

Looking for what purpose. Generally they work. But they are expensive and, as I said, forbidden. An indie developer should not think much about this, because it is possible to fool the system, but hardly users. Having spent a lot of money on a motive, you can still end up with nothing.

What needs to be done to enter new foreign markets?

We need a freelance translator who will translate the semantic core, description, and, possibly, the application itself, well, desire. In principle, this is the same work as when promoting in Russia, but it is more difficult by a certain number of times, depending on the country. 500 requests in Russian are not as scary as 200 in Chinese. 🙂

For featured, they choose high-quality apps that for some reason receive little traffic, apps that use new iOS features, support new devices and functions (watch and 3d touch, for example) or are released for events (New Year, September 1, Unified State Examination and etc.). Featured is not a panacea and has been bringing in fewer and fewer downloads lately. Definitely not worth counting on.

Full presentation of Ilya about ASO:

Do you already have an app? Ask your questions in the comments.