If you don’t market your App, the chances of it failing are obviously very high – Why? There are over 1.4M apps on the Appstore and over 1.4M in the Google play store. Here is a quick Marketing Guide to Success for your Mobile App!

1. Mobile App Marketing
A Guide to Success
© July Systems, 2015

2. > A strong App marketing strategy is essential for the success of any mobile app. Even the
greatest App idea would certainly need some amount of marketing to create the traction
and user base.
> Like investing time and effort in developing your mobile app, it’s equally important to
invest time in creating a strong marketing strategy.
© July Systems, 2015

3. > If you thought of creating a marketing strategy after developing the mobile App, you
might be wrong and you are most certainly confusing marketing with advertising.
> Marketing strategy should be the soul of your app, determined during the ideation stage.
This is when you’ve to extensively research on who your target audience is and what your
competitors are doing.
> From the ideation session to post launch, the marketing team would continue to play an
extremely important role.
© July Systems, 2015

4. To make it simpler, App marketing process should be broken down to 4 stages of
App development lifecycle:
1. Concept
2. Production
3. Launch
4. Post Launch
© July Systems, 2015

5. 1. Concept:
> You either solve a problem or create a need! In both cases, you need a solid marketing plan.
Create a marketing blueprint that analyzes the needs and records the behavior of your target
audience.
> This blueprint should then become your bible – it should streamline your teams decisions
across features, technology, UX, content and absolutely anything that will go into your app.
© July Systems, 2015

6. Market Research is an integral part of preparing the concept. This involves two levels of
research;
a) Quantitative Research:
Quantitative research is asking people for their opinions in a structured process to produce hard
facts and statistics to guide the marketing team. It’s important to survey people in substantial
numbers of the representative sample of your target market to get reliable stats.
b) Qualitative Research:
Qualitative research is about finding out not just what people think but why they think it. It’s to
get people talk about their opinions to understand their feelings and motivations. To get in-
depth feedback, conduct face-to-face interviews and group discussions.
© July Systems, 2015

7. 2. Production:
> Anybody can build a mobile app these days. But, the art of developing a successful mobile
App that generates both value & revenue is not a cakewalk.
> Unless the mobile App has a hook factor that brings the existing user to reuse the mobile
app, the chances of increasing the user base is low.
> Also, ensure that there is a stickiness quotient in the mobile App. Stickiness factor is
anything that keeps the user stay in your App for a longer duration.
© July Systems, 2015

8. Create a Marketing Strategy:
> Once the high level of research is completed, create a plan! This plan should include
timelines, objectives, measuring matrix, budget and outreach channels!
> According to the category of the mobile App, define the channels that you need to focus
to reach out to them.
> The common online channels are forums, social media sites, blogs, video networks and
Q&A sites. Each of these platforms have a different approach model. Create a structure of
how and when you need to execute them.
> It’s now time to start reverse engineering and explore your creative lobes! Create
taglines, campaign pitches, one liners to build curiosity and interest among potential users!
© July Systems, 2015

9. 3. Launch:
Once the development and testing cycle of the mobile application is completed, don’t
directly jump into launching your mobile App. You can do an Alpha, Beta, Soft or a Hard
launches.
> Alpha Launch: Friends, Family, Partners and all well wishers fall into this category.
Minimum cost, basic features, test your concept and see if it really makes sense in the real
world!
Beta Launch: Launch your mobile app to limited audience with known bugs and failures. This
is ideal for testing and getting user feedback.
You are obviously not putting your app in the store during these stages. It is better to use
tools such as Test Flight to figure your app distribution and have your audience test the app.
© July Systems, 2015

10. Soft Launch: Launching the app after completing all the development cycles, but on a
low scale. Launching the app to a limited geography for getting the initial user reaction
is also a good idea to try and test your App. You would have seen apps being launched in
New Zealand and Canada before being launched formally in US? Why? Because USA is
make or break for these brands while they can go through multiple cycles to get the
concept right in smaller markets.
Blogs and invite only techniques are other soft launch practices to slowly increase the
user base. Ever since Gmail was introduced and the recent Inbox App which Google
launched, this is a popular tried and tested practice!
© July Systems, 2015

11. Hard Launch: This is a MUST LAUNCH moment! This should be in association with some
event or the advertising campaigns that you scheduled in the marketing strategy.
The launch date of the App is very critical. Depending on the category of the mobile App,
decide on the launch date. For example, if it’s a mobile application for sports industry, if you
can launch it during the time of sport events will make more sense and you’ll get more
visibility.
© July Systems, 2015

12. Press Release:
Do a press release during the time of the launch of the mobile App. This will create
more visibility and attention to help you increase the user base.
Launch party (optional): If you have the budget, it’ll be a good idea to throw a launch
party for the mobile App. The invite list should include bloggers, media houses, the
press and us! If you can even send a limited invite to your target audience, nothing like
it.
© July Systems, 2015

13. How to utilize Social Media:
> You can also engage with your target audience before the launch using Social Media.
Using filters and other social media practices, reach out to your target audience and create
curiosity among them.
> This will give them a heads-up and a reason to download the App when launched. Take
leverage of facebook, twitter, instagram and LinkedIn to connect and engage with your
target audience. Pinterest and Dribble also gives you more visibility. Give special invites and
sign-ups before the launch to keep them engaged throughout.
© July Systems, 2015

14. App Website is not an option, it’s a must:
Outside the App store and Play store, you want more people to know more about
your mobile App. To get more user base, it’s important to have a dedicated landing
page or website for your mobile App. Optimize your app website or landing page for
your targeted keywords to get more visibility and traffic from web search engines.
App Store Optimization:
App Store Optimization is one of the most important aspect of App marketing as
more than 70% of smartphone users discover new Apps through App Store and Play
Store searches. List down the best keywords and optimize your App title and
description based on these keywords. This will help you gain visibility in App store
search results and thus increasing your user base.
© July Systems, 2015

15. Reviews:
Invite the industry bloggers and tech bloggers to review the mobile App. This helps in SEO
and creates a larger online presence for the mobile App. As and when your target audience
reaches out to these blogs to get their daily dose of information, you’ve got their attention!
Screenshots and Application Information:
Create enticing App screenshots for the App Store and Play Store. This is where the last
level of decision making involves for a user to download. Create a description with bullet
lists to answer all the questions that the user might have, and also flaunt the feature set of
your mobile App.
© July Systems, 2015

16. Monetization:
You’ve spent a lot of time in developing the mobile app. How much should you price it?
What should the pricing be? Or should it be given free? These days, consumers are
looking for free alternative apps than paid applications. The common practice these days
is to increase the user base and then make revenue with ads or go with the Freemium
model where the base application is given for free but in-app purchases are made
popular and critical for sustained use.
Videos:
The most attention span internet users have are for videos. Take advantage of this and
create video ads and tutorials to engage with the user base. This will also help you reach
out to a wider target audience and reach out geographically.
© July Systems, 2015

17. 4. Post Launch:
You’ve now successfully launched your mobile app and you’ve a good user base. The
secret key of all successful endeavours is to maintain a healthy relationship with the
customers. Going any distance for the creating best user experience should be the
primary goal!
Engagement model:
Like I mentioned earlier in the blog, keep pushing reminding the users why they need to
use the mobile App. Push notifications to the user base with new offers and feature
updates to keep them engaged. Have exciting offers to increase the user base. Referral
systems, social shares, free coupons, festival offers are some of the successful practices
you can see these days. Also, the freedom to control the level of push notifications should
be given to the users.
© July Systems, 2015

18. Retention rate:
Keep track of the number of daily users vs the number of downloads. Understand the
behavior pattern to check if you need to rework on the campaigns or the user
interface of the App. Keep collating these data to learn and unlearn from the market
researches.
Response to user feedback:
To be the best mobile app in the category, responding to user feedback is essential!
Users will trust and achieving that is crucial. Take feedback positively and engage with
them through blogs and social media.
© July Systems, 2015

19. Update description:
As and when new updates are available for the mobile App, update the description from
something beyond bug fixes. This helps the user understand why they should update the
mobile App. If not this, the chances of users not updating the app is minimal. An updated
description also helps in the App store optimization.
Incentives:
Like any of us, earning brownie points is awesome! Give bonuses, points, offers for social-
feed shares and regular app usage. This will give the users extra reasons to use the app
regularly and even when they are not in real need.
© July Systems, 2015

20. In Short:
From sports, healthcare, education, travel, shopping cart, games, banking,
entertainment, technology, communication, every industry needs a mobile apps! More
than a luxury, it has become a necessity. Moreover, every smartphone users need mobile
applications too! Developing a good robust mobile app is as equal as backing it up with a
strong marketing strategy!
What we’ve summarized in short is how July Systems approaches each mobile
application project. Marketing to us is perhaps the most important aspect of any
engagement. We encourage ideation sessions with each customer before writing a single
line of code to really help them think beyond the obvious, to succeed!
During the ideation phase of mobile application development, we follow Stanford
University’s Design thinking modules to create the best app marketing strategies for our
clients.
© July Systems, 2015

21. If you’re looking for a partner to ideate, build, manage and
market your mobile app,
Let’s Get In Touch!
© July Systems, 2015