The Ultimate Marketing Guide For Pre and Post Mobile App Launch

When you are designing your mobile app, don’t make the mistake of waiting until after it’s done to start on your marketing plan. You should have an actionable plan for both before and after you launch, as well as a special campaign just for your launch date. Creating a successful app relies on having a powerful marketing strategy that draws people in and keeps users engaged. 

Integrate Frameworks So You Can Track and Target Users Better

The more you know about how people are using your mobile app, the better you can market to both current users and untapped markets. There is a huge variety of mobile app tools that you can use to find out exactly how users are behaving and interacting within your app. These frameworks should be built into your app’s design, and post-launch, you should be using all of the data you have collected to help improve your mobile app as well as your marketing plan. The best tools to use are highly dependent on what type of app you are designing, so find frameworks that are a good fit for your project. When you have detailed information about engagement and analytics, you can get much more specific with your ads, marketing campaigns, and updates. 

Re-target Users to Get Them Back into the App

Retargeting ads are a classic, effective tool to get lost users back into your app. By tracking who uses certain parts of your website with pixels from different social media platforms, you will be able to create ads specifically for people who are more likely to use your app. You can also use retargeting ads for people who have downloaded and uninstalled your app, or people who have your app installed, but only use the free features, or stopped using your app for a certain length of time. If you want to keep your marketing budget low, retargeting users has a great return on investment. 

Good Ads Can Save You a Ton of Money

Don’t throw money away by not having a solid marketing plan with effective ads. Advertising and marketing is a science and an artform; use all of the data you have to elevate your ads so that you get the most bang for your buck. Pre-launch, focus on creating hype and building your mailing list and fanbase, as well as creating brand recognition. Post-launch, you should take into consideration all of the user feedback you obtain so that you can not only improve your app, but also your ads. 

Good App Marketing Includes ASO

ASO, or App Store Optimization, is similar to SEO for websites. In your titles and descriptions, you want to have naturally-occurring keywords that help your app rank when people are searching within their app store. While the algorithms are kept secret and change frequently, just like with SEO, you can still use a comprehensive, common-sense approach to get your app to climb the ranks of searches for your targeted keywords. 

Use Multiple Platforms – Don’t Become Too Dependant On Just One Ad Network

You may want to focus on a very specific niche audience, but that doesn’t mean you should be dependent on a single ad network. Create separate (but on-brand) marketing campaigns for several platforms so that you create more brand recognition and give off a sense of popularity and importance. For instance, you might run video ads on YouTube, while simultaneously running a similar campaign on Facebook. The more often people see your brand, the more likely it is that they will download your app. 

This also becomes important when you have multiple target audiences. For example, at Zutobi our app is catered towards 2 audiences. 1 are teens who want to pass the permit and driving test and the 2nd are the parents. These audiences live on different mediums, with parents congregating more on Facebook and Pinterest, where teens are more active on YouTube. 

Advertising across platforms gives you 2 major benefits, one of which is to cater to different audiences, but also ensuring that people see your brand as much as possible. The more touch points the more likely it is that they will download your app. 

Understand The Purpose Of Your Marketing Efforts

Are you trying to create conversions or build your reputation? When you are creating each marketing campaign, you should have a specific marketing goal in mind. Sometimes, you may need to build your audience, expand your reach, or achieve a certain number of downloads. Each goal is going to have a different ideal approach. It is very difficult to achieve a goal if you don’t know what that goal is. Always outline your purpose for each push, so you don’t end up wasting your time and money. 

How does this look in practice? Well for Zutobi our marketing strategy is all about holistic and high-quality driver education. We want to create safer drivers so that accidents and driving fatalities will decrease. So we rolled out marketing content that educates and instructs our audience. We create immersive driver’s ed guides that walk readers through all the important tips, habits, and lessons they need to learn in order to be safe drivers. They don’t even need to sign up for the app to access the content. However, by creating this content we are engaging our target audience, nurturing a relationship and as they go deeper into their study and driving tests, teens will be more likely to turn to Zutobi and download the app through our marketing efforts. 

Don’t Be Afraid To Trash A Campaign, Even if it Looks Good

Sometimes, even well-designed campaigns just don’t work. Don’t be afraid to abandon a marketing strategy that isn’t working, even if the copy and images look nice. It’s okay to go back to the drawing board if a campaign is not giving you a return on your investment, whether it’s in users, branding, or conversions.