This is guest post from our marketing partner Full Cortex.
When it comes to app development, the app itself isn’t the only technology you should be thinking about. To grow the app, you need to plan and execute a winning marketing strategy—and that means relying on a stack of technology-based tools.
Because—and this is important—popping your app into the app stores is not going to be enough to increase awareness of your product, build user loyalty, and scale your downloads. You need a robust marketing strategy and active promotion.
When Rocket Farm onboards a new client, they start thinking about marketing early in the process. They work with clients to gain a clear understanding of the audience, create user personas, find both market fit and product fit, and build a brand messaging guide. They also start building the marketing stack, often with the Full Cortex team playing a role in that process.
The two teams have complementary but different goals: Rocket Farm collects insight to inform design and development so they can build a killer product. Full Cortex wants to nail the messaging and solidify the strategy so they can reach the right people at the right time with the right message.
That one-two punch is what drives success.
Ultimately, growth relies on data and analytics because without data you can’t measure the viability of the app or effectiveness of the strategy. That’s where the marketing stack comes into play, enabling you to collect data and intelligence so you can make smarter or more selective decisions that drive growth.
What are the core components of a marketing stack? Here are our recommendations:
Product page in the app stores
Many users will search within the app stores to find new useful applications, so make sure they can find you. Do as much as you can with the page. Use professional marketing copy to describe the app and succinctly state the benefits for users.
Also, include screenshots or explainer videos to showcase the application, and incorporate relevant keywords throughout the page to increase your visibility in search results.
Website
We almost always recommend developing a website for your application. The market is saturated with apps, and even when you do an outstanding job of optimizing your product page, your app can be hard to find. Additionally, app stores don’t offer you enough space or word counts to truly sell the value of the app.
With a well-done website, you create a landing spot to drive people from emails, social media and ads. You create a place for blogs and other informative content that you can optimize to increase organic traffic. Plus, you can integrate chatbots and FAQs to better support users.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Solution
A CRM is technology that enables you to manage your interactions with existing, past and potential users, and it is important because it provides visibility and access to all stakeholders in one intuitive dashboard.
It collects data from your website, phone, email, chat, marketing materials and social and provides intelligence you can use to improve those interactions. Plus, it enables your team to manage leads and pipelines and run targeted marketing campaigns.
Email Service
Scaling your app will require an investment in outgoing marketing efforts, and email will be critical to that as it remains one of the most effective tactics, largely because it’s so affordable. With email, you can send direct email promotions, nurture leads with content and offers, and share news and updates.
An email service does much of the heavy lifting for you, enabling you to easily build email templates, capture contact information, build, segment and manage lists, and even automate some features.
SMS Marketing Service
In addition to email, text marketing is a powerful way to reach users because a large portion of your target audience almost always has their phones on them—and they check their phones frequently throughout the day. In fact, open rates for text are 98%, compared to 60% for email.
The right service will enable you to manage all your contacts in an easy-to-use interface, send customized emails en masse and provide powerful reporting features you can rely on to refine your messaging and grow your subscribers.
Push Notification Service
Push notifications are quick messages sent only to those people who have downloaded your application, and they don’t even have to be in the application to see them. As the app publisher, you can send them to provide an update, offer a coupon or promote an event.
Think of push notifications as a gentle nudge to re-engage with the application or to visit the website. As with a SMS marketing and email service, a push notification service simplifies the process of managing contact lists, collecting data and insights, and automating messages.
Social Media Platforms
Social media is one of the simplest, most affordable ways to connect with new users and engage with existing ones. It enables frequent communication with an audience that is interested in your application, and provides a platform to answer questions or address negative comments.
Plus, social media is integral to a solid content strategy and ensuring more eyes see the blogs, videos, whitepapers and more you develop.
To build awareness well before launch, determine which social channels are the best match for your target audience, set up your accounts, and begin building a community of followers.
Establishing all these engagement channels is your first step. The key, however, to a successful marketing strategy is applying consistent brand message and writing across all these channels. As important, you need an organized, well-managed strategy to ensure they all work together seamlessly. That’s where Full Cortex, a digital marketing agency specializing in mobile application growth marketing can help.
Want to Scale Your Mobile App? Start Here
Most apps fail and often it’s not because the products are flawed. Great products fail all the time because of poor marketing strategies—but Full Cortex can help.
Download our comprehensive guide, “Everything You Need to Know to Grow Your Mobile Application,” to discover a step-by-step plan for executing a winning marketing strategy.
Takeaways include:
– How to create messaging that gets your audience excited to download — and use — your app
– Quick tips and best practices to build awareness pre- and post-launch
– Keys to gaining loyal users, scaling and reaching profitability faster
Don’t let a great app, fail. download the guide now!
