Marketing your new mobile app

Technology expert and successful mobile entrepreneur Hammad Akbar discusses how to successfully market a new mobile app.

So, you’ve gone and built the next best mobile app. It’s bigger and better than Snapchat, more profitable than Facebook and more cutting edge than Twitter. But there’s just one problem… No one’s using it.

Sure, you can build the next best smart phone application, but if you don’t know how to market it, and get it out to the users, odds are you’re not going to see much profit.

But, not all hope it lost!

If you’re looking for a few ideas on how to market your own mobile app or are just looking for a few new ideas then look no further.

Make sure it’s good

First thing’s first. Let’s get this point out of the way. If you want to successfully market your new mobile app, it’s going to have to be good.

If your app isn’t useful, it’s going to be a lot harder to market to the public.

As a mobile software developer, odds are, if you’ve built a new app, you’ve probably done your research. You’ve most likely built a piece of software you believe in and you that you believe will be used by the public.

That’s half of the battle really. Having a great new product will make everything move so much easier.

If you’re still in the R & D stage, be sure to take extra care with what you’re producing. Do your research, talk to the public and test, test, test.

Have a plan

Marketing is all about getting your product or services out there – in front of potential customers and into their hands. It’s a process which is extremely important when it comes to mobile software and apps. And it shouldn’t be dismissed.

But, quite often, marketing is seen as a last minute thing. “Oh, we’ll sort out the marketing when it’s finished”. But marketing really needs a lot more attention.

An easy mistake to make is to leave it to the last minute and to rush things. When actually, effective marketing takes time and planning.

So if you’re looking to successfully market a new mobile app, it’s important to come up with a plan of action.

Be sure to include key hit points and dates and make sure you stick to them. Get a plan written out in good time and be sure to start your marketing build up long before your launch.

Read: How to Keyword Stuffing Without Stuffing Keywords

Use social media

As part of your marketing strategy you’d be silly not to take into account social media. With the huge increase in mobile usage in the past few years and with more and more opportunities to utilise social media platforms on mobile, it’s an avenue that can yield some incredible results.

Familiarise yourself with mobile versions of popular social media websites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and try out different ways to market and sell your product.

You might want to advertise and post on desktop, but for the best conversion options, mobile is the only way.

Make it easy for new users and provide quick and easy calls to action from social media straight to app. Analyse the results and continue to fine tune your advertising and social outreach.

Read: 5 Timeless Lessons Bloggers Can Learn From Spammers

Think long-term

So, the app’s out. Now what?

When marketing a new product, whether it’s a mobile app or SaaS service, it’s important to put in place some long term plans.

Truly successful mobile applications have longevity, and are used day in, day out by users, so bear that in mind when marketing your product.

In your marketing plan be sure to include long-term goals and marketing ideas. Your initial release schedule might have finished, but for more extensive marketing, be sure to put in place more efficient and cost effective plans.

You might want to implement a more structured social media or content campaign post-launch, and bring new users in more naturally through search and word of mouth.

Whatever you’re doing, remember to plan and implement your marketing strategies both pre and post-launch of your product.

I hope these mobile app marketing tips have been helpful. If you have any of your own tips, be sure to comment below, I’d love to hear from you.

Read: How to Start WordPress Giveaway Effectively